ENCO 2104 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

SECTION 2

TOPIC: ISLAMOPHOBIA IN EUROPE

PREPARED BY:

NURUL ALIYYAH BINTI SUBAI (1529390)

NASUHA BINTI EZANI (1521712)

NAZURAH BINTI ABDUL RAHMAN (1520720)

NABILAHUDA BINTI MOHAMMAD HISHAM (1523166)

AHMAD NOR ARIFF BIN MD. ZAILANI (1611097)

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

14/12/2017

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 CONTENTS Page

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1.0 Introduction

4
2.0 History of Islamophobia

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3.0 Issue 1 - Hate Crimes against Mosque

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4.0 Issue 2 - Hate Crimes against Muslim Women

5.0 Issue 3 - Discrimination in Politics, Workplace, and Muslim Organization 15

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6.0 Recommendations

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7.0 Conclusion

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8.0 References

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Islamophobia can be defined as dislike or prejudice that people have against Muslim

community. According to the definition given by Runnymede Trust1 (1997), Islamophobia can

be defined as an “unfair treatment and hospitality towards Muslim community and the exclusion

of Muslims from the mainstream politics and social affair.” In other words, Muslim community

in the West are not perceived as part of the society and are treated as immigrants. Apart from

Islamophobic, this phenomenon could also be perceived as xenophobic2.

According to Lockett (2015), the rise of population of Muslim in Europe has created fear

amongst the people as they are scared that Muslim are going to ‘take over’ the country thus

causing an increase in anti-Muslim attitudes.

Similarly, anti-semitism or also known as anti-Jewish racism is similar to Islamophobic

(anti-Muslim) as it also serves the longest hatred in the European community and the act of

racism has arise after 9/11 and the Second Intifada (Gidley, 2008).

Hence, this paper will look into the history of Islamophobia and the issues of

Islamophobia that arise in European countries such as the hate crime against mosque and Muslim

women around the world and also the discrimination resulting from Islamophobia.

1
Runnymede : Intelligence for a Multi-ethnic Britain
2
Xenophobic : Dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries

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2.0 HISTORY OF ISLAMOPHOBIA

There are mixed opinions on when and how Islamophobia came to arise, many could

agree that the 9/11 incident is the ultimate trigger on spreading the phobia worldwide. The

tragedy happened on 11 September 2001. An Islamic extremist group called Al-Qaeda,

coordinated four terrorist attacks on the American soil. A total of 4 airbuses were hijacked and

used as tools for them to carry out their objectives. The airbuses were used to target iconic

infrastructures of America. 2 planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre,

1 was flown to hit the Pentagon and the last plane crashed on a field in Pennsylvania, even

though it was believed to be heading for Washington DC. Both of the 110-floor towers

collapsed, as well as 10 surrounding infrastructures. The Pentagon which is the US Department

of Defense, was partially destroyed. It is believed that the number of deaths totaled to 2,996

people and the amount of people that got injured is estimated to be over 6,000, as well as causing

around $10 billion dollars in infrastructure and property damage. It is considered to be the

deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers, since 343 firefighters lost their

lives, as well as 72 law enforcement officers. This incident which is said to be the deadliest

terrorist attack in world history, was orchestrated by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. The attack was

reported to relate with al-Qaeda, a terrorist organisation which was said to be the ones pulling the

strings. One of the known objectives for the attack was the retaliation for America’s support of

Israel and its imperialism. This attack affected George W Bush presidency. He described the

event as “evil, despicable acts of terror” and told that the US was “at war with a new and

different kind of enemy”. The effect was so gruesome that every year, on the events anniversary,

a ceremony would be held as a remembrance of the victims of 9/11. It would be held at Ground

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Zero, which is the World Trade Center site. A moment of silence would commence and the

names of each and every victim would be read out loud.

Effects of 9/11 on Muslims and Islam

Due to the events of 9/11, Islam and Muslims are frequently portrayed in a negative light.

