Wali Ejaz Nekokara
CHARLIE Hebdo’s desperate bid to ridicule the Last Prophet (SAWW) and then Emmanuel Macron’s reckless statement of defending the freedom of expression triggered the debate of Islamophobia. France drew flak due to its anti-Muslim approach. Discriminatory demeanour against Muslims has left the spirit of secularism in tatters. Interestingly, France and Islamophobia have a deep relation. Fernando Bravo Lopez is known as the explorer of the origins of Islamophobia. He discovered that two French writers used the term “Islamphobie” first time in 1910. They coined this term to depict the experiences of African Muslims under French colonial rule. French writers couldn’t offer the reason behind the usage of this term but their slight interjection of words like “prejudice”, “dislike” and “fear” gives the impression of manhandling of Muslims on a religious basis. “Islamophobia” is still a convoluted term and scholars are butting heads over its explanation. The drivers of Islamophobia are difficult to pin down. Despite being enigmatic terminology, Islamophobia is getting more and more ascendency. According to two scholars, Steve Garner and Saher Selod “From 1980 to 2014 the term Islamophobia appeared in the titles of more than 1,212 books, newspaper articles, and magazines. It was newspaper articles in which the pertinent term is used in a majority of titles 1,121”. Similarly, Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative shows that “Since 2003, approximately 40 books have been written by using Islamophobia in their titles”. Furthermore, as this term is getting currency, qualms akin to the term are also rising.
Various writers and scholars did labour to interpret the term in different contexts. Runnymede Trust popularized the term of “Islamaphobia” in 1990s in sense of ‘hatred”, “dread”, “dislike” and “fear”. Similarly, scholars like Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg explained the term as a kind of “social anxiety” that is less examined yet deeply permeated in Americans. Another prominent European scholar, Chris Allan defines the phenomenon as an ideology like racism that maintains “negatively evaluated meaning” about Muslims and Islam. He offers to understand the phenomenon in terms of “power and domination”. Palpably, several alternatives to the term Islamophobia (like “anti-Muslim Prejudice”, “anti-Islamic prejudice”, “anti-Muslim bigotry”, and “anti-Islamism”) have been proposed. Islamophobia is usually taken in terms of prejudice or as a negative expression against a particular religious group. The book “The Routledge International Handbook of Islamophobia” offers a very comprehensive study regarding Islamophobia. In chapter one of part one, Writer Nathan C. Lean presents intriguing debates over the pertinent term. Along with those writers or scholars who perceive Islamophobia as anti-Muslim prejudice, Nathan also hashes out another perspective of debate. He talks about a group of scholars who maintain that the word “phobia” means “irrational fear” and “Phobia” doesn’t mean “prejudice”. They further maintain that the term Islamophobia itself is not problematic but the meaning that is attached by the speakers is prejudicing. The term “anti-Semitism” can be taken as an example according to scholars, this term refers to those who speak the Semitic language but it is used against Jews. The etymology of the term indicates a meaning contradictory to what is perceived. So, this group of scholars is of the view that the way we understand and use the term matters instead of what the actual term offers.
Furthermore, Steve Garner and Saher Selod penned down a brilliant research article “The Racialization of Muslims: Empirical studies of Islamophobia”. In this article, they used the concept of “Racialization” as a framework for analysis. They maintain that regardless of physical appearance, country of origin, and economic conditions, Muslims are being degraded or manhandled by Islamophobic discourse and based on their everyday practices. They quote the conclusion of the book “Thinking through Islamophobia: Global perspectives” edited by AbdoolKarim Vakil and S.Sayyid that “Religion is raced” and “Muslims are racialized”. In this situation when Islamophobia is on the rise, Muslims remain on the receiving end of animus and scorn. Du Bois Web presents a very unique concept “Double Consciousness” to explain the way minority groups manage the discriminatory risks. This concept holds that minority groups shape their mindset and regulate their behaviour according to the majority population. All over the West, Muslims are forced to apply “Double consciousness”.
According to introspection, Anti-Muslim prejudice is a true sense in which islamophobia can be translated. This Anti-Muslim prejudice is deliberately being created to malign Islam because the Islamic system and values are at odds with established order. The post-modernist approach can be applied to Islamophobia. Post-modernists draw a nexus between knowledge and power. They think that knowledge is designed on political lines. Narratives are shaped as realities; this is what Campbell says “Narrativization of reality”. So, degrading Islam and associating it with terrorism is a deliberate bid of world powers to build an anti-Islam narrative. Muslim world’s failure to give a befitting intellectual response is further adding to the conundrum. Moreover, religious tensions in the Middle East and poor treatment of minorities are galvanizing the unjust notion of world powers. Muslim countries have to unite against Islamophobia and should build a counter-narrative. Last but not least is that Muslim countries have to ensure better treatment of minorities and have to discourage extremist elements at home for successful advocacy of Islam in the world.
—The writer is an independent researcher and a freelance contributor.
