While other forms of racism are frowned upon, Islamophobia is actively being promoted as an acceptable form of political behavior in the West. Muslims are a soft target and in such an environment, denigrating them carries little direct political costs.
The long history of encounters between Western civilization and Islam has produced a tradition of portraying, in largely negative and self-serving ways, the Islamic religion and Muslim cultures. There is a lot of literature cataloguing (and sometimes correcting) these stereotypes. It is not my intention to rehash this corpus here, though I do rely upon some of the more important works. What I want to do instead is focus on a particular dimension of these encounters, and examine why the West has consistently constructed and perpetuated negative images of Islam and Muslims. My focus will be on the utility of Islamic imagery in Western civilization.
One can imagine the furore that would erupt if a Muslim group were to launch a "Judeo-Christian Fascism Awareness Week" on American university campuses and then circulate a petition asking people to sign; those refusing to do so would be accused of supporting ‘Judeo-Christian Fascism’. Something similar took place for a week at nearly 200 American university campuses from October 24 but Muslims, not Jews or Christians, were the targets of this vicious campaign.
This month, the Islamic Human Rights Commission will publish a detailed critique of the British government’s proposed anti-terrorism legislation, written by FAHAD ANSARI. Here we publish an extract focussing on the targeting of “extemism”.
On August 24 the British government announced details of new measures to be taken against foreign Muslims living in Britain. Foreign Muslims will be deported from Britain, or not permitted to enter the country in the first place, if they are considered by the government to be “fostering hatred or fomenting, or glorifying terrorist violence”.
Although America prides itself as a open-minded and inclusive society, its policies towards the Muslim world are in fact deeply imbued with imperialist attitudes. YUSUF AL-KHABBAZ discusses the American legacy of hate.
Is There An Islamic Problem? Essays on Islamicate Societies, the US and Israel By M. Shahid Alam. Pub: The Other Press, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 2004. Pbk:$15; pages: 240.
The presidents of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan met in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, on June 16 to reinforce their alliance against Islamic activism in the region...
Even as it acts more and more aggressively against Muslims around the world, the US has launched a massive propaganda campaign in the Muslim world...
Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources and Strategies by Cheryl Benard. Pub: Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 2004. Pp: 118. Pbk: $20. (Also available on-line to download.)
Is a "clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West inevitable? Those Muslims desperately trying to avert one miss a crucial and obvious point: a full-scale war against Islam and Muslims...
Most Americans have now seen through the hoax perpetrated by president George Bush and his fellow right-wingers to justify the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Bush himself was forced to concede in a speech on September 17 that there was no link between Saddam Husain’s regime and al-Qa’ida but he couched his admission in language that still left most people with the impression that he was. Not surprisingly, most Americans(between 57 and 70 percent, depending on which poll one consults) still believe that Saddam, no doubt a tyrant, was somehow linked to the September 2001 incidents.
Two years after the attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, it has now been acknowledged even by US congressmen that president George Bush and his advisors had foreknowledge of the impending attacks but did nothing to prevent them. Even when it became known that passenger planes had been hijacked...
That the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon gave the US an invaluable opportunity for a massive projection of power — as predicted by Crescent International (Editorial, October 1-15, 2001) — is now widely accepted...
US attorney general John Ashcroft remains unrepentant despite a stinging rebuke by Glenn A. Fine, his department’s own inspector general, confirming enormous abuses of detainees since September 2001. In a report released on June 3, Fine highlights the mistreatment of 762 persons, some of them held by the government for as long as eight months without charge.
The large number of North American Muslims, mostly Algerians, who have been arrested in recent weeks throughout Europe and America for their alleged connection with al-Qa’ida has focused unprecedented attention on the Algerian ‘civil war’. But the wrong conclusions have been drawn...
After effectively taking control of the executive and legislative branches of the American government and media, the zionist lobby has now turned its attention to Canada.
As Eid ul-Fitr looms, spare a thought for the 625 Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who, deprived of their dignity and freedom, do not even know when, or whether, they will ever celebrate the festival at home with their families.
Among the many Muslim political prisoners in the world, the case of Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin stands out as quite extraordinary. Convicted of murder last February in a trial that can only be described as bizarre, Imam Jamil has now been moved from the Reedsville prison...
Interpreting Islam edited by Hastings Donnan. Pub: Sage Publications, London, 2002. Pp: 196. Pbk: £18.95.
