Islamophobia: Difference between revisions

File:AgainstIslamophobiaRally.jpg

Photograph of a rally against Islamophobia in London's Trafalgar Square on February 11, 2006, in the wake of the Muhummad cartoons controversy. Image by eyetopic.co.uk.

Islamophobia is the phenomenon of a prejudice against or demonization of Muslims which manifests itself in violence, harassment, discrimination, general negative attitudes and stereotypes and 'being portrayed in all kinds of media in very derogatory and vilifying ways' The term dates back to the late 1980s or early 90s, although its use has increased since the September 11, 2001 attacks. 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."

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' ..."

The British Runnymede Trust decribed 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. 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.

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. 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."

Nature of the concept

File:AnyaRudiger.jpg

Dr. Anya Rudiger of the EUMC argues that Islam is "the new 'other'".

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.

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.

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."

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."

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:

File:Islamophobia graph.png

A Runnymede Trust graph.

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.

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.

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. Many argue that it is used to censor criticism and that it poses a threat to free speech.

File:SalmanRushdi2.jpg

Salman Rushdie was one of 12 prominent writers who signed a statement condemning Islamophobia as a "wretched concept."

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 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." 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.

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." Afshin Ellian, a Dutch law professor, writes that the concept is used to delegitimize criticism by characterizing it as pathological, while civil-rights activist Bahram Soroush has called it "[i]ntellectual blackmail".

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."

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." 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 ..." 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?

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."

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’".

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."

Response to criticism

File:JehanzebHasan.jpg

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

Jehanzeb Hasan of 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." 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.

If there is any truth in the Osamaist/Islam conflation — that a violent and oppressive reading of Islam is the only true reading — it means there is no such thing as a good Muslim. Any Muslim claiming to be practising a peaceful religion is practising something other than Islam. "This is the problem we are confronted with when operating within the Islamophobe's self-constructed framework," he writes. "In this world, not unlike the world of the Osamaist, the Islamophobe acts as judge, jury, and executioner — dictating what Islam is and what Islam is not, who is Muslim and who is not."

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?" In reality, those critics are not denying that Islamophobia exists. They are critical of the way it is used. 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."

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.

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. 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."

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. 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. [1] [2]. Clothing has become a flashpoint. France, which has a strong secular tradition separating church and state, [3] was accused of Islamophobia when the wearing of headscarfs by Muslim girls at school was banned. [4] In January 2006, the Dutch parliament voted in favour of a proposal to ban the burqa in public, which led to similar accusations.

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."

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 Chris Allen and Jorgen S. Nielsen of the University of Birmingham, was based on 75 reports – 15 from each EU member nation.

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.

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."

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.

Country-specific polls and surveys

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. 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."

Germany

In 2006 a survey of Germans by the Allensbach Institute commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung revealed that 56% of those surveyed wated 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".

Sweden

In 2006, a survey of Swedes by Demoskop, reported in Dagens Nyheter, shows that 33% of over-65s think that immigration from Muslim countries threatens Swedish culture; 15% of those between 15 and 27 answered yes to the same question. [5]

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. Groups, such as the Muslim Council of Britain have cited this as further evidence for the widespread existence of Islamophobia.

In 2005, The Guardian commissioned an ICM poll which indicated an increase in Islamophobic incidents, particularly after the London bombings in July 2006. 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.

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."

United States

File:StoptheHateBanner2.jpg

The Islamic Political Party of America launched its "Stop the Hate" campaign against Islamophobia to cooincide with the United Nations conference on the subject, "Unlearning Intolerance," on December 7, 2004.

Arabs and Muslims immigrated and assimilated in American society without great difficulty until the 1970s when stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims became more negative. Immediately after 9/11, American attitudes toward Islam were generally positive, with 47% favorable and 39% unfavorable, (whereas Catholism 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.

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 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.

Use in public discourse and examples

Efforts against Islamophobia

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

• CAIR states that throughout the 2000s, it has been active in defending American Muslims against Islamophobia.
• In 2006 the 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"..
• 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".

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[7][8] religious symbols (such as the Star of David, crosses, and Hand of Fatimas) however, is permitted.
• 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.

Views labeled as Islamophobic

• Carl Ernst, an academic scholar of Islamic studies and the Council on American-Islamic Relations include those who asserts that Robert Spencer is an Islamophobe.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations has stated that the views of Ann Coulter are Islamophobic
• 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.
• 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 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.".

Incidents on aircraft

On Wednesday, 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. The sister-in-law of one of the detained men said "He flies frequently for trade fairs and business. But he is Muslim, so he was arrested."

On Wednesday, 16 August, 2006, British passengers onboard a flight from Malaga to Manchester forced two men of Asian descent off a plane after they began speaking in a foreign language, passengers believing it to be Arabic. The men were in fact speaking Urdu, and a security sweep of the plane found no explosives or any item of a terrorist nature. A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga said: "These men had aroused suspicion because of their appearance and the fact that they were speaking in a foreign language thought to be an Arabic language, and the pilot was refusing to take off until they were escorted off the plane." Monarch Airlines booked the men into a hotel room, gave them a free meal and sent them home on a later plane. The men later responded: "Just because we're Muslim, does not mean we are suicide bombers".

A passenger travelling to the British Virgin Islands on a plane bound for the United States from Manchester in the UK was forced off the plane prior to takeoff. The man, a British-born Muslim residing in the U.S., said he was singled out because he was a Muslim pilot and was left feeling "demoralised and humiliated". "I must have met the profile on the day. I have an Arabic name, I am a Muslim, I'm from Britain and I know how to fly."

A passenger on a United Airlines flight was removed by staff after another passenger complained that his recitation of the Muslim evening prayer, Maghrib, was suspicious. United Airlines ejected the passenger, a Muslim doctor from Winnipeg, and two of his colleagues at Denver International Airport following the report by the concerned passenger, who it is claimed had previously threatened the Muslim doctor. The ejected trio were forced to pay for accommodation and another flight back home. The passenger has demanded an official apology and compensation from United Airlines.

See also

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

Notes

Further reading

• Forum against Islamophobia and Racism
• Misconceptions about Islam
• Islamophobia.org
• "Islamophobia", Islamicawareness.net
• Islamophobia Watch
• "Rally against incitement and Islamophobia in London", eyetopic.co.uk, February 11, 2006.
• Allen, Chris. Islamophobia resources: writing, articles & publications
• Brooks, James. "Deep roots of Islamophobia, Islamonline.net.
• Deane, Claudia and Fears, Darryl. Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing, The Washington Post, March 9, 2006.
• El Fadl, Khaled Abou. "On revising bigotry", chapter from The Conference on the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam, Scholars of the House.
• Gray, Muriel. "How can we have respect for Islam when we are too fearful to criticise it?", The Glasgow Herald, February 5, 2006.
• Hasan, Jehanzeb. "Confronting the Monolith: The Struggle Against Islamophobia and Osamaism", Media Monitors Network, August 7, 2006.
• Hassan, Fardusa. "Beauty queen enters Islamophobia debate", The Guardian, August 31, 2006.
• Hassan, Ghali. The Road to the Muslim Holocaust, Globalresearch.ca, February 7, 2006.
• Lamont, Norman. "Down with multiculturalism, book-burning and fatwas", The Daily Telegraph, May 8, 2002.
• Marud, Abdal-Hakim. "Muslims and the European Right", Masud.co.uk, first delivered as a lecture on April 30, 2000.
• Pipes, Daniel. "Islamophobia?", New York Sun, October 25, 2005.