The trend of Islamophobia is on the rise around the globe generally and among westerners particularly. This made Syeeda Warsi (a Muslim member of the parliament of the UK) comment with worry that Islamophobia is Britain’s latest bigot blind spot.
The events like anti-Islam rallies in Australia and Melee, attacks in Albania, Belgium and Canada, and recent Christchurch shootings – which took 51 lives in the blink of an eye are rising the manifestations of intensifying Islamophobia.
These events have disrupted the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. According to Pew Survey of 2017 young Muslims feel unsafe and fearful in America because of their religion. Non-Muslims can feel safe about themselves in the presence of so called constant danger of Muslims. That’s the reason they are ready to bully, feel bad about Muslims or simply ready to harm them only because they are Muslims who can prove a potential threat for them in future.
They remain under unknown fear of Muslims constantly haunting them which eventually manifests itself through western media. They are biased about Muslims and find a way to be reflected via TV programs and so called intellectual debates about the possible future of this globe. This scenario cannot be marked safe for the peace and prosperity of the entire globe.
Advancement in weaponry has increased the death toll many times more than witnessed anytime in past history by any malicious activity of a human being causing damage to others. Among the contributors of wrong perception of other cultures and civilizations is the thesis of Samuel P. Huntington’s “Clash of Civilization” which has added fuel to the fire by presenting imaginary clashes between Islam and the West. Although this thesis proved wrong in the long run, nevertheless, it left a huge impact on the discernment of Muslims and westerners about each other.
Many intellectuals blame clash of civilization as one of the reason behind the horrifying 9/11. Their behavioral manifestation reflects a psychological impact of a certain kind of thinking which eventually leads one to believe in a certain kind of incubated thought to be true.
If any terror attack happens in the West first of all they suspect Muslims, similar is the case in the east when anything went wrong there they blame the West and consider it responsible for the ill-fated event.
Many anti-Islam comments made by America’s powerful president have raised the question of whether President Donald Trump is supporting and promoting Islamophobia? After killing 51 Muslims, Brent Tarrant confessed that he admires Trump and his inspiration comes from Donald Trump’s racist remarks about white supremacy. Such an inspiration which youth gets from their leaders shows the effective role leaders can play in formulating a person’s opinion. It’s astonishing why such leaders do not propagate peace despite their country’s claim of spreading peace and working for the supremacy of human rights.
Suspecting every Muslim for a possible terror attack, banning hijab, bullying and attacking Muslims will not benefit westerners in any way. Simultaneously, the West also cannot be at peace in the presence of constant danger from the East.
Muslims are a huge population and cannot be controlled by hatred and suspicion, and by banning and labeling them as terrorists. The only way to mend the situation is a major dialogue between the east and the west about their regrets which they have for each other. Knowing each other’s stance will benefit them. Nothing else except understanding each other’s perspectives about life, narratives about ways of living and purposes of existence will help to erase bad conceptions about each other.
The world cannot be made a peaceful place to live in, in the absence of such an attempt to understand each other’s cultural restrictions and the reasons behind their particular behaviors. Every stakeholder needs to play his part in the promotion of mutual understanding which will lead to world peace.
