Islamophobia

Template:Globalize/UK Template:Religion Islamophobia is a controversial neologism. Defined by some as a prejudice against, or demonization of, Muslims. Other people are seeying islamophobia as a controversial neologism introduced to characterise critics on islamic issues as an irrational and persistant fear (phobia) . As a controversial neogolism the word islamophobia is not to find in e.g. the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary or Dutch Dikke van Dale, just like it's opposing controversial neogolism islamophilia.

In 2004 the Runnymede's commission published a follow-up report suggesting that young British Muslims felt they did not belong in Britain, and that they were vulnerable to social exclusion and violence. Dr. Abduljalil Sajid, an imam and adviser to the commission, said Islamophobia had become institutionalized, citing what he regarded as police harassment of Muslims since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Sajid told BBC News, "Even one of the country's Muslim peers, Lord Ahmed, has been stopped twice by police."

Danish politician Bashy Quraishy have written that islamophobia and antisemitism are two sides of the same coin.

Criticism

The concept has been criticized on several grounds. Some critics argue that Islamophobia is real but is just another form of racism and does not require its own category, while others argue that, unlike racism, Islam is a religion that people can choose to adopt or not, retain or apostatize from. Many argue the term Islamophobia is used to censor criticism and that its use threatens free speech.

Silencing of criticism of Islam

Salman Rushdie was one of 12 prominent writers who signed a statement condemning Islamophobia as a "wretched concept."

British writer and academic Kenan Malik has criticized the concept of Islamaphobia, calling it a "myth." Malik argues Islamophobia obfuscates discrimination against Muslims with criticism of Islam and that it is used to silence critics and Muslim reformers. He states that the extent to which Muslims are more vulnerable to social exclusion and attacks than other groups is exaggerated. Malik writes that the concept allows politicians who may have supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq or the War on Terror to "reclaim the moral high ground" and "pitch for the Muslim vote." He argues the result is the creation of a culture of victimhood, allowing individual Muslims to attribute low achievement to Islamophobia, and not to themselves. Malik cites Yasmin Alibhai Brown, who writes: "It is not Islamophobia that makes parents take 14 year old bright girls out of school to marry illiterate men ..." Malik argues that Islamophobia is not a form of racism because Islam is a belief system. "I can be hateful about other beliefs, such as conservatism or communism. So why can't I be hateful about religion too?"

In the wake of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, a group of 12 prominent writers signed a statement in the French weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in March 2006, warning against the use of the term Islamophobia to prevent criticism of "Islamic totalitarianism." The novelist Salman Rushdie was among these signatories. The statement alleged that "Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatization of those who believe in it."

British columnist Josie Appleton argues Runnymede Trust uses the term Islamophobia to prevent criticism of Islam. "Rather than engage Muslims in debate, non-Muslims are supposed to tiptoe around them, for fear of causing offense." Afshin Ellian, a Dutch law professor, writes that the concept is used to delegitimize criticism by characterizing it as pathological, while civil-rights activist Bahram Soroush has called it "intellectual blackmail". French writer Robert Redeker argues that the history of the term demonstrates that the term Islamophobia was created by "radical islamists" to "tackle feminists".

Johann Hari of The Independent has criticized the use of the term by organizations like Islamophobia Watch, arguing that liberal Muslims interested in reform are left unsupported because people fear being accused of Islamophobia. He writes: "If Muslim women and Muslim gays are going to have any kind of decent life, the [Muslim] liberals need to receive solidarity and support – but slap-dash charges of Islamophobia intimidate people who could offer it ... While Islamophobia Watch talk about defending Muslims, they end up defending the nastiest and most right-wing part of the Muslim community – the ones who are oppressing and killing the rest."

Critics have cited the case of British journalist Polly Toynbee, who was nominated in May 2003 for the title of "Most Islamophobic Media Personality of the Year" at the Annual Islamophobia Awards overseen by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, who has argued that there is no such thing as Islamophobia. The nomination was based on her comments in The Guardian that "[w]herever Islam either is the government or bears down upon the government, it imposes harsh regimes that deny the most basic human rights."

Reacting against a proposed UK law curtailing religious criticism, actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson drew the distinction between racism and criticism of religion: "To criticise a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous but to criticise their religion, that is a right... A law which attempts to say you can criticise and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed."

