4.4

Prior to this lesson, I had a very strong understanding and close experience with Islamophobia. After going through the readings and listening to the podcasts, however, I was able to understand the different difficulties people encounter. Women experience Islamophobia differently, people in Europe encounter it differently, people in the Midwest encounter it differently, and so on. Most common example is wearing a veil. People in more liberal cities encounter less Islamophobia, generally, whereas people of other cities tend to discriminate and have hate speech against Muslims. Its quite interesting how people in the Western society interpret the veil. They see it as “oppressive” or “abusive”, despite the fact that the veil cannot be forced upon anyone. Also, followers of other faiths also have to cover their hair, such as Nuns and even members of the Sikh community, yet you never hear of these negative comments. The Mosque attack in Australia is just one of the recent ones and people point to it saying that Islamophobia is very prevalent, but it has been prevalent throughout history, even since the time of the Prophet. A lot of Islamophobic ideologies come from individuals who have seen acts such as the September 11 attack, and other acts of terrorism, and they immediately associate it with “mainstream” Islam, as it were. However, these are deviant sects and most definitely do not represent Islam in any way, the same way Hitler did not represent the Christians.

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