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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, The Islamic Society of Orange County is taking tighter security measures following a recent online campaign that targeted the longtime pillar of the community in Garden Grove, Southern California, meanwhile in Canada, in a video posted on social media by the NCCM, a man can be heard yelling “f—ing terror” and “f— off” before allegedly kicking a visibly Muslim woman on a bus and walking away in what police are investigating as a hate motivated assault, and lastly in the United Kingdom, Reform UK candidate for Swindon Borough Council (Terrence David Reynolds) is standing by recent posts on his Facebook account which call for Muslims to be “gone” and a ban on all immigration from Islamic countries. Our recommended read of the day is by for The Conversation, on how research increasingly shows how negative portrayals of Muslims shape public attitudes toward Muslims and can lead to increased discrimination, hate crimes and major psychological consequences for Muslim Americans. This and more below:
United States
How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans | Recommended Read
The war with Iran has led to a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric – spilling into political discourse. U.S. Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted on X that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” and added in another post, “We need more Islamophobia, not less.” Similarly, U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas called for stopping the entry of “Muslims immigrating to America.” A study by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate found that the average number of Islamophobic posts jumped from 2,000 to 6,000 each day on X alone in the first six days of the conflict. I have studied the impact of Islamophobia on mental health over the past two decades, following soaring hate crimes in the wake of 9/11. Research consistently shows that negative portrayals of Muslims shape public attitudes toward Muslims and can lead to increased discrimination, hate crimes and psychological consequences. read the complete article
Muslim Southerners Face a Fresh Wave of Hateful Political Rhetoric
The day of lobbying this month in the State Capitol in Nashville, coordinated by the American Muslim Advisory Council, attracted more than 100 Muslim students and community leaders. They were hoping to counter a wave of anti-Muslim hostility not seen since the surge in hate after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The rhetoric ticked up months ago, as some conservative politicians, deprived of chaos at the U.S.-Mexican border that had been a mainstay of Republican attacks during the Biden administration, shifted back to an old standby. But with the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, that anti-Muslim rhetoric has crescendoed in the South. From the Carolinas to Florida to Texas, anti-Muslim sentiment has permeated state legislatures and political campaigns. Shariah — a term for traditional Islamic rules — has become a catchall for criticisms of Muslim culture and insinuations that those beliefs are incompatible with American society. “Muslims are trying to Islamify Tennessee,” Representative Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican facing a surprisingly spirited Democratic challenge, wrote on social media this month, in one of dozens of such posts. “They want conquest.” Despite representing most of Nashville’s Kurdish and Muslim residents, Mr. Ogles has said his Muslim constituents do not belong in the United States. He and another Republican House candidate in Tennessee, State Representative Johnny Garrett, have criticized student-led efforts in Nashville to accommodate and observe Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. The number of Muslim Americans in the South has grown over the last two decades, with many drawn to economic opportunity and family and friends who were already there. Many scoff at the demands that they leave after spending their formative years in the United States and embracing the constitutional freedoms that allow them to practice their faith. read the complete article
Florida Official Uses Anti-Muslim Slur
A Florida official used an anti-Muslim slur during a public meeting on Tuesday, drawing calls for his resignation. Speaking at a Tuesday meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, Putnam County Commissioner Walton Pellicar used the slur "towel heads," which has historically been directed at people from Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent, while talking about the United States' ongoing war with Iran. The term refers to people who wear headwear such as turbans or keffiyehs. The war with Iran, which started when the U.S. and Israel launched joint military strikes on the country on February 28, has resulted in concerns about increased Islamophobia. Between that date and March 5, researchers at the Center for the Study of Organized Hate documented 25,348 posts on X with Islamophobic content, and when accounting for reposts, the reach expanded to 279,417 mentions. read the complete article
