Islamophobia

Outlines

Introduction

History of the concept

Different conceptualizations of Islamophobia

Prevalence of Islamophobia

Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Racism, and Anti-Semitism

Causes of Growing Islamophobia in the World

 Misinterpretation of Jihad by Islamophobia Industry

 War on Terror
 Negative Depiction of Islam by Western Media
 Theory of Clash of Civilization
 Ignorance About Islam and Muslims
 Biased Literature and Websites
 Hollywood and Bollywood Industry

Effects of Growing Islamophobia on Muslim Ummah

 Anti-Muslim Hate crimes and Incidents mushrooming around the world

 Anti-Mosque and Anti-Sharia Campaigns
 Impact on quality of Muslim's Lives
 Bullying of Muslim students
 Burgeoning hostility towards Muslim immigrants

Remedies: Way Forward

 Moderation in religion: Ijtihad and role Muslim Ulemas

 Organize programs for Preservation and Promotion of Muslim identity
 Curbing Extremists Forces
 Madrasah Reforms
 Spending more resources on science and technology
 Role of Media
 The role of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

International Day to Combat Islamophobia

Conclusion

Islamophobia is a prejudice, aversion, hostility, or hatred towards Muslims and encompasses any
distinction, exclusion, restriction, discrimination, or preference against Muslims that has the purpose or
effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
In other words, Islamophobia is not just hate crime and abuse, but must also be recognised in the ways in
which it excludes Muslims from all realms of civic life, whether that be through workplace discrimination,
or through institutional Islamophobias that silence Muslim voices within democratic debates.

While what is understood as Islamophobia today has a long history, the term itself was coined in
1918 by two French researchers and converts to Islam. They used the term to classify what they saw as a
political effort by colonial powers to undermine Islam. However, it was not until the late 1990s that the
term was popularized, with the British race equality think tank Runnymede Trust’s report Islamophobia: A
challenge for us all. According to the report, ‘Islamophobia refers to unfounded hostility towards Islam’. It
acknowledges that although the term is ‘not ideal’, it is a ‘useful shorthand way of referring to dread or
hatred of Islam and, therefore, to fear or dislike of all or most Muslims’. Since then, the term has been
used both in politics and academia. Of the explicit conceptualizations, Erik Bleich’s definition of
Islamophobia as ‘indiscriminate negative attitudes or emotions directed at Islam or Muslims’ has perhaps
won the most ground within academia.

Its political use has led some to reject the term as being too normative. The main criticism
pertains to the suffix phobia, which means morbid fear. It is commonly used to classify mental illnesses
where the fear of something is both irrational and impossible to control. Another issue is that the term
conflates opposition to Islam with prejudice toward Muslims. While opposition to Islam may translate into
prejudice toward Muslims, empirical studies show that this is not a given. To heighten the level of
precision and set aside the focus on irrationality, some researchers replace Islamophobia with the two
analytically distinct categories of anti-Islam and anti-Muslim. Anti-Islam can be defined as ‘framing Islam
as a homogenous, totalitarian ideology which threatens [Western] civilization’, whereas anti-Muslim can
be defined as ‘oversimplified beliefs, negative feelings and evaluations of Muslims as a group’.

Organized mobilization against Islam and Muslims in liberal democracies surged after the 9/11
attacks in the United States by Al-Qaeda. This gave rise to what became a transnational, anti-Islamic
movement. Prominent activist groups include the English Defence League (EDL), Patriotic Europeans
against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), Stop Islamization, and Act for America; while these
groups have taken to the streets, the anti-Islamic movement is also an online phenomenon.

Anti-Islamic activists see themselves as part of an ongoing civilizational clash stretching back to
the historical strife between Muslim and Christian states, such as the Umayyad invasion of present-day
Spain and France in the 8th century, Ottoman conquests of Constantinople in 1453, and the siege of
Vienna in 1683. Since they view Islam as a totalitarian ideology that threatens Western civilization, they
seek to control and limit the practice of Islam and halt Muslim immigration. Some advocate for expelling
all Muslims from Western territories.

Over the last two decades, many far right parties have also undergone an anti-Islamic, ideological
reorientation which makes them similar to the extra-parliamentary anti-Islamic movement. Largely due to
this anti-Islamic turn and expansion of the far right, Islamophobia has been described ‘one of the biggest
challenges in Europe’ at the political level. Cas Mudde, scholar of the far right, argues that the 2015
refugee crisis in particular ‘unleashed an orgy of Islamophobia’. Some scholars further argue that Western
states’ “counter-terrorism” policies are inherently Islamophobic for targeting Muslim populations as
potential terrorists.

