Islamophobia: A form of racism

The term Islam-o-phobia is defined in the media as the fear, hatred and hostility towards Muslims and the religion of Islam.

The marginalisation and discrimination muslims have experienced has continuously soared since the 9/11 attack.

Islam is the second largest religion in the UK after Christianity, with a following of 1.9 billion people, approximately 24% of the population.

Hate crimes are one of the biggest ways Islamophobia is exercised in the UK, especially after the Brexit vote.

But what does Islamophobia really mean?

Islam means peace, and phobia means fear.
'The fear of peace...' oxymoron don't you think?

Wasim Nawaz, 24, from Essex was targeted at the age of 14 by two white police officers when walking home from school.

The officers approached him by saying they are doing an investigation related to a crime which they would not disclose.

Wasim said: “I felt worthless.

“They called me a P*ki and tried to threaten to arrest me by saying that I was being aggressive towards them.

“It’s a racial slur used by white people towards people like me.

“They wouldn’t tell me how I fit the profile, I just didn’t understand,” he added.

"I felt worthless"

A survey conducted by TELL MAMA - a service that allows people to report Anti-Muslim abuse - shows that 84.3% of the sample said they had directly experienced Islamophobia.

67.5% indicated that it was either a ‘regular’ or a ‘daily’ occurrence.

Wasim believes the scale of these unjust attacks is something which cannot be compared to the scale in which the media alienates the Muslim community.

The main reason Muslims are portrayed in a derogatory way for him, is because of the way the media has moulded and shaped ideologies in society.

“The people in charge of mainstream media have an agenda against Muslims and that’s the truth.

“It’s white, middle class and mainly elite class people who control the narrative,” he expressed.

The coverage from the media has lead to a divisive technique which marginalises and thus, aggravates hatred toward Muslims.

“Why can’t me, my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters just live a peaceful life?”

For Wasim, education is what is needed to diminish Islamophobia and remove the stigma.

“The more we push them away from society is the more they resent us even more, but I believe educating people will take us a lot more further than violence,” he said.

Adeel Shah, 25, from Croydon, is one of the youngest Imaams in Britain.

“Back home if I use any select Islamic terminologies or salutations constantly, I can achieve up to three years in prison.

“There is a law which declares us Ahmadiyya Muslims as heretics,” he explained.

Adeel has pledged allegiance to a Caliphate which promotes love, harmony and brotherhood regardless of class, colour or race.

A day after the Westminster bridge attack in 2017, where Khalid Masood killed five people, Adeel along with many others from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association were at Parliament Square wearing a blue T-shirt which read the slogan: “I am a Muslim. Ask me anything?”

“A man impulsed up to me and said with hostility, Why are you here? - In the sense that I shouldn’t even be here.

“So I explained to him who we are and what we do in terms of helping people, giving charity, community service and promoting peace and solidarity. It took me about 10 minutes and I could see he wanted to know the answers despite his anger.

“When I finished explaining, he gave me a hug and said that he had never met a Muslim in the ten years he had been living in the UK.”

Adeel was baffled at first but soon came to understand the situation.

Similar to Wasim, for Adeel, education is what will change the generations understanding of Islam and its’ teachings.

“The media also play a huge part and need to report more positive stories, when they start changing it will be a lot easier for us Muslims.

He said: “If someone has any reservations towards Muslim’s or fears us, just speak to one and see they're nothing like the media's assumptions.”

A panel of British Muslims discussing the scale of Islamophobia in the UK and what can be done about it.