Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In the United States, the House of Representatives has passed a bill which will allow the government to penalize American Universities who boycott Israel or it’s academic institutions, elsewhere in the country, several faith leaders who were asked to participate in a “special community gathering” over the weekend were surprised when they found out that it was a actually a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of Hindu-nationalist group RSS, and lastly in India, a student protest which was launched earlier this year as a boycott against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ironically sparked celebration of interfaith solidarity in the capital with members of several faith communities banding together to fight against corruption. Our recommended read of the day is by Besheer Mohamed for Pew Research Center on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and how “Muslim Americans shared in the nation’s grief and fear that day, and in the months and years that followed, they carried the additional burden of being singled out for suspicion.” This and more below:

United States

25 Years After 9/11, a Portrait of Muslim Americans | Recommended Read

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have had a lasting impact on Muslims in the United States. Muslim Americans shared in the nation’s grief and fear that day, and in the months and years that followed, they carried the additional burden of being singled out for suspicion. Twenty-five years later, some Americans still see Islam and Muslims through the lens of 9/11. Yet Muslims are a growing, vibrant part of America’s religious tapestry, one that has become more politically visible in recent years. By some measures, public attitudes toward Islam have become more negative than they were immediately after the 9/11 attacks. In March 2002, just six months after the al-Qaida attacks, 25% of U.S. adults said the Islamic religion is more likely than other religions to encourage violence. In 11 subsequent polls, that figure has never been lower than 38%, and in the past decade it has hovered between 45% and 52%. Early this year, about half of U.S. adults surveyed (51%) said Islam encourages violence more than other religions do. Views on Islam have also become more politically polarized. In this year’s poll, Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP were far more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say Islam encourages violence (76% vs. 29%). In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the partisan gap was much smaller (32% vs. 23%), perhaps reflecting a messaging campaign by then-President George W. Bush, who called Islam a religion of peace. read the complete article

Advocates decry US House vote to defund universities that boycott Israel

The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill to penalise American universities for boycotting Israel or its academic institutions, including those located in the occupied West Bank, a move that critics say violates freedom of expression. Lawmakers approved the measure in a 237-169 vote on Thursday, with 33 Democrats joining the Republican majority. Two Republicans broke ranks with their party to reject the bill. The proposal will still needs to be adopted by the Republican-controlled Senate and signed by President Donald Trump to become law. If passed, it would bar universities that boycott “an entity licensed or regulated by, or organised under the laws of” Israel, such as those in illegal West Bank settlements, from receiving federal funds. Withholding such funding would make it nearly impossible for many universities to operate or provide financial aid to students. Jenin Younes, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), said the bill raises serious concerns for the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech rights. read the complete article

Is He a Jihadist? A Commie? Cartoonists Can’t Decide How to Smear El-Sayed

Political cartoons commenting on Michigan’s 2026 US Senate race have been dominated by a torrent of Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism directed at Democratic nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an Arab-American Muslim. These caricatures do not come out of nowhere, of course, but reflect the poisonous atmosphere of the campaign against El-Sayed—with slurs coming not only from fringe hate groups, but also from prominent Republican senators and even the White House. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) accused El-Sayed, sans evidence, of being a “jihadist sympathizer” who is “infiltrating from within” (Mother Jones, 8/16/26). Britt’s fellow Alabama Republican, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, posted on social media that El-Sayed is a “TERRORIST” and “RADICAL ISLAMIST” (X, 8/5/26). Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Fox News (8/8/26; Time, 8/13/26) that El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani are “Islamists”: “They want Sharia law, they hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate capitalism, they hate America.” President Trump got in on the act by calling El-Sayed a “jihadist” (Religion News Service, 8/18/26). El-Sayed’s Republican opponent Mike Rogers has followed with smears of his own, falsely accusing El-Sayed of having “pledged his support to the Muslim Brotherhood” (Fox 2 Detroit, 8/5/26) and believing “America deserved 9/11” (New York Times, 8/8/26). A study by the Washington Post (8/23/26) found that El-Sayed’s primary victory led to a “wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric.” Nearly 1 in 3 posts from right-wing social media accounts mentioned “Islam,” “Muslims” or “Shariah.” Stereotypes and slanders like these have a long history of showing up in the cartoons on the nation’s editorial pages. In 1982, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) published the report Cruel and Unusual: Negative Images of Arabs in American Popular Culture. read the complete article

Religious Leaders Apologize for Appearing With Hindu Far-Right Group

When one of the world’s largest far-right groups, the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, held an event celebrating its 100-year anniversary at Madison Square Garden last weekend, its presence was met with protests and criticism from Mayor Zohran Mamdani. But some prominent progressive faith leaders say they unwittingly found themselves in the center of the controversy, too. And at least one of them landed on the event’s main stage. Several of the leaders said they had been invited to speak at a breakfast at the Pierre Hotel as well as “a special community gathering” at the Garden on Saturday afternoon. But they said they expected to discuss unity among religious groups and were not told that the events would honor the R.S.S. and its polarizing leader, Mohan Bhagwat. “I feel kind of betrayed,” said Imam Shamsi Ali, the director of the Jamaica Muslim Center of Queens, who attended the breakfast. Imam Ali was one of several faith leaders who issued statements on social media on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, apologizing and explaining their appearances aside a far-right leader who espouses the kind of religious supremacist ideology they had spent much of their careers speaking out against. read the complete article

