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Islamophobia

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Islamophobia is a neologism defined as the phenomenon<ref>Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn, A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521826926 p.429 </ref> of a prejudice against or demonization of Muslims which manifests itself in general negative attitudes, violence, harassment, discrimination, and stereotyping (and particularly being vilified in the media).<ref> Sandra Fredman , Discrimination and Human Rights, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199246033, p.121. </ref><ref> Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195148061, p.19 </ref><ref>Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All, Runnymede Trust, 1997, p. 1, cited in Quraishi, Muzammil. Muslims and Crime: A Comparative Study, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2005, p. 60. ISBN 075464233X. Early in 1997, the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, at that time part of the Runnymede Trust, issued a consultative document on Islamophobia under the chairmanship of Professor Gordon Conway, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex. The final report, Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All, was launched in November 1997 by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw. The word "Islamophobia" is formed with the Greek suffix -phobia 'fear of -' in a similar way to xenophobia or homophobia.</ref> The term dates back to the late 1980s<ref name=Runnymede1>Runnymede 1997, p. 1, cited in Quraishi 2005, p. 60.</ref> or early 90s,<ref name=Annan>Annan, Kofi. "Secretary-General, addressing headquarters seminar on confronting Islamophobia", United Nations press release, December 7, 2004.</ref> although its use has increased since the September 11, 2001 attacks.<ref name=Casciani>Casciani, Dominic. "Islamophobia pervades UK - report", BBC News, June 2, 2004.</ref><ref>Rima Berns McGowan writes in Muslims in the Diaspora (University of Toronto Press, 1991, p. 268) that the term "Islamophobia" was first used in an unnamed American periodical in 1991.</ref> Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, told 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."<ref name=Annan/><ref>Muzammil Quraishi, senior lecturer in Criminology at the University of Salford, writes that "whether we refer to behaviour as 'anti-Muslimism' or 'Islamophobia' seems a moot point. If we are agreed that either term refers to behaviour encapsulating hatred, and/or dislike to the extent of social and economic exclusion of Muslims, we must move to discover the extent of such behaviour and to evaluate how this influences crime and victimization ..." (Quraishi, Muzammil. Muslims and Crime: A Comparative Study, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2005, p. 60).</ref>

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' ..."<ref name=Rudiger>Rudiger, Anja. "Discrimination and Legislation", session 5, Conference on "Muslims in Europe post 9/11", St. Antony's-Princeton Conference, St Antony's College, Oxford, April 26, 2004.</ref><ref>Also see the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia report, "Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001" by Chris Allen and Jorgen S. Nielsen of the University of Birmingham, May 2002, the largest monitoring project on Islamophobia to have been commissioned to date.</ref>

The British Runnymede Trust described Islamophobia in 1997 as the view that Islam has no values in common with other cultures; is inferior to the West; is a violent political ideology rather than a religion; that its criticisms of the West have no substance; and that discriminatory practices against Muslims are justified.<ref name=Runnymede5>Runnymede 1997, p. 5, cited in Quraishi 2005, p. 60.</ref> 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.<ref name=Schwartz>Schwartz, Stephen. "The 'Islamophobes' That Aren't", FrontPage Magazine, April 28, 2005.</ref>

British writer and academic Kenan Malik has criticized the concept, calling it a "myth." Malik argues that it confuses discrimination against Muslims with criticism of Islam, and is used to silence critics of the religion, including Muslims who want to reform it.<ref name=Malik>Malik, Kenan. "Islamophobia Myth", Prospect, February 2005.</ref> The novelist Salman Rushdie was among the signatories to a statement in March 2006 calling Islamophobia a "wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who believe in it."<ref name=Rushdie>Rushdie, Salman et al. "Writers' statement on cartoons", BBC News, March 1, 2006.</ref> French writer Robert Redeker argues that the history of the term demonstrates that the term Islamophobia was created by "radical islamists" to "tackle feminists".<ref>[1]" L'islamophobie, l'arme des islamistes contre la laïcité."</ref>

Contents

[edit] Nature of the concept

Image:AnyaRudiger.jpg
Dr. Anya Rudiger of the EUMC argues that Islam is "the new 'other'".<ref name=Rudiger/>

