islamophobia

No to Islamophobia!

Don’t believe the lies of the Islamophobes, instead inform yourself, ask Muslims or even better Muslim scholars! Beware that the Internet is full of lies and misinterpretations, there are exceptions.

Islamophobia is about regulation and disciplining of Muslimness by reference to a world which is westernising. Quote from

This happens in four theatres for performance of Islamophobia: in Muslim majority countries; in Western plutocracies (but there have always been Muslims in Europe); in countries where the modern state has ‘moved around them’, because Muslims have been there before: India, China, Russia, Thailand.

- The Shariah is compassion and justice, and seeks the welfare of human beings. If its application leads to the opposite, then our understanding and interpretation needs to be re-evaluated in the light of the Texts.[1]

First of all, some entry points:

1. Not everything, that any individual or group of Muslims does is always according to the divine teachings of Islam. Human beings can and do fail, only Allah is Perfect, Forgiving (may His Majesty be exalted!), to Him we return.

The emirs of Andalusia encouraged learning and supported all educational institutions, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish.[2]

2. Not everyone, who can read English, can claim an authoritative and correct understanding of the Quran, even less of the hadith.[3]

3. There are well-organised and well-funded organisations fuelling hatred against Islam, its sacred symbols and against Muslims. [4]

[1] More on the Shariah at this site - LivingIslam:

- Definition of Sharia, Tariqa, Haqiqa, (Arabic)

- Shariah, Tarīqah And Haqīqah, S H Nasr

- On The Shariah, S H Nasr

[2] The emirs of Andalusia encouraged learning and supported all educational institutions, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish. It was during this period that Christians all over Europe flocked to Muslim Spain to study Greek philosophy as mediated by the Arabic textual sources. Likewise, it was in Muslim Spain where Jews from all parts of Europe and the Mediterranean took refuge from pogroms that greatly diminished their ranks. Ibn Arabi’s Islamic Andalusia ruled by the enlightened Umayyads offered an atmosphere of intellectual freedom—an atmosphere that was so different from the rest of Europe where inquisitions and religious persecutions were the order of the day.[1]

in: Tolerance and Spirituality: Debunking the Islamophobic View of an “Intolerant Islam”

[3] This rule also applies to native Arabic speakers to a lesser degree, although their chances for a correct understanding are greater.

[4] hadith: prophetic traditions.

Here comes to mind the research which has been done in respect to the Islamophobia industry.

See for example:

Who are the millionaires behind the Islamophobic industry in America?

”By tying Islam to terrorism, neocons would gain political cover for their imperialistic ambitions in the Middle East, and Zionists would benefit from garnering Western sympathies for their struggle against Palestinian “terrorism.”

…

This discourse’s central aim has been to de-humanize, de-politicize and de-legitimize the ‘enemy of the day,’ while legitimizing any and all uses of political violence against it. It is, in its contemporary expression, a dangerous, a-historical and anti-intellectual discourse, which should be deconstructed and, ultimately, discarded.”

”Our secular age makes literal faith in dogmas difficult, and that tears at the faith. But this is where two major differences enter:

• Islam is much less dogmatic, there is much less to tear at, only the readily acceptable shahada, faith in one [God,] Allah and his prophet Muhammad;

• If that faith turns metaphorical, Islam has the other four pillars of Islam to fall back upon: prayer together, sharing, fasting, pilgrimage, every day, a whole month every year, once a life.

The point of gravity in Islam moves more easily from faith to practice; and may stop there. There is much built-in outer practice that will survive a decrease in inner faith.”

in: The Violent Christian West should drop Islamophobia and work on itself