Institutional, academic approach to counter Islamophobia

The irrational, unfounded and undeterred hostility and resentment against Islam, Islamic culture and values and generally against Muslims has witnessed an unprecedented upsurge over the last few decades, particularly in past years. This is not just limited to the feelings of those who harbour negative about anything Islamic, but has gone on to be demonstrated practically through overt and clandestine discrimination and violence. It is hard for Muslims to see why there has been such sickening attitude and behavioural shift even though the religion they follow, and believe in, is all about peace, harmony and love.

The roots of these feelings go deep and long in antagonistic philosophical work and persistent propaganda that has been the work of anti-Islamic forces all around the world, with many countries having some pockets of these types of groups. During crisis situations – economic, political and demographic – it is easy for these tiny groups to propagate a message of hate; produce biased, untrue and incomplete pieces of information from Islamic scriptures; and portray them against our entire religion. This phenomenon has continued for many years now, and has eventually turned into a giant reality – albeit based on numerous misconceptions and illogical fallacies. Nonetheless, Islamophobia is a reality.

There is no doubt that Muslims in different times and from different countries, be those from Muslim countries or non-Muslim countries, have been providing rebuttals against misguided foundations of Islamophobia. However, there are four main factors which have kept these efforts at bay in countering the Islamophobic narrative: 1) these efforts are too small and dispersed against a huge toxic tide; 2) almost all these efforts have either been made by individuals or by smaller groups; 3) these have not been persistent or coordinated; and 4) these efforts to dispel misconceptions against Islam have not been academic and usually lack the intellectual rigour which is required of the task.

In this context, the establishment and functionalisation of the National Rahmatullil-Aalameen Authority (NRA) is a spectacular initiative. The Prime Minister of Pakistan – realising the need for providing a cogent, determined, intellectual, and coordinated response to counter hate against Islam and Muslims – established the NRA in October 2021. A committee of eminent international scholars – who have command over Seerat, media communication and image-building and international politics, besides having a vast experience of interacting with non-Muslim societies – has been appointed as its Advisory Council to guide the NRA and suggest to the Patron-inChief (the Prime Minister) priority areas to lead NRA activities. These scholars are no ordinary religious leaders; they additionally come with inter-religious perspectives, understand how Islamophobia is being fanned in the West and elsewhere, and are also cognizant of an increasing new variant of local Islamophobic attitudes among our young generation.

Their vast experience and overall realisation about the ever-increasing traps for our young generation to get them shaky about their own identity gives NRA a very unique and critical role: to devise academic and research-based response to underlying Islamophobic factors, to come up with a counter-narrative which portrays the real image of Islam, and highlight key elements of Seerat and how they perfectly relate to our modern lives. The current portrayal of Islam, to be truthful, is overly traditional and thus seems a distant illusion to some, and hence many are unable to make a reallife connection to numerous stellar Seerat principles. Who would say that the teaching of our Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) about empathy, love, tolerance, self-esteem, others’ rights, integrity, due diligence in one’s job, and many others have lost their shine in today’s age? No one. Yet, the way we are presenting these lessons may need to be revisited and the medium through which these should be projected more effectively need to be explored. If some of us are finding it difficult, imagine how hard it would be to correct a non-Muslim about his/her views on Islam. For that, intellectual-level response is needed.

Several prominent members of NRA and a guidance and leadership from the top will provide the Authority the impetus to give a tremendously effective and wideranging response against Islamophobia and create/integrate literature for the current needs. With an institution erected, the efforts will be much smoother and persistent, resources suitably provided, collaborations at global level created, and the messaging will be clear, relevant and louder. The idea of NRA was also shared at the recent OIC summit in Islamabad, and other Muslim countries have shown interest in developing partnerships and sending envoys for a more coordinated work. This is how a long-term strategy will also evolve.