As the attack has taken place in a country that is considered to be a global superpower, its

influence and status helps to spread Islamophobia onto the global scale. America has started a

global war on terror and that also contributed to Islamophobia. O’Connor (2016) from Huffpost

states,

“… Muslim Americans went from being one of the least targeted religious groups in the U.S. to

seeing hate crimes against those associated with Islam jump 1,600 percent, an FBI report in 2002

found. Today, Islamophobic hate crimes remain five times more common than they were before

9/11.”

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 Media has become the main antagonist of spreading the slanders around. American is

known to publish comics and that, the comics usually include and represent things that happen in

the country, ranging from politics to economy and even the neighborhood events. The comics are

used as a tool in expressing the author’s or the general public view on any given event or

situation. For example, a collection of cartoons called “Islamophobia: Making Muslims the

Enemy” which is published after 9/11, portray Muslims unfavorably. It describes Muslims as

violent, oversexed males, oppressed females and deceptive foreigners. According to Telhami

(2008) from New York Times,

“Gottschalk, a professor of religion at Wesleyan University, and Greenberg, a recent

Wesleyan graduate, attempt to place the cartoons in a historical perspective dating to the Islamic

conquests and the crusades. The illustrators, the authors write, “drew on images they associated

with Islam, having inherited these conceptions from the Orientalist artistic legacy of the United

States, as well as from impressions — perhaps latent — of Islam understood from European

history.” Yet their account of the historical background is far too brief and one-dimensional to be

of much help in understanding contemporary attitudes.”

The most effective way to cater to this problem is through society’s legal, political and

educational systems. Truth to be spoken, the initial reaction of government officials were highly

positive after 9/11. However, as the events of terrorism expanded, the officials slowly became

less inclined in confronting prejudices of Islam and Muslims, and they slowly conform to it.

Most of the general public were very vocal about Muslims and Islam. Sentences like “Not all

Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim” were tossed around on social media and in

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conversations and discussions throughout America. The word terrorism became synonymous

with Islam and Muslims. There are many instances where the media is biased and a double

standard is present when Islam and Muslims are in the picture. For instance, if a non-Muslim

killed someone, it could be reported as an assassination or a murder crime, however if it was a

Muslim, it will be reported as an act of terrorism. Although in actuality, it is just the same crime

the only difference is the offenders. Islam is to be blamed as a religion that preaches destruction

and violence, without considering that the terrorists are extremists and radicals. They hardly

consider that there are those that skew the religion and make their own interpretations of the

scriptures, ideals and beliefs. These kinds of people are not only present in Islam, but are also

present elsewhere. People become emotionally scarred to the extent that they do not rely on their

rational minds and they reject any kinds of truths or proofs regarding this matter. Islamophobia

after the 9/11 incident has become more serious and alarming, and continuous efforts to find

working solutions to solve this issue needs to be done. The current US president, Donald Trump

wants to ban Muslims from the country and this would surely not help in resolving this issue.

Eskow (2017), an author of Huffpost states that Trump argues that the ban would makes America

safer, but a bipartisan group of national security officials filed an affidavit in response to his first

attempt at a Muslim ban that said, in part,

“We view the Order as one that ultimately undermines the national security of the United

States, rather than making us safer ... It could do long-term damage to our national security and

foreign policy interests, endangering U.S. troops in the field and disrupting counterterrorism and

national security partnerships. It will aid ISIL’s propaganda effort and serve its recruitment

message by feeding into the narrative that the United States is at war with Islam ... It will have a

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damaging humanitarian and economic impact on the lives and jobs of American citizens and

residents.”

The idea of Islam and Muslims that Trump currently portrays have contributed to

Islamophobia. He is constantly trying to put Islam and Muslims in a negative light and also

placing Islamophobia in the hearts of the people. Although it seems absurd, many people still

support his claims and ideas. Little light is shed on the truth, and this is continuing without

having any signs of declination.