While the broader organized anti-Islamic movement, which originated in Western Europe and the
United States, is largely non-violent, Islamophobic ideas have motivated some right-wing terrorist attacks,
including the terrorist attack on July 22, 2011, in Norway. Outside the West, different varieties of
Islamophobia also underpin the implementation of exclusionary policies toward Muslims, such as Hindu
nationalism in India, and Buddhist nationalism in Asia, e.g. in Myanmar. The recent drive to curtail Islam
in China is another case, primarily through the internment of over a million Muslims from the Uighur
minority in the western regions.

Research and surveys indicate that opposition to Muslim immigration and certain anti-Islamic
attitudes are widespread, people in secular and liberal societies are on average more tolerant towards
Muslim citizens and Islam than people in more religious countries. In these secularized countries,
however, people with the strongest anti-Muslim attitudes are found among the non-religious. This
intolerance is in part premised on a cultural understanding of liberal‐democratic values, where the explicit
rejection of Muslim practices has little to do with Muslims as such but rather with how their practices are
perceived to deviate from the norms of society. The studies comparing attitudes toward Muslims and
Christian conservatives in Western Europe have found comparable levels of prejudice toward both
communities. Work zooming in on explicitly Islamophobic, conspiratorial thinking has nevertheless found
that a sizable minority harbor such views. Furthermore, Islamophobic attitudes have been found to
correlate with certain personality traits such as social dominance orientation.

While animosity towards the religion is frequently used as a justification for Islamophobic
sentiments, this hostility is also a product of animosity towards race, ethnicity and culture. In this way,
Muslims have become collectively racialised through their religious identities. Therefore, rather than
viewing Islamophobia in a vacuum, it is important to view it through the lens of racisms. As Runnymede’s
recent report attests, Islamophobia should be understood as an anti-Muslim racism.

Xenophobia plays an integral role in the development of Islamophobias. British Muslims, even
those whom have been born in the UK and whose parents were born in this country, may be perceived to
be as foreign as someone born halfway around the world. The reason for this foreignness is found not
only in distinctions of ethnicity, but also in a perceived conflict of views, values, norms, practices, beliefs,
and behaviours that all culminate in a threat or an insult to the Western identity and way of life.
Furthermore, there is an intimate link between Islamophobia and xenophobia that cannot be dislocated
from the perceived decentring of Western power and erosions of Western and White privilege as an
existential threat.

Islamophobia in the UK is not an ahistorical phenomenon; rather, it must be contextualised within

the history of Britain’s colonial past. Therefore, to fully understand Islamophobia in any meaningful way,
there must be an acknowledgement of the relationship between Islamophobia, Orientalism, and empire.

Orientalism is a mechanism through which dominant groups have gained cultural and civilising
power over other (in this case Muslim) populations. Islamophobia thereby becomes the conduit through
which Muslims are regulated into hegemonic Western conceptions of modernity. Muslims who resist such
Western appropriation are deemed a threat to the stability of the state and are thus placed in the
dichotomy between the good “moderate” Muslims (those who unquestioningly adhere to the sensibilities
of Western identity constructs) and the bad “extremist” Muslims (those who threaten Western hegemonic
notions of modernity through maintaining their religious-cultural identities or through questioning the
status quo of this hegemony).

Islamophobia is often portrayed as completely distinct from anti-Semitism. However, this is a

misunderstanding of hatred and racisms. Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, sexism,
homophobia and other forms of hatred are all mechanisms of social regulation and control of minorities.
Therefore, they need to be understood in the interconnectivity of their logics, manifestations, and
consequences.

The Islamophobia Industry is also known as the “Counter-Jihad Movement” misinterpreted the
concept of JIHAD. It comprises a massive interconnected and well-funded nexus of think tanks such as
Henry Jackson Society, media outlets like Breitbart and Rebel Media, Public figures, politicians, and
policymakers that advance, disseminate, and perpetuate negative discourses about Muslims and Islam
for economic and political gains. The whole industry largely guided by right-wing and neo-conservative
ideologies employs the rhetoric of a number of experts to spread misinformation about the true concept of
JIHAD and fear about Muslims and Islam by perpetuating the myth of an Islamic invasion of the Western
World.

