In the wake of the terrible Christchurch, New Zealand shootings by a lunatic white supremacist the terms Islamophobia and Islamophobic are much in the news. This has prompted me to confront my own position. Am I Islamophobic even though I have a firm belief I am not a racist and I definitely know I do not advocate violence in any way.
So a definition of Islamophobia required.
Is the fear, hatred of, or prejudice against, the Islamic religion or Muslims generally especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of terrorism.
A widely accepted definition of Islamophobia (Runneymede Trust). Their original report in 1997 states that the term refers to three phenomena:
- Unfounded hostility towards Islam;
- Practical consequences of such hostility in unfair discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities;
- Exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political and social affairs.
A longer-form definition, building on the United Nations definition of racism generally.
Islamophobia is any distinction, exclusion, or restriction towards, or preference against, Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslims) that has the purpose or effect
of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. Ok - I have a definition. My immediate thought is I have no hate or even negativity against Muslim individuals. However I recognise I do feel some anxiety and antipathy - towards the Islam collective especially when seen as a political force.
What next - some meat on the bones. Again from the Runnymede Trust.
Where are my views of Islam on this table - where are yours?
Closed and
open views of Islam
Distinctions
Closed views of Islam
Open
views of Islam
1. Monolithic / diverse
Islam seen as a single monolithic bloc, static and
unresponsive to new realities.
Islam
seen as diverse and progressive, with internal differences, debates and
development.
2. Separate / interacting
Islam seen as separate and other – (a) not having any
aims or values in common with other cultures (b) not affected by them (c) not
influencing them.
Islam
seen as interdependent with other faiths and cultures – (a) having certain
shared values and aims (b) affected by them (c) enriching them.
3. Inferior / different
Islam seen as inferior to the West – barbaric,
irrational, primitive, sexist.
Islam
seen as distinctively different, but not deficient, and as equally worthy of
respect.
4. Enemy / partner
Islam seen as violent, aggressive, threatening,
supportive of terrorism, engaged in ‘a clash of civilisations’.
Islam
seen as an actual or potential partner in joint cooperative enterprises and in
the solution of shared problems.
5. Manipulative / sincere
Islam seen as a political ideology, used for political or
military advantage.
Islam
seen as a genuine religious faith, practised sincerely by its adherents.
6. Criticism of West rejected / considered
Criticisms made by Islam of ‘the West’ rejected out of
hand
Criticisms
of ‘the West’ and other cultures are considered and debated.
7. Discrimination defended / criticised
Hostility towards Islam used to justify discriminatory
practices towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.
Debates
and disagreements with Islam do not diminish efforts to combat discrimination
and exclusion.
8. Islamophobia seen as natural /
problematic
Anti-Muslim hostility accepted as natural and ‘normal’.
Critical
views of Islam are themselves subjected to critique, lest they be inaccurate
and unfair.
Ok - lets see where I am? I am going to answer each question and give my answer a weighting of 1 to 5. (1 being if I am full on closed in my view - 5 if I am full on open).Q1 - This as a huge problem for Islam - to the point that it is perceived as a cult - a battering ram. SCORE 1
Q2 - Of course there is a difference between fundamental Islam and progressive Islam. I recognise most Muslims in the UK want to be part of our society and there are shared values. SCORE 3
Q3 - I believe Islam is male dominated to the detriment of women and is out of step with western society. Islam has its progressives but I view it as in the main illiberal. I am sceptical about Sharia law in the UK. SCORE 2
Q4 - while undoubtable there are fundamentalist Muslims that want to kill us as infidels and overthrow the West for a sharia based Caliphate I believe most Muslims want to live in peace. SCORE 3
Q5 - I accept most Muslims are peace loving and are sincere about their faith. I do have a problem with faith instilled from birth and leaving the faith I understand is all but impossible in Muslim society. There is also a powerful political Islam and this frightens the west. SCORE 3
Q6 - I think the West should be more responsive to criticism from the East (and other areas). My view is live and let live. Differences arise when East chooses to settle in the West. I have a major problem with the impact of Muslim culture on our principal of freedom of speech. I resent that. SCORE 3
Q7 - Claims of discrimination are made by many pressure groups. I think the UK is largely a tolerant society and accept the inevitability of multi culturalism. There are many Muslim's in key roles in our society and I genuinely welcome that. I think I am typical. I do not support any prejudice in respect of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. I believe we are all equal under the law. However I have a problem when any group - especially religious group - who agitate and manipulate - demand - special - different treatment under our law. As a secularist I will always resist that. SCORE 4
Q8 - Definitely problematic. I do not want to be Islamophobic if I am. I want to be fair, reasonable, objective, peaceful, at ease, embracing, welcoming etc etc. At the same time I do not want our natural tolerance to be abused and misused. There is an issue with political correctness in the UK. There is certainly a lot of virtue signalling - much I believe generated out of fear of a vociferous liberal elite lobby - and maybe as a way of disguising less attractive base views. SCORE 4
ANALYSIS - out of 8 questions - a score of 8 - you are a rampant Islamophobic - a score of 40 - you are the polar opposite to Islamophobic (whatever that is). A quick tot up - my score 23.
CONCLUSION - I am not Islamophobic but I have some Islamophobic tendencies. I thought this was about where I was at before I started this process an hour ago.
I certainly do not hate Muslims - absolutely not - I have no animosity whatsoever to individual Muslims. I have met many Muslims on my travels and been to many Muslim counties. I have met many lovely people and fully recognise and embrace their way of life. I have visited a number of the world's most famous mosques and always been totally respectful, fascinated and felt privileged. I recognise Islam has many fine traditions and that Islam is not one homogeneous organisation.
But I am fearful of fundamentalist Islam and I am suspicious of political Islam and attitudes towards the west and western lifestyle. I am concerned about the attitude of some Muslim men toward women. I am concerned about attitudes towards gay people. I am concerned about anti semitism. I am concerned about some Muslim's desire and ability to integrate and engage with our western society and its values. I am definitely resentful as I have said, of perceived Muslim intolerance of the principle of free speech and the oft cry - you have offended me. Those that represent Islam should not try and claim a special consideration - if they believe someone has chosen - inadvertently or otherwise - to say something they do not like about their religion. I cite Charlie Hebdo. Halal slaughter is evidently more cruel to animals than UK slaughter rules that require stunning but we are turning a blind eye to it - why? To sum up Islam as it often manifests itself in the west makes me feel uneasy - or at least on my guard. Hopefully my concerns will prove to be unfounded over time.
Islamophobic is used as a pejorative term. It is used as interchangeable as anti Muslim racism. I do not agree they are the same thing. Do I need to be ashamed? Not if any Islamophobic tendencies I have are objective and stand scrutiny. I don't believe that makes me a racist. Does some fault lie with Islam and how it conducts itself in the West? I think it does.
Postscript - it has been put to me that this blog excuses racism towards Muslims and views such as expressed could be used as justification by anti Muslim extremists for their aggression. This disturbs me and requires further reflection. Obviously this is not my intent - my blog is meant to be constructive towards a peaceful and tolerant society through examination understanding and reflection. I have also been criticised for the timing of my blog. I did reflect on this. Maybe I have it wrong . If I do I apologise for being insensitive and maybe should have waited a bit longer before raising these issues but of course they are topical.
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