It was in the 18th or 19th Century, when Omar Ibn Said, an African Muslim was enslaved and brought to the United States. He converted to Christianity but his autobiographical writings depicted he was still practising Islam. Why did he opt for veiled worshipping when all the slaves were maltreated? Why didn’t he show them that he was a Muslim? There seems to be one rational answer, Islamophobia. Or the fear, hatred and prejudiced behaviour against Islamic religion and Muslims. This was a long time before the incident of 9/11. Is 9/11 and other terrorist attacks the only reason for Islamophobia?
According to an ABCNews/Belief Net poll, between January and November of 2002 the percentage of the public that had unfavorable opinion of Islam, believed Islam doesn’t teach respect for other faiths and perceived Islam encouraged violence went up between 9 and 13 percentage points.Leaders matter more than international events.
The well documented media campaign to drum up support for the Iraq war, the Axis of Evil speech, and a number of anti-Islam statements from prominent white Evangelical leaders may have tipped public opinion against Islam. These included Rev. Franklin Graham who gave the invocation at President Bush’s inauguration. He remarked (without irony), “Islam–unlike Christianity—has among its basic teachings an intolerance for those who follow other faiths.”- Dalia Mogahed , Chairman and CEO of Mogahed Consulting and former Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.
According to a new report by Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, Islamophobia is on the rise in USA. With Supreme Court upholding the Muslim ban, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) saw a steady increase in reports of discrimination targeted at the American Muslims Community.
A study by YouGov found around 55% of surveyed Americans had an ‘unfavourable opinion towards Muslims.’ Imagine being African Muslim in America!
India too saw a rise in Islamophobia since 2014, hate speeches against Muslims by political leaders and media is prevalent in these times. Muslims find it hard to travel in trains especially if they are clad in burqa or skullcap and traditional Islamic attire as several lynching incidents took place with the allegations of carrying meat. Most of the people do not have knowledge about the preaching of the religion so they have discerned the image of Muslims in mind as shown by the Media. The Indian Media is called out numerous times by both it’s own mass and foreign media to be biased and showing every story from one perspective angled against the Muslims. While CAA protests were ongoing, the media was busy accumulating news to perceive the protestors as violent. The protests were carried out by people of every religion but the media telecasted it in a way that configured the image of CAA protests as the ones connected with Muslims.
Several comments and hate remarks have been made by political leaders that have caught widespread attention among the mass but have not been able to reach the whole 1.3 billion who watche news channels every day. They have the image of Muslims as shown by the media. The media left not a single way to demoralise and deplore the protests. While the people sitting in Shaheen Bagh were sometimes called out as people sold to other political parties and sometimes sitting for 500 rupees, it was clear from the concurrence of the protesters being shown as Muslims and then the overflow of these allegations that what was reaching at 1.3 billion homes was supposed to show a bad impression of Muslims.
The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses. -Malcolm X
Whether CAA is islamophobic or not I’ll leave for you to choose, but remarks like “We can identify the violent ones from their clothes” and “The people of Shaheen Bagh wants to burn the country, they are the snakes living among us” are clearly Islamophobic. With Tableeghi Jamaat being another one, Islamophobia has rouse again. Several fake videos started roaming around as soon as the news spread. Corona was fastened with the most loved word #Jihad in a tad bit of time after the news got attention and hence #CoronaJihad started trending on twitter. The major reason for Islamophobia is due to hate speeches by the leaders and the biased opinion of media as seen in the U.S during 2002.
With choice of clothes given to women it is still beheld as oppression if a woman wears Burqa or Hijab. Taslima Nasreen, after seeing pics of AR Rehman’s daughter Khatija in Burqa was quick to showcase her islamophobic mindset
“I absolutely love A R Rehman’s music. But whenever I see his daughter I feel suffocated. It is really depressing to learn the even educated women in a cultural family can get brainwashed easily.”
To which Khatija replied, “Dear Taslima Nasreen, I am sorry you feel suffocated by my attire. Please get some fresh air, because I don’t feel suffocated rather I am proud and empowered for what I stand for.”
Hijab may not always be worn by choice, I do agree but that doesn’t give anyone the right to snatch it from their heads. With more than 13 countries already banning burqa and women wearing Hijab already being vulnerable to assualts and attacks, it really is the high time to come and speak up about Islamophobia.
Wearing a hijab by choice shouldn’t be seen as oppressive. Fighting for your rights peacefully shouldn’t be considered violent. Speaking up for what’s right should be more common. Banishing women wearing hijab should be seen as oppressive. Holding a community responsible for actions of few people and attacking them should be considered violent. Growing up in a place surrounded by communal hatred should never be common.
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