Islamophobia? Yes. What about the flip side, Christophobia: Yes? No?
I must start with expression of deep sympathy and pain for the innocent victims of “Islamophobia”. What follows is no attempt to minimize their humiliation and suffering. We all must do our bit to fight this evil.
If a person is slapped because he is a Muslim, it needs to be condemned as Islamophobia. Two blocks down the road a person is kicked because he is Christian. Now what? Do they neutralize each other? No. Does one justify the other? Certainly not. But taken together the two incidents convey a sharp message. We have to change our orientation to look at this problem. Get out of this framework of “phobia”. Each side can tell the other emphatically “look who is talking”. Instead we have to plan, work and fight for Religious Tolerance and Understanding from both sides.
We are very sensitive to possible phobia against Islam. But are we as sensitive to understand its teachings in this connection. Islam sets a very high bar for justice and equity in our problems with others and even with our enemies. Let me quote two very powerful ayahs of the Holy Text which illustrate the high standards of morality that Islam teaches to its followers:
يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا كونوا قَوّامينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَداءَ بِالقِسطِ ۖ وَلا يَجرِمَنَّكُم شَنَآنُ قَومٍ عَلىٰ أَلّا تَعدِلُوا ۚ اعدِلوا هُوَ أَقرَبُ لِلتَّقوىٰ ۖ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبيرٌ بِما تَعمَلونَ
“O YOU who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of anyone1 lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. And remain conscious of God: verily, God is aware of all that you do.” (Surah Al Mai’dah (no. 5) Ayah 8).
Please note that we are commanded to show justice even to those who are our enemies and we hate them!
يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا كونوا قَوّامينَ بِالقِسطِ شُهَداءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَو عَلىٰ أَنفُسِكُم أَوِ الوالِدَينِ وَالأَقرَبينَ ۚ إِن يَكُن غَنِيًّا أَو فَقيرًا فَاللَّهُ أَولىٰ بِهِما ۖ فَلا تَتَّبِعُوا الهَوىٰ أَن تَعدِلوا ۚ وَإِن تَلووا أَو تُعرِضوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ بِما تَعمَلونَ خَبيرًا
“O YOU who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in upholding equity, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God, even though it be against your own selves or your parents and kinsfolk. Whether the person concerned be rich or poor, God's claim takes precedence over [the claims of] either of them.1 Do not, then, follow your own desires, lest you swerve from justice: for if you distort [the truth], behold, God is indeed aware of all that you do!” (Surah Al Nisa no. 4 Ayah 135).
Once again please note the intensity of this injunction: uphold justice even if it goes against oneself, ones parents and relatives.
If we are really concerned about the fear about and hate against our Deen, then we cannot and should not ignore these high principles of our Deen while claiming to protect it. We must attempt to see the other side of the story. On the other hand if the driving force is our antipathy and bias against “them”, then my views will sound senseless.
While we are perfectly justified in complaining and protesting about Islamophobia, it is our Islamic duty to assess and find out how “Islam” is behaving in areas where it holds a majority. Taken together, we can achieve a sense of balance and treat the problem with justice and equity as demanded by our Deen. We must compare the extent and the manifestations of the “phobia” on both sides. How does ugly gestures, sarcastic remarks, pulling the scarf, spitting on the face and vandalizing a musjid compares with bombings and mass killing etc.
The Growing List of Anti-Islam Incidents since ParisI quote here some statistics from both sides.
ThinkProgress has published an article on December 1, 2015 The Growing List Of Anti-Islam Incidents since Paris https://thinkprogress.org/the-growing-list-of-anti-islam-incidents-since-paris-ac243c55abde#.he8lruw9u by Jack Jenkins, Celisa Calacal, and Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani. The list was last updated on October 28, 2016.
The opening statement says “The United States has seen an “unprecedented” spike in Islamophobia since the tragic terrorist attacks struck Paris, France on November 13, 2015, with Muslims all over the country falling victim to shootings, personal assaults, harassment, protests, and attacks on their houses of worship”. Their list of hundred and eleven incidents is designed to track egregious instances of Islamophobia, focusing on violent attacks, threats, assaults, protests, firings, airport profiling cases, and instances of vandalism. They have not included the sharp rise in Islamophobic political rhetoric coming from Republican presidential candidates such as Donald Trump.