Islamophobia-phobia

Writing in the New Humanist, philosopher Piers Benn suggests that people who fear the rise of Islamophobia foster an environment "not intellectually or morally healthy", to the point that what he calls "Islamophobia-phobia" can undermine "critical scrutiny of Islam as somehow impolite, or ignorant of the religion's true nature", encouraging "sentimental pretence that all claims to religious truth are somehow 'equal', or that critical scrutiny of Islam (or any belief system) is ignorant, prejudiced, or 'phobic'".

The New Criterion editor Roger Kimball argues that the word "Islamophobia" is a misnomer. "A phobia describes an irrational fear, and it is axiomatic that fearing the effects of radical Islam is not irrational, but on the contrary very well-founded indeed, so that if you want to speak of a legitimate phobia — it’s a phobia I experience frequently — we should speak instead of Islamophobia-phobia, the fear of and revulsion towards Islamophobia."

Response

Kenan Malik's analysis of Islamophobia was criticized by Inayat Bunglawala from the Muslim Council of Britain and Abdul Wahid from the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir for allegedly making erroneous comparisons to race hatred, making partial analyses of quotes in his article, having not fully understood the draft law that he was criticizing, and defining Islamophobia as to be with odds with every source that he cited.

American writer Stephen Schwartz, director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, has cautioned against what he sees as a tendency to accuse all opponents of Islamic radicalism of Islamophobia, but writes that it is nevertheless a real phenomenon. He defines it as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history as extremist; "denying" the existence of a moderate Muslim majority; regarding Islam as a problem for the world; treating conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault; insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion; and inciting war against Islam as a whole.

Alleged Islamophobia in Europe

The clash between European liberal culture and that culture's perception of Islam gives rise to allegations of Islamophobia in a number of areas. Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's statement that Western civilization is "superior" to Islam was regarded as an example of Islamophobia. In Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg requires citizenship applicants from the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to answer questions about their attitudes on homosexuality and domestic violence.. Clothing has become a flashpoint. The government of France, which has a strong secular tradition, was accused of Islamophobia when girls who wear Muslim headscarfs were expelled from school under a new law. The French policy extends to all visible religious paraphernalia, including large Christian crosses and Jewish scullcaps, although small symbols such as crucifixes, stars of David, and Hand of Fatimas are still allowed. In January 2006 the Dutch parliament voted in favor of a proposal to ban the burqa in public, leading to similar accusations. Filip Dewinter, the leader of the nationalist Flemish "Vlaams Belang" has said his party is "Islamophobic." He said: "Yes, we are afraid of Islam. The Islamisation of Europe is a frightening thing."

EUMC report

The largest project monitoring Islamophobia was undertaken following 9/11 by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). Their May 2002 report "Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001", written Chris Allen (UK) and Jorgen S. Nielsen of the University of Birmingham, was based on 75 reports — 15 from each EU member nation.

The report highlighted the regularity with which ordinary Muslims became targets for abusive and sometimes violent retaliatory attacks after 9/11. Despite localized differences within each member nation, the recurrence of attacks on recognizable and visible traits of Islam and Muslims was the report's most significant finding. Incidents consisted of verbal abuse, blaming all Muslims for terrorism, forcibly removing women's hijabs, spitting on Muslims, calling children "Usama," and random assaults. Muslims have been hospitalized and on one occasion paralyzed.

The report also discussed the portrayal of Muslims in the media. Inherent negativity, stereotypical images, fantastical representations, and exaggerated caricatures were all identified. The report concluded that "a greater receptivity towards anti-Muslim and other xenophobic ideas and sentiments has, and may well continue, to become more tolerated."

Public discourse

The term has been used by a number of individuals and organisations, including Kofi Annan, who voiced his opinion on a UN conference in 2004: "[W]hen the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry, that is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with Islamophobia."

Efforts against Islamophobia

There have been efforts against alleged Islamophobia by many organizations in many countries; some of these are detailed below.

