When I was
kindly invited to attend the London Institute of South Asia
(LISA) seminar on Islamophobia I was both pleased and
surprised. I was pleased to have the opportunity to see
activists and researchers on this subject and I was surprised
because I wouldn’t consider myself as an expert in this
particular field.
I was naturally
anxious to read more about the concept of Islamophobia in the
hope that as one of the speakers I could say a few words that
at least made some sense. So after a brief research I came to
the understanding that the Runnymede Trust (a registered
charity in the UK that serves as a race equality think tank)
was the first or one of the early sources that defined and
introduced the concept of Islamophobia. In particular I looked
at the report by Runnymede Trust, titled “Islamophobia: a
challenge for us all.”
This was a follow up report to a consultation paper that was
published by the same organization in February 1997 where the
concept of Islamophobia was perhaps for the same time formally
introduced to the public.
As an academic,
I am interested in specifying and defining concepts rather
than throwing them around with generic and vague definitions.
I was impressed when I found a rather clear specification of
what can be considered as features of Islamophobia in the
Runnymede Trust report. What made me even more interested was
the fact that when I read those features I could see that in
my view some of them existed more among Muslims rather than
non-Muslims!
I therefore
arrived at a concept that I would consider to be on the
opposite spectrum to Islamophobia, where, Islamophobia
features are existing among Muslims. Obviously I could not
call that islamophobia, so with a bit of stretch of definition
I chose the word Non-Muslimophobia for it. In fact, the word
Islamophobia is also made by a stretch of definition. Normally
any prejudicial attitude against Muslims or Islam is labelled
as Islamophobia, no matter if it involves fear (phobia) or
not. Likewise, I would call any prejudiced attitude against
beliefs other than Islam and non-Muslims as Non-Muslimophobia,
with the understanding that normally this does not involve
fear (phobia).
In total the
Runnymede Trust report identifies closed views on eight
subjects related to Islam and Muslims as features of
Islamophobia. Here I am quoting three of these subjects and
will briefly explain how I see them equally (if not more)
applied to the way that some Muslims see Islam, which then
affects the way that they see non-Muslims. This does not mean
that I do not find same ways of thinking among some Muslims
about the other five subjects:
“Monolithic: Islam seen as a single monolithic bloc, static
and unresponsive to new realities.”
There are many
Muslim scholars and well learned Muslims who do believe that
our understanding of Islam may change and improve as time goes
by. However, I can also think of some Muslims, including some
scholars, who consider the understanding of Islam that is
rooted in more than 14 centuries ago to be the only legitimate
and correct understanding of religion and do not see the
progressive thought of human beings to be in any position to
affect our understanding of Islam.
This is while
we can easily see how the Qur’an presented Islam in a way that
it fully fitted with the requirements of the time and in this
way also opened the door for revising the understanding of
this religion and its content, as time changes.
“Separate: Islam seen as separate and other”
Many of our
Muslim scholars are doing a tremendous job in trying to
integrate Muslims and non-Muslims on the basis of their common
values. However, I also see the line of thinking in Islam that
considers Muslims to be the only nation that may reach
salvation in the hereafter. It is extremely difficult for the
followers of this line of thinking to not consider Islam to be
“separate and other.” The common mistake among many Muslims in
considering every non-Muslim to be an infidel (kafir) is one
of the outcomes of this line of thinking. How at all is it
possible to even start thinking about integration, if deep
down I believe that those who I am supposed to integrate with
are kafir and will end up in Hell? How on earth can I think of
becoming friends with someone who I call with the same title
that was given to the harshest enemies of the Prophet (sws),
i.e. kafir?
This is while
an intelligent student of the Qur’an can easily understand
from the Book that the term kafir has a very specific and
technical meaning that prevents one from applying it to
someone who is simply a non-Muslim.
It is
interesting that when the Qur’an instructs Muslims to enter
into dialogue with the people of the book, the emphasis is on
common values (look at 3:64). In many verses of the Qur’an
common moral values are used as a basis for argument with
those who did not fully believe in God. A devoted student of
the Qur’an can only learn from this that even with a pure
atheist we Muslims have a lot in common, let alone people of
the book.
“Manipulative: Islam seen as a political ideology, used for
political or military advantage”
Many Muslims have rightly understood the
true essence and objective of Islam and are doing their best
to share their understanding with others. However I also know
some Muslims who consider establishing a so called Islamic
state and eventually spreading the political domain of Islam
over the world to be among the primary objectives of the
religion of Islam.
This is while in the primary source of
understanding Islam, the Qur’an, and under the light of the
Qur’an, in the reliable Hadith, there is no instruction for
Muslims in general to establish an Islamic state and to spread
it to the rest of the world. In fact, the entire objective of
the religion of Islam is specified to be purification of the
soul (2:151, 91:9).
***
I believe the
existence of the above misunderstandings among some Muslims is
even more damaging to the minority Muslims than their
existence among non-Muslims. In other words, in my view Non-Muslimophobia,
as an internal problem, is causing more problems for Muslim
minorities, compared to Islamophobia, that is an external
problem.
Non-Muslimophobia
and Islamophobia are two sides of the same problem. One
contributes to the other one and increases its damaging
effects. Some of the attitudes that result from the above
misunderstandings among Muslims can easily serve as evidence
to support the closed view about Islam among non-Muslims.
Similarly, witnessing more Islamophobia can easily result in
not very educated Muslims finding justification for the closed
view on Islam that exists among some Muslims.
As a whole, we
Muslims should try to adopt the same inclusive attitude that
the Qur’an has not only adopted but in fact has firmly
grounded in its narrative. The Qur’an does not hesitate in
rejecting false beliefs, however, when there is an opportunity
to appreciate common values, the Qur’an has never stopped to
do so. This “conditional inclusivity” can be seen when the
Qur’an refers to the prophets whose stories are in the Book as
Muslims (2:132), and in fact even refers to everything as ones
that have the attitude of Islam (3:83). I see the invitation
of the Qur’an for its general addressees (including idolaters
at the time) to think and to come back to moral values as the
features of “conditional inclusivity” in the Qur’an. The
beauty of this “conditional inclusivity” is seen when the
Qur’an makes it clear that honest mistakes/beliefs will be
forgiven by the Almighty (5:119). The pinnacle of this
“conditional inclusivity” is when the Qur’an refers to nothing
but ‘purification’ as the condition for salvation in the
hereafter (91:9).
There are
thankfully many Muslim writers and intellectuals who have
written a lot on criticizing the western governments and the
prejudicial attitude of a tiny minority of non-Muslims towards
Muslims. Most of the time I have found myself in full
agreement with these writings. However, I see a gap in this
literature. To me, the voices of criticizing Muslims from
within need to be more and stronger. This is an area that I
have long been interested in contributing to. In fact, this,
self-criticism, itself is a lesson that I learned from the
Qur’an.
If we consider
ourselves to be students and followers of the Qur’an, then
among many other valuable lessons, two things that we can
start to learn are “conditional inclusivity rather than
non-conditional exclusivity” and “being self-critical more
than else-critical.” I think both the above lessons can help
to reduce Non-Muslimophobia among Muslims which then would
help with dealing with and reducing Islamophobia among
non-Muslims.
I would like to
end this article with a statement that is narrated from Jesus
(sws):
Why do you see
the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the
log that is in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3)
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