Islamophobia is the fallacious fear, hatred, and hostility target the Islam religion, the Muslim community, and the Islamic culture together with discrimination that is active against the above groups or individuals. In the countries that perpetuate Islamophobia, it has always manifested itself through the attitude of individuals and their behaviors. The phobia has also been apparent in the king of policies and regulations implemented by different organizations (Love 2017). However, discrimination varies between countries and with time.
Muslims receive different forms of prejudice in various countries across the world. However, discrimination is most prevalent in America, Palestine, and Israel. Muslims can pool efforts and try to change their world in a bid to do away with the tyranny of the discrimination, just like slavery was abolished. In the countries as mentioned above, the acts of Islamophobia consist of violence against Muslims. The acts of violence are experienced in the form of physical assaults. The natives will also try to vandalize the properties belonging to Muslims. Their actions particularly target Muslim institutions, such as mosques, schools, and even cemeteries, and the Muslims are verbally abused.
At institutions and organizations level, Muslims have had to tolerate discrimination in employment, particularly in America. Muslims have to face unequal rights at the workplace and unequal opportunities, such as the chances of receiving promotion. They also encounter the same in the provision of health services where some of them are denied. Most of the Muslims are excluded from managerial posts and jobs that require high responsibility (Sheridan 2006). We have seen Muslims being fought against from attaining political and government positions such as the immediate president of the US Obama experienced when his Islamic background was cited during the campaigns.
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In the above, Islamophobia varies depending on the situation and people that execute it. For instance, in America, the natives have exercised verbal and physical attacks on Muslims. A good example is the current president of the United, who refers to them as terrorists courtesy of the 9/11 bombing that involved the Muslims. The United States president went ahead to ban any people from some Muslim states from entering the country. In Palestine and Israel, we have heard and seen on mass media wars on the Muslims continue to perpetuate. There are physical attacks on properties, places of worship such as mosques, and the people at large.
The above has been evident, particularly for those Muslims that explicitly show their religious identities through dressing. The category includes ladies who dress in hijab and niqab. Additionally, we have cases that have been reported where the Muslims are threatened online with actions of violence to be executed on them. There is also vilification and abuse so that they migrate from Israel and Palestine (Bazian 2005). The two countries are composed of natives that are religiously hostile to withstand the existence of the Muslims in their countries.
The government of the three countries has also developed policies and legislation that directly or indirectly target the Muslims. Some of the laws have led to the curtailing of their freedoms of religion. Such requirements include a ban against wearing of their visible cultural and religious symbols such as hijabs and niqabs on the par of women, particularly in the places of work. Some laws in the United States, especially at the airport or any checking points, have led to the intimidation of the Muslim community, especially the women that conceal their faces (Saeed 2007). They have been forced to remove the clothing for identification. Frisking during checking is also part of the problem faced by these women. Consequently, the Muslims, in some cases, have not been allowed to build mosques that have minarets. The bottleneck exists in the form of some architectural laws that have been formulated for conformation in the countries.
Discrimination has also occurred in educational institutions in the three countries. For the Muslim individuals that attend schools that are dominated by the native religions, they have always been prejudiced (Ali 2012). They are also not free to exercise their beliefs, such as the praying time and the various religious festivals that they should carry out. The problem also exists in their different places of work. Some have been forced to exercise other religious doctrines. Such include those that take their studies from religious sponsored schools such as the Catholic Church in the United States, failure of which they lose their academic rights.
Ethnic and religious profiling are other aspects experienced by Muslims in these countries. Muslims have been associated with Arabs. It is perceived that any Arab present in these countries is a Muslim. They are then subjected to religious profiling and abuse by the police in things such as at the check-points when they are searched (Ramberg 2004). The above has even been backed up by policies related to counterterrorism. The policies are reinforced on the population because of safety issues linked to their background.
Mass media in Palestine has significantly contributed to Islamophobia through the pronouncements of some of its journalists and politicians. They talk ill of the Muslims, leading to their stigmatization due to existence in other dominant communities. As such, it makes the contributions that they have towards the communities less critical since they are disregarded in the face of the public.
Islamophobia, particularly in America, has been incorporated into the problem of racism. However, the perception has gotten worse with the increased reported terror attacks in the countries with a high number of Muslims, the gradually growing refugee crisis, and the narrative pushed by public figures like Donald Trump. The result of these realities is increased instances of hate crimes targeting the Muslims and all the people with Middle East background who live in America.
There is also the link between Islam and inti-immigration laws established by states. It is noted that some of the laws that are in existence target Muslims as legislators attempt to limit the rate at which they are crossing national borders (Creighton & Jamal 2015). Consequently, the rate of Islamophobia also continues to be fueled courtesy of integration and immigration of the Muslim minorities in the dominant culture of these countries. The tension is linked to the changes in the economy and the rise of opinions from national public figures. The above has also been backed up by the high profile attacks executed by Muslim extremists.
Some of the causes of Islamophobia can be attached to the ever-increasing diversity in these countries. The diversity has triggered the perception of the Muslim minorities as not belonging or segregating themselves from other groups in society. It is because the government of these countries has failed to ensure equal rights for everyone dwelling in these countries (Ali 2012). Therefore, it has triggered a group of Muslim minorities to experience unemployment, get exposed to poverty and limited access to civic and political participation amounting to discrimination.
In times of occurrences such as economic crises, the existence of minorities has always provided a loophole. The Muslims being minorities in the above countries experience inherent threats to their way of life despite having lived in the states for more extended periods of time. The natives of countries like Israel have not always tolerated the thought of the Muslim community expanding in their country. It is with the assumption that they can Islamize the country to their advantage and perpetuate the extremist doctrines.
Terror attacks by some Muslim extremists completely changed the perception held by countries like the United States. For instance, almost two decades after the 9/1, Anti-Muslim rhetoric are still very common in the US despite the limited number of attacks associated with Jihadists being carried out in the nation’s soil (Marc 2013). Therefore, people use the actions of such extremists to justify the thinking that Islam is a threat to their livelihood. The stereotypical thinking held by some has contributed to the perpetuation of Islamophobia. It, in turn, continues to put the lives of the majority of the Muslim community in these countries at stake.
On the other hand, a country like Israel has always had political feuds with the Arabian countries besides the Muslim community at large. As such, the country has gone the extra mile to come up with groups in countries like the United States and Palestine and fund them, organize, produce, and distribute contents related to Islamophobia. It is noted that funding of anti-Muslim groups has resulted in the creation of “Islamophobia industry” with more than 205 million US dollars being spent to create a state of hatred and fear against Muslims (Considine 2017: 2). Some of the material has been reported to circulate in Western countries. It is particularly in schools where the right amount of Muslims takes their studies.
Based on the current research, Islamophobia has been spread due to practices at the individual and group level. Some individuals and organizations have also been on the rise to instill stereotypical images of the Muslim community. Some xenophobic leaders reinforce a call for the expulsion of the Muslims. The leaders have influenced legislative agenda against Muslims, which has increased the level of discrimination that member of this community experience. Such actions make it hard for society to accommodate the Muslim community. Therefore, the current problem of Islamophobia has taken root in the society due to the fears and hatred generated from stereotypes, generalizations, legislations and other campaigns seeking to associate the religion with violence and terrorism.