Sociologist and cultural analysts argue that, during the 1990s, there was a shift in forms of prejudice from race-based prejudice to discrimination based on culture and religion.<ref name=Seabrook>Seabrook, Jeremy. "Religion as a fig leaf for racism", The Guardian, July 23, 2004.</ref><ref name=Rudiger/>

Jeremy Seabrook writes in The Guardian that Islamophobia became the only form of prejudice to which the middle class will admit. "Officially, all right-thinking people have forsworn racism ... Islamophobia is the half-open door through which it makes its triumphal re-entry into respectable society." Seabrook argues that the perception of Islam as advocating the repression of women and gays makes Islamophobia an acceptable form of prejudice.<ref name=Seabrook/>

Speaking to the UNCHR, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said that Islamophobia was "a new name to an old phenomenon", and that "stereotypes and disrespectful comments about Islam were allowed to circulate and be published with the outcome that hatred and prejudice against Islam gained credibility, and the stereotyping in media coverage became a global sport."<ref>Speech of H.E. Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic conference, before the sixty-first session of the United Nations commission on human rights - 15 March, 2005</ref>

Anya Rudiger of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia told an Oxford conference on Muslims in Europe that, since 9/11, religion has surpassed race as the primary focus of conflict, and that a person's religion is regarded as synonymous with their culture. In the case of Muslims, this opens up another dimension of prejudice, argues Rudiger, in that European Muslims are regarded as representing a unified culture quite different from European culture, one that is strongly linked to certain non-European countries. These perceptions are part of the process of labeling Islam as Europe's "other."<ref name=Rudiger/>

In 1996, the Runnymede Trust, an independent anti-racist think tank in the UK, established the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, chaired by Professor Gordon Conway, the vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex. The commission's 1997 report, Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All, lists eight distinctive features of Islamophobia:

  1. Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.
  2. It 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. It is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist.
  4. It is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, and engaged in a Clash of Civilizations.
  5. It 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.<ref name=Runnymede1997>"Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All"PDF, Runnymede Trust, 1997.</ref>


The commission published a follow-up report in 2004 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 he believed that Islamophobia had become institutionalized, citing what he regarded as police harassment of Muslims since 9/11. "Even one of the country's Muslim peers, Lord Ahmed, has been stopped twice by police", Sajid told the BBC.<ref name=Casciani/>

[edit] Criticism of the concept

The concept has been criticized on a number of grounds. Some critics argue that Islamophobia is real but is just another form of racism and doesn't deserve 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 that the term Islamophobia is often used to censor criticism and therefore its use threatens free speech.

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In March 2006, in the wake of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, a group of 12 prominent writers put their names to a statement in the French weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in which they warned against the use of the term Islamophobia to prevent criticism of what they called Islamic totalitarianism. The statement alleged that "Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present." It continued: "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 stigmatisation of those who believe in it."<ref name=Rushdie/> The signatories included British novelist Salman Rushdie, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, American writer Ibn Warraq, French journalist and Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val, Bengali physician and writer Taslima Nasrin, Canadian journalist Irshad Manji, and Dutch writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali.<ref name=Rushdie/>

British columnist Josie Appleton argues that the Runnymede Trust's use of Islamophobia is an attempt to discourage criticism of Islam. "Rather than engage Muslims in debate, non-Muslims are supposed to tiptoe around them, for fear of causing offence."<ref name=Appleton>Appleton, Josie. '"Who's afraid of Islamophobia", 'Spiked Online, July 2, 2004.</ref> Afshin Ellian, a Dutch law professor, writes that the concept is used to delegitimize criticism by characterizing it as pathological,<ref name="Ellian">Ellian, Afshin. "Stop Capitulating to Threats", February 2006.</ref> while civil-rights activist Bahram Soroush has called it "[i]ntellectual blackmail".<ref>TV International Interview with Bahram Soroush, June 7, 2004.</ref>

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. 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."<ref name=Toynbee>Toynbee, Polly. "Last chance to speak out", The Guardian, October 5, 2001.</ref>

Kenan Malik argues that Islamophobia is an irrational concept, confusing criticism of Muslims with criticism of their religion, and that the extent to which Muslims are more vulnerable to social exclusion and attacks than other groups is exaggerated. He writes that the concept allows politicians who may have supported the war in Iraq or the War against Terror to "reclaim the moral high ground" and "pitch for the Muslim vote."<ref name=Malik/> The result, he argues, 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 ..."<ref name=Malik/> Malik argues that Islamophobia is not a form of racism because it's 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?<ref name=Malik/>

