Laila Lalami: Islamophobia

There were 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as of 2010 – roughly 23% of the global population and Islam continues to be the fastest-growing major religion (Pew Research Center). Islamophobia and hatred towards Muslims has also been on the rise. “Islamophobia is prejudice towards or discrimination against Muslims due to their religion, or perceived religious, national, or ethnic identity associated with Islam” (Bridge.Georgetown). In our history we have witnessed many horrific acts of hatred and genocides such as the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, to society and today 's people that was all in the past. In the books, “Night” by Elie Wiesel and “Forgotten Fire” by Adam Bagdasarian illustrates the conditions of victims having to go through these genocides, this shows the severity of prejudice and how affects people 's lives. The reality of it is that times have not changed that drastically and theses bloodcurdling events have seemed to repeated themselves in a new period of time with a new group oppressed people. Innocent people everyday are being targeted because of their religious backgrounds. These stereotypes of Muslims and Islam have become so widespread and the world 's perspectives have changed drastically. Society is undoubtedly witnessing a rapid uprising of a new era of hatred and genocide, just like in the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide in the form of Islamophobia, media propaganda, and false representations of Muslims being terrorists.

blight on society rather than a useful addition. Abdul presents controversial ideas and themes such as the discrimination that Muslims face in everyday life, the ‘expectation’ all Muslims are extremist, and that they are seen by some as ‘less than

So they tend to take drastic measure in order to seek change in the world such as killing themselves and others to pursue betterment for humanity. In this paper I will be touching base on race and the Islamic religion and culture and how they are perceived within Capitalist countries and the rest of the world. What is Islamophobia? Islamophobia is a contrived fear or prejudice fomented by the existing Eurocentric and Orientalist global power structure. It is directed at a perceived or real Muslim threat through the maintenance and extension of existing disparities in economic, political, social and cultural relations, while rationalizing the necessity to deploy violence as a tool to achieve "civilizational rehab" of the target communities (Muslims or

Islam phobia is demonstrated in Deepa Iyer's column for USA Today "Post-9/11 discrimination must end" in 2012 and presents many cases of Islam phobia in the

Since the dawn of human civilization, there has been an unfortunate but natural tendency to marginalize and oppress those belonging to "the other"--those not in power, not part of the most popular group and those who are different. One such manifestation of this fear of the different is Islamophobia--the "dread or hatred of Islam--and therefore [the] fear or dislike of all or most Muslims." Although the exact word "Islamophobia" was brought to public awareness in 1997 after an academic journal from the British Runnymede Report, it has existed for many years prior to the journal, as a term to describe the experiences of the oppressed and discriminated sections of Muslim communities. The simmering prejudice towards Muslims gained ferocious momentum

The topic of Islamophobia is still a taboo for some people because they don’t want to admit that a form of discrimination is rapidly growing and is not truly frowned upon by most people. The truth is, is that Islamophobia is a big deal that most Americans won’t bring up. A good portion of our current Presidential candidates have the fear of Muslims. This shows that a good portion of the country is having the same discriminatory feelings that people had during the Civil Rights movement.

A study was undertaken by the University of South Australia in 2015, with a representative sample of 1000 Australian adults. The study focused on their perceptions of Muslims and other religious and ethnic groups, with a special reference to Islamophobia, social distance and terrorism. The study suggested that 70% of Australian’s have a very low level of Islamophobia, about 20% are undecided, and 10% are highly Islamophobic .

This paper takes a closer look at Islamophobia in the United States. Islamophobia is defined as irrational fear of Islam and Muslims. Is Islamophobia real or are Muslims, as some suggest, simply taking advantage of the religious freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution and the tradition of pluralism and acceptance. Others say Islamophobia exists because Muslims refuse to integrate into American society. Yet others will say Muslims refuse to integrate because of Islamophobia. “American Islam” and “mainstream Muslim” are both terms that have become highly politicized and must be understood specific to time and place. The media also plays a role in catering to the fear of Islam and Muslims by Americans. In this paper I will go into beliefs, as

Imagine being hated for your skin color or the way you worship God. Imagine that you live in a world where people persecute you for a crime that you did not commit. For many people, a life that we cannot even begin to fathom is their reality. Millions of believers of Islam and people of Middle Eastern origin are unjustly stereotyped, harassed, and killed over the belief that they are evil. Innocent men, women, and children are held to this type of prejudice in the United States for their faith being wrongly used by extremists. In America, we pride ourselves on being the “Land of Opportunity”, yet many Muslim-Americans are denied that very thing. The subliminal racism that we have towards Muslims because of these radicals prevents us from moving forward as a nation and as human beings. America’s embrace of Islamophobia is more prominent than ever and we need to stop it now.

