Islamophobia is a term used to characterize active discrimination against these groups or specific members within them as well as irrational antagonism, fear, or hatred of Islam, Muslims, and Islamic culture.
Islamophobia is a phrase used to describe fear of Islam and is frequently used to denote generalized attitudes, beliefs, and feelings towards Islam or Muslims. “Intense hate or fear of Islam,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is what the term “Islamophobia” refers to. The term “Islamphobie” was first used in 1910 by French scholar Alain Quellien to refer to widespread anti-Islamic prejudice in the west. In 1923, English Literature later embraced it.
As a theory, it is regarded as a fresh take on an old idea that Edward Said put forth in his book on orientalism, according to which the West has always associated Islam’s activities with negative attitudes and stereotypes. Political activists, non-governmental organizations, commentators, and international organizations created the term “Islamophobia” in the late 1990s and early 2000s to call attention to the negative effects of discourse that was aimed towards Muslims and Islam.
Nonetheless, Islamophobia entered the international debate after the Runnymede Trust’s 1997 report, “Islamophobia: A Challenge for all of us,” was published. It established the term “Islamophobia” as a helpful abbreviation for the fear or loathing of Islam, and consequently, of all or most Muslims.
Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, lamented, “When the world is driven to invent a new term to take account of increasingly pervasive bigotry, that is a sad and worrying development,” in the opening remarks of a UN conference on “Confronting Islamophobia,” in 2004. The same is true with Islamophobia.
Islamophobia is defined as “the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture and history,” by Imam Dr. Abdul Jalil Sajid, chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK. Islamophobia is defined as the idea that all or most Muslims are zealots with violent tendencies against non-Muslims and that ideas like equality, tolerance, and democracy are inherently incompatible with Islam (RISC 2011).
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 gave rise to an increase in anti-Islamic sentiment. Following the Twin Towers attack, Islam was perceived as a rigid, barbaric, and intolerable way of life. Under the guise of a single, universal religion, Muslims were depicted as bloodthirsty barbarians. With access to information technology, the West exacerbated the conflict by accusing Muslims of engaging in racial prejudice and demonising them as social troublemakers.
The far-right political parties in liberal western communities have gained momentum in exploiting the Muslim minorities for political advantage as Islamophobia has grown across the board.
Islamophobia has evolved into a ruse used by politicians and public commentators to further demonise Islam. One of the bitterest and most combative presidential campaigns in American history was the one that took place in 2016. The 2016 US Presidential Election campaign was marred by extraordinary political vitriol, outbursts in repugnantly discriminatory tones, and anti-Muslim slurs. Donald J. Trump specifically targeted Muslims as a serious issue in order to advance his political agenda. He undoubtedly played with the public’s emotions in doing so, which led to an unexpected election outcome.
Media, being a creation of information, impacts public opinion by reflecting the perceived reality. Particularly in the media coverage that followed 9/11, Muslim perspectives were misrepresented and Islamic culture was disparaged. The western media portrayed Islam as a religion of prejudice, radicalism, and retreat. The introduction of digital media, which gave everyone a free hand, worsened the situation. The narrative of free speech was used to support the language of Islamophobia, which spread hate speech and defamatory actions on social media networks. As a private form of communication, social media heightened the negative connotations associated with Islamophobia and alarmed Muslim minorities living in liberal western communities.
A culture devoid of interfaith cooperation blatantly encourages prejudice and hostility towards individuals who are viewed as different. Anti-Semitism was prevalent in European nations, including the United States and Canada, long before Islamophobia emerged. Even in the current situation, there is still animosity between Muslims and Jews and Muslims and Muslims. The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the shooting in Orlando’s nightclub reaffirmed the irrational, visceral hate of Muslims and Islam, aggravating prejudice and destroying the fabric of the western society’s story of freedom for all.
The Muslim minorities living in Europe and America suffered as a result of Islamophobia, a narrative associated with prejudice and intolerance. The public policy of forbidding Muslim women from donning the hijab was inspired by Bin Laden. Authorities began to view treating Muslims unfairly in political, social, and civic life as the norm. Security services’ use of surveillance to prevent radicalization and interfere with Islamic customs had far worse effects than anyone could have predicted.