Harvard Muslim Chaplains Condemn HRC Post on Eid Celebration, Citing Harm to Muslim Students
Harvard’s Muslim chaplains condemned a Harvard Republican Club post criticizing an April 4 Eid al-Fitr celebration, calling it “abhorrent” and “Islamophobic” in a Thursday night email to Muslim affiliates — marking the first public rebuke of the post from University employees. The chaplains wrote that the post, which targeted a Harvard Islamic Society celebration in the Quincy House courtyard, was an “attack on our community” that could deepen feelings of isolation and fear among Muslim students. “Encountering anti-Muslim hatred, whether from an individual or a recognized student organization on campus, contributes to feelings of unwantedness, isolation, and fear, something deeply hurtful and traumatizing, and something we as a community know and encounter far too often,” the chaplains wrote. They urged the authors of the post to embrace “the value of dialogue, tolerance and neighborliness” over “hate, bigotry, ignorance, and prejudice.” read the complete article
Islamic Society of Orange County under heightened security after online threats
The Islamic Society of Orange County is taking tighter security measures following a recent online campaign that targeted the longtime pillar of the community in Garden Grove. With threats brazenly made against the mosque and community center on social media, the Garden Grove Police Department has stepped up patrols around the hub that serves 10,000 people in the greater area. “We are also a school campus with children,” said Hassan Mukhlis, ISOC’s president. “We appreciate that there was a swift response to the threats from our elected officials and police department. We are continuing to work with them.” Long considered the “mother mosque” for Southern California Muslims, threats against ISOC followed an online screed by Amy “Mek” Mekelburg, founder and editor-in-chief of Rise Align Ignite Reclaim. In a post on X that was republished Tuesday on the group’s website, Mekelburg claimed ISOC’s plans to expand its compound will create a “Sharia enclave” and serve as a cover for the “Islamization” of Orange County. “It would be a shame if somebody blew it up with an I.E.D.!” one person sarcastically wrote. “These people, they need to leave America either upright or not,” another commented about Muslims. read the complete article
International
Why Britain’s far-right celebrates a saint revered in Palestine
Hundreds of far-right “Britain First” supporters marched in the streets of Manchester to celebrate Saint George, seemingly not realising the patron saint of England has a special connection to Palestine. Al Jazeera’s Nils Adler and Nida Ibrahim explain. read the complete article
‘I was tortured in a Chinese detention camp for Uyghurs. Starmer’s approval of a new embassy is a betrayal’
A woman who was tortured in one of China’s notorious Uyghur detention camps has launched a blistering attack on Sir Keir Starmer, accusing him of “disrespecting human rights” by approving plans for a Chinese mega-embassy in London. Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh who says she witnessed serious abuses when she was forced to work in one of China’s Xinjiang internment camps, accused the British prime minister of prioritising economic and political gain over international law. “The recent activities of the current UK government have left us in deep anguish and fear,” she said, adding that Britain has “no right to speak about freedom and democracy” given its efforts to strengthen its relationship with President Xi Jinping’s government. read the complete article
Repression of Uyghurs Persists as the World Moves On
Dozens of my family members, including my father, Memet Yaqup, have disappeared into China’s system of mass incarceration over the past decade simply for being Uyghurs. When international attention to our plight surged — through joint statements at the United Nations, extensive media coverage, national parliaments recognizing atrocity crimes — I believed there would be enough pressure to secure the release of my loved ones. Yet, eight years into my father’s enforced disappearance, I still have no information about his whereabouts, health or the allegations that led to his imprisonment. Meanwhile, the world’s attention has moved on. My father is one of the hundreds of thousands who since 2016 have suffered the Chinese government’s grave human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Chinese authorities have subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims to mass arbitrary detention, unjust imprisonments, intrusive surveillance and forced labor. read the complete article
United Kingdom
'I'm Muslim and no, I'm not offended by pork - here's why'
I come from a multiracial community in Malaysia, where we celebrate every religious festivity going because frankly, the more public holidays, the better. However, every time a news story features Muslims, whatever they happen to be doing, but especially during Ramadan when we're fasting, or during Eid when we're celebrating, the comments section fills up with people announcing they'll be marking the occasion with a pork sausage. Or they'll post a picture of a completely unseasoned English breakfast, presumably as some kind of act of warfare. Here's the thing: we are not offended. Not even slightly. We are not vampires recoiling at the sight of garlic. We don't crumble at the mere existence of a rasher of bacon. You can eat in front of us and we genuinely do not care. read the complete article
