Islamophobia

Islamophobia is a neologism that in one definition found in Princeton University's Word Net refers to, "prejudice against Islam and Muslims". The term, which is known to date back to 1991, became prominent in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The concept of Islamophobia has attracted some controversy, and a number of writers, journalists, and intellectuals including Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, have criticized it for allegedly confusing the criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers. Others such as Jonathan Steele, Tariq Ali and Tariq Ramadan do not reject the concept, but differ to how it is manifested, and how "Islamophobia" can be stopped.

History of the term

The term is formed with the Greek suffix -phobia 'fear of -' in a similar way to xenophobia or homophobia. It reflects the influence of such 1990s movements as multiculturalism and identity politics. During this period, some sociologists and cultural analysts argued that there was a shift in forms of prejudice from ones based on race to ones based on notions of cultural superiority and otherness.

Characterizations

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe defines Islamophobia as "the fear of or prejudiced viewpoint towards Islam, Muslims and matters pertaining to them".

Runnymede Trust

File:Islamophobia graph.png

This graph from the Runnymede Trust attempts to visually summarize all aspects of Islamophobia.

In the United Kingdom, the term “Islamophobia” was not used in government policy until 1997, when the UK race relations think tank Runnymede Trust published the report Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All. In a section entitled The Nature of Islamophobia, the report itemizes eight features that Runnymede attributed to Islamophobia:

1. Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.
2. Islam is seen as separate and “other”. It does not have values in common with other cultures, is not affected by them and does not influence them.
3. Islam is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist.
4. Islam is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, and engaged in a Clash of Civilizations.
5. Islam is seen as a political ideology, used for political or military advantage.
6. Criticisms made of 'the West' by Islam are rejected out of hand.
7. Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.
8. Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural and normal.

A critic of the Runnymede definition, British columnist Josie Appleton, criticized the definition given by the Runnymede Trust thusly:

This Runnymede report talked about a rising 'anti-Muslim prejudice' that needed addressing in policy. But the section titled 'The nature of Islamophobia' suggests a very broad notion of prejudice — examples of Islamophobia included people seeing Islam as inferior to the West, rather than just distinctively different; seeing Islam as monolithic and static, rather than diverse and progressive; seeing Islam as an enemy, rather than a partner to cooperate with (7). This also seemed to be founded on an over-sensitivity, an attempt to stem any kind of criticism of Islam. Rather than engage Muslims in debate, non-Muslims are supposed to tiptoe around them, for fear of causing offence. Since 11 September we have seen how this attitude can stifle discussion.

UK researcher Chris Allen has not rejected the concept of Islamophobia but has criticised the primary theory, concept and definition of Islamophobia—that of the Runnymede Trust—as naïve and over‐simplified.

The Runnymede Trust issued a report in 2004 which said that Islamophobia had become institutional in many Public bodies.

Stephen Schwartz

American journalist and Muslim convert Stephen Schwartz believes that Islamophobia consists of the following:

• attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world;
• condemning all of Islam and its history as extremist;
• denying the active existence, in the contemporary world, of a moderate Muslim majority;
• insisting that Muslims accede to the demands of non-Muslims for theological changes in their religion;
• treating all conflicts involving Muslims as the fault of Muslims themselves; and
• inciting war against Islam as a whole.

Schwartz suggests that Islamophobia, so defined, actually exists, though individuals are often accused of it without justification.

FAIR - Forum against Islamophobia and Racism

The UK based Forum against Islamophobia and Racism defines Islamophobia on its Website. It says:
"Islamophobia is the fear, hatred or hostility directed towards Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia affects all aspects of Muslim life and can be expressed in several ways, including:

• attacks, abuse and violence against Muslims
• attacks on mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim cemeteries
• discrimination in education, employment, housing, and delivery of goods and services
• lack of provisions and respect for Muslims in public institutions."

Roger Hardy, BBC

Roger Hardy, the BBCs Islamic affairs analyst, defines Islamophobia as "fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims".

