Islamophobia

This article is about irrational fear, hatred of, or prejudice towards Muslims or Islam. For the historic persecution of Muslims, see Persecution of Muslims. For prejudice against those from the Middle East, see Anti–Middle Eastern sentiment.

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Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general.[1][2][3][4][5] Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry;[6] and people who harbour such sentiments often stereotype Muslims as a geopolitical threat or a source of terrorism.[7][8][9] Muslims, with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, are often inaccurately portrayed by Islamophobes as a single homogenous racial group.[10]

The causes of increase in Islamophobia across the world since the end of the Cold War are many. These include the quasi-racialist stereotypes against Muslims that proliferated through the Western media since the 1990s,[11] the "war on terror" campaign launched by the United States after the September 11 attacks,[12][13][14] the rise of the Islamic State in the aftermath of the Iraq War,[15] terrorist attacks carried out by Islamist militants in the United States and Europe, anti-Muslim rhetoric disseminated by white nationalist organizations through the internet,[16] and the radicalization of Christian nationalist[17] and far-right groups with growing hostility towards Muslims in the United States and the European Union.[18][19]

A study conducted in 2013 revealed that Muslim women, especially those wearing headscarves or face veils, are more vulnerable to suffer from Islamophobic attacks than Muslim men.[20] Due to the racialized nature of Islamophobic discrimination and attacks suffered by numerous Muslims in their daily lives, several scholars have asserted that Islamophobia has explicit racist dimensions.[21][22][23] On 15 March 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by consensus which was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that proclaimed March 15 as 'International Day to Combat Islamophobia'.[24]

The exact definition of the term "Islamophobia" has been a subject of debate amongst Western analysts. Detractors of the term have proposed alternative terms, such as "anti-Muslim", to denote prejudice or discrimination against Muslims.[25] It has been alleged, often by right-wing commentators,[26][27] that the term is sometimes used to avoid criticism of Islam, by removing the distinction between racism and criticism of religious doctrine or practice.[28][29][25] However, academics, activists and experts who support the terminology have denounced such characterizations as attempts to deny the existence of Islamophobia.[30][31][32][33]

  1. ^ "The Devastating Mental Health Effects of Islamophobia". TIME. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  2. ^ Segal, Jody. "LibGuides: Islam and Muslim Americans: Islamophobia". libguides.greenriver.edu. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Islamophobia". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  4. ^ "islamophobia". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Islamophobia". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  6. ^ Hedges, Paul (2021). Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia and Antisemitism in Global Context. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-3501-6287-7. LCCN 2020041827.
  7. ^ Miles & Brown 2003, p. 166.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference egorova was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Wike, Richard; Stokes, Bruce; Simmons, Katie (July 2016). Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs (PDF) (Report). Pew Research Center. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  10. ^ Becker, Elisabeth; Rinado, Rachel; Guhin, Jeffrey (2023). "Classifying Muslims: Contextualizing Religion and Race in the United Kingdom and Germany". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 62 (4): 749–769. doi:10.1111/jssr.12865.
  11. ^ Miles & Brown 2003, p. 164-168.
  12. ^ Beydoun, Khaled A. (April 2020). "Exporting Islamophobia in the Global "War On Terror"" (PDF). New York University Law Review. 95: 81–100.
  13. ^ Hilal, Maha (2021). Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11. Minneapolis, USA: Broadleaf Books. ISBN 978-1-5064-7046-7.
  14. ^ Kiara Alfonseca (11 September 2021). "20 years after 9/11, Islamophobia continues to haunt Muslims". ABC News.
  15. ^ Abbas, Tahir (2021). "Reflection: the "war on terror", Islamophobia and radicalisation twenty years on". Critical Studies on Terrorism. 14 (4). Routledge: 402–404. doi:10.1080/17539153.2021.1980182. hdl:1887/3618299 – via tandfonline.
  16. ^ Spence, Duncan (2 November 2014). "Why online Islamophobia is difficult to stop". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  17. ^ Kumar, Deepa (2021). "7: The New McCarthyites: The right-wing islamophobia network and their liberal enablers". Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2nd ed.). London: Verso. pp. 197, 198. ISBN 978-1-78873-721-0.
  18. ^ Idil Oztig, Lacin (2022). "Islamophobic Discourse of European Right-Wing Parties". Social Currents. 10 (3). Sage Publishing: 1–14. doi:10.1177/23294965221139852 – via Sage Journals.
  19. ^ Benkler, Yochai; Faris, Robert; Roberts, Hal (2018). "4: Immigration and Islamophobia: Breitbart and the Trump Party". Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 105–144. ISBN 9780190923624. LCCN 2018020121.
  20. ^ Siddique, Haroon (20 November 2013). "Muslim Women more likely to suffer Islamophobic attacks than men - study". The Guardian.
  21. ^ Kulik, Rebecca M. "Islamophobia". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 4 July 2024.
  22. ^ Selod, Sahar (2024). "4: Anti-Muslim Racism and the Rise of Ethnonationalist Populism in the United States". In Aziz, Sahar F.; Esposito, John L. (eds.). Global Islamophobia and the Rise of Populism. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 56–72. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197648995.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-764900-8.
  23. ^ Abbas, Tahir (2019). "5: Islamophobia as New Racism". Islamophobia and Radicalisation. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 57–70. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190083410.003.0005. ISBN 9780190083410.
  24. ^ "'Landmark resolution': UNGA declares March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia". Dawn. 15 March 2022.
  25. ^ a b Scott (2014), p. 377.
  26. ^ Babacan, Muhammed (30 April 2023). ""Neither 'Islam' nor 'Muslim' is race": Islamophobia, racism and freedom of expression". Bilimname (49): 604. doi:10.28949/bilimname.1228143 – via ResearchGate.
  27. ^ Lean, Nathan (2017). The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Hatred of Muslims (Second ed.). London: Pluto Press. pp. 84, 85, 173. ISBN 978-0-7453-3717-3.
  28. ^ "Quatre questions sur l'emploi du terme "islamophobie", qui fait (une nouvelle fois) débat". France Info (in French). 10 November 2019.
  29. ^ Benn, Piers (31 May 2007). "On Islamophobia-phobia". New Humanist.
  30. ^ "Tackling denial of Islamophobia". 24 November 2022. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023.
  31. ^ Zia-Ebrahimi, Reza (2020). "The French origins of 'Islamophobia denial'". Patterns of Prejudice. 54 (4): 315–346. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2020.1857047.
  32. ^ York, Jillian (26 July 2010). "Paranoid Politics: The Denial of Islamophobia". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021.
  33. ^ Mcguinness, Alan (5 March 2020). "Conservative Party accused of 'denial' over Islamophobia". Sky News. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021.