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."<ref name=Hari>Hari, Johann. "Don't call me an Islamophobe", June 6, 2006.</ref>

[edit] 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’".<ref name=Benn>"On Islamophobia-phobia".</ref>

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."<ref name=Kimball>Kimball, Roger. "After the suicide of the West", January 2006.</ref>

[edit] Response to criticism

Image:JehanzebHasan.jpg
Jehanzeb Hasan argues that the conflation of "Osamaism" with Islam has given rise to Islamophobia.

Jehanzeb Hasan, a research assistant at California State University, argues that those he calls Islamophobes are actually reacting to "Osamaism", not Islam. Hasan argues that Islam is a religion of peace, not violence, and is misrepresented by its most vocal proponents and critics. "Osamaists and Islamophobes ignore the dynamic nature of the religion and deny the diversity of belief within Islam. Instead of constantly being pondered and contemplated for meanings, Islam is dumbed down by those who seek to essentialize it for the purpose of augmenting their own sociopolitical agendas."<ref name=Hasan>Hasan, Jehanzeb. "Confronting the Monolith: The Struggle against Islamophobia and Osamaism", Media Monitors Network, August 7, 2006.</ref> The aggressive behavior and beliefs of what he calls a "group of far-right individuals" claiming to follow a particular religion should not be conflated with the behavior and beliefs of every single other individual who practises that religion. Those he calls "mired in the conflation-prone school of thought" are unable or unwilling to differentiate Osamism from Islam, and with the deliberate or inadvertent erection of the "monolith" comes Islamophobia.

Hasan is equally critical of attempts to dismiss Islamophobia as a myth. He asks: "[W]ho could seriously argue that fear, hatred, or prejudice towards Muslims doesn't exist?" But while accusations of racism can indeed be misused, that does not mean they are always misused, Hasan argues. Dismissal of the concept because of its misuse is simply a "convenient justification to pooh-pooh the problem away."<ref name=Hasan/>

Hasan also attacks the argument that Islamophobia is not racism, given that Islam is a religion and adherence to it a matter of choice. That Islam is not a race is a "tired catchphrase", he argues. "Both forms of prejudice are founded upon a monolithic and stereotypical presupposition. For example, while a racist would assume all or most African-Americans think or behave a certain way, an Islamophobe, too, would believe that all or most Muslims think or behave a certain way." Islamophobia and racism are, he writes, conceptually very much the same thing.<ref name=Hasan/>

[edit] Islamophobia in Europe

Ziauddin Sardar writes in The New Statesman that Islamophobia is a widespread European phenomenon, so widespread that he asks whether Muslims will be the victims of the next pogroms.<ref name=Sardar>"The next holocaust", New Statesman, December 5, 2005.</ref> He writes that each country has its extremes, citing Jean-Marie Le Pen in France; Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated in Holland; and Philippe Van der Sande of Vlaams Blok, a Flemish nationalist party founded in Belgium. 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."<ref>"Belgian Establishment Fears Crack-Up", The Flemish Republic.org newsletter, April-June 2006.</ref>

The clash between European liberal culture and that culture's perception of Islam gives rise to allegations of Islamophobia in a number of areas. Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's statement that Western civilization is "superior" to Islam was regarded as an example of Islamophobic.<ref name=Appleton/> 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. [2] [3]. Clothing has become a flashpoint. France, which has a strong secular tradition separating church and state, [4] was accused of Islamophobia when girls who wear muslim headscarfs were expelled from school under a new law. [5]<ref> The French policy extends to all visible religious paraphernalia, including large Christian crosses and Jewish scullcaps, although small crucifixes and stars of David are still allowed.</ref> In January 2006, the Dutch parliament voted in favour of a proposal to ban the burqa in public, which led to similar accusations.<ref name=Mardell>Madell, Mark. "Dutch MPs to decide on burqa ban", BBC News, January 16, 2006.</ref>

