It has been two years since the UN General Assembly adopted its first International Day to Combat Islamophobia-in a post-9/11 world, perceptions of Islam have become intimately tied with violent extremism, generating an institutional suspicion of Muslims across the globe and promoting harmful stereotypes that limit their access to goods, services and employment in countries where they are a minority.
Muslim perpetrators of violence are subject to more severe legal charges, up to three times the prison sentence and more than seven times the media coverage than their non-Muslim counterparts. National and local opposition to refugees has become standard for many European countries who claim that their position stems from security risks associated with letting immigrants in through their borders. Anti-Muslim groups in the US continually lean on far-fetched conspiracy theories such as “civilization jihad” where they claim that Muslims are intent on undermining and eventually replacing American democracy with Islamic despotism. Islamophobia is insidious because it is structural-reflected in anti-Muslim legislation such as Andy’s Law in Alabama and the hijab ban in France. Interestingly, the UN resolution has not yet been ratified by France, India and many member states in the EU where anti-Muslim rhetoric continues to dominate political discourse.
On a community level, the emergence of anti-Muslim hate groups, anti-Muslim rallies and organised anti-mosque activity has kept Muslims from practising their faith. Muslim women have been disproportionately affected because of their outward appearance, facing discrimination on multiple levels. Very often their access to public spaces is restricted through policies and practices based on harmful stereotypes. Fear-mongering politicians have made entire careers out of demonizing Muslims. The distortion of Islam’s image and symbols perpetuates a conflict between the West and the Muslim world, playing into the hands of violent extremists who incite otherwise innocent Muslims to violence under the pretext of defending their religion. It is high time we stop singling out religious groups for sinister political objectives-by situating a religion as violent, we isolate its members completely which is counterintuitive to the assimilation that many counties in the EU hope to achieve. *