Dr Abduljalil Sajid

Dr Abduljalil Sajid (Brighton Islamic Mission, member of the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia and chair of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK) defined the term 'Islamophobia', a word that was first used in print in 1991, by quoting extracts from the 1997 Runnymede Trust report, which provided the first official definition of the term as unfounded hostility towards Islam, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.

EUMC's "Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001"

The largest monitoring project ever to be commissioned into "Islamophobia" was undertaken following 9/11 by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC).

From a total of 75 reports – 15 from each EU member nation - a synthesis report was published in May 2002. Entitled 'Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001' it was co-authored by Chris Allen[1] and Jorgen S. Nielsen at the University of Birmingham, England.

The report highlighted the regularity with which ordinary Muslims became targets for abusive and sometimes violent retaliatory attacks, all of which were seemingly becoming more extreme and accepted.

According to the report, despite localised differences within each member nation, the recurrence of attacks at street level upon recognisable and visible traits of Islam and Muslims was the report's most significant finding. These attacks took such form as the following: verbal abuse indiscriminately blaming all Muslims for terrorist attacks; women having their hijab torn from their heads; male and female Muslims being spat at; children being called 'Usama' as a term of insult and derision; and random assaults, which on one occasion, left a victim paralysed and others hospitalised.

The representation of Muslims in the media was also noted. Whilst some media initially attempted to differentiate Muslims, this was not always the norm. Inherent negativity, stereotypical images, fantastical representations and grossly exaggerated caricatures were all readily identifiable, drawing upon pre-9/11 established norms to locate further justification and resonance within the media’s audiences.

Similar concerns about the role of politicians and other opinion leaders were also raised. Within the mainstream of political activity, some political leaders made immediate verbal statements stressing the need to differentiate between 'Muslims' and 'terrorists'. In Portugal however, political leaders remained silent. In some other countries, mainstream political leaders were much more vocal and emotionally charged as regards anti-Muslim rhetoric, with both Italy and Denmark being earmarked in the report.

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' . This should be summarized and included in a section somewhere. It shouldn't be a section of its own

Polls

A 2006 Gallup survey of American public opinion found that "many Americans harbor strong bias against U.S. Muslims".

• 22% say they would not like to have a Muslim as a neighbor.
• 34% believe U.S. Muslims support al-Qaeda.
• 49% believe U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States.
• 39% advocate that U.S. Muslims should carry special ID

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. [2]

Use in public discourse and examples

The term most often appears in discourse on the condition of immigrant Muslims living as minorities in the United States, Europe, and Australia, although it has also been used in recent years in countries such as India, and occasionally in connection with non-immigrant Muslim communities or individuals. In the most prominent cases, however, experiences of immigrant communities of unemployment, rejection, alienation, and violence have allegedly combined with Islamophobia to make integration difficult. Maleiha Malik has argued that this has led, in the United Kingdom, to Muslim communities suffering higher levels of unemployment, poor housing, poor health, and higher levels of racially motivated violence than other communities.

Since September 11, 2001, given the strong association between Arabs and the religion of Islam, Islamophobia is sometimes expressed as a form of anti-Arab racism. In the UK, Chris Allen has argued that whilst 'anti-Arab' sentiment is quite rare, Islamophobia has been to some degree transitory: a form of 'new' or 'cultural' racism that has seen the markers of discrimination shift from those of race to those of religion. In Germany, the majority of victims have not been Arabs, but rather are from Turkey, perhaps the most secular Islamic country. Anti-Muslim bias has also occasionally been expressed in violent attacks on Sikhs who were mistaken for Muslims on account of their distinctive turbans.

It has been argued that Islamophobia also exists in India. These claims are based upon a definition of Islamophobia that is more associated with communal politics in India, although accusations of the denigration of Islamic culture and history are also present. Karen Armstrong wrote in the Guardian newspaper that Islamophobia is the modern apparation of anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination that dates as far back as the crusades.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a December 7, 2004 UN conference on the emergence of Islamophobia that "[when] the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry — that it is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with 'Islamophobia'."

