Recently, here in England, there have been some racist riots that have been happening all around the country. Supposedly triggered by the tragic murder of three little girls; Bebe, Alice and Elsie. Whilst our focus should have been on this tragedy and remembering these girls, and thinking of their loved ones, our attention was diverted to a bunch of racist bigots fighting and looting across the country.
Apparently, they thought the killer was a Muslim (which he was not, not that it would justify their behaviour if he was). People have been saying that this is due to Islamophobia. The definition of Islamophobia is:
‘Irrational fear, hatred of, or prejudice towards Muslims or Islam’
The issue with the term ‘Islamophobia’ is that it does not separate the ideology of Islam to the people who follow it (Muslim’s). I do not like Islam – I fear it because as someone who has left the religion, the ‘punishment’ would be death, according to the religion. However, I do not dislike all Muslims. I do not fear all Muslims.
In my opinion Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim speech/behaviours (Muslimophobia?) should be two separate things. Most Muslims are good, kind people, who can identify that they live in a different time and place from when their religion was founded. They want to live peaceful lives and do not cause harm. It is unacceptable to treat every Muslim as though they are a bad or evil person. What we have seen across England has been awful.
Islam is a different matter. It is a set of ideas, some of which are harmful to certain groups of people, which is no different to other religions. We should absolutely be allowed to criticise, or even hate these ideas, and we should be doing this without causing harm or hating individuals who follow the religion, because the way in which people follow the religion varies, and as I have said, most do so in a peaceful manner.
It is a complex issue and I welcome other peoples thoughts on it!
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