Beyond populist Islamophobia
The 9/11 incident was the turning point at which a stereotype developed into a firm clash that saw Islam and Muslims being synonymous with terrorism
Almost a decade after 9/11, Islamophobia in the West is still on the rise, parallel to the rising popularity of right and far-right politics and politicians whose increasing influence partly due to their anti-Islam rhetoric.
Muslims and Islam were not brought to the forefront of international relations suddenly in 2001 after the New York and Washington incidents. It had all started years before.
Probably by the end of seventies, with the ‘Islamic' revolution in Iran, the so-called political Islam became prominent and reinforced the misconceptions among the public in the West resulting from the oil crisis of mid-seventies. Generalisations and stereotyping in the media helped lay the foundations for what was to come at the end of the eighties.
The collapse of the USSR and the socialist bloc, metaphored by Francis Fukuyama as the "end of history", was a turning point in the vilification of Islam and Muslims. Not because the dominant single superpower and its satellites feared the rise of so-called ‘Muslim world' as a challenge, as the fanatic dogma in the Islamist movement would like to say. Simply put, you can't be a superpower unless there are ‘powers'. This is not to say that political Islam was in need to be invented, or that Muslims were short of fanatics to be portrayed as the potential ‘enemy'.
As Tony Blair recently said in his book that the 9/11 development was a cornerstone, not in his spinning or outright turning round facts (lying), but in turning populist Islamophobia into a firm clash with Islam and Muslims. As some thinkers predicted decades ago, the 21st century is the century of religion. Islam is a perfect ideology to fight. But ideological battles run on different grounds than those of politics, economy and military. And Muslims need to be the target, and their rhetoric refers to ‘Muslim nation'.
Superpower's dilemma
That strategy, with two wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, did not work perfectly and the superpower found itself in awkward position to justify policies it can't backtrack from. Apart from some very few dogmatic groups, mainstream Muslims didn't fit the typical ‘terrorist' profile intended by the perpetrators of the strategy.
There's no conspiracy here but an understandable strategy by the dominant power and its satellites. September 11 and the ensuing war on terror, that is. Islam and Muslims, along with measures taken everywhere to humiliate Muslims because of their religion and colour didn't create the much-needed villain.
So, what is there for the superpower to protect the world from; cybercrime or global warming! That doesn't work; you need an evil power, in flesh and blood, to justify your dominance by keeping it in check.
The main flaw in this thinking was the perception that Islam is a political ideology and Muslims are a nation or race. The big myth of Judaism as a race is not applicable on Islam, though the two religions share common rituals and values — in theological terms. Zionism was the ideology that used religion to further colonial means, and there's no Zionism in Islam.
Differences of race and creed
Even those ‘radical' Islamists calling for an Islamic nation, or Umma, can't ignore solid facts that there's no "Aryan Purity" in Islam. God in his holy book repeatedly stated that and the Quran in many verses acknowledges the differences of race and creed. There're Muslim peoples, but they're not one people — they are Asians, Africans or even Arabs or others. Zionists, keen not to be seen as the only racist group in the modern world, were enthusiastic about the efforts to forcefully manufacture a Muslim entity associated with all evils. Not out of religious struggle, but to justify the manipulation of religion in Zionism.
So far, this is not working, and Muslims — especially in western countries, where Islamophobia is fiercer — are generally citizens of the countries they live in and part of their different communities, only going to mosques not churches or synagogues. Yes, they have their own practices associated with their religion and these are accommodated as far as they don't come into conflict with others' rights.
The goal is not abandoned yet and Islamophobia is expected to keep rising till the political right in the West gives up and seeks other alternatives to be the focus of its campaigns. Also, as far as the Muslims have dogmatic fanatics among them, this will fuel the Islamophobia machine driven by similar elements in the West.
Dr Ahmad Mustafa is a London-based Arab writer.
