MOHAMAD ZULFIKRIE BIN MOHD DZAMRY

ENGLSIH ACADEMIC WRITING ,LLE 3012 (ZK01) 2150176

MADAM SURINDER KAUR A/P SATWANT SINGH

MAY 20, 2019

Islamophobia Is The ‘Cancer’ In Society

In past decades , the western part of the world had the controversial relationships with

Islam and Muslim. A few issues has become related to Muslim such as the increase of migration

rate , assimilation of Muslim into the secularism and the 9/11 attack intensified the tension

between Muslim culture and the western block which lead to emerge Islamophobia. Islamophobia

is a terms used to describe prejudice against, hatred towards or fear of Islamic doctrine, Muslim or

ethnic of group to be which is related to Islam. As stated in Oxford Dictionary, the term

islamophobia means dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims especially in political form.

Other than that , Islamophobia also known as an outlook or world-view involving unfounded dread

and dislike of Muslim in practice of exclusion and discrimination.(Runnymede Commission ,

1997). Islamophobia also defined as indiscriminate negatives attitude or emotion directed to Islam

or Muslim. (Bleich , 2017).

How does the term Islamophobia spreads through the worlds? There are few agents which

lead people around the world to Islamophobia. Firstly , the mass media played an important role

in spreading whether love or hatred towards the world communities. The media which is Pro-

west continuously focused on negative event regarding Muslim. For example , when an attack or

incident happened involving Muslim community , the media continuously blasted Islam and even
call them terrorist. However . when an attack cause by the non-Muslim the media will say nothing

and not even called them a terrorist. This is clearly can be seen during an attack on mosque in

Christchurch , New Zealand in March 2019 by white supremacy terrorist which killed 51 innocent

person and the media only call him shooter. The media also make a cover about the mass murderer

which is saying that the killer is good person and even called him angelic boy. Recent study by

MediaTenor , US strategic media intelligence found that 90% of the media cover about Islam and

Muslims in negative perspective. Other than that , Jones (2010) has stated that The New York

times portrayed Islam and Muslims more negatively than cancer and cocaine.

Figure 1 Media headlines : Muslim vs Non- muslim

In spreading the Islamophobia, the political figure especially in west part of the world also

played an important role. The political figure used hatred and prejudice against Islam and Muslim

community. For example, U.S.A current president spread his hatred speech and promote to ban

Muslim from entering USA as one of his manifesto during past election campaign. Other than that,
Senator Fraser Anning from Australia government blame the rise of immigration of Muslim as the

main point of attack in Christchurch , New Zealand even it is not related at all. The claimed by

Anning clearly shown a hatred being spread by the political figure when Muslims being blamed

for the attack even all the victims of the attack are Muslims. Other than that, Ben Carson, Secretary

of housing and urban development of USA wrote a policy plan for defeating the Islamic State

(ISIS) and eliminating the threat from radical Islamic terrorism in which he accused Muslims of

launching a “civilization jihad”.

The next islamophobia agent is stereotype mindset and ignorance about Islam and Muslim.

People especially in USA and Europe has misconception about Islam and that stereotype lead and

rise the islamophobia in society. Most of people when being asked about Islam and Muslim they

always relating it to the terrorism. For example , the research by Cox , Jones (2015) stated that

62% of American seldom or never had a conversation with Muslim and 57% of American say

they know little and 26% know nothing. This type of disease spread because people generally pass

on their prejudice to peers and children. The rise of islamophobia promote discrimination,

prejudice and hatred towards Muslim community. This stereotype also being influenced by the

political figure. The misunderstanding of Jihad by USA president , Donald trump clearly being

expressed by him as he said : “our country (USA) cannot being victims of horrendous attack by

people that believe in Jihad and have no sense of reason or respect for human life”.

There are a lots of implication of rise of islamophobia in society such as growing anti-muslims

sentiment. The perception are growing increasingly negative and become worse after 9/11 attack.
According to Pew poll in 2017 , muslim being rated most negatively of all religion group in the

survey with average rating 48 on a scale 0 to 100 of the warmth that the respondent felt toward a

given group compared to other religion.(Lipka. M.,2017 ). The other effect of islamophobia

toward Muslims society is hate crimes. The hate crimes peculiarly increase as soon after an anti-

muslim campaign or an attack by muslim extremist. The hates crime are including physical assault

, verbal abuse , discrimination and exclusion. For example , a CNN report mapped 63 publicly

reported incidents in the early 2017 , where mosques were target of threat, vandalism or arson.

(Coleman, 2017).

Figure 2 statistic of anti-muslim hate groups(Southern Poverty Law centre , 2016)

As a conclusion, the term Islamophobia is an old phenomenon that describe fear and hatred

towards muslim and islam although it seems like new terms. The word phobia itself clearly show

that Islamophobia can be considered as a process of discrimination of religion towards Muslim

community. Islamophobia clearly contradict the basics values and norm which were promoted by

the Western liberal democracies. The islamophobia is expressed by the society through various

ways of inhuman activities and this phenomenon can be considered as a process of religious
discrimination. The rise of islamophobia in is like cancer and when not being treated properly it

can “kill” the society particularly Muslim and it need to be stopped toward generation with peace

guaranteed.
 References

1. Bliech, E. (2011). What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is There? Theorizing and

Measuring an Emerging Comparative Concept. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(12),

1581-1600. doi:10.1177/0002764211409387

2. Hafez. (2018). Schools of Thought in Islamophobia Studies: Prejudice, Racism, and

Decoloniality. Islamophobia Studies Journal,4(2), 210. doi:10.13169/islastudj.4.2.0210

3. Taras, R. (2013). ‘Islamophobia never stands still’: Race, religion, and culture. Ethnic and

Racial Studies,36(3), 417-433. doi:10.1080/01419870.2013.734388

4. Weller, P. (2006). Addressing Religious Discrimination and Islamophobia: Muslims and

Liberal Democracies. The Case of the United Kingdom. Journal of Islamic Studies, 17(3),

295-325. doi:10.1093/jis/etl001