• A radio talk show host from 630 WMAL on November 26, 2006 exposed the prevalence of Islamophobia by seeming to advocate a government program to force all Muslims to wear "identifying markers." The hoax was revealed at the end of the program.
  Main article: Jerry Klein’s 2006 Islamophobia Radio Experiment
• In 2006 the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) set up an observatory on Islamophobia which will monitor and document activities perceived as Islamophobic around the world.
• During the accession talks regarding Turkeys possible entry to the EU, then Prime Minister of Holland, Jan Peter Balkenende, said Islamophobia must not affect the possibility of Turkey's entry to the European Union.
• 50,000 people signed a petition urging French President Jacques Chirac to "consider Islamophobia as a new form of racism, punishable by law. The statement reads that the publishing of insulting cartoons of Muhammad by the French press hurt and offended the feelings of French- Muslims."
• In the UK a number of methods aimed at curbing Islamophobia have been set up. In Tower Hamlets, a densely populated area in London with a large Muslim community, a crime reporting scheme called "Islamophobia - Don't Suffer in Silence" has been set up which police hope will raise awareness of Islamophobia and help them to understand the extent of the problem. The British National Union of Teachers (NUT) has issued guidance to teachers in the union advising that teachers have to "Challenge Islamophobia", and that they have a "crucial role" to play in helping to "dispel myths about Muslim communities."
• Following an Islamist demonstration outside the Danish Embassy in London organized by the Al Ghurabaa organization in response to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, the Muslim Association of Britain organized a peaceful rally in Trafalgar Square attended by over three thousand people, many came by bus from towns and cities throughout the UK. Organizers made available placards and T-shirts bearing the rally's official slogan, the phrase, "United against Islamophobia, united against incitement."
• Following the July 7 bombings, the British government set up a number of initiatives aimed at combating Islamophobia, including the "National Forum against extremism and Islamophobia". There was also plans by the British government to ban incitement to "religious hatred", however, this failed to get through the House of Commons.
• The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said that the media bore some responsibility for a "rising tide of Islamophobia." He compared the reporting of Muslims in Britain to the way the flight of Jews from Russia had been covered 100 years ago.
• In 2006 the Catholic Mission Austria and the Islamic Denomination Austria created a platform called Christians and Muslims, which works against stereotypes and hostility and aims to increase tolerance and respect. As of July 25, 2006 the platform has 1452 supporters.
• In 1991 the Islamic Culture Foundation (FUNCI) organised, in collaboration with UNESCO and the Institut du Monde Arabe of Paris, an International Conference about the Contribution of Islamic Civilization in European Culture. On 13 March 2003 they created a Manifesto against Islamophobia.
• The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan issued a call in 1999 to world leaders to combat Islamophobia. Abdel-Elah Khatib, the Jordanian foreign minister said "The international community must consider how to confront this phenomenon of Islamophobia in order to prevent its proliferation".
• The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) held a seminar on how to combat Islamophobia.

Alleged acts of Islamophobia

• Dr Amanda Wise and Ghali Hassan from GlobalResearch.ca have alleged that the 2005 Cronulla riots were the result of a climate of "Islamophobia" in Australia.
• Dalil Boubakeur, a director of a Paris mosque described the vandalism on a Mosque in Paris, France as Islamophobic.
• Attack on a Mosque in Brisbane, Australia.
• Giles Tremlett of The Guardian referred to the burning of a Muslim Sanctuary in the Spanish city of Ceuta, as an instance of Islamophobia.
• Halima Mautbur, from the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations called an attack on a hijabi Muslim woman "an Islamophobic incident".
• Doudou Diène in a report prepared by the UN Commission on Human Rights released on March 7, 2006 mentioned the publishing of the cartoons at the heart of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy regarding, "The development of Islamophobia or any racism and racial discrimination ..."
• In a February 10, 2004 report by Al Jazeera the head of the Party of France's Muslims, Muhammad Latreche in discussing the French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools was quoted as saying that the legislation would, "institutionalise Islamophobia".
• On March 8, 2006 the Islamic Human Rights Commission made a press release entitled, "Islamophobia in Prisons stretches far beyond Belmarsh" concerning prisons in Britain.
• Destruction and vandalism of Muslim graves in France were seen as Islamophobic by a report of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
• Vandalism of Muslim Graves in Charlton cemetery in Plumstead, London.
• Muslim protesters alleged that the Forest Gate anti terror raid in London was Islamophobic.
• France, which has a strong secular tradition separating church from State, was accused of Islamophobia when the law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools was passed, which bans the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools. The policy extends to Muslim headscarves, large Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps, and other visible signs of religion, although the display of small[3][4] religious symbols (such as the Star of David, crosses, and Hand of Fatimas) is permitted.
• In Germany, the state of Baden-Württemberg has proposed regulations that require citizenship applicants from the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to answer questions about their attitudes on homosexuality, domestic violence and other religious issues.
• A BBC survey taken in the summer of 2004 found that employment applicants with Muslim names were far less likely to be called for an interview than applicants whose names did not appear to be Muslim. This study was taken by using fictitious applications to jobs using candidate descriptions that were similar in qualification and education, but under different names. The survey found that while a quarter of 'nonmuslim applicants' were invited to an interview, only 9% of the applications with Muslim names were responded to with invitations. Groups, such as the Muslim Council of Britain have cited this as further evidence for the widespread existence of Islamophobia.
• In 2005, The Guardian commissioned an ICM poll which indicated an increase in Islamophobic incidents, particularly after the London bombings in July 2005. Another survey of Muslims, this by the Open Society Institute, found that of those polled 32% believed they had suffered religious descrimination at airports, and 80% said they had experienced Islamophobia.

