Recognising Islamophobia

For years, Muslims have been urging the world community to have a conversation about Islamophobia, a conversation that needs to be heard not just in the corridors of power but by all those who have fallen for demagoguery against Muslims and allowed their irrational fear to cloud their judgement. The likes of Trump, Marie le Pen in France, Viktor Orban in Hungary and Nigel Farage in Britain were only a symptom of a deeper disease. Islamophobia is rampant in the West and has been long before even 9/11. From the Hollywood portrayal of Muslims only as terrorists to the never-ending Western aggression in the Middle East, to the way Muslim refugees have been treated by the West, there has been an obvious anti-Muslim bias around the world – exacerbated by the rise of right-wing governments. This is why the UN's decision to accept a resolution to observe March 15 each year as the International Day Against Islamophobia carries so much significance for Muslims around the world.

And it is not just the West that has given in to Islamophobia. The Modi-led government in India, with its Hindutva agenda, has been consistently pursuing anti-Muslim policies since it came to power. Just two days back, we saw how a Karnataka court upheld the state government's ban on girls and young women wearing headscarves in school classrooms. There is now also the danger that other states will follow Karnataka and go in for similar measures, which serve little purpose other than discriminating against Muslim women on the basis of their religion. From the French ban on the headscarf to other European countries' expressing the desire to dictate what Muslim women wear – under the cover of secularism – to now India using the hijab to go after its Muslim population, there is little doubt that Islamophobia affects a vast majority of Muslims.

The problematic idea of saving Muslim women from Muslim men has been debated at length by feminist activists and intellectuals from the Muslim world,

and is seen as a larger question of looking at the Muslim Woman through an orientalist lens. In India, the problem becomes even worse because of the widespread campaign of hatred against Muslims and the dimension that it is taking in a society where a large number of Muslims have lived for centuries. Pakistan has welcomed the UN Day to mark Islamophobia, especially since the resolution was introduced by Pakistan. For far too long has the international community stood by in shameful silence as Islamophobia has increased in many countries. A UN designated Day Against Islamophobia can help raise attention to and tackle the mindset that treats all Muslims as suspicious and normalises mass violence against them.