My GK article on Islamophobia was published on March 14th, 2014. It’s necessary to sum it all up here again before its possible solutions could be discussed.
• Islamophobia is now a vital area of interest in sociological, political and anthropological circles. Although many scholars term it a European phenomenon and believe it always existed, it conspicuously transmuted from being merely an ideology to its explicit expression by those who believe in it, towards the Muslims, mainly because of two events. One, Ayatollah Khomeini’s reaction to Salman Rushdie’s book – The Satanic verses , and the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers. The Runnymede Trust, which is a left-wing British think-tank, came up with a report called ‘Islamophobia: A challenge for us All’. Following are the eight components which they claim define Islamophobia:
Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.
• Islam 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.
• Islam is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive and sexist.
• Islam is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism and engaged in a ‘clash of civilizations’.
• Islam is seen as a political ideology and is used for political or military advantage.
• Criticisms made of the West by Islam are rejected out of hand.
• Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and the exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.
• Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural or normal.
Generally, there are two perceptions of Islamophobia. One is the Phobia of Muslims and the other is the Phobia of ‘religion of Islam’. The third perception would be a mix of the two. The above eight components of Runnymede trust ascribe this phobia to Islam, while the Wikipedia defines Islamophobia as the prejudice against, hatred towards, or fear of Muslims or of ethnic groups perceived to be Muslim. I am more inclined towards the Runnymede explanation, based on the experience I have had. I do not deny that merely a Muslim identity or a lineage can land you in trouble at times, but I believe phobia of Islam as an ideology is more widespread & prevalent, across the world. Let’s attempt to substantiate this argument. Take India as a case. As in every Muslim-minority nation, there is a prejudice toward Muslims and Islam as a religion. However, Indians refute such allegations and a present handful of Bollywood stars and some other influential Muslims as proof for not being Islamophobic. I argue, how about if these Super Khans really behave as normal Muslims are supposed to. Imagine, they wouldn’t be alcoholic, do not participate in ‘Ganesh pujas’, refuse to act in movies which promote what Islam calls outrightly ‘Haraam’, deny romancing or physical proximity with strange women (co-stars) even on the sets. Would they still be treated and revered as super-stars in India?
The point that’s being made here is that their argument about Muslim stars may exonerate them of the allegation of being Muslimophobic but not Islamophobic. It means they do not mind people with Muslim names or writing ‘Islam’ as a religion on their passports as long as they do not follow Islam. In fact, such Muslims are the strategic assets of Islamophobes, as they can present them as the defense if they are accused of ‘Islam baiting’. It is important to understand the difference between Islamophobia (hatred of Islam) and Muslimophobia (hatred of Muslims). My point is that Islamophobics use the proof of not being Muslimophobic, to conveniently counter the allegations of Islamophobia and we are convinced. In fact, such Islamophobes themselves do not realize they are actually Islamophobes. Even those non-muslims who campaign against Islamophobia do it Islampophobically. I have witnessed many such Pro-Muslim activists addressing their own people, saying, ”Well, I have many Muslim friends, who drink with me, who have girl/boyfriends, who go for clubbing with me. They are normal people. Come on, guys! They are just like us, just like you & me”. To me, this statement is the most Islamophobic statement, ever. These so-called Muslim defenders implicitly say that these guys do not follow Islam, like us. So, why discriminate against them. It also means they wouldn’t support any Muslim who actually follows the tenets of his faith. This makes it amply clear that they are also against ‘Islam as a religion’ but are only open to those Muslims who relinquish Islamic practices and beliefs and be like them. Why do we need to be like them to be respected? Why can’t we be respected the way we are? Where does the concept of diversity go, in this context?
The Muslim response to the sudden emergence of unsheathed Islamophobia, at the beginning of this century, has further aggravated the problem. Muslims resorted to the extreme defensive approach. Most of us became apologists for Islamophobia within our communities and actually justified it to ourselves. This is why we were all out there to explain and apologize for the acts of some people because they used the name of our religion as if the extremists of other religious denominations hadn’t. We behaved as the accused as if onus was on us to prove our innocence & that of our religion. Commenting on such acts being unislamic is understandable but we- in a way- owned these acts by actually going out there beseeching people to consider us innocents. After realizing this wasn’t enough, we went a step further by detaching ourselves with anything Islamic- in public. This was a naked capitulation. The names of our businesses, political parties, schools & colleges were de-islamized by us. We began shortening our Muslim names at work places to make them sound Non-Muslim. Those women who loved their Hijaab gave it up, to avoid being perceived as Muslim. Such surrender is now being considered to be an act of prudence by our community. Even Arabic language- written or spoken- became anathema. Now, few years down the line, even our children may have secular names. It’s good to be inclusive, but if the reason is the pressure of Islamophobia, then it’s our acquiescence to it. If we can’t take this extra-attention and a little discomfort for the sake of keeping Islam mainstream, how can we claim to make big sacrifices for Islam? This is the least we can do. The best response would have been to make Islam more prominent and public in defiance to such a regressive generalization, and make Islamophobia a shame like Racism is. Unfortunately, we are facilitating it.
makhdoomi.mehboob6@gmail.com