Views labeled Islamophobic

• Journalist Robert Spencer is consider an Islamophobe by Carl Ernst, an academic scholar of Islamic studies, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations has stated that the views of Ann Coulter are Islamophobic
• Oliver Duff of The Independent said in 2006 that the British National Party attempted to use increasing Islamophobia to make gains in local elections.
• Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist and author of "The Force of Reason",
• The Islamic Human Rights Commission gave U.S Attorney General John Ashcroft a nomination for their 2003 "Islamophobe of the year" award for publicly saying, "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you"
• The Islamic Human Rights Commission made Daniel Pipes a nominee for their 2004 and 2005 "Islamophobe of the year" awards.
• The self-labeled political views of ultranationalist Flemish politician Filip Dewinter.
• The UK Minister Peter Hain's statement that Britain's Muslim community is "isolationist" was met with accusations of Islamophobia, as well as Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's public claim that Western civilization is superior to Islam.
• Some suggestions in the United Kingdom debate over veils (which concerned the circumstances in which Muslim women should be required to remove the Niqab) were considered Islamophobic by MP John McDonnell.
• CAIR and the Associated Press called United States Rep. Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (R-VA) islamophobic for his Dec. 2006 letter stating that Rep-elect Keith Ellison's desire to use the Qur'an during the swearing in ceremonies was a threat to "the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America" and for saying "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies."
• Concerning the US state of North Carolina’s position (as expressed by their attorney general’s office) in the ongoing case of ACLU of N.C. & Syidah Matteen v. State of North Carolina that the only swearing-in for testimony in court that was valid had to be on a Christian Bible (and that all others must choose to affirm), CAIR's Legal Director in Washington D.C, Arsalan Iftikhar, said “This shows there's a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment, especially here in the United States.”

General references

• While in Kazakhstan, the former Pontiff, Pope John Paul II, prayed for "both Christian and Muslims to raise an intense prayer to the one almighty God", and begged "God to keep the world in peace." He won praise from the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, for "protecting the world from Islamophobia".
• In March 2005 Queen Noor of Jordan, while on the BBC television program "Breakfast with Frost", said, "What grieves me today, truly, is the fact that not only in the United States but also in Europe we've seen the rise, over the last few years, of Islamophobia," adding, "Muslim populations and the Muslim world has been increasingly, not decreasingly, viewed as a menace, as alien, as, perhaps, incompatible with Western societies and values. And I passionately believe that that is not true and that we have a great deal of work to do there."
• Anja Rudiger, Executive Coordinator of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, argues that it is no longer acceptable to use skin color as an attribute to distinguish people, and that religion and culture have become the "markers of seemingly 'natural' kinds of differences." She writes that Islam has become "the new 'other' ..."

Publications and publishers alleged to be Islamophobic

Carl Ernst, an academic scholar of Islamic studies, states that particular publications are promoted and supported by right-wing organizations that perpetuate Islamophobia and publish books written by Islamophobics. Ernst lists Regnery Publishing Inc, Encounter Books and The Free Congress Foundation, and makes some remarks on their funding sources. For example, Ernst writes that Encounter Books has been funded with $4,635,000 for its publications over the past ten years from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and that the Free Congress Foundation has received almost $24 million in funding from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and other conservative sources in the past twenty years.

