Intercultural communication between the West and Islam under the spectre of islamophobia (original) (raw)
Related papers
The verifiable account of Islam-west relations, beginning favourably from the hour of the prophet, turns towards strife after some time. Despite a generally negative understanding throughout history, seismic events, notably the US-led war on terrorism, led to many in the Muslim world feeling targeted. This, thus, powered islamophobia, exacerbated by bombings, the ascent of ISIS, and a stressed connection between Muslim nations and Europe. The expression "islamophobia" itself assigns trepidation and antagonism towards Muslims, driven by prejudice and coming about in exclusionary, biased, and savage activities against those apparent as Muslim. This prejudice is rooted in the notion that Islam is an inferior religion posing a threat to dominant societal values. Discusses encompassing the reasons for islamophobia, especially attached to the fallout of the September 11 assaults, have been unmistakable among analysts. While islamophobia earned boundless respect in the last part of the 1990s, verifiable antagonism towards Islam in the West follows back to medieval times. In multicultural social orders, ideas like islamophobia are utilized to make sense of acts against Muslim diasporas by non-Muslims. The expression of Islamophobia takes various forms, often aligning with traditional Western Christian views and the Occident versus Orient narrative. The period since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and subsequent international developments has seen a considerable deterioration in relations between the so-called Muslim world and the West over the past three decades. This paper aims to explore the underlying realities shaping Islam-West relations and giving rise to Islamophobia. The increased focus on Islam, the Muslim world, and Muslims in Western Europe in scholarly and journalistic publications is spurred by key global events, including the Iranian revolution, the Rushdie affair, the Gulf War, and the growing political significance of Islam.
Mutual Perceptions of Islam and the West
With the advance of Information Technology the term global ummah has become a household concept recently. This article tries to track down the main reasons for the reactions against the so-called Danish Cartoon Crisis all over the Muslim world in order to portray the common characteristics of the ummah by organising similar protests from Denmark itself to China although these Muslims are unaware of others’ organisations. Today’s Muslim reaction, despite their ultimate love of the Prophet, has little to do with the Prophet but it has more to do with the overall situation of the Muslims and their painful experiences of humiliation in the hands of the Western powers. I also believe that the West allows such incidents in order to define themselves against the “other” that they are trying to create after the Cold War.
Islamophobia: Radical Western Thoughts and it’s Encounter in the Light of Islam
Journal of Islamic and Religious Studies
Islamophobia is an imposed term of the West broadly defined as a fear or hatred of Islam and its followers. Prejudice is considered an unjustifiable and harmful incident of discrimination that is related to the rise of Islamophobia. In western opinion, Muslims are warmongers who have extremist approaches towards life, and Islam is a backward religion. This radical mindset has relegated Muslims to an unimportant and powerless position within society and groups, which has triggered anti-Muslim sentiments among non-Muslims. Bullying, surveillance, fear, prejudgments against Muslims have been increased by schools, districts, landlords, and employees on the globe, especially in the western world. Mosque controversies in the United States, anti-veiling legislation in France, the 'minaret' row in Switzerland, the killing of Turkish immigrants in Germany, and hateful statements of Dutch politicians against Muslims are well-known examples of Islamophobia. The paper's primary purp...
Unpublished Paper, 2012
This article compares American and European policy discourses and practices towards 'Islam' as a religion and the 'Muslim world' as a specific religious-defined category of countries and peoples in world politics. In the European case, we explore the policies of EU institutions as well as two key European countries with important international roles such as the U.K. and France. This comparative analysis reveals that there are multiple and conflicting approaches to 'Islam' across the American and European (EU, British, and French) cases. We argue that the variety of approaches observed is rooted in diverse understandings – based on different American, EU, British, and French identities, geopolitics, power resources, and security interests – of what 'Islam' and the 'Muslim world' are. This article investigates and compares American and European foreign policy discourses and practices towards 'Islam' and the 'Muslim world'. To be clear, we do not investigate counter terrorism policies in any particular detail. Nor are we interested in unpacking American and European approaches to specific countries or Islamist movements (whether violent or non violent) within or beyond the Middle East. We are instead interested in policies which have come to be increasingly and explicitly designed to address and target 'Islam', as a particular world religion, and the 'Muslim world', as a set of countries that cuts across continents and a category of people which transcends national borders identified primarily by their particular religious identity. In particular this article starts from the premise that following the attacks of 9/11 the American foreign policy establishment has developed a range of policies and institutions organized around the notion that 'Islam' and the 'Muslim world' are
Islamophobia, “Clash of Civilizations”, and Forging a Post-Cold War Order!
