The Rise Of Islamophobia In The United States
“Our enemy is not Islam. Islam is not the enemy of America; Americans are not the enemy of Islam. Our real enemy is extremism and radicalism.”
―Feisal Abdul Rauf
Islamophobia is an increasing predicament worldwide. While many associate the rise of Islamophobia with the 9/11 terrorist attack, it has existed well before the event and has only continued to rise. Islamophobia is a political agenda that is manufactured by politicians who exploit the fear of the ignorant in order to serve their political agenda.
Despite the belief that Islamophobia formed after the 9/11 terrorist attack, it existed well before in numerous countries in the global history. Islamophobia was extensive during the reign of Catholic Monarchs. Spain once had a large Muslim population which originated from Granada, Spain’s final Muslim stronghold. When Queen Isabel of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon conquered Granada from Boabdil, the last Sultan of Spain, Muslims were expected to be able to practice their faith according to the Treaty of Granada of 1491. However, “Archbishop Cisneros (the famous Spanish inquisitor) ordered mass conversions of… Muslims… the burning… of… a vast amount of valuable knowledge written by Islamic scholars… The repressive measures led to revolts that ended in many Muslims being forced to choose between conversion, exile, or execution” (Ahsan 2017). Although they were surmised to practice their faith according to a treaty, Spain’s Muslim populace confronted the dilemma of either converting or facing either exile or execution. Additionally, thousands of pivotal texts regarding various subjects written by Muslims were burned and destroyed. Furthermore, “Philip III expelled 300,000 descendants of Spain’s Muslim population who had converted to Christianity, the “moriscos”, early in the 17th century” (Tremlett 2017). Although the Moriscos were forcibly converted to Christianity, Philip III expelled numerous descendents of the Muslim populace in response to purists condemning Spain for their religious minorities. Spain was, at last, thought to finally be pure as a result of their ethnic cleansing. Although the Moriscos involuntarily converted to Christianity, they eventually lost their home as well. The conversion and expulsion of Muslims wasn’t enough, in fact, “By 1502 the Catholic monarchs had made the practice of Islam illegal in Spain” (Ahsan 2017). This elucidates the stupendous magnitude of Spain’s Islamophobia seeing as subsequent to the coerced conversion of Muslims and then the banishment of the Moriscos from their homeland, Islam as a religion was declared illegal in Spain. Although Spanish Jews were expelled from Spain as well, Judaism as a religion was not avowed illegal like Islam in Spain.
Islamophobia, as well as xenophobia, is an increasing predicament and also has deep roots in American politics. For instance, “As a presidential candidate, Trump made frequent use of anti-Muslim rhetoric, saying things like, ‘I think Islam hates us,’ and suggesting that he was not opposed to the idea of a Muslim database” (Underwood 2018). Trump’s use of the “Us vs Them” mentality enables him to paint Muslims (them) as enemies of Americans (us). Trump’s use of this anti-Muslim rhetoric results in many believing that Muslims are opposed to Americans; hence, Americans have to be cautious and prepared for their incoming attacks. After Trump took office, he “signed an executive order barring people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. He’s appointed people who have espoused anti-Muslim views to key Cabinet positions. And he’s even circulated anti-Muslim videos to his tens of millions of Twitter followers” (Underwood 2018). By appointing those with anti-Muslim philosophies to key Cabinet positions, Trump is given the ultimate power to pass anti-Muslim legislation such as the 2017 Muslim Ban seeing as those in the cabinet already espouse his beliefs as well. Through the circulation of anti-Muslim videos on his social media platforms, Trump is able to paint Muslims as dangerous threats and menaces to society to millions of Americans that follow him. Seeing as many little to no interaction with Muslims, it is easy for Trump supporters to adopt Anti-Muslim doctrine based off of the videos Trump shares along with media outlets painting Muslims as terrorists. Another example being, “Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told US media he would ‘not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,’ in response to a question about whether ‘Islam is consistent with the Constitution’” (Viewpoint: Islamophobia has a long history in the US 2015). Carson claims that Muslims should not be trusted to be in charge of America seeing as he believed that Islam, as a religion, opposes the US Constitution. Thus, these types of Anti-Muslim beliefs spread by politicians that results in the exacerbation of Islamophobia.