9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA had completely changed the core of fear in the West and
Western intelligence has found the new enemy that will help them to legalize their activities against
Eastern countries. The 9/11 attacks paved the way for the United States to start a new era of war named
“War on Terror”. it was actually a war against terrorism but after some time it proved to be a war against
Muslim World (Islam). Islamophobia spread throughout the West after these attacks. Before 9/1, the USA
in connivance with the Western European countries pitted Muslims against communism between 1979
and 1989 by exploiting the most sensitive Islamic ideology of Jihad to make them realize that USSR’s
attack on Afghanistan was a move against Islam. However, after the USSR retreat, the USA and its allies
deserted the Jihadists and the same Jihadists who fought for the USA became terrorists (Taliban) in the
eyes of the USA as their vested interests of exploiting Afghanistan were completed. The “War on Terror”,
has also engulfed the Middle East countries (Muslim countries) such as Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. It is
only because of the US so-called move of “War Against Terror”, that the waves of Islamophobia have
swept country after country, sounding alarming bells in the Muslim population and Muslim diaspora.

Blaming Islam for terrorism is like blaming Christianity or colonialism. (Anonymous)

Besides “War on Terror”, it is alarming to see how the Western media outlets show prejudice
against Islam and Muslims and spread Islamophobia. According to Elizbeth Poole in the Encyclopedia of
Race and Ethnic Studies, the media have been criticized for perpetuating Islamophobia. She cites a case
study examining a sample of articles in the British press from between 1994 and 2004 only, which
concluded that Muslim viewpoints were underrepresented and that issues involving Muslims usually
depicted them in a negative light. Such portrayals, according to Poole, include the depiction of Islam and
Muslims as a threat to Western security and values. The Media also suggested expressions such as “
Islamic Terrorism, Islamic bombs and violent Islam”, which have resulted in a negative perception of
Islam, according to her. Along with this, 80% of ABC News, CBS, and 60% of Fox coverage is negative
about Islam. When there is a report of an attack carried out by a Muslim, they would call it Islamic
terrorism. On the other hand, when a non-Muslim carries out a similar attack, they would label him a
mentally distressed lone-wolf. This is the extreme level of bias that is deeply entrenched in the Western
Media.

Furthermore, there was no enemy left for the West after the collapse of the USSR. The biggest
enemy, communism, was subdued and the Islamic civilization was perceived to be the next big obstacle
to Western civilization, as started by Samuel P. Huntington in his famous “Clash of Civilization”, theory,
which explained the clash between East and West culture. It is also not hard to state that there is
parallelism between the fear of Communism and Islamophobia in the West. Both fears were born from the
ashes of war and attacks used as political tools. The 9/11 tragedy indicated to the West that the enemy
they were looking for was Islam and its followers, the Muslims. The discourse of Islamic terrorism was
constructed and the new enemy was identified along with new strategies to be activated accordingly.
Since then, Muslims all over the world have been seen through the lens of terrorism. Thus, the clash
between two ideologies / civilization has started.

It has been suggested that Islamophobia is closely related to identity politics and gives the
perceived benefit of constructing their identity in opposition to a negative essentialized image of Muslims.
This occurs in the form of self-righteousness, assignment of blame, and key identity makers. In some
societies, Islamophobia has materialized due to the portrayal of Islam and Muslims as the national
“others”, where exclusion and discrimination occur on the basis of their religion. The anti-Muslim rhetoric
often spikes during elections as most of the politicians have exploited fear of Muslims to win votes. The
RSS (Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh), Hindu nationalist, in India promotes the rise and rule of “Hindutva”,
ignoring Muslims and treating them inhumanly under Modi’s BJP government is one such example. The
election campaigns of trump also depend upon identity politics with the slogan of “America First”, which
encompasses the racial superiority of the West as compared to the East. The world leaders do play the
game of “identity politics”, to debilitate and desiccate the identity and image of Islam (Islam).

Along with identity politics, the ignorance of American/West about Islam and Muslims caused a
looming rise in Islamophobia. Most of the American do not personally know a Muslim and a little about
Islam. According to a survey, conducted by ING (Islamic work Group) an organization, only 38% of
Americans said they know a Muslim, and the other 62% of Americans have said they seldom or never
conversed or interacted with a Muslim. Moreover, 57% of them accepted that they know little about Islam
and the other 26% of people said they know nothing about Islam, and these numbers have not changed
in 25 years. These figures show that the West is ignorant of Islam and Muslims, what they see and hear,
they believe. In this way, their ignorance is hurting Islam and Muslims as a whole.

