AS CONTROVERSY over the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” in Lower Manhattan takes up more and more airtime in the US, the arguments deployed by both sides have become ever more narrow. On the one hand, those defending the proposed Islamic centre talk about the threat of anti-Muslim prejudice to constitutional freedoms, while at the same time endangering efforts to promote the kind of “moderate” Islam represented by its director, a New Age sufi called Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. On the other hand, pleas for Muslims and all those backing the project to heed American “sensitivities” are coupled with dark hints about Rauf’s true intentions, sources of funding and indeed the problem represented by Islam itself in the West. Although this public debate generates an enormous number of new facts, interpretations and other details every day, these are all squeezed into a shrinking circuit of concepts and categories, very few of which are able to address the controversy’s larger and more lasting implications.-- Faisal Devji

The word “Islamophobia” began to appear only in the 1980s. While it is a  recently coined term, it refers to a history of fear and hatred of Muslims in the West that has had a long time to become implanted in our collective psyche. Its roots can be traced to the fourth century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. After suffering centuries of bloody persecution under pagan Roman authority, Christians suddenly became privileged citizens of the empire. Many leaders of the Church considered the sea-change a divine sign of the absolute truth of their religion, that historical success proves theological truth. It was a zero-sum view of the world: “Truth is with us. All else is falsehood.” --  Reuven Firestone

Let's just be frank. The demonization of Islam as a religion and of its adherents as individuals has reached the level of hysteria within the United States. Although the fear of Muslims is usually cloaked in condescension or indignation, the source of this most recent version of bigotry is transparent and utterly predictable. There must be a nameless, faceless, sinister "other" upon whom we can hang our deepest anxieties and frustrations as a people. This kind of paranoia is not unique, but as its perpetrators on right-wing radio, FOX "News" and the far-right blogosphere can attest, it still works like a charm. -- Cynthia Boaz

Neil Berry is right to fear for his country, particularly its Muslim residents “the upshot of a fresh outbreak of Islamist violence in Britain at a time of acute unease.” In an article posted below, courtesy Khaleej Times, he writes: “Increasingly, young British Muslims have felt that they are being systematically targeted by the security services, and the introduction of spy cameras can only sharpen their sense of Britain as a police state with contempt for Muslim civil liberties. ... it is possible to feel that British state’s discriminatory approach to dealing with the threat of Islamic terrorism is in danger of defeating its own object by exacerbating Muslim alienation and inciting the very Islamic radicalism it is meant to pre-empt.”

British government’s approach may be discriminatory and faulty but what is most worrisome is that Berry has nothing to say about the attitude of the British Muslims themselves. Barring some individuals they are doing next to nothing to fight Islamic radicalism and forestall the next 7/7 whose fallout they should know would decidedly be worse than that of the original incident. They have not yet even accepted the fact that it is they, who acted as the original incubator of Islamic radicalism in late 1970s and ‘80s and so need to do something to stem the rot. Indeed they owe it not only to themselves but to the world at large. Originally inspired by Saudi-exported Petro-dollar Islam and then by Pakistani military dictator General Ziaul Haq’s “Nizam-e-Mustafa”, they organised meetings and international conferences, even so-called Muslim parliaments, to host militants and radicals from around the world to instigate their own youth to take to extremism and obscurantism. Omar Bakri Muhammad-led Al-Muhajiroun could not have succeeded in alienating an entire generation of Muslim youths from the mainstream of British society without popular support from British Muslims themselves.

Media and civil society’s job doesn’t finish with criticising the government of the day: they should also point to the follies and worse of the citizenry, more so in a democracy, in which politicians many a time desist from doing the right thing to curry favour with their vote-banks. British governments, both labour and conservative, have been guilty on this count. Islamic radicalism could probably have been nipped in the bud had they acted in 1970s and ‘80s. By 17 August 1988, the date on which Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq passed away, it was already too late. Al-Muhajiroun was proscribed under the UK Terrorism Act 2000 only as recently as 14 January 2010, though an intention to ban was announced in August 2005. Some other similar organisations were banned in 1906. London woke up from its sweet slumber only when the group organised its notorious conference "The Magnificent 19", praising the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bakri himself was allowed to spread his poison till 12 August 2005.

