Anti-Muslim discourse has plagued the European horizon, but never has it taken on so many dimensions.
Islamophobia remains a hot topic across the West and minority communities are feeling the pinch of the prejudice in their daily lives more than ever before.
To these minorities, their marginalisation is the result of misconceptions about Muslims and Islam.
Is Islamophobia the cause or the result of terrorism? There is no clear answer to that question. But if one thing is for sure, it is that xenophobia has become widespread and has increasingly more complex ramifications on the lives of Muslims living in the West.
This has implications for Western human rights standards, as well. Islamophobia can be defined as the unjustified fear of all things Muslim based on preconceived notions that define it as a religion of violence.
While many think this form of racism bears an inextricable correlation with modern-day terrorism, many Western thinkers say anti-Islam sentiment goes back more than a century, way before the media started creating and perpetuating stereotypes, especially after the September 11 attacks.
The advent of the colonial mindset
The term “Islamophobia” was first coined during the French colonisation of several Muslim countries at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the year 1910 when French thinker Alain Quellien published a book entitled “Muslim politics in French west Africa”.
In it, the writer says Islamophobia is based on preconceived prejudice that is specific to the Christian world.
Let’s be blunt: China is accumulating a record of Orwellian savagery toward religious people.
A Catholic priest has been honored by the Pakistan government for his “exemplary services” to promote interfaith harmony and peace in his own country and worldwide.
Father James Channan (right) with Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Pakistan’s federal minister for religious affairs and interfaith harmony, at the Interfaith Conference. (Photo courtesy of Father Channan) 
The third annual event was hosted by the Muslims on Screen & Television Resource Center, Unity Productions Foundation and the Writers Guild Foundation.
Imagine a place where Christians, Muslims and Jews can come together to pray. This is not the start of a utopic story but an actual plan in progress. A building that was once a church which was destroyed in the Second World War is being transformed into what they want to call ‘The house of One’.
While Rep. Ilhan Omar fasts during Ramadan from food and water — and even, she is quick to point out, from coffee — her responsibilities as a congresswoman often keep her from breaking her daily fast at a celebratory iftar meal. Sometimes, she said, it’s a quick bite to eat after the sun sets and then back to the House floor for a vote or to a committee meeting.
Election rhetoric has only exacerbated Muslim fears. The new government’s first task would be to combat the overpowering atmosphere of distrust and hate bedevilling society which constitutes the foremost threat to the nation, more so than terrorism.
KRE (Kurdistan 24) – Nuhava is a village near the Kurdistan Region’s city of Akre, where both Muslim and Christians have coexisted in peace and harmony for centuries.
A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice: 