Biased literature and websites are other tools used by the West to tarnish the true image of Islam.
After 9/11, a plethora of books bashing Islam and Muslims have been published. One such example is the
works of Ayan Hirsi Ali, who received several awards and recognition for her works. Hirsi Ali, a former
Muslim who abandoned her faith and became an atheist, has been a vocal critic of Islam. She is a
Somali-born Dutch activist, feminist, author, and scholar. In 2004, she collaborated on a short movie
entitled “Submission”, a film depicting fundamentalist Islamic law and critical of Islamic canon itself. In
2015, she wrote the book “Heretic”, in which she argued that Islam was beyond reform and she called for
reformation of Islam by defeating the Islamists and supporting reformist Muslims. Other noted authors of
the books denouncing Islam and Muslims include Robert Spencer, Bill Warner, etc. To add insult to injury,
individuals and groups in the Islamophobia networks have created numerous websites demonizing Islam
and Muslims, these websites include “Islamist Watch”, by Daniel Pipes, “Jihad Watch”, by Robert
Spencer, and “Act for America”, by Brigitte Gabriel.

Coupled with biased literature and websites, Hollywood and Bollywood industries have left no
stone unturned to demonize the image of Islam. The representation of Islam and Arabs in Hollywood has
consistently been stereotyped such as villains, terrorists, subservient women, etc. Prof. Jack Shaheen, in
his book, “Reel Bad Arabs”, examines a thousand films and TV shows featuring Arabs and finds, they
have been shown in denigrating ways. Despite heightened awareness, a wave of new movies reinforces
stereotypes such as: “Beirut”, in which an American diplomat seeks to rescue a colleague captured by
fictional Militia of Islamic Liberation; the film meets with a vigorous protest for the dehumanizing portrayal
of Arabs. “Jack Ryan, Homeland and Seven Days in Entebbe”, are the most bigoted shows on television.
Equally important, the Bollywood industry has also presented bigotry and prejudice against Islam in their
movies; one such example is the recent Web series “Bard of Blood”, in which Muslims image is depicted
as a terrorist. These television shows by both the industries have raised another wave of Islamophobia in
the West and World.

The anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidents are mushrooming around the world now. In the first
half of 2019, more than 500 anti-Muslim incidents took place. Anti-Muslim biased incidents increased by
19% in 2018 and 2019, and144 mosques have been attacked in 2018 and 2019. Along with this, hate
crimes against Muslims rose by 24%. There is no doubt that the horrendous incident of 9/11 had far-
reaching ramifications for Muslims around the world. Over the past couple of years, deadly Islamophobia
incidents continue to surge in Europe and North America. In 2017, Jeremy Joseph, Christian became
furious when he saw a young Muslim woman donning hijab on a commuter train in the US. He kept
abusing her and used a knife to kill her but two passengers who intervened. In the UK, more than half of
religiously motivated attacks in 2017 and 18 were directed at Muslims. The most recent incident of
making cartoon’s of Holy prophet s.a.w happened a few days back in November 2020 in France which
caused sheer protests all over the world and led to boycott of French products Last but not least, live
streaming murderous rampage by an Australian white supremacist, Breton Tarrant, in Christ Church
mosques, snows a new-fashioned Islamophobia killing more than fifty people.

Equally important, the extremist views and anti-Muslim sentiments are exacerbating in the wake
of Islamophobia. According to a survey in 2019 by YouGov Poll, found that only 15% of Americans have
favorable views about Islam and 37% of Americans have unfavorable views. Another report conducted in
2017, in which “Pew Poll”, rated American Muslims most negatively of all religious groups with an average
rating of 48 and Jews had the highest rating of all at 68. the same “Pew Poll’, a summary of the report
found that 41% of Americans believe Islam encourages violence more than other faiths, and 50% of
Americans believe that Islam is not part of mainstream American society. These anti-Muslim sentiments
are causing a threat to the life, property and existence of the Muslim diaspora.

The menace of the 9/11 incident, gave a way to the Western World to start anti-Mosque and anti-
Sharia campaigns against Islam. This horrible incident has caused a deep impact on the quality of Muslim
life. The opponents of the new mosque delayed the construction with fours of litigation. Another place
Park51 was proposed Islamic Center near the site of 9/11 attacks, prompted nationwide outcry after
opponents falsely labeled it a “Victory Mosque”. The anti-Sharia campaigns were also started that were
based on false that Muslims are trying to promote Sharia law in the US. In August 2017, 201 bills were
introduced in 43 states banning Sharia, of which 14 were enacted. Moreover, Islamophobia has a huge
impact on the life of a Muslim in the West. According to Pew 2018, 50% of people believe that being
Muslim in the US has got more difficult in recent years and 75% believe there is a lot of discrimination
against Muslims in the US. So, the growing Islamophobia has a lot more to do in order to improve the
image of Muslims in the Western World.

