The Impacts and Consequences of Islamophobia in US

Defining Islamophobia

Islamophobia is the fear, hatred or hostility directed against Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia influences all factors of Muslim life and can be expressed in several methods, which includes:

- attacks, abuse and violence against Muslim attacks on mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim cemeteries discrimination in education, employment, housing, and delivery of products and services.

- loss of provisions and recognize for Muslims in public institutions.

Examples of Islamophobia 1. A gang of 20 youths shouted anti-Islamic remarks towards a Muslim guy and then kicked him unconscious. The victim received a broken jaw, fractured arm and neck injuries. 2. A Muslim student was victim of bullying at college. She had her hijab pulled off and was referred to as (towel head) through her fellow students.

Introduction

Islamophobia is a phenomenon associated with notions of fear, abhor, and outrage; of which one consecutively following another. within this kind of cycle, fear turned into the initial reason of Islamophobia, and in this case the fear was against Islam and whatever associable with this religion i.e. Muslims, mosques, Islamic center, minarets, the Holy Qur'an, Hijab, and so on. Very often, one of these fears is directed toward certain practices like Halal meals standard, men with beard, type of dress and pieces of clothing, or surely toward names that sounds Arabic. All those things made the Islamophobes to hate the all above-stated things. Islamophobia also constitutes prejudice and discriminations against Muslim individuals in their everyday life, in media, in place of business, in political sphere, etc. It means that to start with Islamophobia rests in the mind of people however it may then reflect into xenophobic dispositions of contempt and intolerance. manifestly, this sort of combination could explode into anger and as the result Islamophobia frequently manifests into rough acts like consuming mosques, vandalizing Muslims homes, abusing ladies sporting headband, or offending sacred symbol of Islam. consequently, the character of Islamophobia first concerned psychological instead of political, economic, or social elements, and subsequently it overflow, influencing the multiple dimensions of human life. At a subsequent factor, the ailment of Islamophobia turned into then intermixed with different problems related to politics, economy, social conflicts, religious tensions, fanaticism, fear based oppression, majority rule esteems, Freedom of Expression, and so on. In Islam there is no separation between the state and religion. As Moten rightly points out: “Islam is comprehensive in scope in which religion is integral to politics” unlike the modern secular norm.

Leaders who have been given the trust to govern must do so with the guidance of religion. Governing a country is a great privilege, the leaders are answerable to God for their actions, they cannot, therefore, abuse their positions. Political Islam is portrayed as dangerous, violent,dictatorial and undemocratic. On the contrary, political Islam is none of these. If certain Muslim leaders fit these descriptions, it is not the fault of the religion. Even when Islamic political parties are democratically elected through the ballot box, they are still not good enough. They are vilified as extremists who are not fit to govern a country. So, conditions are created and attempts made to deprive them of their chance to govern.Islamic parties have been compared to communists, Nazis and fascists. Muslims are ridiculed for demanding their democratic right To be governed by the precepts of their religion. Misgivings about the association between Islam and politics are unfounded. One just has to look at the governing elite in Malaysia, for instance. The country is governed by a ruling coalition comprising various political parties representing the different races and faiths in the country.The dominant party is the United Malays National Organization(UMNO) which, among others, champions Islam. The party president who is also the Prime Minister, in his address to the party’s general assembly in 2006, assured fellow Malaysians that the Malay Muslim party will be just and fair to all the communities. Other race-based parties have given UMNO the trust to lead the country because oft heir conviction that the party will treat them fairly. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi emphasised that tolerance and power sharing were essential for maintaining peace and stability in the country.It can certainly be seen that Islam exerts a positive influence in the politics of even a multi-ethnic country.The coinage jihadist is among the most recent Islamophobic terms.It derives from jihad which in fact has two meanings as rightly included in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. A jihad refers to 1) a holy war against non-Muslims who wage war against them and 2) a struggle/war against something.

Trends Impacting Islamophobia, Intolerance and Discrimination Against Muslims

There was an increasing degree of Islamophobia under the blanketed period, indicated through the growing fear against Islam and Muslims in certain parts of the world which caused bad perceptions among non-Muslims. within such circumstances, Islam was seen as an extreme threat; a religion of intrinsic violence whose disciples had a tendency to spread harm to the followers of other religions. Islam has been portrayed as an alien religion prone to bloodshed, a stigma that cause intolerant attitudes among non-Muslims vis-à-vis their otherwise. those terrible stereotyping eventually ended up into poor sentiments, dread or hatred of Islam that consists of multi-form discrimination towards Muslims, manifested into the exclusion of Muslims round the world from economic, social, and public life. The following is the example of descrimination against muslims.