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3.0 ISSUE 1: HATE CRIMES AGAINST MOSQUES

The numbers of violent attack and criminal damage towards mosques, Islamic centres

and Muslim organizations in Europe have risen dramatically since the 9/11 tragedy. Lambert and

Githens-Mazer (2010) have collected the partial data on the number of mosques, Muslim

institutions and organizations that have affected which is over 250 hate crimes at over 150

venues. British police forces report 110 hate crimes against mosques across the UK is more than

doubled between the year 2016 and 2017. The number increases year by year without any

problem solving on the issue. It is ominous since there are quite a number of cases that have not

been reported to the police for the reason that in some cases, the staff and trustees of the mosque

intend to not draw attention on it. Hate crimes that are recorded for the year 2017 include

vandalism, threats, arson attacks, and physical assaults on the visitors of the worship place. In

this part of the paper, the various hate crimes targeting mosques will be discussed.

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 To begin with, the notable hate crime that is resulted from Islamophobia towards

Muslims in Europe is the arson attack on mosques. One of the case studies conducted by

Lambert and Githens-Mazer (2010) has reported arson attacks on Greenwich Islamic Centre in

London. The mosque was petrol bombed twice in a week in 2009 whereby the caretaker of the

mosque was injured due to his determination to defend the mosque and his attempt to save a

copy of Qur’an during the second attack. Most victims of this kind of attack have claimed that

the arson attacks have taken place during night time as the petrol bombs are being thrown into

the mosques. Fortunately during that time, there is no one in the mosque, however the damage is

inevitable. For this particular case in London, the culprit is arrested and convicted. However, this

is very rare since many claim that the effort to investigate the terrible incidents is not given

enough by the police. One of the spokesmen for a mosque in Luton mentions that they have

received hate mails against Islam, Allah, Prophet Muhammad and Muslims there, and they have

been threatened many times before the petrol bomb attack (Githens-Mazer, 2010). The impact of

this kind of attacks to the Muslim community in the affected locations is that they are not able to

access the mosque to pray and open classes. It takes time to fix the damage and very costly.

Reports state this attack has risen dramatically since the London Bridge attack that has been

occurred in June this year.

Next, the cases of pig’s head left on the doorstep of the holy places for Muslims has taken

place not only in Europe but all around the world to show the sign of Islamophobia and anti-

Muslim. The latest case has occurred in August 2017, and Islamophobic graffiti is also found on

the wall of the Islamic centre in Northern Ireland. Apart from that, Cortes (2017) from Reuters

reports, in Germany, nine dead pigs are stuck at wooden stakes and are placed on a land that is

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planned to build a mosque on it. This indicates the sign of anti-Islam protest whereby pigs have

been used to insult the Muslim community. Lambert and Githens-Mazer (2010) have collected

data on this case that, pig’s head, pork and bacon have been left at the mosques and Islamic

centres to express their hatred towards Muslims since 9/11.

In addition, there are numerous cases of vandalisms done against mosques every year.

Other types of attacks involve bricks, eggs and stones in which all these are being thrown to the

mosques. Besides, hate mails are sent to the Islamic centres to deliver their dissatisfaction, hatred

and fear of the small community of Muslims across Europe. The letters often contain offensive

language towards Allah, Prophet Muhammad and Muslims entirely and threaten the Muslim

community that lives in the region. From all these incidents, it can be concluded that the attacks

against mosques predominantly target the Muslim community as foreign and threats which result

their lives as a small community there.

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4.0 ISSUE 2: HATE CRIMES AGAINST MUSLIM WOMEN

The attack mostly focuses on Muslim women since Muslim women identities are more

visible than men when they are wearing Islamic dress code. Perry (2013) elaborates on Freedman

(2007) that women are represented as ‘agents’ of terrorism since they are representing strange,

abusive and threatening. They have been labelling all Muslims as terrorist since the incident of

9/11. In further study, Thylin (2016) explains on Chakraborti and Zempi (2012) that rumors have

been spread around that the veil is as signifier of the Islamic culture’s threat to democracy in

France and other European countries because it symbolizes a Muslim identity. As a result,

women hurt most from anti-Muslim bigotry attack. Besides, Agerholm (2017) reports that

women are most likely to be attacked by anti-Muslim people when they are wearing Islamic

clothing. Perry (2013) as cited in Bullock and Jafri (2002) states that Muslim women are likely

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to be oppressed primarily is because they portray as outsiders and strangers. Hence, the

perpetrators of Islamophobia take an advantage of attacking them.

