{"id":202,"date":"2024-11-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-ingoe\/?p=202"},"modified":"2024-12-04T22:51:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:51:12","slug":"islamophobia-why-it-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/adam-ingoe\/2024\/11\/23\/islamophobia-why-it-persists\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamophobia: Why It Persists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What drives Islamophobia, and why does it remain entrenched in modern society? Or rather, why does it persist? <\/p>\n\n\n

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Adam Ingoe<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights defines islamophobia as:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cA fear, prejudice and hatred of Muslims or non-Muslim individuals that leads to provocation, hostility and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement and intimidation of Muslims and non-Muslims, both in the online and offline world. Motivated by institutional, ideological, political and religious hostility that transcends into structural and cultural racism which targets the symbols and markers of a being a Muslim.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Jad Mohsen, 21, who is a student and a devout Muslim, reflects on his experiences with islamophobia while still in school:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jad\u2019s experience with islamophobia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jad’s story is all too common in cases with islamophobia, with the example of being asked, just because he was muslim, if he was “part of ISIS” by his classmate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the truth of the matter is that Islamophobia, a very persistent social problem of the 21st century, has shown almost no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s even more alarming is that, in a recent study conducted by The Home Office<\/a>, Islamophobic hate incidents have steadily risen year on year, and have shown no signs of slowing down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\"Statistic:<\/a>
Statista<\/a>\n\n\n\n

So why is this the case? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The picture is not black and white, its in fact an intricate web of misunderstanding, ranging from a lack of knowledge on Islamic concepts, the far-right media, and the lack of understanding as to what extremist groups are, and how they are not<\/strong> representative of Islam in its entirety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jihad: A Misunderstood Concept<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a lot of anti-Islamic rhetoric, one of the most frequently talked about concepts is that of Jihad. Most of the time, Jihad is often misunderstood as a pretext to expansionism in direct correlation to the perceived “violent nature” of Islam, in that it is a religion of conquest and subjugation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this could not be further from the truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jihad, in Arabic means: \u201cstruggle\u201d or \u201csurviving\u201d, and has multiple dimensions to its application in a believers life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abu Tayeb Khairdeen, Chief Executive Officer at Islamic Diversity Centre in Newcastle Upon Tyne, explains what Jihad is, and how its definition is skewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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