‘A quiet, radical act’: Muslim neighbours support members of attacked London synagogue
Three days after the synagogue was the target of an attempted firebombing, hundreds of members made an extra effort to come together in determined, if slightly nervy, solidarity, joined by guests including local politicians, other faith leaders, police officers – and one particularly special group of neighbours. These were the members of the Somali Bravanese community, many of whom arrived in the area as refugees, and whose own centre was destroyed in an arson attack 13 years ago. On that occasion, realising their Muslim neighbours would be without anywhere to pray as Ramadan approached, FRS offered them the use of the synagogue for evening prayers for the duration of the holy month. The arrangement lasted for four years until their new centre was ready. “We became a family,” said Asmaa Mohamed Ali, the director of the Somali Bravanese Welfare Association (SBWA), shortly after wrapping FRS’s Cantor Zöe Jacobs in an enormous hug. “We got to know the similarities that we have.” This week, it was the turn of the Somali and Bravanese neighbours to return the favour. “As soon as my community heard this, they said: ‘They helped us a lot. They were there for us during our difficulties. Now it’s our turn. What can we do?’” said Mohamed Ali. read the complete article
Reform UK candidate stands by anti-Islamic social media posts
A Reform UK candidate for Swindon Borough Council has stood by recent posts on his Facebook account which call for Muslims to be “gone” and a ban on all immigration from Islamic countries. However, Swindon politician Terrence David Reynolds says if elected at the Local Elections in May, he would represent all residents equally. The Reform UK candidate for Queens Park ward in central Swindon has used his Facebook account to republish posts from a number of other accounts. One calls for “mass destructions” illustrated with a picture of people in Middle Eastern clothing at an airport, and adds: “Let’s Benefit Britain by sending them Home. Like and share if you agree”. It could be that “mass destructions” might be a typographical error for “mass expulsions” or “mass deportations”. read the complete article
India
What have the Mughals ever done for us?
The Mughals were the longest-lasting of those. April 21st marks exactly 500 years since the Battle of Panipat, when Babur defeated the last sultan of Delhi. The empire he established was, at its height, one of the world’s richest and most powerful. Its rulers adopted customs of Indian kingship, married locally and in effect became Indian (unlike the Brits). Their achievements are Indian achievements. Yet the quincentenary of the empire’s founding will pass without note. The Mughals, Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) insists, destroyed temples (which is true) and humiliated Hindus (which is contested). They took everything India had. And what, the ideology asks, did they ever give us in return? Language, for one thing. Mr Modi’s speech in 2014 was delivered in Hindi, India’s most spoken tongue. Of the 28 words that made up the original of his quote above, a quarter entered India via Persian, points out Richard Eaton, a historian of Muslim India. The language of the Mughal court infuses the vocabulary of most northern Indian languages. Indeed, “Hindi” and “Hindu” both come from “Hind”, the Persian name for the river known in English as the Indus (thus “India”). But what, apart from putting the “Hindu” in “Hindu nationalism”, have the Mughals ever done for us? The cuisine known globally as “Indian” is in India called “Mughlai”. The tandoor, a clay oven from which emerge flaky naans and charred kebabs, came from the Persianate world, as did samosas, sherbets, various desserts and biryani—India’s most-ordered dish on delivery apps for ten years straight. Granted, tandoori anything is irresistible. But what, apart from language and food, have the Mughals ever done for us? Four of India’s ten most popular ticketed historical sites for local tourists, and six among foreigners, were built by Mughals. read the complete article
Canada
Police investigate assault on Muslim woman on bus in Scarborough caught on video
A woman was allegedly verbally and physically assaulted on a bus in Scarborough this week, which the National Council of Canadian Muslims is identifying as the latest incident of Islamophobia. In a video posted on social media by the NCCM, a man can be heard yelling "f—ing terror" and "f— off" before allegedly kicking someone and walking away to the front of the bus. Another woman can be heard yelling after the man that he doesn't "get to hit girls just because we're Muslim." The video did not clearly show if a woman was kicked or who the man was yelling at. Toronto police's hate crime unit is aware of the incident and investigating, said Const. Shannon Eames. read the complete article