Two Reasons Why American-Muslims Are So Islamophobic by Raymond Ibrahim

  Two Reasons Why American-Muslims Are So Islamophobic by Raymond Ibrahim

Muslims in America are more Islamophobic than any other demographic in the United States.  According to a recent poll, American Muslims saw fellow Muslims as being more uncivilized, more prone to violence, and more hostile to the United States than any other group, and often by very large margins.  For example, whereas 19% of Muslims polled believed that fellow Muslims were uncivilized, only 5% of the general American population agreed.

What does one make of these unexpected findings?  Remember, ever since the strikes of 9/11, the unwavering, “mainstream” narrative has been that Islamophobia—defined as “unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam”—has been the root of all problems between Americans and Muslims.   According to this narrative, because xenophobic Americans, in their ignorance of “true Islam,” dislike and suspect Muslims, the latter, out of frustration and resentment, only naturally lash out.

Now, however, we find that it is American Muslims themselves who are by far the ones most prone to exhibiting “unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam.” How does one explain this seeming conundrum?

According to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), the Dearborn Muslim think tank that conducted this poll, even this finding, that Muslims are more prone to exhibiting symptoms of Islamophobia than non-Muslims, is still, not only the fault of American society in general but—you guessed it—racism.

As proof, ISPU quotes one of its own fellows, Dr. Muniba Saleem, saying “minorities can internalize the negative stereotypes of their group,” which “can influence their self-esteem, psychological distress, motivation, and performance.”

Moreover, for ISPU, “another noteworthy and alarming finding” was that “white Muslims” tend to exhibit more Islamophobia than non-white Muslims.  The assumptive idea here is that, apparently because racial identity always trumps religious identity (many would argue the reverse), white Muslims are becoming racists against even themselves?

While such psychoanalytical appeals and rationalizations—or in layman’s terms, mumbo jumbo—might be expected from ISPU, whose bread and butter has long been to present Islamophobia as the leading cause of injustice for Muslims in America, two other unspoken but plausible reasons make more sense of this seeming oxymoron of Muslim-Islamophobia.

FULL ARTICLE AT: Two Reasons Why American-Muslims Are So Islamophobic