4 weeks ago
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This week, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani made past by becoming the archetypal Muslim politician of New York City. His roadworthy to triumph was thing but smooth. After helium secured a historical triumph successful the mayoral primary, helium faced a landslide of attacks from crossed the governmental spectrum. In the months that followed, the hateful rhetoric from right-wing provocateurs, societal media personalities, and adjacent his 3 opponents mushroomed.
Republican campaigner Curtis Sliwa claimed that Mamdani supports “global jihad”; autarkic campaigner and erstwhile New York politician Andrew Cuomo agreed with a remark that Mamdani would observe “another 9/11”; and outgoing NYC mayor, Eric Adams, who dropped retired and endorsed Cuomo, suggested that a Mamdani mayorship would crook New York into Europe, wherever “Islamic extremists … are destroying communities.”
Sadly, arsenic researchers of anti-Muslim bias, and Muslim individuals who came of property successful a post-9/11 America, we cognize attacks of this quality – connected someone’s quality oregon fittingness for a occupation due to the fact that of their spiritual inheritance oregon nationalist root – aren’t wholly unexpected. We cognize that Islamophobia spikes not aft a convulsive act, but alternatively during predetermination campaigns and governmental events, erstwhile anti-Muslim rhetoric is utilized arsenic a governmental maneuver to garner enactment for a circumstantial campaigner oregon policy.
Worryingly, these attacks besides bespeak a wide inclination of rising Islamophobia, which our probe has precocious uncovered. The latest variation of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s (ISPU) American Muslim Poll, which contains our Islamophobia Index, released connected October 21, reveals that successful the past 3 years, Islamophobia has sharply risen successful the US, crossed astir each demographic groups.
Among the wide colonisation successful the US, connected our 1 to 100 scale, the scale accrued from a people of 25 successful 2022 to a people of 33 successful 2025. This leap was astir pronounced among achromatic Evangelicals, whose people accrued from 30 to 45 betwixt 2022 and 2025, and Catholics, whose people accrued from 28 to 40 during the aforesaid period. Protestants besides saw a emergence of 7 points, from 23 successful 2022 to 30 successful 2025. Jews had an Islamophobia people of 17 successful 2022, the lowest of immoderate radical that year, which accrued lone somewhat to 19 successful 2025, the aforesaid people arsenic Muslims successful 2025. The lone radical that did not alteration since 2022 is the non-affiliated.
Undoubtedly, the weaponisation of Islamophobia by high-profile individuals is simply a large operator of this worrying trend. And it tin pb to devastating outcomes for Muslims: From occupation nonaccomplishment and inability to freely worship, to religious-based bullying of Muslim children successful nationalist schools and favoritism successful nationalist settings, to adjacent carnal violence. Simply put, unsafe rhetoric tin person unsafe consequences.
Much of this Islamophobic rhetoric relies connected 5 communal stereotypes astir Muslims, which we utilized successful putting unneurotic our index: That they condone violence, discriminate against women, are hostile to the US, are little civilised, and are complicit successful acts of unit committed by Muslims elsewhere. We past surveyed a nationally typical sample, including 2,486 Americans, to place the grade to which they believed successful these tropes.
More Americans are embracing these stereotypes astir Muslims, adjacent though they are easy disproved.
For example, contempt fashionable media portrayals of Muslims arsenic much prone to unit oregon arsenic being complicit successful unit perpetrated by Muslims elsewhere successful the world, ISPU probe shows American Muslims overwhelmingly cull violence. They are much apt than the wide nationalist to cull unit carried retired by the subject against civilians and are arsenic apt to cull idiosyncratic actors targeting civilians.
The fashionable stereotype that Muslim communities discriminate against their women besides does not clasp water. The information is that Muslim women look much radical and spiritual favoritism than they bash sex discrimination, which each women, Muslim oregon not, study astatine adjacent levels successful the United States. The immense bulk (99 percent) of Muslim women who deterioration hijab accidental they bash truthful retired of idiosyncratic devotion and prime – not coercion. And Muslim women study that their religion is simply a root of pridefulness and happiness.
Our probe besides disproves the content that astir Muslims surviving successful the US are hostile to the country. We person recovered that Muslims with beardown spiritual identities are much apt than those with weaker ones to clasp a beardown American identity. It besides shows that Muslims enactment successful nationalist beingness from the section to the nationalist level done civic engagement, moving with neighbours to lick assemblage problems, and contributing during times of nationalist crises similar the COVID-19 pandemic and the Flint h2o crisis.
The trope that astir Muslims surviving successful the US are little “civilised” than different radical has nary factual basis, arsenic well. The usage of the “civilised/uncivilised” dichotomy strips individuals of their quality dignity and separates radical into a false, ethnocentric hierarchy connected the ground of contention oregon religion. Accusing a radical of being little civilised than different is simply a often utilized dehumanising tactic. Dehumanisation, defined by Genocide Watch arsenic erstwhile 1 radical denies the humanity of the different group, is simply a measurement connected the way to genocide.
We person seen each of these tropes activated successful the past fewer weeks to motorboat Islamophobic attacks connected Mamdani. We person besides seen excessively galore of our politicians and nationalist figures usage them comfortably successful their nationalist speech, placing an full religion assemblage successful harm’s way. As Mamdani said successful a code addressing the Islamophobic attacks by his chap candidates, “In an epoch of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged arsenic 1 of the fewer areas of agreement.”
But Islamophobia isn’t conscionable atrocious for Muslims – it undermines our ideology and law freedoms. Research has linked content successful these anti-Muslim tropes to greater tolerance for anti-democratic policies. People who clasp Islamophobic beliefs are much apt to hold to limiting antiauthoritarian freedoms erstwhile the state is nether menace (suspending checks and balances, limiting state of the press), condone subject and idiosyncratic attacks connected civilians (a warfare transgression nether the Geneva Convention), and o.k. of discriminatory policies targeting Muslims (banning Muslims, surveilling mosques, and adjacent restricting the quality to vote).
Weaponising Islamophobia successful governmental code whitethorn beryllium perceived arsenic a winning strategy to rally support, but communities wherever it is deployed extremity up losing. That is wherefore specified practices indispensable beryllium challenged. Confronting and denouncing hatred means preserving ideology and quality dignity. Perhaps the predetermination of Mamdani volition awesome a existent displacement distant from this governmental strategy. As the mayor-elect said successful his acceptance speech, “No much volition New York beryllium a metropolis wherever you tin postulation successful Islamophobia and triumph an election.”
The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
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