JULY 22 — In our current political climate, there are several forces at play. For the moment, the sum total of these vectors manifests in regular upheavals, in the form of terrorist attacks mostly and bombings which sometimes kill and maim innocent civilians.
The latter seem to matter less though. No one “J’suis” for them as they are the wrong type. The world, as I see it, is inching ever closer to erupting into greater levels of violence.
In order for us to stop that from happening, we must come to understand the situation well so that we may effectively act on it.
One of the forces I mentioned above is Islamofascism. Islamofascism is the oppressive strain within the Islamic Tradition. It has a surreptitious presence in the Muslim world, often masking itself as Conservative Traditional Islam.
In Malaysia, the conservative is fast becoming fascist, and now with the likes of Isma, racist to boot. Islamofascism is what stops Islam from reforming into its original self.
Having said that, I do not think the world beyond Islam is totally blameless either. In fact, I think racism in the West which had submerged itself for several decades has now resurfaced into an acceptable form — Islamophobia.
Before we discuss the issue, allow me to define Islamophobia because like any intangible concept, it is prone to be misunderstood.
For me, Islamophobia is the blanket hostility towards anything Islamic. It is a generalising and oversimplifying exercise. It is a form of racism because it sees an entire world of human experience — the world of Islam — as something subhuman.
If one observes the happenings on social media, one can see individuals and groups spew such obscene hatred for anything Islamic. This is simply a transference of previous Western xenophobia for other races (no dogs and Chinese allowed, remember Fists of Fury?) to what has now become acceptable—hatred for the world of Islam.
Dissenting Muslims (what I call atheists, agnostics, apostates from an Islamic heritage) tend to be very recalcitrant towards the term “Islamphobia.” They reject it because they see it as a get-out clause. I can detect two arguments which they frequently employ:
1. Islamphobia is a retort given by Muslims to excuse any form of criticism. This argument is actually true in some cases but I and many Muslims like me would differentiate between Islamophobia and legitimate criticisms of Islam.
If one criticises Islam without using generalising language, that is not Islamphobia. For example, if one says “Islamofascists (or even ‘some Muslims’) believe in killing apostates”, it would be vastly different from saying “Islam says kill apostates.”
The former is correct because Islamofascists actually do preach this law. The latter is incorrect because there is considerable Muslim opposition to this law, even from Traditionalists. Quranists, for whom the Quran is the exclusive source of religion, are unanimous that this law does not exist. So by saying “Islam says kill apostates”, the Islamophobe is creating a misperception of the situation.
2. The second argument against the term “Islamophobia” is that “Islam” is not a person and therefore hostility towards it is not discrimination. This is an argument which comes from a position of privilege, safe from hostility on the ground.
Dissenting Muslims tend to be abetted by Western racists who solidify their position as native informants (natives from a certain culture who are deemed experts of their own culture). Of course Islam is not a person but it is an identity factor held by 1.5 billion people.
When you make undiscerning remarks towards an entire world culture, then you create a perception that its people believe in the same things. This stirs up hatred towards them.
Most Muslims are not even aware of the theological and juristic debates in their own tradition yet it is they who will fall victim to the generalising language of the Islamophobe.
This is why Islamphobia is a form of racism. In the West, Islam tended to be equated with complexion, specifically brownness and blackness. This is why Sikhs have been attacked by Islamophobes!
Cultural signals such as the robe, burka, beard and hijabs tend to invoke racism as well. It must be remembered that people adopt these signals for a variety of reasons.
The conservative Muslims grow beards for piety, I let mine grow as I am too lazy to shave regularly! Yet I would be victimised simply for looking like Osama bin Laden. No one would ask me my own theological views before they kick my head in!
From my experience, Dissenting Muslims tend not to like the idea that there are multiple Islams. They prefer a single Islamic experience which they can dismiss in one go. Unfortunately, that is not the situation.
There has been diversity in the Islamic Tradition since the time of the Prophet himself. Therefore, if Dissenting Muslims wish to be credible, they would need to beef up their criticism to include such diversities. If not, they may themselves be seen as Islamophobic.
Islamophobia is a reality. It is the over simplification of a world of complex human experiences. It is necessary for certain parties so that they may realise their agenda of neo-colonialism. This does not mean there are no problems within the Ummah. Of course there are but nuance is important to delineate those problems.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