In order to avert from being attacked, Muslim women need to wear caps to replace the

hijab that they used to wear. In a recent study, Perry (2016) states that covering has been the

main symbol of this presumed harassment. This is very bias for Muslims to have no freedom of

what they want to wear. Hijab has become the global obsession in many countries to be banned

where several countries in Europe who have voted for hijab, burka, veil and other forms of

covering ban have drew massive attentions from Muslim. Thus, as the repercussion of hijab ban,

many Muslim women have been assaulted by some Islamophobes who believe that wearing this

kind of dress code may bring harm to their countries. Sadly, there were many incidents happened

due to this aspect, for instance in Belgium, the first country in Europe to forbid Muslim women

wearing hijab, is forbidding school teachers to wear hijab throughout several German states, as

reported by Lambert and Mazer (2010) in their book. In 2009, the first murder of Muslim hijabi,

Marwa el-Sharbini, an Egyptian and a German resident because of religious and racial hatred

since she was wearing Islamic headscarf. Apart from that, in Sweden, there was an incident

where a pregnant Muslim woman was violently attacked by an Islamophobic guy where he tried

to pull off her headscarf violently and shouted “those like you should not be here”. He then hit

her head against a card hardly until she half awaked. Next, in 2013, a pregnant Muslim woman

was assaulted by a guy who threatened to cut her hair off. She suffered a miscarriage and lost the

baby. While in Germany, a train passenger from Koblenz refused to make an emergency call for

a fainted Muslim woman which has been requested by another woman. That guy was reportedly

replied “for such a dirty scarf-wearer I won’t do anything”. In 2016, the French police came and

ordered a Muslim woman who was in Burkini suit to remove her clothes at a beach. This issue

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has seen to be a heated issue and has added fuel to the already combustible issue over the burkini

ban implementation in France. The arguments that defend the bans are because burkini oppresses

women in covering their bodies, threatens the social order and it is plainly against the state’s

policy.

Besides, bigoted violence against Muslim women mostly happens in public spaces such

as in public transports, streets, markets, shops, and in the workplace. According to Seta (2016),

public areas are the target spot for perpetrator to assault and abuse Muslim women. In turn, due

to fear and feeling vulnerable, Muslim women need to take constant risk management to hinder

public intimidation in public areas. Muslim women choose to remain out of the public eye

completely. Perry (2013) emphasizes that Muslim women must reconsider their habits and

activities of gender and religion in publics for safety. Even more extreme, the number of hate

crimes experienced by Muslim women is going up.

Apart from attacking Muslim women in public areas, they have been attacking them on

social media. According to Seta (2016) online hate attacks are increasing on social media

platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, with verbal abuse and hate speech being the most usual

incidents. The Islamophobes are attacking some Muslim women individually on social media as

stated by Seta (2016) where Facebook and Twitter users attack personally on Muslim users,

particularly targeting out Muslim women. According to a study, Demos found that in three

weeks, 10,000 tweets were tweeted by anti-Muslim accounts from UK were attacking violently

individuals as a ‘whore’ and ‘slut’. The posts and images stirring up hatred against Muslims are

very disturbing to which Muslim women find that they are living in fear.

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5.0 DISCRIMINATION

The manifestation of discrimination and intolerance towards Muslim has increased over

the past few years due to Islamophobia occurred all around the world. The Muslims community

from around the world have experienced many kinds of harassments, be it verbal or nonverbal

due to the hatred that the society have towards the Muslim community.

Discrimination in Workplace

Islamophobia has caused discrimination in employment practices across Europe.

According to The Guardian, only 6% of Muslims breaking through into professional jobs

compared with 10% of the overall population in England and Wales. Although most of them

succeed in their education, they could not get job interviews due to the discrimination by the

interviewer towards interviewees with ethnic-sounding names (Hussain, 2017). A report on the

workforce discrimination faced by Britain’s Muslims by the Social Mobility Commission (2017)

said that Muslims living in Britain are facing a huge challenge as they are being held back from

reaching their self-potential due to Islamophobia and discrimination by the society. Thus, many

of them are being unemployed, underemployed or being in an insecure employment regardless

their education background.