The violent and vandalistic tendencies that are proliferating in western society as a result of the aggressive phobia of Islam. The hostility of westerners towards Muslims turned out to be terrifying for Muslims in the West. More than 2000 anti-Muslim offences have been committed in the United States alone, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation. Another incidence of English vandalising a place of worship was at the Kingston Mosque. In Hamilton, Canada, violent mobs attacked mosques and facilities for Muslim education. One significant episode associated with the pushback against Islamophobia was the killings in New Zealand, where 51 Muslims were killed.
Islamophobia is currently seen throughout Europe as a result of both individual attitudes and actions as well as organisational and institutional practises. Examples include the following and vary across nations and eras:
• Physical or verbal abuse of persons, places of worship, or things, especially those who express their religion visibly, such women who wear the hijab or niqab.
• Verbal or online harassment, vilification, and threats of violence.
• Laws or policies that unfairly burden Muslims and unnecessarily restrict their right to practise their religion, such as prohibitions on the display of visible religious or cultural symbols, prohibitions on the covering of the face, and prohibitions on the construction of minaret-topped mosques.
• Discrimination in access to goods and services, employment, housing, and education.
• Police abuse, including some anti-terrorism policing legislation, as well as racial and religious profiling
• Public statements made by some journalists and politicians from all political parties that demonise Muslims as a whole and downplay the beneficial contributions they make to the communities and nations where they reside.
Although there are indications that it occurs, the term “Islamophobia” is a relatively new phenomena, and it is still unclear exactly what constitutes anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic behaviours or conduct.
Why Islamophobia Currently is a Concern in Europe?
Public worry over immigration and the integration of Muslim minorities into dominant cultures in Europe has recently exacerbated Islamophobia. With the economic collapse of 2007, these conflicts have gotten worse due to the emergence of populist nationalist politicians. High-profile terrorist assaults committed by Muslim radicals have also made them worse.
• Muslim minorities have been characterized as not belonging and as desiring to isolate themselves from the rest of society in a context of rapidly growing diversity in Europe. Significant portions of the Muslim minority are now forced to deal with unemployment, poverty, and limited civic and political involvement, all of which exacerbate discrimination because government policies have failed to guarantee equal rights for all.
• At times of political and economic crises, minorities are frequently used as scapegoats. Some people portray Islam and the roughly 20 million Muslims who reside in the European Union as fundamentally dangerous to the European way of life, even in nations where they have resided for generations. Xenophobic, populist parties that are gaining ground across Europe have cultivated the concept of a continuing “Islamization” or invasion of Europe. In actuality, Europeans overestimate the percentage of Muslims in their demographics.
• The terrorist assaults of September 11, 2001, significantly altered public perceptions of Muslims. Since then, terrorism has heightened dread and anxiety, as evidenced by the violent jihadist assaults in London, Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona. Many Europeans view Islam as a threat and consider Muslims as the enemy as a result of extremists using Religion to excuse their terrorist actions. Since 2001, several media outlets in Europe have resorted to stereotypical reporting and have used Islamists’ acts to demonise Muslim people. There are worries that assumptions and preconceptions about Muslims are influencing counterterrorism policies in Europe, limiting freedoms for everyone and harming Muslim communities.
Effects on A Free Society
According to Thomas Hammarberg, a former human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, Islamophobia is a “symptom of the breakdown of human values,” including nondiscrimination, tolerance, freedom of thought, justice, solidarity, and equality. The European Union and the Council of Europe were founded on these ideals, which are meant to be fundamental to European societies.
Due to a lack of pertinent statistics, the scope and character of occurrences of Islamophobia and discrimination against European Muslims continue to go unreported and undocumented. Numerous organisations, including the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and NGOs like the Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium, have acknowledged the rise of this alarming phenomenon and noted the escalating severity of the incidents.
By way of illustration, the 2017 EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey revealed that, on average, one in three Muslim respondents had experienced prejudice and discrimination in the previous 12 months, and 27% had been the victim of a racist crime. However, research demonstrates that Islamophobia has a particularly negative effect on women, as is noted in recent research by the European Network Against Racism, particularly in the workplace.
