Islamophobia

ISLAMABAD: Islamophobia is referred to as feelings of prejudice, hatred and fear against Muslims. In recent times, this issue has attracted a lot of attention due to pessimistic sentiments in the Western world against Muslims and their faith. Such sentiments have contributed enormously towards the discrimination of Muslims around the world as it is becoming a base point for the isolation of Muslims not only in the political arena but also among the various social classes. We have come across stories in the media where people have been discriminated against just for being Muslims. Islamophobia is deeply rooted in society, in diverse forms. For quite some time now, it is being fueled by the increasing trend of white supremacism and nationalism. The Christchurch mosque attack is a recent case in point.

The international media is also to blame for the rise in Islamophobia as many of the media outlets are running campaigns that are hell bent upon equating terrorism with Islam. Particularly, after 9/11, the media representation of Islam and Muslims in the US was mostly negative which let their communities harbour stereotypical sentiments about Islam. The Western media portrays Muslims in a way that makes them seem evil and dangerous. This has bred a whole culture of hatred against Islam called Islamophobia.

It is time for the international media to be objective when discussing extremism. It cannot just pain all Muslims with the same brush. There is a need for the media to come up with content that addresses this sensitive issue by narrowing the gaps between religions and ethnicities. Not many people know the real teachings of Islam. It is important for those in power to hold the media accountable for these misrepresentations in order to stop breeding a culture of hatred.

Hadia Aziz

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2020.

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