MUSLIMS and the West have always viewed each other with deep suspicion and open hostility, with Crusades and colonialism serving as contributory factors. Migration or Muslims’ refusal or unwillingness to integrate with host societies gave a new edge to the negative perceptions the West had of Islam. However, it was the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States that gave a new acceptability or respectability to Islamophobia. Even the opposition to migration is now driven by anti-Muslim prejudices.
For example, when British Conservative MP Enoch Powell made his famous “Rivers of Blood” speech in Birmingham on April 20, 1968 against unrestricted migration from nonwhite countries, he didn’t single out Muslims as did Donald Trump 49 years later. But after the 9/11 attacks, there has been a significant increase in calculated discrimination, illicit labeling, negative stereotyping and even physical violence toward Muslims, with media, print and electronic, serving as echo chambers for politicians who spew anti-Muslim venom.
What we saw last week in the British tabloid The Sun was a representative specimen of this crude xenophobia. The author of the column is Trevor Kavanagh, a former political editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper.
The Sun is known for its hostility toward Muslims. It faced heat last year after publishing a column in which the author argued Fatima Manji, a Muslim reporter with Channel 4 News, should not have been allowed to report on the terrorist attack on July 14, 2016 in the French city of Nice because it was carried out by a Muslim. Also last year, the newspaper was forced to correct a “significantly misleading” front page claiming that one in five British Muslims had sympathy with jihadis.
Even by The Sun’s standards, Kavanagh’s piece was outrageous and sets a dangerous precedent. He says there is a “Muslim problem” in UK, recalling a phrase used in the last century in relation to Jews in Europe with disastrous results for the community concerned. There is also the suggestion that Muslim men are preying on white children, just as the Nazis accused Jews of abducting German children. He was trying to establish links between immigration, religion and crime in the context of a trial at Newcastle Crown Court early this month of largely Pakistani gangs.
To the immense relief of Muslims, British politicians realize the danger involved in such pernicious or intemperate language. More than 100 cross-party politicians have signed an open letter demanding action against The Sun for “using Nazi-like language” regarding the Muslim community in Britain. In the letter, MPs from Labor, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the Green party express outrage at the “hate and bigotry” the article is filled with. More important, Jewish and Muslim organizations issued a joint complaint over the article to the press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organization (IPSO).
Muslim organizations and community and religious leaders need to do something more. At least 800 British Muslims have left UK to join Daesh (the so-called IS). Another 600 were caught trying to join the group. This should serve as a warning to Muslim leaders and organizations. For many years, the almost universal reaction among Muslims everywhere to the rising tide of extremism and radicalism in their midst has been to disclaim any responsibility on their part. They have to think whether they have done everything in their power to prevent some members of the community, especially the youth, falling prey to the machinations of those who use religion as a cover for their murderous activities.
British government’s anti-terror strategy, known as Prevent, legally obliges citizens to report any suspicions they may have about their neighbors. It may turn people against each other or compel to spy on each other, as some have pointed out. They should realize that there would have been no need for the government to intervene if the community leaders have been alert and taken the initiative in the matter.