The other factor contributed by Islamophobia is the bullying of Muslim students at school,
colleges, and university levels. The persistent bullying and harassment caused depression, anxiety, sleep
difficulties, and poor school adjustments. Some of the Muslim students shared their experiences in their
own words:, “A lot of my classmates in 4 th grade thought that Muslims should not be allowed in the
country and one person said to me that Muslims are terrorists”. another student described his story,
“When I want to play with anyone they run away or they bully me or they say I cannot play.” according to
a report of 2019, about bullying of Muslim students in California, 40% of students reports being bullied
because they are Muslims, and 14% of students’ report also highlights the problem of teacher bias. All
these figures show that Muslim students are facing the outcomes of Islamophobia which enfeebled the
physical, mental health problems.

Burgeoning hostility towards Muslim immigrants has another daunting effect on the true identity of
Muslims. The anti-immigrant sentiments have been gaining traction and fueling political sea change
across the globe. The US Ex President [Link] and the radical far-right in Europe have delineated
Muslim immigrants as the “Most despised group of invaders in the West”. It is rightly said that “Politicians
can set the tone of tolerance and unity, and they can also set the tone of division and violence”. [Link]
had repeatedly used anti-immigrant discourse during his tenure that Muslims should be banned from
entering the US and his toxic campaign rhetoric towards Muslims was a contributing factor to the rise of
the Islamophobia phenomenon. The view that all Muslims are dangerous and terrorists, can stoke further
racial and faith-based schisms.

To cope with all these threats to Islam: the first and foremost duty lies on the shoulders of Islamic
scholars (Ulemas) to address Islam and relating problems in a modern way by conducting the Ijtihad.
Ijtihad is one of the sources of Islamic sharia and law through which jurists present the solution of the
prevailing issue according to the need of the present era not excluding the spirit of the Quran and
Sunnah. The Muslim scholars who are well known and well respected in the Western societies should
come forward and start engaging the people in very constructive interfaith dialogues, discussion on
serious social, moral, and political issues which have disturbed the Western mind for a long time. The
Muslim scholars from the outside world should also be invited by the local institutions to explain the
teachings of Islam and answer the critical questions of the Western people who have confusions and
delusions about the status of women and the situation of human rights in Islam. One such step taken by
Pakistani Muslim clerics is very appreciable. In 2018, more than 1800, Pakistani Muslim clerics had
issued an Islamic directive, or “FATWA”, forbidding suicide bombing, in a book unveiled by the Pakistani
government. Seeking to curb “terrorism” that has resulted in tens of thousands of causalities since the
early 2000s the clerics declared bombing to be forbidden or “HARAM”. Such steps should be taken on an
international level through the OIC forum and other Islamic organizations to cope with Islamophobia.

Besides this, Muslim Ummah other than ulemas should organize programs for the preservation
and promotion of Muslim identity all over the world. Though a vast majority of the Muslims living in Europe
were not practicing believers, the global war on terror which maligned the Muslim faith and identified
terrorism with Islam caused Muslims, especially those belonging to the 2nd and 3rd generation of
immigrants to become possessive and offensive against their religion. They have started thinking
seriously about their religion and getting its proper education to practice it in their lives. With this, to
remove the stain of terrorism from their face, they have started programs of social welfare and mutual
cooperation as well as the preservation of their identity. In order to protect their religion, such steps
should be further aggravated which is a good sign of organizing themselves as a community like never
before. The Muslim Ummah should start establishing institutions for public welfare, education, community
get together and prayers and also conduct conferences and seminars for presenting Muslims good image
on an individual and collective basis.

Curbing extremist forces is another way to eliminate the menace of Islamophobia. In recent
years, terrorist groups, on an international level, such as ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram and at the
national level PTM, BLA, and Jamat ul Dawa, have shaped the Muslim image of violent extremism and
agitated the new debate about how to address this threat. Their message of intolerance- religious,
cultural, social- has had drastic consequences for many regions of the world. Holding territory and using
social media for real-time communication of their atrocities and crimes, they seek to challenge our shared
values of peace, justice, and human dignity. For this purpose, the General Assembly of the UN presented
a “Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism in 2016”. This is one to curb the extremist forces on a
collective basis through a reputed platform. On an individual basis- the steps by a single state like
Pakistan- is needed to be taken. The operation “Rad ul fasad”, and “Zarb e Azab”, are evidence of
Pakistan’s contributions to curb the extremist forces in order to create peace and stability. The sectarian
violence should also be addressed in order to prove that Islam is a peaceful religion which departs and
emphasizes on human rights.

