Islamophobia is once again back in the spotlight after the French president’s remarks against Islam stirred up a wave of protests in the Islamic world. Despite its modern connotations, Islamophobia is an old evil, deeply-rooted in the West’s medieval hatred for Muslims. The term Islamophobia entered the socio-political lexicon following the World War I.

The protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s stance on the publication of caricatures considered blasphemous by Muslims have triggered huge protests in Islamic countries, including Pakistan. There have been huge public demonstrations against France. People are also demanding a boycott of French products.

The reaction in Pakistan has also been very strong. Religious groups, civil society organisations, businessmen, students and others have organised protests in their various capacities. Countless people have changed their profile pictures on social media to “Boycott France” or similar slogans and expressed their contempt for Macron’s position.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has criticised the French leader’s remarks, accusing him of “encouraging Islamophobia”. Khan has also written to the leaders of Muslim-majority countries, asking them “to act collectively to counter growing Islamophobia in non-Muslim states”, his office has said.

In his letters, Khan has called on the leaders of Muslim-majority states to band together to tackle what he has called “the rising tide of Islamophobia and attacks”. Khan said leaders of these countries did not apparently understand the love and devotion Muslims all over the world had for their prophet and their divine book. As a result, a dangerous cycle of actions and reactions is set in motion, he wrote.

Khan has also repeated a call he had made in a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg this week, for the personage of the prophet and the Quran to be treated with the same sensitivity as Holocaust material as topics that could not be insulted, questioned or disrespected under free speech rights. However, some other Muslim leaders have been mostly silent on the matter. No emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been called so far.

It should be obvious by now that such attacks on Islam and Muslims will continue unless the Ummah unites and coordinates its response.