The Victory Of Donald Trump And The Rise Of Anti-Islam Sentiment, Racism And Intolerance Against Minorities In The United States

During his campaign, Donald Trump defined the united states a country beneath siege from refugees and immigrants, Mexicans, and Muslims and said that Islam hates us, and accused American Muslims of shielding terrorists, afterward, he openly campaigned for a total ban on Muslims entering the united states and has since issued executive orders aimed toward restricting the movement of nationals of certain Majority-Muslim international locations to the united states. Even though, it was lately noticed that the united states President has refrained from using anti-Muslim rhetoric that can hopefully be construed as a policy alternate, we have now not yet seen concrete movements by way of Trump management to deal with Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. This narrative has inspired many and negatively impacted social brotherly love and tolerance amongst fellow citizens in the US.

Impacts of Islamophobia

In addition to doubtlessly struggling physical harm, victims of anti-Muslim hate crime may be affected emotionally. particularly, there are distinct emotional consequences associated with this victimization, including feelings of fear, lack of confidence, tension, vulnerability, isolation and depression. given that they are targeted due to the visibility of their Muslim identity.

Islamophobic Policies Against Veil, Hijab, And Burqa

Massive public phobia against veil, hijab, and burqa started from France in 2010, when President Nicolas Sarkozy and leaders in both houses of the French Parliament overwhelmingly favored the ban, reasoning that face veils threatened Frances secularism, women’s rights, and public safety. Later step was when the National Assembly of France on 13 July 2010 proposed a bill which then passed by the Senate of France on 14 September 2010, resulting in the ban on the wearing of face-covering headgear, including masks, burqa, helmets, balaclava, niqabs and other veils covering the face in public places. The key argument supporting this proposal was that face-coverings prevent the clear identification of a person, which was both a security risk, and a social hindrance within a society which relies on facial recognition and expression in communication. Therefore, as of 11 April 2011, it was illegal in France to wear a face-covering veil or other mask in public places such as the street, shops, museums, public transportation, and parks. In 2016 several French coastal towns implemented a Burkini ban, a swimming suit for Muslim women, after government officials said that it raised concerns around security. The ban led to hundreds of protests taking place throughout France and Europe, with campaigners citing that it infringed on their human rights. What was happening in France in 2010 was actually part of a long story of resentment in Europe against this particular dress, which had started in 2003.

Impact of Islamophobia on Muslim Children

A Muslim girl from Dreyfus School in New York was beaten up; thrown on the ground, had her headscarf pulled off, as she was repeatedly called a ‘terrorist’ Muslim,and a ‘bitch’. She was threatened to be stabbed with a knife unless she handed over her cell phone and all of her money. The victim suffered minor bruises and a cut lip. This was not the first time she was assaulted for being a Muslim. We wish that these hate crimes were isolated cases. But according to a Columbia University study, seven percent of Muslim students in New York report being assaulted. There are 100,000 Muslim students in New York public schools which means about 7,000 Muslim students have been harassed in some way. Most of these daily crimes against Muslims go unreported, as most Muslims don’t trust police and the FBI enough to report them, especially considering that the FBI has knocked on the doors of 700,000 Muslim homes. Islamophobia is affecting Muslim children in a serious manner. Statistics unfortunately don’t provide the life-impacting, human face of the issue. An NPR story from the This American Life program titled, Shouting Across the divide was one of the rare reports like that, showing how a family was devastated after what happened to their daughter in school.

Conclusion and Recommendation

In my opinion, the best things a Muslim can do to reduce Islamophobia are: 1)Becoming better muslims, this can only be done by understanding QURAN and living our lives in accordanceto the hadith and quran. This will set an example for the non-believers. Allah has said in the Quran: 'Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth?'-[Quran 57:16].

2-Giving dawah:A Muslim can present the right perspective about Islam through a rational conversation with others.

3-Clearing misconception:Nowadays are called the age of information.Yes,its true but it is the also the age of misinformation.And we have the hugest amount of misinformation and misconceptions about Islam.Its happening by media and some Anti-Islamic people. I think, every Muslim has a obligation to clear the misconceptions about Islam and try show them the real Islam by becoming practicing muslims.

Islam and Muslims are increasingly being attacked in the name of freedom of speech, creative freedom, artistic expression and democracy. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, negative expressions which were once reserved for communism have now been replaced by those vilifying Islam and its followers. Communism used to be the “other” for bashing by the West. Islam is the new “other” now. Essed, as cited in Atkin and Richardson pleads thus: “Unreasonable argumentation about Islam and Muslims can, at best, hamper our judgment and impede understanding; or at worst, actualise and reinforce underlying racial or ethnicist inequalities.”