Discrimination in Politics

Cases of Islamophobia in Europe have affected the government and community in the

countries. In the UK, the government spent over 70 million pounds to have an integration

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programme between people who come from different background, ethnicity and religion in order

to create a society that feels valued and appreciated regardless their belief and skin colour (Vale,

2017). Apart from that, a study investigated by Martin (2016) on the alienation of British Muslim

from mainstream politics revealed that discrimination can drive “politically alienated attitudes”

as people feel disengaged with the mainstream politic due to some egocentric and sociotropic

discrimination experiences and choose not to participate in voting.

Discrimination against Muslim Organization

In the UK, the most effective voluntary activities in tackling urgent social problems like

gun crime, drugs and violent extremism is being handled by Muslim organizations as they have

strong commitment towards the problem and have more responsibility in taken care of the

matter. An example given by Lambert and Githens-Mazer (2010), religious organizations like

Islam or Christianity, both condemn homosexuality and yet demonstrate the ability to treat their

local gay communities with utmost respect. Therefore, it is unfair to stigmatize a Muslim

organization as subversive. It is also mentioned in the study that the Quilliam Foundation, the

world’s first counter-extremism organization insists to abolish any Muslim organization no

matter how successful they are. Discrimination gives negative impact to particular individuals or

groups as it denies their rights and services to which they are entitled to. And in this case, the

Muslim organizations in the UK are seen as threats to the society and security of the country,

hence has been discriminated.

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6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

Islamophobia has effected Muslim community in Europe in many ways. Islam has been

perceived as a violent religion and all Muslims are considered as terrorists. Media and politicians

play crucial roles in voicing out this issue. To begin with, the media should not be bias

portraying one sided news to the citizens. Media needs to be fair to both parties in spreading and

informing people since people need to know the truth whether it is right or wrong. Some people

target Muslims after receiving misleading information. Lack of understanding towards Islam

turns into misjudgments resulting the Muslim community to be unfairly targeted. It has been an

everyday routine, often times they receive anonymous telephone call, email and postal death

threats and target attack by certain gangs. According to the Daily Sabah, they found that

Muslims are seen as the enemy 'within' Europe, thus they are not seen as equal citizens in their

‘own’ country. By this, journalists and editors need to report and give space to more balanced

views. A debate or discussion should be held for better enlightenment on comparative religion in

a formal setting. The main reason of Islamophobia is the lack of understanding and basic

knowledge about Islam and Muslim’ practices. People should acknowledge the fact that

terrorism is no representation of Islam, same goes to any other religions in the world.

In addition, the issues that are related to policies on countering violent terrorism and the

impact towards Muslims’ freedom of religion have to be challenged. Bayrakli and Hafez (2016)

stated that Muslims must be allowed to enjoy their spaces of freedom like any other dominant

religions without being criminalized. Besides, Muslims that have been residing and become the

citizens of the particular country should be respected and their human rights cannot be denied.

Politicians are urged to speak out against Islamophobia as it is one of the most pressing forms of

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racism in this decade as mentioned by Kazanci (2017). The efforts to fight this phenomenon is

by getting utmost supports from the highest level, yet there has been little political will from the

European government. Thus, more courageous politicians in Europe are needed to challenge all

forms of racism targeting Muslims in employment, education, state bureaucracy, and media.

Though reports have been made on discrimination against Muslims, there is no further

investigation or action has been taken by the authority on the treatments that the Muslim

community have received in Europe.

7.0 CONCLUSION

Islamophobia is a fear of Islam and now it has been turned into hatred or deep resentment

towards Muslims and Islam often by provoking violence and resulting death. Islamophobia is a

hot-button issue especially after the September 11 incidents in 2001 that have killed thousands of

people in America. Everything has changed, since then suicide bombing and terrorist attack

become hot news on the television.

Further actions need to be done in order to educate people and change their perceptions

towards Islam and Muslims. By showing good attitude towards the people that see Muslim as

enemy, it may open their mind and change their perception. All in all, the citizens should be

educated and the involved party should be responsible towards their actions.

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