I have edited the very long list just to focus on the physical manifestations of the “Islamophobis” without trying to minimize the psychological trauma:
Al Noor was vandalized overnight with red spray paint. The culprits reportedly painted the word “TRUMP” on the outside of the mosque…………Police arrested a 20-year-old man for defacing a Muslim community center. The man reportedly covered the center in hateful messages, such as “Fuck Muslims,” “Fuck ISIS,” “Fuck Allah” and “Fuck Arabs.” He also allegedly scrawled the words “Donald Trump” on the walls……………..allegedly plotting to bomb a mosque -The men, who reportedly called themselves “the Crusaders,-”members of the group referred to Muslims as “cockroaches” and “fucking rag head bitches,” and one declared “the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.” ………..The Islamic Center, was set on fire …………..A mosque in Rhode Island was vandalized……. A gunman opened fire on the Islamic Community of mosque early ;No one was injured, …………..The Islamic Center has been refused a security detail……posting threats online against a Mosque ………The Islamic Center outside Orlando was vandalized…… A woman in an SUV wearing a T-shirt with the word “Pride” threatened several people at the Islamic Association, telling them to get out of America and that someone was coming back to kill them……..The Islamic Association was desecrated overnight ……..The headquarters of the Islamic Society which also houses a mosque, was vandalized early Sunday morning. ……. TheIslam Center was burglarized, with security camera footage showing a white male breaking doors and windows before stealing computer equipment and causing an estimated $5,000 worth of damage………The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported a threatening Facebook comment ……………. Members of the Islamic Center repeatedly discovered alcohol bottles and other objects in the mosque’s parking lot,………….Common Council meeting to protest a proposed mosque in the region. ……residents actively protested the planned construction of a Muslim community center……………The Islamic Center was once again vandalized…………… Islamic Center defaced by red markings ……… A suspect was caught on camera vandalizing the Islamic Society ;using a machete to smash cameras, lights and windows………mosque was desecrated when someone reportedly wrapped bacon around the building’s door handles ………The Islamic Center fell victim to an apparent firebombing ;The source of the small blaze, which damaged the mosque door, appeared to be a molotov cocktail……..A fire erupted at the Mosque causing significant damage to the building while some 200 worshippers were inside. People were eventually able to escape the blaze………. The Islamic Center was vandalized over a weekend, with graffiti scrawled on the back of the building………..Two windows of the Islamic Cultural Center were shattered by vandals…….A fire broke out at the Islamic Society which officials are investigating as an arson and which mosque officials called a firebombing. No one was injured in the blaze………….— The words “hunt camp?” were spray-painted across the Islamic Center ……. A Sikh Gurdwara, or temple, was spray painted…………..A severed pig’s head was thrown at the door Al-Aqsa Islamic Society. ……….The mosque reported receiving a threatening voicemail from a man claiming to be with the “Jewish Defense League,” saying “We are checking if one Jew has been killed in California. You all will be sorry. You all will be killed.”………….notorious anti-Muslim activist Jon Ritzheimer reportedly posted a video of himself cocking a gun and threatening to go tell them to “go [expletive themselves] themselves,” while also encouraging all Americans to “carry a long rifle” everywhere they go……… A Kentucky mosque reportedly received a death threat via email…………… A group of armed protestors in military fatigues protested outside a mosque, holding Ted Cruz signs and placards that read “Stop the Islamization of America.”…………… A letter sent to a local mosque reportedly included a cartoon depiction of Muhammad — an action offensive to many Muslims — along with the instruction “Convert To Christianity Before It’s Too Late!!!” A man was charged with making a terrorist threat after posting a message with the phrase ”I’m going to shoot up a mosque” ………….Vandals reportedly spray-painted a picture ………..man left a voicemail on the answering machine of a local mosque that threatened to “come down” and “firebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head.”A man wearing Muslim attire was inexplicably punched in the throat by a stranger while walking to the metro station………… A woman in Brooklyn was set on fire while window shopping, she first felt heat on her arm, noticed her shirt was on fire………… A woman attacked two Muslim women, tried to pull off the women’s hijabs……… A Muslim woman in Virginia claims that she was fired from her job because of her refusal to remove her hijab at work……….A Muslim man was attacked and beaten outside the Fort Pierce Islamic Center ….. A year ago on Independence Day, a Muslim woman was kicked and strip-searched by police officers during her commute home. …….A Muslim woman in D.C. was verbally and physically assaulted………….A Muslim couple was removed from a Delta Airlines flight from Paris to Cincinnati, Ohio, reportedly for saying “God” in Arabic.
