Massive Anti-Islam Sentiment in the United States

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Recommended: Racial profiling against Muslims since 9/11

Islam is a monotheistic religion, centered around the teachings of the Qu’ran and serving Allah (meaning God in Arabic). However, this Abrahamic religion has been harshly discriminated against in the United States for years. Most prominently throughout the last twelve years, post September 11th, 2001. Unfortunately, issues such as socialization through the media, power distribution, religious ignorance, stereotyping and visible differences have contributed to the ill attitudes towards Muslims. This paper will examine how Americans have been socialized in islamophobia within the United States.

Islamophobia is defined as the "unfounded hostility towards Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims." The first time islamophobia was introduced as a concept was in November 1997 by the Runnymede Trust Report. The report was the first time islamophobia was discussed, based on British Muslim populations, to better conditions for Muslims. In response to the report, “the [British] Government approved the first state funding for specifically Muslim schools in late 1997, and there has been some improvement in media portrayals of Islam.” (“Commission on British Muslims”) Islamophobia is indeed similar to xenophobia, the fear of foreignness and unfamiliarity, but is specific to the religion of Islam. Islamophobia has lead to discrimination, prejudices, assault, and hate crimes.

It is interesting to analyze the changes of islamophobia. When perhaps originally, islamophobia was a concept only describing the fear of Islam. Now, it has become racialized into the fear of Arabs as well, rather than a religious fear. The phobia continues to spread from the irrational fear of Islam to perhaps a fear of anyone who may be percei...

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Prothero, Stephen. "Worshipping in Ignorance." The Chronicle Review. The Chronicle for Higher Education, 16 Mar. 2009. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. .

Ratnesar, Romesh. "Ground Zero: Exaggerating the Jihadist Threat." TIME.com. N.p., 18 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. .

Rose, Steve. "Since 9/11, Racism and Islamophobia Remain Intertwined | Steve Rose." The Huffington Post UK. N.p., 09 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

Schevitz, Tanya. "FBI Sees Leap in Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes / 9/11 Attacks Blamed for Bias -- Blacks Still Most Frequent Victims." SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.

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