The term Islamophobia has entered the everyday vocabulary of contemporary politics and scholarship. However, Islamophobia as terminology is not a neutral sociological category; it presupposes and creates different political relations in different contexts, and this becomes a site of contestation. The existing studies on Islamophobia show that the linguistic reduction of political meaning to dictionary definitions is not going to work in a political context. The argument is not that there is no relevance to tracing out the meaning of Islamophobia in a particular context. The meaning of Islamophobia is created in different contexts and circulated through different historical circumstances. The search for meaning in the context of Islamophobia is not devoid of political discourse.
Why Muslims use a particular word to name their political reality is a significant matter worth pondering in relation to the political discourse of Muslims. Islamophobia is a terminology that has developed through many historical contexts. Thus the relevant question here is: how can this terminology be creatively and dynamically used for a new politics of resistance to the oppression, exclusion, otherisation, and injustice against Muslims. Moreover, the effects of analysis and theorisation of Islamophobia are important in the ways in which Muslim politics and ethics embrace, transform, and contest pluriversal political horizons like that of anti-imperialism or anti-colonialism, decoloniality, feminism, global left politics, liberation theology. In that sense, rather than defining Islamophobia in a purely technical way, it is better to view the theory of Islamophobia as part of the political struggles to examine and transform oppressive social orders, in the particular context of Muslim politics.
The theorisation of Islamophobia from the global North demands attention to questions of translation because of the normative position of the English language that makes it easy to write about the issues of Islamophobia in the global North. The Euro-Atlantic world shows minimal effort to resist English dominance in the critical studies on Islamophobia. The translation and adaptation of Muslim transnational vocabulary is one of the main areas of contestation regarding the politics of Islamophobia in Muslim-minority contexts such as India, where the politics of translation plays a huge role in minority politics and language in relation to the caste Hindu majoritarian-normativity.
For instance, take the case of Islamophobia in Kerala, a south Indian state where Muslims are a minority. As in most other Indian states, Islamophobia is a foreign word in the context of Kerala. Islam’s bhayamor pedi is the immediate and literal translation of Islamophobia. This direct translation of the word reduces Islamophobia to a mere social psychological fear about Islam. Such translation thus becomes a way to circumscribe the political and critical structural analysis of state and society, as implied by the theory of Islamophobia, and replaces it with a foreshortened theory of individualised social prejudice.
To confront Islamophobia at the international political level, OIC has been given a mandate to monitor the trend of Islamophobia and to provide periodical reports to Member States; while being encouraged to take necessary measures to address the phenomenon in coordination and cooperation with Member States, international communities and the UN Human Rights mechanism, as well as with other international entities whenever it is possible.
Through a dedicated unit within the OIC General Secretariat which is the Islamophobia Observatory, such mandate is being implemented mainly by monitoring events and incidents on daily basis; scanning the attitudes, public feelings, incidents, and everything that serves as a possible indicator of Islamophobia; by reporting to Member States on regular basis (Monthly, Quarterly, Annually), by initiating counter-measures against Islamophobes or Xenophobes; by initiating dialogue for projecting the true and peaceful values of Islam; by raising global awareness of the phenomenon; by spreading the basic tenets of moderation and modernisation in Islam; and by empowering communities around the world to meet the challenges related to the Islamophobia.
A recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief found that suspicion, discrimination and outright hatred towards Muslims has risen to ‘epidemic proportions.’
Mostly, this trend started after the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001 and other horrific acts of terrorism purportedly carried out in the name of Islam, they completely changed the anti-Muslim narrative and also the various nations’ view of institutional suspicion of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims, which escalated to epidemic proportions.
Numerous states, as well as regional and international bodies, have responded to security threats by adopting measures that disproportionately target Muslims and define Muslims as high-risk and at risk of radicalisation. At the same time, widespread negative representations of Islam, and harmful stereotypes that depict Muslims and their beliefs and culture as a threat have served to perpetuate, validate and normalise discrimination, hostility and violence towards Muslim individuals and communities.
In states where they are in minority, Muslims often experience discrimination in accessing goods and services, in finding employment and in education. In some states they are denied citizenship or legal immigration status due to xenophobic perceptions that Muslims represent national security and terrorist threats. Muslim women are disproportionately targeted in Islamophobic hate crimes.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2022, sponsored by 60 member-states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which designated 15 March every year, as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The document stresses that terrorism and violent extremism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation, or ethnic group. It calls for a global dialogue on the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace, based on respect for human rights and for the diversity of religions and belief.
Marking the first International Day to Combat Islamophobia in 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out that anti-Muslim bigotry is part of a larger trend of resurgence in ethno-nationalism, neo-Nazism, stigma and hate speech targeting vulnerable populations including Muslims, Jews, some minority Christian communities, as well as others. “As the Holy Quran reminds us: nations and tribes were created to know one another. Diversity is a richness, not a threat,” he said.
In response to the alarming trend of rising hate speech around the world, Secretary-General AntónioGuterres launched the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.
Studies show that the number of Islamophobic hate crimes frequently increases following events beyond the control of most Muslims, including terrorist attacks and anniversaries of such attacks. These trigger events illustrate how Islamophobia may attribute collective responsibility to all Muslims for the actions of a very select few, or feed upon inflammatory rhetoric.
Many countries have taken steps to combat Islamophobia by establishing anti-hate-crime legislation and measures to prevent and prosecute hate crimes and by conducting public awareness campaigns about Muslims and Islam, designed to dispel negative myths and misconceptions about the religion and its followers.
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