Sunday 9 June 2013

Islamophobia is Wrong Word to Use

By: Sandbad

As a basic requirement in a society which advocates freedom of thought and speech, Islam like any other ideology or religion should be kept susceptible to criticism and must not be exempted from it.  In reality however by using this term in many occasions genuine criticism of Islam is dismissed as some sort of racist abuse and showing concern about Islamism is often taken as an exaggerated, biased and phobic reaction.

Same negative weight this term has gained itself in public opinion is holding many back from publicly expressing their opinion about Islam as they fear to be accused of Islamophobia.

But not all the criticism directed at Islam is biased and made under a racist agenda. So should we continue using this word in the same capacity as it is currently used? I think we should not.

The word Islamophobia:

Islamophobia is a compound word created by combining ‘Islam’ and ‘phobia’. The word ‘phobia’ is derived from Greek word “phobos” which means fear.  In clinical psychology ‘phobia’ is used in combination with other words in order to create names for different types of anxiety disorder (eg. Arachnophobia – fear of spiders)

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘phobia’ as: an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation”

According to this definition one expects the term Islamophobia to specifically refer to an anxiety disorder where a sufferer has a disproportionate fear, dislike or aversion from the ideology and religion of Islam however the usage of this term is often extended to refer to a racist type of hatred and/or aversion from Muslim individuals and groups.

Oxford dictionary defines ‘Islamophobia’ as a hatred or fear of Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.”

In my opinion there are two major reasons usage of word Islamophobia has to be avoided:

Firstly this word is created by ignoring the complicated dynamic which gives shape to Islamic world by generalizing the word “Islam” in a simplistic manner.  

Secondly by using the term “phobia” it is implying that any fear from Islam is illogical and disproportionate. And by this it transfers a prejudiced and subliminal message that like any other anxiety disorder the fear of Islam is also just a phobia which worth no further investigation or discussion but treatment as an illness.

What the term Islamophobia is generalizing:

Ethnic diversity of Muslim Word: Muslim world in itself is very ethnically diverse. This is to a level that in terms of culture and ethnicity often two distinct Muslim groups have little in common.  For example an Uzbek Muslim is world apart from a Sub Saharan Muslim in terms of ethnicity, tradition, customs, language and etc.
This means as Islam is a religion followed by many ethnic groups in a vast geographical area it just doesn't make sense to use the term Islamophobia in order to refer to a type of racism.

Distinctiveness of Islamic schools of thought: Letting apart the ethnic diversity of Muslim world, the Islam in itself is a very general term which may refer to any of several Islamic schools of thought commonly practised.

Followers of each Muslim school of thought have their own distinct believes sometimes in total contrast and despise of another group. For example in Salafi school of thought followers of Shiism are considered to be heretics and are punishable for their heresy as seen adequate in Islamic penal code.
So even in ideological terms the word ‘Islam’ alone is not indicative enough to refer to a specific and defined set of beliefs.  In my opinion any generalization to this level has to be avoided as a matter of principle.

Phobia?

But is fear of Islam can be considered a phobia? For example is it really disproportionate and exaggerated to fear to be subjected to Sharia Law?

What if an apostate is aware that in Sharia Law apostates are punishable by death? What if a nine year old girl is at risk of being sold into marrying a man older than her grandfather? What if a wife is repeatedly beaten by her husband and she knows that her husband is only using his legitimate Islamic right in order to beat her up? What if the same wife is also aware that her husband is allowed to marry several other women while he is still married to her? What if a woman has to wear Hijab in 42 degrees hot summer day of Tehran?

What about discrimination against women in inheritance and divorce laws? What about homosexual and members of religious minorities? What about members of an unrecognised religious minority? (Baha’i faith in Iran) What about punishments like stoning for adultery? Flogging for drinking alcohol or body mutilation for thieves? What if ‘infidel’ people of a neighbouring territory fear their Muslim neighbours to come jihad-ing on them?

Is fear involved in any of above cases a phobic fear as term Islamophobia implies? Are these affected individuals in need of psychotherapy to be relived from their disproportionate and phobic fear of Islam? Or is it just common sense for them to fear Islam and Islamic law?

Muslim Point of View

To my experience when it comes to controversial Islamic rules (some mentioned above) Muslims disregard of their ethnicity/race and school of thought are divided in two major groups:

First group follows Quran and Hadith line by line and apply Islamic law and Islamic penal code as they were commonly and historically applied. They are ‘fundamentalists’ and have little or no concern about reaction of outside world in response to applying rules which according to modern convention of human rights are considered brutal and inhumane.

In some Islamic countries where political system is heavily influenced or completely controlled by fundamentalists (such as Iran and Saudi Arabia) citizens are regularly sentenced to flogging, stoning and body mutilation and despite all international pressure these countries resist to change their official penal code which is taken directly from Sharia Law. This is because in fundamentalist point of view Islamic law and moral code is something which cannot be disputed or changed even if it is genuinely immoral and in violation of modern standards.

