Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In Canada, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC) launched a policy handbook on Islamophobia in the country, urging the federal government to strengthen protections for Muslim communities, meawhile in the United Kingdom, an Oxford Univesrity student argues that the same covered, dark clothing celebrated as a symbol of academic achievement at graduation is condemned as oppressive and incompatible with education when worn by Muslim women as everyday modest dress. Our recommended read of the day is by Sharmeen Jariullah for the Texas Observer on how across the country, Republican leaders continue to peddle dangerous lies trying to falsely cast Muslims as the “other.” This and more below:

United States

From San Diego to Plano, Islamophobia Has Consequences | Recommended Read

What connects a mosque shooting in San Diego, California, to a Muslim community development in Plano? The answer is Islamophobia. While many mainstream news outlets have yet to call the May 18 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego a hate crime, there is evidence that it is, including weapons covered in white supremacist symbols and phrases. Writings containing anti-Islamic sentiment were in the vehicle where the perpetrators, Caleb Vasquez and Cain Clark, were found. At a press conference following the shooting, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria faced scrutiny over his staunch pro-Israel and strict border-control stances contributing to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments. This incident is part of a broader pattern of increasing violence against Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) received 8,683 civil rights complaints in 2025, the most in a single year since its first report in 1996, with Texas among the top five states for rising anti-Muslim complaints over the last three years. Even though the shooting happened in Southern California and the proposed development is in North Texas, Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism do not exist in a vacuum. They are intrinsically connected to broader demonization of immigrants and vilification of Islam, often including falsely accusing both of being “enemies of American values,” hence ostracizing immigrants and Muslims as the “other.” As a Muslim resident of North Texas and a scholar of Muslim and diaspora communities, I know this reality well. read the complete article

Canada

Canadian Muslim group launches Islamophobia handbook, urges stronger action against hate

The Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC) launched a policy handbook Thursday on Islamophobia in Canada, urging the federal government to strengthen protections for Muslim communities and implement long-standing recommendations to combat anti-Muslim hate. "Five years ago, our London family was murdered in a hate-motivated attack, simply because they were Muslim," CMPAC Executive Director Khaled Alqazzaz said at a news conference in Ottawa, referring to the June 6, 2021 attack that killed four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ontario. Noting that the deadly attack was not "an isolated tragedy," Alqazzaz said "it exposed the reality that Muslim communities across Canada have long warned about." He said that Islamophobia is not limited to individual incidents, but is also embedded in broader social and institutional systems that continue to harm Muslim communities. "Despite years of studies, consultations, and public commitments, Muslims in Canada continue to face discrimination, harassment, violence, and unequal treatment," he added. read the complete article

Muslim organization calls on feds to act on Islamophobia as anniversary of London truck attack nears

A Muslim organization is urging the feds to follow through on recommendations to combat Islamophobia ahead of Saturday’s anniversary of the Afzaal family killings. read the complete article

United Kingdom

Graduation day highlights a double standard around Muslim religious attire

Every year, millions of graduates across the world proudly wear long robes, dark gowns, and mortarboard caps covering their heads. This modest attire symbolises academic achievement, intelligence, and scholarly tradition. Yet, in the same light, many Muslim women like myself grew up very aware that when we cover our heads or wear long black gowns (otherwise called an abaya), our religious or modest attire is instead seen as a sign of backwardness, oppression, or lack of education. Throughout my life, I’ve heard the abaya be compared to bin bags, sacks and batman. During my first year, someone told me that it’s unbecoming for a person who studies at Oxford to also wear a hijab. They argued that in people’s minds, it is associated with lack of education and incompatible with intelligent decision making. In my first term at Oxford, when I told someone where my grandmother studied, they responded with “Wait what? So she’s actually smart?” A year prior, when filling in my UCAS forms, my sixth-form teachers were shocked that my mother attended university. The broader stereotype persists that visibly Muslim women are less intelligent or less ambitious. Rarely do people consider, however, that with several European countries having imposed full or partial bans on the hijab in schools and/or universities, it is hijab-wearing Muslim school girls in Europe that are fighting one of the hardest battles to attend school. Ironically, maxi dresses and balaclavas, not much different from abayas and face veils, were not banned in most of these schools because they were not “religious” attire. Yet when Muslim girls simply wore maxi dresses or even skirts deemed too long by teachers, they were interrogated and sent home; in many cases expelled. But come graduation day, society has no problem associating (black) covered clothing with intelligence when it is called “academic dress”. read the complete article

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