Religions, 2018
Islamophobia, as a problem, is often argued to be a rational choice by the stereotypical media coverage of Islam and Muslims, even though it points to the symptom rather than the root cause. Islamophobia reemerges in public discourses and part of state policies in the post-Cold War period and builds upon latent Islamophobia that is sustained in the long history of Orientalist and stereotypical representation of Arabs, Muslims, and Islam itself. The book What is Islamophobia? Racism, Social Movements and the State, edited by Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, and David Miller offers a unique contribution to how best to define and locate the problem of demonizing Islam and Muslims in the contemporary period. The three scholars provide a more critical and structural approach to the subject by offering what they call the “five pillars of Islamophobia”, which are the following: (1) the institutions and machinery of the state; (2) the far-right, incorporating the counter-jihad movement; (3) th...
Islamophobia, Hatred and Violence against Muslim Communities in the West and Real Picture of Islam
Īqān, 2022
The aim of this research was related to Islamic studies which reflect the historical information coupled with religious and cultural studies along with the philosophical opinions. Due to Islamophobia, the real and appropriate picture of Islam is distorted so the focus of the current study was on the related improvement that supports and stimulates the real picture of Islam in the world. Therefore, the study was aimed to examine the Islamophobia hatred and violence against Muslim communities in the west and the real picture of Islam. For this purpose, the data collected was qualitative, such that secondary data was critically analysed by the tool of content analysis. It was analysed that the concept of Islamophobia had been originated in the 19th century and this term in the early 20th century had been redefined. Islamophobia was a new practice of racism where judgments and discriminations are focused and targeted on the religious community, also known as 'cultural racism'. Anti-Muslim sentiments had experienced a rapid rise in the west over the past few decades. Post 9/11 era had led to a global shift, racism towards Muslims was observed in fields like education, economy, labor market and international relations. Moreover, anti-veil campaigns and the killing of immigrants was another outcome of the Islamophobia mindset in the west. Moreover, it had been found in the findings that the events like 9/11 and the continuous conflicts in the Middle East had destabilizing impact on Muslim as well as the western countries. Due to which the Islamophobia attitudes are on the rise in western culture. It was recommended that for Muslims to continue there was need to spread the real teachings of the peaceful religion Islam in their social circles
Muslims in Pre- and Post-9/11 Contexts
Muslims have never ceased to be important for the West and have been depicted in vilifying and stereotypical manners in western literature and films. However, after the tragic event of 9/11, a dramatic change has been observed in the world's focus towards Muslims. Although stereotypes and discriminatory actions were nothing new to Muslims, the post-9/11 backlash was absolutely terrible and heartbreaking. People have started to consider Muslims either terrorists or sympathetic to terrorists, and they have been suspected and distrusted. Lots of books, articles and films have depicted Muslims in a derogatory and extreme manner. Pre-9/11 Hollywood movies True Lies and The Siege explicitly show the stereotypical attitude of the West to Muslims while post-9/11 novels like The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and Once in a Promised Land by Laila Halaby depict the plight and predicament of Muslims in America. The article aims to depict the stereotypical, vilifying and antagonistic attitudes of the West to Arabs and Muslims in both pre-and post-9/11 era. It also aims to prove that the depiction is highly motivated by the media, western authorities and the West's desire for social, cultural and political dominance over the East.