Sardar argues that Europe is "post-colonial, but ambivalent." Minorities are regarded as acceptable as an underclass of menial workers, but if they want to be upwardly mobile, as Sardar says young Muslims do, the prejudice rises to the surface. Wolfram Richter, professor of economics at Dortmund University, told Sardar: "I am afraid we have not learned from our history. My main fear is that what we did to Jews we may now do to Muslims. The next holocaust would be against Muslims."<ref name=Sardar/>

[edit] EUMC report

The largest monitoring project to be commissioned into 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 Dr. Chris Allen and Jorgen S. Nielsen of the University of Birmingham, was based on 75 reports – 15 from each EU member nation.<ref name=EUMC>Allen, Chris and Nielsen, Jorgen S. "Summary report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001", EUMC, May, 2002.</ref>

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. The attacks took the form of verbal abuse; 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"; and random assaults, which left victims hospitalized, and on one occasion, left a victim paralysed.<ref name=EUMC/>

The report also discussed the representation 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."<ref name=EUMC/>

[edit] Effect on Arabs

Main article: Anti-Arabism

Since 9/11, given the strong association between Arabs and the religion of Islam, Islamophobia is sometimes expressed as a form of anti-Arab racism, though the majority of Muslims are not Arabs. In the UK, anti-Arab sentiment is quite rare and so Islamophobia has been seen, to some degree at least, as being transitory: a cultural racism that has shifted from markers of race to markers 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.

[edit] Country-specific polls and surveys

[edit] Australia

In 2006, the Sunday Herald Sun commissioned a Gallup Poll, published on July 30, which reported that four in ten of those Australians surveyed "believe Islam is a threat to our way of life" and one in three people are more fearful of Muslims since the September 11, 2001 attacks.<ref>Islamophobia and imperialist wars - Green left Weekly. August 9, 2006</ref> A similar poll from Australia in March of that year saw that one quarter of those surveyed say Islam as "either a fundamentalist or intolerant faith". However, one of the researchers behind the study, New South Wales University's Kevin Dunn said people tended to feel less threatened by Islam when they had direct contact with its followers. "That varies according to the extent of knowledge someone has and also, fundamentally, the extent of daily contact someone has with Muslims. If you know a few Muslims, you're much less likely to perceive a threat from them."<ref>Poll shows ignorance of Islam - Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 20, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Germany

In 2006 a survey of Germans by the Allensbach Institute commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung revealed that 56% of those surveyed wanted the government to ban the building of mosques, 62% believed that there would always be ‘major conflicts’ between Islam and Christianity. 91% linked Islam to the "oppression of women" while 71% believed Islam was "intolerant". 40% of the participants believed that "tough limits should be imposed on the practice of Islam in Germany". The Allensbach Institute concluded that "The clash of civilizations has already begun in the minds of (German) citizens".<ref>Islamophobia on the rise in Germany – Poll - Islam Online, May 22, 2006</ref>

[edit] Spain

A 2006 Instituto Elcano poll in Spain indicated that 68% of Spanish, consider Muslim societies as "violent", and 79% as "non-tolerant". Also 74% think that there is already a clash of civilizations between western countries and Muslim World.<ref>El 79% de los españoles cree que los musulmanes son intolerantes y el 68 % dice que son violentos - 20 Minutos.es</ref>

[edit] Sweden

In 2006, a survey of Swedes by Demoskop, reported in Dagens Nyheter, shows that 33% of over-65s think that Muslims threaten Swedish culture; 15% of those between 15 and 27 answered yes to the same question.<ref>DN: "Var tredje pensionär kritisk till invandringen"</ref>

[edit] United Kingdom

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.<ref>Five Live survey suggests ethnic minority applicants still discriminated against in UK job market - BBC News Press Office. July 12, 2004.</ref> Groups, such as the Muslim Council of Britain have cited this as further evidence for the widespread existence of Islamophobia.<ref>Is Islamophobia a myth? - Prospect (magazine). January 2005.</ref>

In 2005, The Guardian commissioned an ICM poll which indicated an increase in Islamophobic incidents, particularly after the London bombings in July 2005.<ref>Two-thirds of Muslims consider leaving UK The Guardian - Tuesday July 26, 2005</ref><ref>ICM-Guardian poll Poll of Muslims in the UK. The Guardian - Tuesday July 26, 2005</ref> 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.<ref>Spiraling Islamophobia Alienating British Muslims: Report Islam Online - Nov 22 2004</ref><ref>... And why we urgently need new answers Sarfraz Manzoor - The Guardian - November 30, 2004</ref>

