How to Adapt to Islamophobia(For Muslims) | World Defense

How to Adapt to Islamophobia(For Muslims)

Falcon29

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Just want to start a simple discussion and would like everyone else to give their input too. Before I begin, Islamphobia is defined as individuals or groups whom posses a history of crafting, promoting, or using anti-Islam or anti-Muslim sentiment as per CAIR based in the US. So remember that many individuals don't have a positive view of Islam or religion in general because they don't believe in them and such people are not to be confused with Islamophobes. I think this is an important distinction to make. Some Muslims are misguided about the environments they live in, some aren't, but we want to make this thread to help Muslims adapt to Islamophobia but not doing so effectively. In the West for example, we need to understand that Church and State separated and Europeans revolted against the religious authorities of Europe. Thus is it common for Abrahamic faiths to be vilified. This may shock some but it is the reality in Europe and/or the USA. As opposed to the Middle East for example where it is home to these faiths and the people there take pride in that.

So the first point I want to make is to no confuse this type of vilification of religions as backwards or false or whatever else as Islamophobia. That is part of the mainstream secular thought in some places like EU/USA or elsewhere. We may not like that, but it is just a reality in these nations unfortunately. This cannot be confused for Islamophobia and we do not need to debate all these people by default. However, if you are interested in religion debate as an individual Muslim you are certainly free to go ahead and debate religion and this is very normal. There is a reddit page dedicated to that. That being said, it is not a requirement of every Muslim who confuses these sentiments as Islamophobia to go and debate people, especially on social media like twitter where many accounts are anonymous and it is very toxic.

My second observation is that Muslims should work to adapt to realities caused by Islamphobia and how to counter them. This is a good sign that we want to improve the realities for us and we are an proactive community. But, countering doesn't mean we need to change everyones opinion. Countering Islamophobia simply means educating people on our religion, being very polite in our interactions, and making educated statements. Also another part which I will get into in second post.

So countering Islamophobia doesn't mean we need to change everyones opinion or shut everyone up. There will be people who hate, or people who don't like Muslims, and people with severe mental illnesses that latch unto Islamophobia as a way to give themselves a purpose in life. And we actually need to emphasize that much of Islamophobic sentiment, and other modern sentiments can be traced to mental illness and the internet.
 
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Falcon29

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The second portion of this is that people nowadays aren't familiar with history and thus don't understand the phase the Middle East/North Africa is going through. They think the world has been stable forever, but in reality the younger generations are first to witness this kind of global stability and economic wellbeing which formed after WW2. Thus they see the news overseas and think it is a ridiculously violent place but don't understand they are going through a long term transition like Europe did at what point. Thus people need better education on understanding that the real world is not a pretty place. Modern generations are raised to believe everything is safe and fine and that life is fun and beautiful until they become young adults and reality hits them in the face, and they often get depressed and/or aren't well prepared for adulthood/not relying on their parents anymore.

Thus we see that with more education and when people mature, hateful sentiments will decrease because they accumulate more knowledge and have better understanding of social and political transformations.

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One other aspect contributing to Islamophobia is the Jewish American/Europeans who dominate the media outlets in Europe and the US, and they purposefully report everything on the Middle East to get Americans/Europeans to feel enmity with the people there and in order to secure major support for Israel. Jews rely on American and European support to maintain the edge Israel has in the region, and they very badly need to influence the public opinion on Israel and the best way to do it was to fan the Islamophobic sentiments post 9-11 era. They saw 9/11 as an opportunity to secure a serious American commitment to Israel and they flooded the American public with anti-Muslim sentiment through the media and entertainment industry. Muslims obviously with lack of leadership had no idea how to respond to this pressure and responded in bad ways you can imagine.

Today we are in a different reality, this era has almost passed, and people are not focused on Muslims anymore and more focused on other matters such as climate change, Brexit, etc.... As the West is no longer dependent on Middle East for oil and no longer as invested in the region. So this is an opportune time/era for Muslims to finally bring change to the MENA/Asia, with wise leadership and good character by Muslims which we are certainly capable of.

So part of the adapting is also not going on twitter to debate or rant against Islamphobic individuals, especially with responses like 'too bad Islam is the fastest growing religion', as that is the response they wish to get out of Muslims to worry more people and keep their career afloat(which makes them big bucks).

And finally, adapt by Muslims looking inward and looking to self improvement now before later. And do not be too invested in what happens in the US or Europe. The MENA/Asia region has an opportunity of a lifetime if Muslims get better leadership and Muslims in general adapt to Islamphobia well.
 
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