Incidents on aircraft

Main article: Flying Imams controversy

• On 16 August 2006 British passengers on-board a flight from Malaga to Manchester requested the removal of two men of Asian descent from a plane. According to a spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga, "These men had aroused suspicion because of their appearance and the fact that they were speaking in a foreign language thought to be an Arabic language, and the pilot was refusing to take off until they were escorted off the plane." A security sweep of the plane found no explosives or any item of a terrorist nature. Monarch Airlines booked the men, who were Urdu speakers, into a hotel room, gave them a free meal and sent them home on a later plane. The men later responded, "Just because we're Muslim, does not mean we are suicide bombers." The Islamic Human Rights Commission blamed "ever-increasing Islamophobia" related to the "war on terror" for the incident.

• A passenger traveling to the British Virgin Islands on a plane bound for the United States from Manchester in the UK was forced off the plane prior to takeoff. The man, a British-born Muslim residing in the United States, said he was singled out because he was a Muslim pilot and was left feeling "demoralized and humiliated. I must have met the profile on the day. I have an Arabic name, I am a Muslim, I'm from Britain and I know how to fly."
• On 21 November 2006, six imams were forcefully removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport on suspicions of terrorism. The event led to an outcry from Muslim organizations in America saying that what happened showed the growing prejudice against Muslims in America. Details of the accusations made against the imams can be found in the official police report on the incident (currently exclusively hosted here), which includes written witness testimony of the imams' extremely suspicious activity, such as praising terrorism, praying unnecessarily loudly, asking for seat-belt extensions that were obviously not needed (then putting said extensions under their seats), not sitting in their assigned seats (having someone near each exit in a pattern shared by hijackers of the past), and getting up to move around and confer with each other repeatedly.

See also

• Anti-Arabism
• Persecution of Muslims
• Historical persecution by Muslims
• Islamist terrorism
• Islam
• Criticism of Islam
• Alliance of Civilizations
• Clash of Civilizations
• Islamophobia Watch
• Religious intolerance
• Islamofascism

Further reading

• Forum against Islamophobia and Racism
• Islamophobia.org
• "Islamophobia", Islamicawareness.net
• Islamophobia Watch
• "From Aladdin to Lost Ark, Muslims get angry at 'bad guy' film images" -The Guardian, 25 January 2007
• Speech against Islamophobia and racism at CUPE National Conference in Vancouver, Canada
• Muslims and Islam in European History Textbooks
• "Rally against incitement and Islamophobia in London", eyetopic.co.uk, February 11, 2006.
• Chris Allen (UK) Islamophobia resources: writing, articles & publications
• Dr. Louay Safi's Articles on Islamophobia
• Brooks, James. "Deep roots of Islamophobia Islamonline.net.
• Deane, Claudia and Fears, Darryl. Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing, The Washington Post, March 9, 2006.
• El Fadl, Khaled Abou. "On revising bigotry", chapter from The Conference on the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam, Scholars of the House.
• Gray, Muriel. "How can we have respect for Islam when we are too fearful to criticise it?", The Glasgow Herald, February 5, 2006.
• Hasan, Jehanzeb. "Confronting the Monolith: The Struggle Against Islamophobia and Osamaism", Media Monitors Network, August 7, 2006.
• Hassan, Fardusa. "Beauty queen enters Islamophobia debate", The Guardian, August 31, 2006.
• Hassan, Ghali. The Road to the Muslim Holocaust, Globalresearch.ca, February 7, 2006.
• Lamont, Norman. "Down with multiculturalism, book-burning and fatwas", The Daily Telegraph, May 8, 2002.
• Marud, Abdal-Hakim. "Muslims and the European Right", Masud.co.uk, first delivered as a lecture on April 30, 2000.
• Nacos, Brigitte L., Fueling Our Fears: Stereotyping, Media Coverage, and Public Opinion of Muslim Americans. 2006
• O'Keefe, Derrick. Maclean's magazine goes over-the-top with racist cover story, Seven Oaks Magazine, October 27, 2006.
• Pipes, Daniel. "Islamophobia?", New York Sun, October 25, 2005.
• Ramji, Rubina. "From Navy Seals to The Siege: Getting to Know the Muslim Terrorist, Hollywood Style" The Journal of Religion and Film, Vol. 9, No.2, October 2005
• Walter Laqueur. The Origins of Fascism: Islamic Fascism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Oxford University Press blog.
• Hossam Armanious. Coptic Islamophobia.
• Barry Van, Confronting Islamophobia in Educational Practice ISBN 1-85856-340-2
• Castle, Stephen. "Islamophobia takes a grip across Europe", The Independent, December 18, 2006.