David Cameron’s government may be following a policy that could be “exacerbating Muslim alienation and inciting the very Islamic radicalism it is meant to pre-empt”. But the alienation and radicalism themselves are the British Muslims’ own creation. The very idea of “pre-empting” them now is laughable. Apparently Berry has not lived in the United Kingdom or probably on this planet for several decades. Or do the journalists too have a constituency to appease?

Sultan Shahin, editor, New Age Islam

The image of Rima Fakih, the first Muslim Miss USA, blowing kisses into the air last Sunday has knocked the wind out of the sails of many an Islamophobe and Islamist alike. Isn’t she supposed to be wearing a burqa? Isn’t she supposed to be blowing bombs? And most importantly, isn’t she supposed to be aching for felafel rather than pizza?

Fakih’s blatant betrayal of the stereotypes, the supposed-to-be’s, has sparked bewilderment on the blogosphere. Islamophobes view it as the clearest evidence yet of the liberal/Islamic conspiracy to take over the US, while Islamists are dismayed by the extent to which Satanic influences have profanated the piety of Muslims, particularly those who have made the West their home. -- Saif Shahin

Photo: Miss USA Rima Fakih

Jim McConalogue’s write-up is a not-so extreme example of the Islamophobia sweeping Europe. I came across several Europeans during my recent three-week tour of Switzerland, Sweden and United Kingdom who expressed similar fears of Islam and Muslims. I attended several seminars dealing with the subject in which lay public took a great deal of interest, though, of course, not all were as fearful of what Islam and Muslims are going to do to their beautiful lands and their culture of freedom and tolerance of all views and lifestyles. Views expressed in this article may be distasteful to many readers of New Age Islam, but I think it is important for us to be aware of what many in the West and indeed other parts of the world are thinking of us. This article is also important as it gives a scholarly account of the backdrop in which Islam is being discussed in Europe. -- Editor

I will restate, reiterate and paraphrase what I have already said on this matter over the past four or five years: the Islamic jihadists are clearly winning their battle over the British people. In the UK, the Labour government has shown that it is more than willing to jeopardise national security in favour of its oppressive multicultural agenda. Violent Muslims – a hotchpotch of infantile soul-searching converts, theocratic barbarians and permanently incensed and uneducated nobodies – who are supposed to be living as British citizens are intending to kill the people they live among. Clearly, the British multicultural project is failing to such a degree that citizens not only possess a visceral hatred of one another but they are now at war with one another...

The creed of Islam, supported by its jihadist interpretation, cannot be supported by the British multicultural programme – perhaps, more to the point, we may have arrived at that point that we must now face that our multicultural programme can no longer afford this Islamic deviancy. Unlike other valuable and rich cultures and religions that integrate successfully, modern Islam seems steadfast in its principles of war and violence. Islam carries with it a powerful political and religious history. This violence, which the editor of The Asian Age, M. J. Akbar, once called the “Medina Syndrome,” imparts the belief that Islam is under such a significant threat from its enemies that its only response is to be gripped by collective unity, faith, violence and war." -- Jim McConalogue

Islamophobes have been popularizing the claim that "not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims." Despite this idea becoming axiomatic in some circles, it is quite simply not factual. In my previous article entitled "All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren't", I used official FBI records to show that only 6% of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by Islamic extremists. The remaining 94% were from other groups (42% from Latinos, 24% from extreme left wing groups, 7% from extremist Jews, 5% from communists, and 16% from all other groups). – Danios

Photo: Europol releases an annual study of terrorism; the results do not support claims that "(nearly) all Muslims are terrorists"

Nearly everyone in Killeen who interacted with Hasan considered him a mystery, and his actions became more confounding as October turned to November.