In 2006, a YouGov poll indicated that 53% of those people polled felt threatened by Islam, as distinct from fundamentalist Islamists; 18% believed that "a large proportion of British Muslims feel no sense of loyalty to this country and are prepared to condone or even carry out acts of terrorism", while 16% believe "practically all British Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding citizens who deplore terrorist acts as much as anyone else."<ref>Islam poses a threat to the West, say 53pc in poll - Daily Telegraph. 25 August, 2006</ref>

[edit] United States

Image:StoptheHateBanner2.jpg

Arabs and Muslims immigrated and assimilated in American society without great difficulty until the 1970s when stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims became more negative.<ref>The Muslim Experience in the United States by: Yvonne Y. Haddad. - The Link, via Americans for Middle East Understanding. September - October 1979.</ref><ref>Lebanese Americans - by Paula Hajar and J. Sydney Jones. Via Every Culture.com.</ref> Immediately after 9/11, American attitudes toward Islam were generally positive, with 47% favorable and 39% unfavorable,<ref name="Pewpoll">Prospects for Inter-Religious Understanding: Will Views Toward Muslims and Islam Follow Historical Trends?. Pew FOrum on Religion and Public Life. Retrieved on 2006-08-19.</ref> (whereas Catholicism polled at 48% favorable, 37% unfavorable [6]).

Since then, public opinion in the U.S. has moved from neutrality towards apparent fear of Arabs and Muslims, with Islam polling between 19-41% favorable<ref name="Gallupinter">Stone, Andrea (February 27 2002). "Many in Islamic world doubt Arabs behind 9/11".</ref><ref name="Pewpoll"/><ref>CBS News 4 April, 2006</ref> despite the fact that most Arab Americans have Christian related backgrounds.<ref>"Arab Americans", Editor and Publisher, 2005-07-11.</ref>

A 2006 Gallup survey of American public opinion found that "many Americans harbor strong bias against U.S. Muslims".<ref>"Gallup: Many Americans Harbor Strong Bias Against U.S. Muslims", Editor and Publisher, 2006-08-10.</ref>

  • 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 poll of Americans, commissioned by CAIR, suggested that one in four Americans believe Muslims value human life less than others and teach their children to hate.<ref>Poll reveals US Islamophobia - October 05, 2004.</ref>

[edit] Use in public discourse and examples

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[edit] Efforts against Islamophobia

There have been a series of efforts against islamophobia by many organizations in many countries, some of these efforts are detailed below.

[edit] Acts attributed to Islamophobia

[edit] Views labeled as Islamophobic

[edit] General references 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".<ref>Pope prays for peace CNN - September 23, 2001</ref>
  • 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.".<ref>Jordan's Queen BBC Transcript of Breakfast with Frost. Sunday, 20 March. </ref>

[edit] Publications and publishers labeled as Islamophic

Carl Ernst, an academic scholar of Islamic studies, states that particular publications are promoted and supported by right-wing organizations, who are perpetuating Islamophobia. These presses 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.<ref name="Ernst"> Notes on the Ideological Patrons of an Islamophobe, Robert Spencer by Carl W. Ernst - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004</ref> For example Ernst writes that 'Encounter Books' has been funded with $4,635,000 for its publications over the past ten years all from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. 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.<ref name="Ernst"> Notes on the Ideological Patrons of an Islamophobe, Robert Spencer by Carl W. Ernst - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004</ref>

[edit] Incidents on aircraft

  • On 23 August 2006, Dutch aviation authorities returned a plane to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport where they detained 12 Indian nationals from the flight, which was bound for Mumbai. India lodged a strong protest with the Netherlands and relatives of the Indian passengers claimed that their detention was motivated by racial and religious prejudice while the men were released the following day without charge.<ref>"Dutch arrest 12 in flight alert", BBC, 2006-08-23. Retrieved on 2006-11-30. (in English)</ref>

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

<references />

[edit] Further reading

Pipes, Daniel. "Islamophobia?", New York Sun, October 25, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossam_Armanious

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