Remembering Sept. 11 - a veteran reflects

One of the most profound and lasting impacts of the attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 was the “Global War on Terror.” Originally, the US targeted al-Qaida and the Taliban, but over the months and years, it turned into a 20-plus-year campaign spanning dozens of countries and costing millions of lives. Mo Vafai was in middle school when he watched the two towers of the World Trade Center fall. It was difficult for any child to process, but Vafai had an added burden. “My dad kind of rushed over to pick us up early because he was worried that we would get backlash just for being Middle Eastern,” Vafai said. FBI data shows anti-Muslim hate crimes increased 17-fold in the weeks and months following the attacks. On September 17, 2001, President George W. Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington, in part to address the rising tide of hate crimes. Correspondent Molly Martinez asked him whether he or his family experienced any racism? “Oh, yeah, absolutely. I didn’t pay it any mind,” Vafai said. read the complete article

N.C. teen charged for recording livestream of San Diego mosque shooting charged with murder

A 17-year-old North Carolina girl who recorded a livestream of a shooting that killed three people at a San Diego mosque and then disseminated the attackers’ white-supremacist writings has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting, a district attorney said Monday. Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said at a news conference in Winston-Salem that the girl, identified in court records as Sarah L. Santiago, was arrested last week. A grand jury indicted her on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy Monday. According to the indictment, Santiago agreed prior to the attack that she would record the livestream as the gunmen filmed it, distribute the recording, and release a document written by the attackers. She carried out those tasks, it said. She’s also accused of purchasing a patch bearing a white-supremacist symbol and sending it to one of the gunmen to wear during the attack. read the complete article

New York's Muslims reclaim their city after 9/11 backlash

Asad Dandia was eight when he watched the September 11, 2001 attacks on television at his Pakistani-immigrant parents' home in New York. Then came the backlash -- years of Islamophobia as Americans processed attacks that had killed nearly 3,000 people. There was anger, suspicion and worse. At 19, Dandia experienced a police informant posing as a friend to infiltrate his family home, part of a now-disgraced surveillance effort purportedly seeking to detect Islamic extremism. Today, though, the 33-year-old historian finds a New York transformed: one with its first Muslim mayor, public prayers in Times Square and new mosques rising across the city. "Twenty-five years after 9/11, we mourn and we grieve what happened, and at the same time, we recognize that I am not responsible for what happened," he told AFP. "I don't deserve to be targeted for what happened, and I am as much of a New Yorker as anybody else in that respect," said Dandia, who leads walking tours centered on the city's Muslim communities. read the complete article

The bigoted rhetoric against Muslim American politicians is backfiring. Next up: Abdul El-Sayed

Muslims are embroiled in yet another war, but this one isn’t in the Middle East, Southeast Asia or another predominantly Islamic region. The battleground is Michigan. New York. Minnesota. Or anywhere else in the U.S. where a politician with a name like Abdul El-Sayed, Zohran Mamdani or Ilhan Omar have run for office — and won. Today’s primary target is Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate El-Sayed. Since his victory in August, the right’s main strategy to beat him this fall is a familiar one: paint El-Sayed, the Muslim son of Egyptian immigrants, as an anti-American extremist. Vice President JD Vance recently told a crowd that “there’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil,” suggesting that Democratic nominee represents a divisive ideology. Rep. Nancy Mace warned of a larger problem when she said that “every single Muslim holding public office in America” is “a threat to both national security and our republic.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville flat-out called El-Sayed a “terrorist.” “The message is that these candidates are a civilizational threat that is going to destroy American society and Western civilization from within,” says Salam Al-Marayati, president and co-founder of the nonprofit Muslim Public Affairs Council. “You saw that a lot when Mamdani was elected.” And given that he was elected, the Islamophobia playbook may need an overhaul. read the complete article

United Kingdom

How UK 'wudu-gate' avoids naming the real culprit for the climate crisis

In mid-August, as the UK grappled with its fourth heatwave of the year, news headlines decried the water regulator’s allegedly wasteful use of public funds in its campaign advising Muslims to use less water for wudu, and Asians to reduce water usage when washing rice. It turns out that ferocious heatwaves offer up valuable opportunities for flagging media outlets on slow news days. As is the norm with other manufactured hysterias, “wudu-gate” recycled a years-old initiative to viral effect, through the use of dramatic headlines, head-turning stock images and hyperbolic openers. Language and visuals are powerful tools wielded by the media in shaping and stoking public opinion. When the Telegraph uses phrases like “religious and cultural practices” to inform us that “Asian and Muslim communities have been told to wash their rice and feet less” in a “bizarre” water-saving push, it marks these groups out as separatist offenders, thoughtlessly and selfishly indulging at the expense of others during a time of national crisis. It is unsurprising, then, that in the current climate of rising Islamophobia, this news (non-)story was met with weary suspicion from many, as yet another attempt by the media to frame Muslims as the perpetrators of the UK’s drought. Perhaps it could be argued that the water regulator’s recent community outreach campaign, in collaboration with the Cambridge Central Mosque and funded under its broader “water efficiency in faith and diverse communities” project, was DEI overkill - but it was hardly front-page news. Yet from moral panics about halal meat, to fear-mongering about mega-mosques, our media outlets are primed to magnify moments like these. They delight in creating otherising caricatures out of minoritised communities. read the complete article

India

India Will Not Be Divided Over Religion: Student Protests Show Interfaith Solidarity

Nearly two months after students launched protests against Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged medical entrance exam paper leaks, the minister resigned. During the demonstrations, the movement reflected the spirit of India’s interfaith commitment as people from different religious communities came together in solidarity with the protesters led by the Cockroach Janata Party movement in the capital New Delhi. Muslim men distributed food to protesters for free. A Buddhist monk was seen fanning a Muslim during his prayers at the protest site. While condemning the police action against protesting students, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church urged the authorities to address their concerns through dialogue and constructive action. Church fathers and members of the Christian community arrived at the protest site in New Delhi alongside Hindu, Muslim and Sikh groups. The participation of religious groups and leaders is part of a broader, interfaith effort to show solidarity with youth and students demonstrating against the Indian government. read the complete article

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