Islamophobia

Islamophobia, a term expressed to depict fear of Islam is widely used

to connote indiscriminate attitudes, beliefs and emotions directed
towards Islam or Muslims.

In reference to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Islamophobia

means “Intense dislike or fear of Islam”. It was first coined by French
Scholar Alain Quellien, as ‘’Islamphobie” in 1910 to describe a
prejudice against Islam that is rife among the people of the West.
Later, it was adopted by English Literature in 1923. As a concept in
practice, it is considered a new word of an old notion presented by
Edward Said in his work on Orientalism where West has always been
associating derogatory sentiments and stereotypes to the practices of
Islam.

The term Islamophobia developed in late 1990’s and early 2000’s by

political activists, non-governmental organizations, commentators,
international organization to draw attention towards the evils of a
rhetoric bringing harms directed towards Muslims and Islam.
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Yet Islamophobia emerged on the plane of international discourse with

the publication of a report by the Runnymede Trust in 1997 titled;
‘’Islamophobia: A Challenge for all of us’’. It laid down the concept of
Islamophobia as a useful shorthand way of referring to dread or hatred
of Islam – and therefore, to fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.

In 2004 United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan opened a UN

conference on “Confronting Islamophobia” with the lament, “When 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.”
According to Imam Dr Abdul Jalil Sajid, chairman of the Muslim
Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK, Islamophobia is “the
fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture and history.
Islamophobia can be characterized by the belief that all or most
Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-
Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as
equality, tolerance, and democracy” (RISC 2011).
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The Terrorist Attack of 9/11 provided an impetus to the rise of

Islamophobia. After the attack of Twin Towers Islam was being viewed
as a conservative, barbaric and intolerant perspective of life. Muslim
was posited as blood thirsty savages under the banner of a monolithic
religion.

The West holding the power to Information Technology spread the

acrimony, condemning Muslims to racial discrimination and ridiculed
Muslim community as perpetrators of violence and unrest in society.

With the rise of Islamophobia across the board, the far-right political
parties of liberal western communities gained momentum in exploiting
the subjected minorities of Muslims to confer political gains.
Islamophobia became a subterfuge to add defamation to Islam by
public commentators and political actors. The 2016 Presidential
elections of America were one of the most acrimonious and
confrontational campaigns in the history of America.
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Extraordinary political rhetoric, outbursts in distasteful discriminatory

tones, and anti-Muslim invectives blemished the campaign of United
States (US) Presidential Elections of 2016. To endorse his political
agenda, Donald J. Trump specifically focused upon Muslims as a
grave issue, and likely toyed with the public pulses, which resulted in
an unpredictable election result.

Mirroring the perceived reality, media as an invention of information

shapes public opinion. Media reports after 9/11 specifically
underrepresented Muslim views and negatively portrayed Islamic
culture. Islam was painted as a religion of discrimination, radicalization
and regression by the Western media. With the advent of digital
media, providing a carte blanche demerited the situation further.

The rhetoric of Islamophobia dispersed hatred speech & acts of

defamation on social media websites backed by the freedom of
spSocial media being a personal medium of communication
galvanized the connotations of Islamophobia and intimidated Muslim
minorities living in liberal Western communities. Society deprived of
inter-faith harmony glaringly promotes intolerance and rejection
towards those who is considered other. European countries including
America and Canada practiced anti-Semitism long before
Islamophobia surfaced. The hate of Muslims towards Jews and of
Jews towards Muslims persists even in today’s scenario.

Terrorist attack of 9/11 and shooting in Orlando’s night club reinforced

the primitive visceral hatred towards Muslims and Islam, exacerbating
the discriminative attitudes and tarnishing the fabric of freedom for all
narrative of Western society. Islamophobia, a narrative delegated to
hatred and intolerance took its toll on the Muslim minorities resided in
Europe and America.

Bin Laden became a schoolyard taunt and banning Muslim women

from wearing hijab, a public policy. Implicating Muslims with
discriminations in political, social and civic life became a normalized
attitude by the authorities.
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Surveillance by security agencies in order to keep radicalization at bay

and interfering with practices of Islam demonstrated consequences far
beyond the imagination.

In the wake of events like 9/11 and with the rise of ISIS and Al-Qaeda,
West launched a military operation to quell the terrorism
machinations.
In quest to quash Talibans of Afghanistan, a full fledge operation was
launched by Western forces on 16 September, 2001. Furtherance of
the military operation was seen by the world as Operation Inherent
Resolve to quash the ISIS in Middle East. Fallouts by use of cogency
to suppress the militancy had adversarial effects. It led to
displacement of indigenous innocents and anarchy for the state
structures.

The aftermath of Islamophobia’s notion was evidently witnessed

during the refugee crisis resulting from Arab Spring specifically during
and after Civil War of Syria. Hundreds of thousands were displaced
and was seeking refuge in the modernized Western states.

Engulfed by the fear of Islam and hatred rooted deep in conscience

towards Muslims, the European countries demurred the refugees
entering their premises. The far-right political parties of the West
depicted the war-torn refugees as invaders of freedom to culture and
Western values. Rallies and protests were carried out extensively
against the refugee situation and the debate of Us versus Them
surfaced in the legislative bodies of the Western societies. The
provocative phobia of Islam, hurtling in the Western society presents
itself as propensity of violence and vandalism.

The antipathy of Westerners towards followers of Islam turned out as

harrowing for Muslims in West.

A report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (US) states

that more than two thousand anti-Muslim offenses have been
perpetuated in United States alone. The Kingston mosque incident
where English vandalized the holy premises of worship and attack of
violent mobs in Hamilton City of Canada on Muslim Education centres
and mosques is another story of the liberal region.

One major incident reported as a backlash of Islamophobia was

shootings in New Zealand, where 51 Muslims were subjected to
death.
The pretext of ‘national security’ in a post-9/11 world is particularly
useful, being an amorphous concept that can be made to fit any
inconvenient truth and throttle indicted to discriminatory shenanigans.

Alienation of Muslims from political and civic life in upgraded societies

of West is an epitome of Islamophobia.

The unemployment rate for followers of Islam was seen at pinnacle

especially in United States and European countries. Subjected to
discrimination in education sectors, the repugnancy of Islamic views
with the values of West was deplored on behest of Islamophobia.
Travesties of Muslims as subjugators, discriminatory attitudes of
authorities were considered just.

Irreverent attitudes of the West towards the diaspora of the East

proved to be harrowing for Muslim women and children. The Council
on American-Islamic Relations’ in California surveyed 11 to 18 years
old Muslim students to examine their experiences in school and
reported that 50% American Muslim students were bullied based by
the hatred towards Islam. In France, incidents of pulling scarfs of
Muslim women in public was highly reported. Islamophobia, as a just
reason of hatred provided abyss for the most vulnerable community of
Muslims minority residing in the West.

As a principle, it is the duty of United Nations and its law enforcing

organs to maintain International Peace and protect its subjects from
Human Rights violations. The world post 9/11 witnessed the failure of
United Nations and its law enforcing organs. A research conducted by
Brown University states 200,000 & 40,000 civilian causalities in Iraq
and Afghanistan respectively.

Arab League Envoy to Syria put out an estimate of 400,000 that had
died in the Civil War. The supreme of all states and international
protector of civil rights was proved as a fiasco.

The on-going atrocities of Indian Military on the besieged Kashmiri’s

resulted in 51,000 civilian casualties from 1989-2018 but as the
Guardian Angel of Human Rights, United Nations neutrality to the
conflict is questionable for the supremacy of International
Humanitarian Law.

eech narrative.