Why was an Army psychiatrist, instead of helping soldiers, obsessing over charging them with war crimes?

Why was a conservative Muslim going to the Starz strip club on the nights of Oct. 28 and 29, spending seven hours each night sitting alone at a round table near the stage, handing out Bud Lights and generous tips to each dancer and then buying a series of fully nude private lap dances that cost $50 each?

Why was an Army officer eschewing the shooting range at Fort Hood to drive 35 miles into the central Texas flatlands on Nov. 3 and take his target practice at Stan's Outdoor Shooting Range, where bullets sometimes ricocheted off square targets and hit cars?

Why, on the morning of Nov. 5, were witnesses seeing Hasan hand out copies of the Koran, give away his groceries, issue a warning at 7-Eleven, report to work, stand on a table, shout "Allahu Akbar" and wave two guns inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Centre?

Then Hasan allegedly opened fire, and suddenly the questions became clues, and the clues began to make horrifying sense. -- Eli Saslow, Philip Rucker, William Wan and Mary Pat Flaherty

'Minaret ban reminiscent of wars of Middle Ages'

European rabbis condemn Swiss minaret ban

Religious Leaders Slam Swiss Minaret Ban

Minaret Ban - Muslim Scholars Urge Swiss Muslims to Remain Calm

Turkey regrets 'rise in Islamophobia'

Indonesia says Swiss minaret ban obstacle to interfaith harmony

Photo: Mosque in Aswan, Egypt, with minarets - Wikipedia

Jewish leader says Swiss vote shows Europe's growing anti-Muslim views

Ban on minaret construction in Switzerland to raise tensions with Muslim world: analyst

Minaret ban 'a security risk' - Swiss minister

Minaret ban 'conflicts with human rights'

The Call From the Swiss Minaret

Pakistan raps Swiss minaret ban

Turkey says Swiss ban violates freedoms

Switzerland minaret ban condemned

Switzerland Faces 'Security Risk' after Voters Endorse Minaret Ban

Turkish president criticizes minaret vote in Switzerland

Iran condemns Swiss minaret ban

UN condemns Swiss minaret ban

Islam In Europe: Swiss Votes To Ban Minarets

Rightwing rejects parallel Muslim society

Perhaps what is needed, in the penal institutions, police forces, correctional offices, FBI, Homeland Security and the military, is sensitivity training and general educational classes about Muslim beliefs and culture. If not, the popular belief will be that all Muslims are potential enemies of America and dangerous. There are many Islamic groups and organizations that are trying to educate the public about what Muslims believe and what their faith represents.

But we must be strong enough to Fight for The Soul of Islam and not allow the enemies of Islam to use a tactic as old as warfare itself; it's called divide and conquer. -- A. Akbar Muhammad

In the case of Muslims doing bad things, it is always their religious identity that defines them first and only secondly any additional factors like for instance, insanity. The irony of this is: such constructions of Muslim identity that insist on an inherent lack of compatibility between being Muslim and anything else have been coined by the very enemies against whom the war on terror is being fought. It is the ilk of Al Qaeda that insist that being a Muslim precludes allegiance to all other forms of identity. The obstinacy with which Maj Hassan Nidal is being identified as Muslim first and insane and psychologically impaired second is one illustration of the entrenchment of this presumption among American conservatives who are at the forefront of fighting Al Qaeda.

The point is not to exonerate the horrific things Maj Nidal Hassan and others have done. The prisons of the world are testaments to the limitless cruelty of the insane and psychologically twisted. The nature of insanity is that there are no rational reasons that can be found to explain substantive motivations. The reality of identity is that many forms of it exist not in ordered ranks of first, second or third, but rather in coexistence, where individuals can have many allegiances side by side.

Muslim criminals like those belonging to any other faith are cruel, self-centred and opportunistic but to say that their deeds are related to their faith is to misunderstand both the nature of identity and insanity. -- Rafia Zakaria