LAW/CRIMINALOGY

Islamophobia: A Culture of Fear

ABSTRACT

Islamophobia is a neologism that refers to prejudice or discrimination against Islam and/or Muslims. Initially coined in the 1980s, the term did not become a common expression until after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Often blending elements of anti-Islam and anti-Arab prejudices, Islamophobia is commonly defined as an outlook or world-view involving a dread and dislike of Muslims, which results in practices of exclusion and discrimination. A unique feature of Islamophobia is that it often meshes nationality, religion, and politics. For example, all Arabs are believed to be Muslims, and all Muslims are believed to be aggressive, violent, and anti-Western. Indeed, this feature is unique to Islam as stereotypes about other religious groups do not amalgamate race, ethnicity, culture, and political ideology into one. Adherents of such sentiments tend to view Islam as nothing more than a violent political ideology that shares no common ground with other cultures, especially that of the West, to which it is seen as being inferior. At the heart of these opinions is a denial of the existence of a moderate majority within Islam, hence all Muslims are cast as violent extremists. Consequently, Islam is regarded as a serious threat to inter and intra-state peace and stability, as Muslims are usually regarded as the antagonists in the conflicts that involve them.

ISLAMOPHOBIA

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks many commentators have asserted that the world is witnessing a global conflict between Christianity and Islam. In recent years a number of conservative American Christian leaders have generated a considerable amount of controversy by the negative statements they have made about Islam, Muslims, and the prophet Muhammad. Examples of such statements include claims that Islam is a demon-inspired religion and that all of its followers will stop at nothing to destroy Western civilization and the Christian values upon which it is built. In contemporary American politics, such comments are viewed as controversial.

However, there was a time in American politics when such views were widely accepted. For example, the popular eighteenth century theologian and Princeton University president Jonathan Edwards referenced commonly held views of Islam when he identified the religion as one of the two great satanic kingdoms that were created to oppose the kingdom of Christ (Hatch & Stout, 1989).2 He further contended that the prophet Muhammad was a crafty man that was able to seduce his ignorant followers with promises of a sensual paradise they could obtain through jihad. Ultimately, Edwards believed that the emergence of Islam fulfilled the prophecy of Revelation 9 that spoke of swarms of locusts emerging from a smoky abyss, which was interpreted as representing the demonic armies of Satan (i.e. Muslims) that would wreak havoc upon the world (Werbner, 2005).

While the public expression of such a view today would be regarded as politically incorrect, in the eighteenth century Edwards was merely echoing a widely-held view. This example, and many others like it discussed in this chapter demonstrate that Islamopobia has an established tradition in ...