In the Jounal of Muslim Mental Health: Attitude towards Muslim Americans post 9/11, the author research focuses on Islamophobia, a hatred or dread of Islam, survey has been conducted in which discrimination on the basis of religion has increased in the recent years (Sheridon qutd. In Khan & Aukland, 2012). Studies show that Americans are rather fearful to get on a plane with a Muslim than on bus. Recently, in a flight a Muslim woman was degraded by white people on the basis of her religion and was refused to be heard. Being called terrorist and traitor to ones country is a disgrace in itself, according to the woman. American Muslims have to endure every kind of insult and attack imaginable on their religion and community in the years to come

The list created by the Runnymede Trust runs a stark parallel to the political and social happenings in this country and around the world. Anti-terrorism legislation in the United States, and to an even greater extent in other countries like France and Switzerland, has become a vehicle for Islamophobia and creates even greater hardship for Muslims everywhere. On a social level, the Runnymede Trust’s forewarning of Islamophobia becoming more respectable is actualizing. Intellectual Islamophobia in the ilk of Bill Maher is becoming increasingly popular in American culture, and it runs largely on the views the report points out.

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim increasingly received much consideration when it reached the book shops—something that above all must be ascribed to its timely distribution amidst the Afghan and Iraqi wars, and to the way that it at the time represented a desolate option basic perusing of American foreign policy. In spite of the fact that it raises several intriguing perspectives, its expansive historical framework, to a great extent based on macro-political viewpoints, puts an uneven accentuation on the role of the West. This simplifies a more intricate reality and denies Muslims and non-Western actors of real agency. My dispute is that Mamdani ignores other parallel and alternative narrations of Islamophobia, and, also, that he neglects to consider

Xenophobia has long been an important and damaging social issue; presently, we see more displays of Islamophobia within television. Muslims are experiencing increased levels of Islamophobia as a result of mainstream news’ portrayal of Islam and terrorism. Americans who do not further educate themselves view these false representations of Islamic culture as factual. Zafar Iqbal, an academic in Muslim studies, enlarges upon the media’s influence, “…Media create stereotypes and shape perceptions and understanding of social groups… the distance or proximity between different social groups is what the media portray. This seems to be true in the case of Islamophobia” (96). Americans are heavily influenced by social messages provided by the media. False beliefs and prejudice are fueled by mainstream news perpetuating false representations and stereotypes of Islamic culture. Media sensationalism is cause for unnecessary separation and panic within America. Americans are being fed a limited view of Islam— a view that sells, but what are the consequences? Pnina Webner explains the overwhelming social implications, “…Media images…demonize Muslims and their religion… a displaced figure of collective anxieties and fears… an arbitrary scapegoat embodying racist paranoid convictions that only cultural, ethnic and racial purity can stem the breakdown of social order and the collapse of

Deepa gives illustrations of the cruel treatments of what racial anxiety leads to; These anti Muslim groups and anti-immigrants ideology contains so much hate for one group of people that their actions are not simply crimes but are domestic terrorism. Moreover, Deepa sheds light on recent acts of terrorism

To begin, the topic I have chosen that drives my attention is the ongoing crisis of Islamophobia in America. Islamophobia basically the fear of Islam or Muslims (Whitman, 2015). Islamophobia has a considerable relationship to social inequality and this is because social inequality is prevalent in America. The roles of media have helped the ability social inequality rise to the roofs. Social inequality has shifted roots from African-American unjustness in the past to the concept of Islamophobia. For example, in the past African-American faced social inequality and lacked privilege. African- American did not have the same rights as other individuals in America (Raiklin,1990). For example, African-American had to drink from a different water fountain