Islamophobia is so far-reaching that it is heavily concentrated in US legislation. For instance, “President Obama established this state-sponsored program called Countering Violent Extremism. As a consequence of this program, his surveillance of Muslim communities actually was broader and more intense than the Bush administration” (Underwood 2018). Although the CVE was established to counteract destructive and violent doctrine held by groups or individuals, as well as to diminish the determinants that enable recruitment and radicalization by extremists, it mainly targeted Muslim communities. This suggests how Muslims were seen as the primary cause of violent crimes in the US seeing as the observation of Muslim communities insinuated that Muslims were believed to hold violent dogma; hence, their communities were policed in order to reduce the perceived chances of recruitment and radicalization. Moreover, “On… 19 April 1995, the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was rocked by a bomb… media reports speculated that 'Islamic extremists' or 'Arab radicals' were the culprits… Timothy McVeigh - a white, Christian male - was… linked to the attack. There had been no evidence to support the idea Muslims had anything to do with the bombing” (Viewpoint: Islamophobia has a long history in the US 2015). This highlights Islamophobia in the US prior to the 9/11 era. When a terrorist attack occurred in Oklahoma City, the media theorized that the malefactor was, in fact, Muslim when it was, in reality, a white, Christian male. The legislation that was passed as a result of this terror attack was discriminatory and extraneous to the confirmed culprit. For instance, “The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)… led to the disparate investigation of Muslim American political and social activity… the deportation of Muslims with links - real or fictive - to terrorist activity” (Viewpoint: Islamophobia has a long history in the US 2015). This connotes how despite the convicted culprit of the crime being a caucasian male, the legislation passed in order to combat terror attacks such as the one that transpired indicated prejudice towards Muslims. The AEDPA not only policed Muslim communities but it also subjected them to being investigated and facing deportation regardless of whether or not they were connected to terrorist activity. Additionally, “The USA Patriot Act allows ‘enhanced surveillance procedures,’… allowing considerable delay in the notice of the execution of a warrant for search and seizure… This… resulted in judicially unauthorized raids on the homes of Muslim U.S. citizens, where government agents have broken through doors, claiming to have knocked, and conducted searches without producing warrants” (Jory 2003). This unveils how American Muslims in the US were vulnerable to unreasonable and unsanctioned search and seizures. This exposes the US legislation for infringing the Fourth Amendment rights of US citizens that were specifically Muslim. While the Fourth Amendment guarantees citizens to be “secure… against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause”, the USA Patriot Act evidently breached the rights of many Muslim Americans (Legal Information Institute 2017). According to scholar Nathan Lean, “Islam and Muslims have become guilty until proven innocent, a reversal of the classic American legal maxim. Islam is often viewed as the cause rather than the context for radicalism, extremism, and terrorism. Islam as the culprit is a simple answer, easier than considering the core political issues and grievances that resonate” (Lean 2017). This highlights how one of the most significant principles of the American criminal justice system that one is “Innocent until proven guilty” simply does not apply to Muslims. Rather than Muslims being innocent until they are proven to be guilty, they are immediately accused guilty until they are proven to innocent. This delineates how this “Us vs. Them” mentality results in the categorization of Muslims as violent and radical individuals; hence, they are easily denounced for all terror acts in the US.
Although some Muslims may pose a threat to American safety, homegrown terrorists pose the greatest risk proving that Islamophobia is not only misguided but it also falsely depicts Muslims as a great danger to society. According to Figure 1, a chart indicating terrorist attacks on U.S. soil according to various groups from 1980 to 2005, Islamic Extremists were involved in only 6% of the terrorist attacks in the US, whereas, Jewish extremists were involved in 7% of the terrorist attacks in America. In 2017, Donald Trump signed executive orders requesting the “extreme vetting” of those from seven Muslim-majority countries. The executive order commenced a 120-day ban on refugees attempting to enter the US, a 90-day ban on Muslim citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and it also prohibited anyone from Syria from entering the US. Although the order is deemed as an immigration ban, it was in reality a Muslim ban in disguise. Despite the statistics from Figure 1 substantiating that Muslim extremists posed one of the least threats to America in terms of terrorism, they are perceived to be dangers to society and are often associated with terrorism in itself. Although Muslims posed less of a threat than Jewish and Latino extremists, there were no immigration bans placed on Jewish or Latino majority countries further demonstrating the prejudice Muslims face. Writer Alex Henderson insists that neoconservatives continuously attempt to paint terrorism as an extensive “Islamic phenomenon” in his article, “10 of the Worst Terror Attacks by Extreme Christians and Far-Right White Men”. In the article, Henderson provides a list of ten of the greatest terror attacks that have taken place within the last thirty years in the US, such as, the Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre that took place on August 5th, 2012, due to the Sikhs being mistaken for Muslims. Given that many hate crimes against Sikhs have occurred during the post 9/11 era as a result of them being mistaken for Muslims demonstrates how there is an increasing amount of hate crimes against Muslims and many intend to deliberately hurt them as well. And so, it must be noted that although there has been terror attacks by Muslims in the US, there has been much more made by so-called Christian extremists. It must also be noted that although Muslim refugees may pose a threat in the future, they pose less of a threat than refugees of any other religion, and race (Figure 1). Therefore, in the act of combating Islamic terrorism, many Americans have resorted to terrorizing Muslims which is, in fact, contradictory and should by no means continue any further.