Jeremy Seabrook, Dr. Anya Rudiger and the Forum Against Islamophobia & Racism have written that the effects of Islamophobia range from individual hatred to widespread discrimination or persecution.

In 2005 the Guardian, a British newspaper, commissioned an ICM poll which indicated an increase in Islamophobic incidents, especially after the July 7 Bombings. Another survey on 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.

Some do not oppose being labeled "Islamophobic". Filip Dewinter, the leader of the nationalist Flemish party "Vlaams Belang" said to the The Jewish Week that his party was "Islamophobic. Yes, we are afraid of Islam. The Islamisation of Europe is a frightening thing."

Efforts against Islamophobia

Globally there have been a series of efforts against islamophobia, some of these efforts are detailed below.

• Throughout the 2000s the Council on American Islamic Relations or 'CAIR' has been active in defending US Muslims against Islamophobia.
• In 2006 the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) set up an observatory on Islamophobia which will monitor and document all anti-Islamic activities around the world.
• During the ascession talks regarding Turkeys posible 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 the President of France, Jacques Chirac to curb the growing hatred and discrimination towards Muslims in France.
• In the UK a number of methods aimed at curbing Islamophobia have been set up. In Tower Hamlets, a densely populated area 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 a controversial demonstration 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 nearly four thousand people where organizers made available placards and T-shirts bearing the rally's official slogan, the phrase, "United against Islamophobia, united against incitement". A similar themed march, a week later, drew around ten thousand people to the same place .
• Following the July 7 bombings, the British government set up a number of initiatives aimed at combatting 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 the apparent rise in Islamophobia, and said that a "rising tide of Islamophobia" in the media must be challenged. He compared the reporting of Muslims in contemporary 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 Demonination 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. In March 13 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".

References to acts attributed to 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.
• Smearing of a Qur'an with what appeared to be feces and dumping it in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
• 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.
• 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) however, is permitted.
• The Dutch parliament has voted in favour of a proposal to ban the burqa in public, which has led to similar accusations.
• 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.

References to views labeled as Islamophobic

• The Council on American-Islamic Relations has stated that the views of Ann Coulter are Islamophobic
• Statements that incite Islamophobia from Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson and Benny Hinn, according to John Esposito. read relative quotes.
• Oliver Duff of The Independent has claimed that the British National Party has attempted to use increasing Islamophobia to make gains in local elections. In previous decades, the BNP was also deemed anti-semitic by Jewish groups.
• "The Force of Reason" written by Italian former journalist Oriana Fallaci, who is also accused of outright racism towards Mexicans and Arabs
• 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. He has been called "one of America's most notorious Arab-haters and Islamophobes".
• The 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.

General references in connection to Islamophobia

• 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 programme "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.".

Criticisms of the concept and usage of the term

Critics of the term such as Afshin Ellian have argued that it has been used as an attempt to police or censor opinion by characterizing any criticism of Islam or Muslims as pathological and irrational. Some of these critics cite the case of the British liberal feminist journalist Polly Toynbee, who was nominated for the title of "Most Islamophobic Media Personality of the Year" at the Annual Islamophobia Awards overseen by the Islamic Human Rights Commission in May 2003. The nomination was based on her comments in an article she had written for the London-based liberal newspaper The Guardian:

Religious politics scar India, Kashmir, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Sudan ... the list of countries wrecked by religion is long. But the present danger is caused by Islamist theocracy ... There is no point in pretending it is not so. Wherever Islam either is the government or bears down upon the government, it imposes harsh regimes that deny the most basic human rights.

Toynbee has rejected the label of "Islamophobe" and argued that her comments must be judged on their truth or falsity, not on the offence they might give to most members of the Muslim community.

Civil-rights activist Bahram Soroush views the term Islamophobia as a form of "Intellectual blackmail", a means of avoiding legitimate criticism of Islam by "scaremongering".