A quick glance at the statements made frequently against Islam and Muslims by various organisations and people suggests that the following are the principal places where anti-Islamic propaganda is being disseminated in the world:
1. Groups of right-wing Christian Evangelicals. In their places of worship, they incite hostility towards Islam and portray Muslims as pagans aiming to overthrow Western culture.
2. Jews who support Jewish supremacy. They spread anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment and assert that Muslims are anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic.
3. White nationalists. Even individuals who were born in the Caucasian zone cannot claim to be white because they view Muslims as belonging to the dark races. They consider God to be on the side of the White race.
4. Hindutva supremacists: They view Muslims in India to be invading invaders who must be converted back to Hinduism because they believe that their God is only present for them and that everyone else is untouchable.
5. ISIS and violent Islamist organizations. They take advantage of the suffering of Muslims to harm innocent people because they believe that God has given them permission to kill innocent people.
6. Demagogic Republicans and Democrats. To support themselves, they work for global corporations and Israel’s interests. They care the least about the human rights of those who are different from them.
8. A right-wing, corporate-controlled media that enjoys seeing innocent people’s blood bleed in the streets in order to increase its advertising and ratings by polarising reportage.
9.The liberal left, which sees Islam as the antithesis of Western civilisation.
They all consider Muslims to be an easy target. Because Muslims continue to believe in a fictitious separation between Shia and Sunnis, as well as hundreds of other schools of thought.
They know that hating Muslims can help them win elections. They are free to attack Muslims under any pretext. They are unaware that there is only humanity, that each person is entitled to a decent life, and that building bridges of respect and love is the best way to unite people.
Muslims should rely on God to protect them, but how else? They ought to form partnerships with Jews, Christians, Buddhists, atheists, Hindus, and others who respect life and are prepared to challenge their own beliefs in order to promote dignity for all people.
For Muslim women and children, the West’s irreverent attitudes towards the diaspora of the east proved to be traumatic. In a poll of Muslim kids aged 11 to 18 in California conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, it was found that 50% of American Muslim students have experienced bullying at school motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice. Instances of Muslim women pulling their scarves in public were widely reported in France. Islamophobia, as a legitimate basis for hatred, created a chasm for the most vulnerable group of Muslims living in the West.
As a general rule, it is the responsibility of the United Nations and its law enforcement agencies to uphold international peace and defend its members from abuses of human rights. Following 9/11, the United Nations and its law-enforcing agencies failed to uphold international law. According to studies from Brown University, there have been 200,000 and 40,000 civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. A rights estimate released by the Arab League envoy to Syria was revealed to be a complete failure. the ongoing crimes committed by the Indian military against the 400,000 Kashmiris who have lost their lives in the civil conflict. 51,000 civilian deaths between 1989 and 2018 were caused by the supreme of all governments and the international guardian of civil rights, but because the UN is the Guardian Angel of Human Rights, its neutrality in the war raises concerns about the primacy of international humanitarian law.
Islamophobia breeds many consequences. There is a long list of anti-Muslim hate crimes that have been committed in the United States and around the world. Mosques have been destroyed and surrounded by firearms, Muslims have been inappropriately questioned at airports and innocent people have been killed for no reason. Making judgments while lacking information only produces a vicious, racist cycle, which won’t end unless we do something about it.
Islamophobia is a term used to characterise active discrimination against these groups or specific members within them as well as irrational antagonism, fear, or hatred of Islam, Muslims, and Islamic culture.
Islamophobia is a phrase used to describe fear of Islam and is frequently used to denote generalised attitudes, beliefs, and feelings towards Islam or Muslims. “Intense hate or fear of Islam,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is what the term “Islamophobia” refers to. The term “Islamphobie” was first used in 1910 by French scholar characterizeen to refer to widespread anti-Islamic prejudice in the west. In 1923, English Literature later embraced it.
As a theory, it is regarded as a fresh take on an old idea that Edward Said put forth in his book on orientalism, according to which the West has generalizedciated Islam’s activities with negative attitudes and stereotypes. Political activists, non-governmental organisations, commentators, and international organisations created the term “Islamophobia” in the late 1990s and early 2000s to call attention to the negative effects of discourse that was aimed towards Muslims and Islam.