Madrasahs provide free religious education, boarding, and lodging and are essentially schools for
the poor. Over one and a half million children attend madrasahs. These seminaries run on public
philanthropy and produce indoctrinated clergymen of various Muslim sects. Some sections of the more
orthodox Muslim sects have been radicalized by the state-sponsored exposure to Jihad, first in
Afghanistan than in Kashmir. However, the madrasah problem goes beyond militancy. Students at more
than 10,000 seminaries are being trained in theory, for service in the religious sector. But their
constrained worldwide, lack of modern civic education and poverty make them a destabilizing factor in
Pakistani society. For all these reasons, they are also susceptible to romantic notions of sectarian and
international Jihad, which promises instant salvation. One after another government pledged to change
the status of madrsahs and integrate them into the formal education sector. But it could be only possible
when government convinces clergies to enact madrasah law that would regulate the schools. It would
provide for changes in the curriculum, registration process and monitoring of finances and funding but
even the name of the draft- the Deeni Madrsah (voluntary Registration and Regulation) ordinance 2002. If
it is enacted properly the extremist facts which breed in Madrsahs would change the false image of Islam
to a great extent.

Having knowledge of science and technology is another factor to reboot the tarnishing Muslim
Ummah. This is only possible by allocating adequate resources to this field of study. India made a
promise of increasing the spending on technology up to 1.2% of GDP. Their progress in science and
technology shaped their good image in the world. Pakistan, being a developing country should work on it.
The other Muslim countries should follow suit as the advancement in science and technology would result
and induce respect in the international community. It would create employment opportunities for all the
masses including the deprived section of our society, who easily fall prey to extremist forces due to
poverty. This will also improve socioeconomic problems which are directly proportional to the rise of
extremism which leads to Islamophobia.

The media’s crucial role in eliminating trust deficit is required. Media is known as a mirror of our
society. In order to assess the people living in our society, media can better represent its set of beliefs,
ideas, and ideologies. Hence, if the media plays a positive role in Muslims, this situation will be better in
order to have auspicious outcomes. Print, electronic, and social media are the best tools that could make
a difference in eradicating Islamophobia. However, in order to answer the Western media which
sometimes seem anti-Islamic, the Eastern media can counter it by producing and airing ground realities
about Islam and its nature. Hence, the media should educate the masses about the reality of Islam and its
message. This is nothing but peace and only peace.

In this connection, the role of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is of utmost significance
in shunning unprecedented Islamophobia. According to the OIC Charter, all of the 57 Muslim countries
have to create reciprocal coordination for the betterment of Muslim Ummah. For this reason, it is its duty
to put an end to Islamophobia. A mutual conference needs to be called on, in which every country chalks
out a pragmatic plan to eradicate Islamophobia. The Holy Quran and Sunnah should be taken as a
reference to initiate mutual coordination so that the Western world may know the clear instance of Islamic
ideology.
 The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted by consensus a resolution introduced by
Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that proclaims March 15 as
International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The resolution was sponsored by 57 members of the OIC, and
eight other countries, including China and Russia. Several member states hailed the document, but the
representatives of India, France and the European Union expressed reservations, saying that while
religious intolerance was prevalent all over the world, the resolution singled out only Islam and excluded
others. Under its terms, the resolution strongly deplores all acts of violence against persons on the basis
of their religion or belief and such acts directed against their places of worship, as well as all attacks on
and in religious places, sites and shrines that are in violation of international law.

In a nutshell, to put an end to the rising Islamophobia, political leaders and those in governments
or places of authority around the world must stop their anti-Muslim rhetoric. They must stop dehumanizing
Muslims and demonizing Islam owing to the problem that terrorism is a global conundrum that needs to
be tackled through collective efforts. Conclusively, the media should play a pivotal role to quite prejudiced
reporting because it is the entity that controls the minds of the people and, therefore, should broadcast a
positive posture to get rid of Islamophobia.

Islam teaches us tolerance not hatred; universal brotherhood not enmity; peace and not violence.
(Ex President, General Musharaff)