On October 7, A Few Thoughts On "Islamophobia"

Today is the first anniversary of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas on Israel. One year ago today, about 1200 people were killed in the surprise attack, and about 250 taken hostage. Almost all of those killed or taken hostage were civilians, and the large majority were either women, children, or the elderly. About 100 remain as hostages today.

This sad occasion gets me to thinking about the term “Islamophobia.” I don’t even remember this term existing in my youth. This piece in The New Republic in 2011 traces the origin of the term to the 1970s. But from those relatively recent origins, the term “Islamophobia” has risen fast in the ranks of the epithets generally used to condemn non-conformists to the progressive project as evil people. Other such terms include racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and trans-phobia.

Why is the term “Islamophobia”? In other contexts, the suffix “phobia” is used to refer to an irrational fear. Saying that someone suffers from a “phobia” is to accuse that person of being irrational. But a rational fear is not a “phobia.” More importantly, legitimate criticism and disagreement does not represent a “phobia,” and has nothing to do with a phobia.

There is a completely rational basis for non-Muslims to have at least some level of fear of Muslims. That’s because a very disproportionate percentage of unprovoked killings that have a political or religious motivation are committed by Muslims. This is true both in the U.S. and around the world.

Granted, my category of “unprovoked killings that have a political or religious motivation” is a rather small category in the U.S. in most years. Since 2001, guy named Charles Kurzman at the University of North Carolina has issued annual reports titled “Muslim-American Involvement with Violent Extremism Since 9/11.” The link goes to the most recent edition. He finds numbers of acts of violent extremism by Muslim-Americans ranging from about 10 in some years to a peak of over 90 in 2015. He puts the number of deaths from all of these acts at just 141 over the 22 years, which he compares to some 309,000 murders in the country during that period. On the other hand, the other murders predominantly arise from personal matters like gang warfare and domestic disputes, not political or religious issues. Take all the other religions present in the U.S. — and there are dozens — and you can’t come up with a single example of killings of others for religious reasons. And then of course, there was 9/11 itself, where almost 3000 people were killed by Islamic terrorists. Meanwhile, around the world, there are frequent incidents of violence and killings from Islamic extremists in many different places — maybe nearly all the places where Muslim communities come into physical proximity to communities of people of other religions. Notable current examples include France, Sweden, Nigeria, Sudan, and India. Just last year, the Muslim Azeris expelled the Christian Armenians from their millennia-old homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh. And then, of course, there is Israel.

But put aside now the question of whether people of other religions have good reason to fear violence from Muslims. Are there other reasons for valid criticisms and disagreements with Muslims? Absolutely.

One of the great triumphs of the United States — and maybe the greatest — is the establishment of the cultural norm that people of all religions are tolerant of people who follow other religions, and let those people follow their religions without interference. To most Americans, this cultural norm feels like second nature, and we can’t even imagine somebody not following it. But in fact this norm was extraordinarily difficult to establish, and only came about after many centuries of bloodshed over religious differences. To study the history of Europe over the centuries from antiquity to the founding of America is to learn about constant violence, often over what appear to us today to be tiny differences of religious doctrine.

The cultural norm of tolerance of other religions to some degree stems from the First Amendment to the Constitution, but it is much broader than that. It is embedded in the deep subconscious of our upbringing. Essentially everybody in America today accepts this basic premise. Except Muslims, or at least many of them. I am sure that there are there are many Muslims in America who do accept the principle of religious tolerance, but I have no way of determining how many, and there are plenty who do not.

And thus we find many American Muslims hating America for some combination of its tolerance of other religions generally and its support of Israel in particular. Among many examples that could be cited, here is a link to a video of a guy named Tarek Bazzi speaking at a rally back in April in Dearborn, Michigan, celebrating International al-Quds day. From the MEMRI institute, summarizing Bazzi’s remarks:

Michigan activist Tarek Bazzi, who is affiliated with the Hadi Institute, said that it is not "Genocide Joe" that has to go, referring to President Biden, but it is the entire system of the United States "that has to go." He Quoted Malcolm X, saying: "We live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this earth." Bazzi added that "death to Israel" has become the "most logical chant shouted across the world today."

And then there is the treatment of non-Muslims by Muslims in countries where Muslims are in the majority. Can anyone cite me to a single example of a place where Muslims in the majority treat the non-Muslim minority in a way that we in America would consider appropriate? I would love to learn of an example.

There are some 49 countries in the world where Muslims are in the majority. In those countries, non-Muslims are treated as second-class citizens in a plethora of ways. Examples include: Non-Muslims cannot marry Muslim women; non-Muslims cannot testify against Muslims in court; non-Muslims are restricted in practicing their religion or from building churches or shrines; non-Muslims cannot proselytize their religion; non-Muslims are subject to special taxes; non-Muslims cannot participate in politics or in the government. And there are many other examples. Not necessarily all of these disabilities apply in every place. But many apply in many places. Looking at these things, it is completely understandable that non-Muslims would not want Muslims to become the dominant religion, or even a significant minority.

Is that an irrational fear? Not in my opinion. In a world where all countries interact and trade constantly, and people can travel everywhere, tolerance and acceptance of people of other religions is an absolute necessity. But a critical mass of Muslims does not accept that assertion. Until they do, everyone else is absolutely right to criticize them. And non-Muslim countries are out of their minds to accept large numbers of Muslim immigrants not committed to religious tolerance.