Nonetheless, Islamophobia entered the international debate after the Runnymede Trust’s 1997 report, “Islamophobia: A Challenge for all of us,” was published. It established the term “Islamophobia” as a helpful abbreviation for the fear or loathing of Islam, and consequently, of all or most Muslims.
Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, lamented, “When the world is driven to invent a new term to take account of increasingly pervasive bigotry, that is a sad and worrying development,” in the opening remarks of a UN conference on “Confronting Islamophobia,” in 2004. The same is true with Islamophobia.
Islamophobia is defined as “the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture and history,” by Imam Dr. Abdul Jalil Sajid, chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK. Islamophobia is defined as the idea that all or most Muslims are zealots with violent tendencies against non-Muslims and that ideas like equality, tolerance, and democracy are inherently incompatible with Islam.
The far-right political parties in liberal western communities have gained momentum in exploiting the Muslim minorities for political advantage as Islamophobia has grown across the board. Islamophobia has evolved into a ruse used by politicians and public commentators to further demonise Islam. One of the bitterest and most combative presidential campaigns in American history was the one that took place in 2016. The 2016 US Presidential Election campaign was marred by extraordinary political vitriol, outbursts in repugnantly discriminatory tones, and anti-Muslim slurs. Donald J. Trump specifically targeted Muslims as a serious issue in order to advance his political agenda. He undoubtedly played with the public’s emotions in doing so, which led to an unexpected election outcome.
Media, being a creation of information, impacts public opinion by reflecting the perceived reality.
Violent and vandalistic tendencies are proliferating in western society as a result of the aggressive phobia of Islam. The hostility of westerners towards Muslims turned out to be terrifying for Muslims in the West. More than 2000 anti-Muslim offenses have been committed in the United States alone, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation. Another incidence of English vandalizing a place of worship was at the Kingston Mosque. In Hamilton, Canada, violent mobs attacked mosques and facilities for Muslim education. One significant episode associated with the pushback against Islamophobia was the killings in New Zealand, where 51 Muslims were killed.
Although there are indications that it occurs, the term “Islamophobia” is a relatively new phenomena, and it is still unclear exactly what constitutes anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic behaviours or conduct.
Due to a lack of pertinent statistics, the scope and character of occurrences of Islamophobia and discrimination against European Muslims continue to go unreported and undocumented. Numerous organizations, including the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and NGOs like the Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium, have acknowledged the rise of this alarming phenomenon and noted the escalating severity of the incidents.
By way of illustration, the 2017 EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey revealed that, on average, one in three Muslim respondents had experienced prejudice and discrimination in the previous 12 months, and 27% had been the victim of a racist crime. However, research demonstrates that Islamophobia has a particularly negative effect on women, as is noted in recent research by the European Network Against Racism, particularly in the workplace.
They all consider Muslims to be an easy target. Because Muslims continue to believe in a fictitious separation between Shia and Sunnis, as well as hundreds of other schools of thought.
They know that hating Muslims can help them win elections. They are free to attack Muslims under any pretext. They are unaware that there is only humanity, that each person is entitled to a decent life, and that building bridges of respect and love is the best way to unite people.
Respond with that which is Better
It can be very difficult to do this, especially if someone is disparaging a part of your identity that means a lot to you, but after you do it once, you’ll feel good about yourself and certain that you didn’t become like the oppressors.
“Good deeds and evil deeds are not the same. If you repay evil with kindness, your adversary will turn into your closest friend. But only those who persevere with tenacity and are highly favourably treated by God can achieve this. (Quran 41: 34-35)
All throughout his life, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) faced hate crimes, yet he always handled them patiently. We should strive to imitate his actions in the face of prejudice and hatred since he is our greatest role model.
Defend Against False Preconceptions
Having a good response to criticism will put the attackers’ conceptions of Islam to the test; after all, Islamophobia generally appears to be a result of a minority portion of Muslims’ unhappy and violent behaviour. Furthermore, if we define the term “Islamophobia” literally to mean “a fear of Islam,” it would suggest that their oppressive actions are a result of their misinterpretation of Islam. As a result, by responding positively, their beliefs would be substantially refuted.
