User:SlimVirgin/Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the concept of a prejudice against or demonization of Muslims, and a dread or hatred of Islam. [1] The term dates back to the late 1980s [2] or early 90s, [3] although its use has increased significantly since the September 11, 2001 attacks. [4][5] 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. [3][6]
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 gained currency as "markers of seemingly 'natural' kinds of differences." She writes that Islam has become "the new 'other' ..." [7][8]
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. [9] 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. [10]
British writer and academic Kenan Malik has criticized the concept, calling Islamophobia a "myth." Malik argues that the concept confuses discrimination against Muslims with criticism of Islam, and that the term is used to silence critics of the religion, including Muslims who want to reform it. [11] 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." [12]
Notes[edit]
- ^ 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. The final report, Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All, was launched in November 1997 by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw.
- ^ Runnymede 1997, p. 1, cited in Quraishi 2005, p. 60.
- ^ a b Annan, Kofi. "Secretary-General, addressing headquarters seminar on confronting Islamophobia", United Nations press release, December 7, 2004.
- ^ Casciani, Dominic. "Islamophobia pervades UK - report", BBC News, June 2, 2004.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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).
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Runnymede 1997, p. 5, cited in Quraishi 2005, p. 60.
- ^ Schwartz, Stephen. "The 'Islamophobes' That Aren't", FrontPage Magazine, April 28, 2005.
- ^ Malik, Kenan. "Islamophobia Myth", Prospect, February 2005.
- ^ Rushdie, Salman et al. "Writers' statement on cartoons", BBC News, March 1, 2006.