What is Islamophobia Is it a real concern Is it racism Essay

What is Islamophobia Is it a real concern Is it racism - Essay Example The unwanted importance given to the fear of Islam leads to dislike towards the majority of Muslims, who are moderate and secular. Besides, Islamophobia denies the feelings of moderate Muslims who consider religion and politics as different entities. Halim Rane, Jacqui Ewart, and Mohamad Abdalla state that Islamophobic expressions are either passive (inauspicious attitude) or active (discrimination) (Rane, Ewart, & Abdalla, 2010). Islamophobia forces the world community to consider Islam as the most important threat on world peace and co-operation among world religions. In addition, Islamophobia projects the aggressiveness of Islam and its ideology. At the same time, Islam is considered as a political ideology based on religious ideology. In short, Islamophobia is the enmity towards Islam and Muslims as a whole. But it leads to discrimination and marginalization of secular Muslims who are not interested in political Islam. In the United States, Islamophobia is a burning issue which leads to the discrimination of Muslim minority. But all Americans do not consider Muslims as terrorists or religious extremists. As the United States is a multi-religious society, there exists high possibility for difference in opinion on a particular issue. The 9/11 attacks resulted in the strong hatred against Islam as an extremist religion. Mahmood Mamdani states that the post 9/11 culture talk shows unwanted interest to connect terrorism and Islam (Mamdani, 17). The global spread of terrorism and religious extremism increased the scope of anti-Islamic sentiment among the people. For instance, the term ‘Camel Jockey’ is used to denote Muslims. Terrorism sponsored by the fundamentalist groups operating from the Middle East forced the Americans to consider Islam as a dangerous religion. The American war in Iran and Afghanistan ignited hatred among the Muslims. But these wars were not fought against Islam or Mu slims, but against the terrorists who are against world peace