Few examples of the other side of the coin: Christophobia:
Recently I came across two short write-ups in the Economist of August 20, 2016 about Christians in the Arab world. As per the first one “Crimes and no punishment; Violence is only one of the problems faced by Christians in Egypt”. http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21705365-violence-only-one-problems-faced-christians-egypt-crimes-and-no. the Coptic Christians make up between 5% and 15% of the population in Egypt. Recently a shop-owner Ashraf, a Coptic Christian and a resident of Karam village in Minya, could not pay the dues to his Muslim suppliers resulting in an argument over money. A rumour was started that Ashraf was having an affair with a Muslim woman. In May a group of enraged Muslim men burned down his house along with several other homes owned by Christians. Ashraf’s elderly mother was stripped naked and dragged around the village. Unbelievable, I feel. Tensions are rising between Egypt’s two largest religious communities. The head of the Coptic church, Pope Tawadros says attacks against Christians occur about once a month. At least ten incidents this year have resulted in discord, death and destruction. Three years ago protesting supporters of Muhammad Morsi were violently dispersed by the government. In response, they burned dozens of churches. Bishop Makarios, the church’s leader in Minya claims that Christians still face discrimination in the job market and are under-represented in government. He maintains that the authorities often treat them like second-class citizens. It is, for example, exceedingly hard to get the state to recognise conversions to Christianity from Islam. A teacher in Minya filmed his students mocking the jihadists of Islamic State. He was convicted in court of blasphemy and sentenced to three years in prison. Four other teenage students received sentences of up to five years in prison. An attempt to build a new church usually ends up in sectarian violence. Permits for building a new church is extremely difficult to obtain.
In the second article Under the Gun http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21705366-archbishop-laments-his-flocks-flight-under-gun an archbishop laments his flock’s flight. Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, archbishop of Mosul’s Syriac Orthodox church, has been chased out of one
of Christianity’s oldest dioceses. Most of his congregation fled when the city was conquered by the
jihadists of Islamic State (IS) in July 2014; now he ministers to what is left of it in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region Since then, he says, 32 churches in Mosul and in the surrounding plain of Nineveh have been burnt or put to other uses. His cathedral is now a mosque dedicated to jihad. “For the first time in the history of Christianity, there are no Christians praying in Mosul,” he adds, weeping. “Even under the Mongol hordes and Hulagu Khan [in the 13th century] it wasn’t so bad. He adds that When Iraq became independent in 1932, Christians made up 12% of its people. By the time Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003, they had fallen to 6%. Since America’s invasion, two-thirds of Iraq’s remaining 1.5m Christians have left. The full article discusses some more problems of Christians in Iraq.
Another article in Economist of November 19, 2016 Tolerance on Trial http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21710290-accusation-blasphemy-upends-election-campaign-tolerance-trial describes religious bias in Indonesian politics when an accusation of blasphemy may destroy an entire election campaign. The campaign is set for election of Jakarta’s next governor on February 15th as “a showcase of Indonesia’s vibrant democracy”. The incumbent and front-runner is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, a Christian. In a speech to fishermen in late September “Ahok appeared to suggest that any attempt to dissuade Muslims from voting for him by citing a verse in the Koran that warns Muslims against taking Christians and Jews as allies was deceitful. He has apologised for his comments, insisting—not unreasonably—that he was criticising not the verse itself, but the use to which it was being put”. Muslim protest groups, however, accused him of denigrating the word of God. They stirred up outrage through social media and filed complaints with the police. The Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI, a Muslim vigilante outfit, organised an unusually large protest—of more than 100,000 people—in Jakarta on November 4th. Many carried placards calling for the governor to be jailed, or worse. On November 16th police investigating complaints of blasphemy said they were formally declaring him a suspect. The most recent opinion polls suggest that his lead in the race for governor may be slipping. Admittedly the fuss is not all, or even mostly, about religion. Dirty politics has crept in. However Indonesia’s blasphemy law, as in Pakistan is vague and confusing allowing courts to punish words or actions deemed “hostile” to religion by up to five years in prison. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch reckons it is “very likely” that Ahok would be found guilty, based on precedent. In the dozens of blasphemy cases to go to trial since 2004 the defendant has always been convicted.
An additional news in the Economist of December 17th 2016 A massacre of Coptic Christians;
Egypt is hit by terror attacks is also relevant. http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21711734-terrorism-egypt-compounds-presidents-problems-egypt-hit-terror The article mainly discusses the increasingly volatile situation in Egypt despite the draconian laws and a crackdown on dissent by Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s president and self proclaimed protector. The violence against the government is extended to Christians also. A bomb tore through Cairo’s Coptic cathedral during Sunday mass, killing at least 25 worshippers, mostly women and children. The interior ministry say exiled Brotherhood leaders directed it, sending the bomber to train with jihadists linked to IS in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula. Whereas, after claiming the Coptic bombing, IS vowed to continue its “war against apostates”. Egypt’s Christian Copts, who make up about 10% of the country’s population, are a common target. They have long faced persecution by the Muslim majority asserts the article.
Judge for yourself. Should we just protest about “Islamophobia” or recognise the other side of the coin and call for religious tolerance on both sides?