Kenan Malik, a British science writer, while stating that "there is clearly ignorance and fear of Islam in this country. Muslims do get harassed and attacked because of their faith", has made several points concerning the application of the term Islamophobia in his essay The Islamophobia Myth:

• Caution is needed in attributing Islamophobia as the base cause of any event.
• It is not sufficient that a Muslim is a victim of crime.
• The accusation of Islamophobia can be used as a mechanism to stifle debate and criticism of the cultural practices of Muslim societies.
• Finally, anti-social behaviour and deliquency may be the cause of any of the events cited as being islamophobic attacks.

Malik's perceptions have been challenged by Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, who, in a letter to the Guardian, highlights instances of apparent Islamophobia which Malik has omitted. To illustrate this point, he mentions a BBC survey which he claims found that job applicants with traditional English names were more likely to be granted an interview than applicants with identical qualifications and work experience, but with Muslim-sounding names.

Wolfram Richter, professor of economics in the Dortmund University believes that what is seen as Islamophobia is essentially just another form of racism.

On December 7, 2004 at a U.N. sponsored seminar entitled "Confronting Islamophobia: Education for Tolerance and Understanding”, Ahmed Kamal Aboulmagd Ph.D., a former member of the Government of Egypt, disputed the neologism and described the term as "derogatory".

The Dutch philosopher and criminal law expert Afshin Ellian, criticised the concept in February 2006 in a piece entitled Stop Capitulating to Threats. He claimed that "Free speech is in danger of being increasingly restricted by invoking “Islamophobia” and “racism”. And some intellectuals have already capitulated." Citing an example of a play cancelled and of a journalist who resigned her post because of alleged threats. He asks "What has happened to civil courage? Why do we hear nothing from the publishers, artists, media and colleagues of people who have capitulated about the consequences of this voluntary capitulation?"

Writing in the New Humanist, University of London philosopher Piers Benn suggests that people who "fear the rise of Islamophobia" foster an environment "not intellectually or morally healthy", to the point that “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 agrees with Benn's depiction of Islamophobia becoming powerful enough to itself trigger fear. He claims that the word “Islamophobia” is a "misnomer" as "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."

This is a view shared by the National Secular Society who believe that "There is little evidence of any wave of popular Islamophobia. But there is plenty to suggest that some in high places are suffering from an exaggerated fear of an anti-Muslim backlash, viewing the public as a pogrom waiting to happen."

Johann Hari, a journalist for The Independent, has criticised the use of the term by organisations like Islamophobia Watch to attack him and others. 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."

See also

• Persecution of Muslims
• Religious intolerance
• Clash of Civilizations
• Alliance of Civilizations
• Islamophobia Watch
• Islamofascism

External links

• "Deep roots of Islamophobia by James Brooks, Islamonline.net
• Forum against Islamophobia and Racism
• Misconceptions about Islam
• Islamophobia.org
• "Islamophobia", Islamicawareness.net
• Islamophobia Watch
• "Muslims and the European Right" by Abdal-Hakim Murad, Masud.co.uk, first delivered as a lecture on April 30, 2000
• Islamophobia resources: writing, articles & publications
• Scholars of the house-on revising bigotry
• The Road to the Muslim Holocaust
• "Down with multiculturalism, book-burning and fatwas" by Norman Lamont, The Telegraph, 8 May 2002
• Chris Allen Dr Chris Allen (PhD: Discourse of Islamophobia - University of Birmingham 2006)
• Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing by Claudia Deane and Darryl Fears, Washington Post, March 9, 2006
• Confronting the Monolith: The Struggle Against Islamophobia and Osamaism by Jehanzeb Hasan, Media Monitors Network, August 7, 2006

Links to sites criticising the concept of Islamophobia:

• Kenan Malik: The Islamophobia myth
• Islamophobia? by Daniel Pipes
• "How can we have respect for Islam when we are too fearful to criticise it?" by Muriel Gray, The Herald, 5 February 2006

• Rally against incitement and Islamophobia in London,eyetopic.co.uk, February 11, 2006