While many associate Muslims with terrorism, the Muslim community provides great assistance in preventing terrorist attacks. For instance, “since 9/11, the Muslim-American community has helped security and law enforcement officials prevent nearly two of every five al Qaeda terrorist plots threatening the United States and that tips from the Muslim-American community are the largest single source of initial information to authorities about these few plots” (Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West). This suggests that had it not been for the tips provided by Muslim-American communities, there would be many more terrorist attacks in the US. Many Muslims desire to protect America, in spite of the common perception of Muslims as terrorists, seeing as it is also their home. While their religion divides them from others, they see no difference between them and their Christian counterparts since America is home to them all. Many Muslims also desire to assist law enforcement officials in preventing terrorist plots in hopes that they will one day be considered allies instead of enemies.
The exacerbated Islamophobia poses threats to Muslims all throughout the world; thus, countless Muslims are vulnerable to human rights violations. For instance, notwithstanding the fact that Israel is known to violate the rights of Muslims in Palestine, the U.S. and Israel continue to be allies. According to an Israeli professor in the latest lecture series at Columbia University, “Israeli authorities have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to experiment on Palestinian prisoners, and have been testing weapons on Palestinian children” (Shihadah 2019). This portrays the evident obstruction of the human rights considering that approximately 5,000 tests had already been carried out on Palestinian inmates. In fact, “the death of an Israeli prison inmate, Palestinian Fares Baroud, raised suspicions that he may have been a test subject [since] Israeli authorities refused to relinquish the body” (Shihadah 2019). Baroud’s family was not only deprived of their prerogative to obtain Baroud’s corpse but they were also unable to organize Baroud’s burial rite.
In spite of the prominent dangers of Islamophobia and countless Muslims being victims of human rights violations, countries with substantial political influence, such as the U.S., continue to ally themselves with human rights violators. Although Israel’s maltreatment of the Palestinians is conspicuous, “The Trump administration has led to renewed warmth in the Israeli-American relationship, culminating in Trump’s December decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” (Beauchamp 2018). Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital devastated many globally. Since Jerusalem is of great religious significance to Muslims, Palestinians have been fighting to gain back ownership over what originally belonged to them. Despite the fact that, “Before Israel became a nation, the majority of people dwelling in the region were Palestinians—Arabs who lived in what was then known as Palestine”, the ownership of Jerusalem officially belonged to Israel as a result of Trump’s proclamation (Marks 2018). Such amiable relations between the U.S. and Israel has existed for several years and it has continued to perplex many. For example, “In the United States and around the world, many are questioning why… Washington has maintained its large-scale military, financial, and diplomatic support for the Israeli occupation in the face of unprecedented violations of international law and human rights standards by Israeli occupation forces” (Institute for Policy Studies 2014). It is, in fact, quite ironic how America, a country that prides itself upon its status as a global power and their tendency to intervene in foreign issues, continues to back a country that not only boasts inhumane practices but is also known as a great human rights violator.
Seeing as Islamophobia is such an extensive and conflicting matter, it must be put to an end. One way in which the issue can be combated is through the exposure of Muslims. For instance, 'Familiarity with individual Muslims makes a small difference in reported levels of personal prejudice toward Muslims. Fifty-three percent of those Americans who say they hold no prejudice toward Muslims say they know someone who practices Islam' (Gallup). This delineates how a simple solution to the conflict is by surrounding Muslims around those who may be prejudiced. When those who are ignorant to the Islamic faith observe their Muslim counterparts, they are likely to alter their preconceived notions about the group seeing as they will have better understanding. Another way to combat the issue is by eradicating the institutional system of bias that exists in America. For instance, “Official forms of discrimination pervade law enforcement, schools, and immigration policy, institutionalizing a system of bias that makes bigotry against Muslims acceptable in this country...if the police… discriminate against [American Muslim] communities, how can we expect the public to be any different?” (Ward 2018). This illustrates how Islamophobia continues to persist due to the institutionalized bias that exists against Muslims in America. Seeing as Islamophobia is a constituent of law enforcement, school, and immigration policies, many are exposed to Islamophobic ideals early on. Furthermore, seeing as Muslim communities are heavily policed and law enforcement officers often discriminate against Muslims, it is only natural that the public would follow suit seeing as police officers are responsible for maintaining public order. Hence, this form of institutionalized Islamophobia must be obliterated in order for Islamophobia to conclude.
As expressed, Islamophobia is an imperative issue that must be addressed not only in America but also globally. The exacerbated form of Islamophobia prevents public outrage over human rights violations of Muslims, as well as the anti-constitutional legislation and lack of rights of Muslims in the US. Islamophobia is an imminent and critical detrimental conflict of the modern world and it must be put to an end.