The second group of Muslims are self proclaimed ‘progressive’ bunch who tend to believe controversial and brutal Islamic law and penal code are enforced only by fundamentalists of the first group as a result of first group’s misinterpretation of otherwise moral and advanced Islamic law. 

The progressives in second group are often apologetic about the fundamentalists’ behaviour and they often take their own interpretation of Islamic law as the correct version. An interpretation which in many occasions is unlike anything historically practised by any Muslims.
 
Members of second group are also likely to believe that the actions of first group has wrongly given a negative and scary image to Islam in public opinion and that Islam is in fact a kind and tolerant religion unlike what the fundamentalist has shown it to be.

This clash between progressives and fundamentalists is an old trend. But it is still unheard of that a progressive cleric officially rejects the brutalities historically practised by Muslims as wrong doings of early Muslims or prophet or Imams and replace them by more modern and moderate rules.
At the same time the progressive Muslim clerics chose to be vague about controversial parts of Islamic law and Islamic penal code if they are forced to talk about this subject and they apologetically try to justify them.

I leave the reader with this question:

Is it a phobia to be scared of a religion that its self proclaimed progressive movement is being intentionally vague and dishonest about its controversies instead of actively trying to clear them up?

7 comments:

  1. I think your analysis is helpful Baz, but what about Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri's great (400 page) fatwa against Terrorism and Suicide Bombing. I am in the process of reading it and feel that while it is impressive, it still leaves much unsaid or unclear, and I suspect it brushes over jihadi verses probably assuming we all know that they have been taken out of context, but it is a fatwa condemning jihadi violence.
    I agree your discussion is a crucial one. Do we dialogue with moderate Muslims and see how far we get (and how far they get in reigning in the fundamentalists), or do we treat them all as irretrievably compromised by shariah thinking

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  2. I can't comment on Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri's fatwa against Terrorism and Suicide Bombing as I haven't read it yet. But the fact that its 400 pages long make me suspicious that we are dealing with another apologetic material which is trying to justify things instead of setting them right. Because my experience with fatwas is that they are short and direct "do" or "do not" sentences. Not quiet sure why he has taken 400 pages to give a fatwa.

    I will for sure read his fatwa, it can be interesting and maybe a glimpse of light in a whole dark night.

    On the other hand it sounds as this fatwa only covers the suicide bombing and Terrorism issues. If that's the case then what about all the rest of the issues which are in need of amendment? human rights for example? gender equality? etc. and etc.

    I am all for dialogue with moderate Muslims. In fact I think its the way forward. In this blog post more than anything else I was trying to argue that use of the term "Islamophobia" has to be avoided because in my opinion this word is engineered for the sole purpose of dismissing any attempt to criticize Islam.

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  4. Check this out:
    http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/04/17/yes-virginia-there-really-is-islamophobia/

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  5. Hi Linda,

    I read the blog post you have copied over and I don't agree with its point of view in the way it has represented Muslims as a specific race or a defined category of people if you like.

    I am against classifying people into defined boxes in shape of communities (in this case Muslims) and then to consider collective rights or limitations for them. It is discriminatory! As I explained in my post Muslims are diverse in terms of their ethnicity, and Islam in itself as an Ideology is not a consistent believe system everywhere. There are many many different sometimes opposing Islams out there.

    Also in addition to above the term "phobia" is commonly used to refer to types of anxiety disorder! So even the term in itself is biased. it transfers this subliminal message that fear of Islam is just an illness in shape of a phobia! this way a criticism of Islam is easily dismissed.

    I appreciate if you are for equality and against racism. I am too. But in my opinion this word is wrongly created and wrongly used.

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  6. I am not nitpicking Linda! I am from a country ran by Islamists! And they have ruined it to ground! Have you lived under an Islamic theocracy? I assume not! I fear Islam, in ways that I have explained in my blog post! am I phobic? am I #Islamophobic! no I am not! my fear of Islam is genuine! I am really scared of it! Islam is scary! it directly orders its followers to kill anyone leaving it!

    I saw first hand the brutality of reactionary Islam. Am I racist? no I am not! Do I hate Muslim? no I don't! Do I make a distinction between people depending from which country, race, or community they are from? no I don't! I see people as equals and as individuals!

    And yet, I am being accused of #Islamophobia when I expose Islam to people who don't know it as much as I do!

    I just want you to realize I am not sick and suffering from a phobia! I don't need therapy! I am afraid of Islam! its dangerous believe system. I need the clerics of this religion to leave my country alone and let us live the lives we want! I need the Muslims who think have the right to tell me how to live my life to realize this is not any of their business and leave me alone!

    There are racists out there. I know! You can call them racist! by calling them #Islamophobic you are helping all the bad which is in Islam to hide itself behind this word.

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