Arsalan's January 2011 Article on Islamophobia in Esquire Magazine (Middle East edition)
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2 esquire january 2011 Essay For our TimEs Why is islamophobia acceptable in the U.s? By arsalan iftikhar t homas JEFFErson oncE said: “The most sacred of the duties of a government is to do equal and impartial justice to all of its citizens.” Contrast these words with last year’s media firestorms revolving around a proposed Islamic community centre located (fairly) near Ground Zero and lgtlttQ-bg Flpt. These events have prompted debates about the rising tide of Islamophobia in The Land of the Free. To highlight the current absurdity within America today, the debate over the proposed Park 51 Islamic centre in New York City became so absurd that a paid advertisement objecting to the mosque – depicting a plane flying toward the burning WTC towers on the left, with a rendering of the Islamic centre on the right – was set to run on New York city buses for people to see during their daily commutes. Moving on to Florida’s Quran-burning pastor, when a lone crackpot threatens to commit a publicity stunt that will needlessly enrage millions of other innocent people, our basic common sense usually tells us we should not give that person the time of day. Sadly, Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center didreceive worldwide media attention for his silly proposal for an “International Burn a Quran Day”. Thankfully the idea was shelved, but we have seen other copycat Quran burnings at mosques in Tennessee and Michigan in the last few months – all because of the over-exposure of this one shameless stunt. And don’t think this is just media hot air. Peet Bk obGeel dvPetewarned that burning copies of the Quran would endanger the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem is this: too many people are promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric without being challenged by the majority of good-hearted Americans. When Christian televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell openly questioned whether Islam was a “religion of peace” and labelled the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] a “robber, brigand and terrorist”, we did not see much condemnation from other prominent leaders. Elected politicians have hardly been more circumspect. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican Senator from Georgia, said that his state should “arrest every Muslim that comes across the state line” not long after September 11. With these sorts of anti-Muslim tropes constantly being reinforced in the media, is it any wonder that Islamaphobia is on the rise? A 2009 Washington Post- ABC poll found that almost 48 percent of Americans had unfavourable attitudes towards Muslims – up from 24 percent in 2002. And a Time survey last summer found that over 28 percent ofAmerican voters do not believe Muslims should even be eligible to sit on the Supreme Court. Furthermore, nearly one-third of the country thinks followers of Islam should be barred from running for President — a slightly higher figure than the 24 percent of Americans who believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Professor John Esposito, founding director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Christian- Muslim Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University, has been described as the “most influential Islamic scholar in the United States” by theInternational Herald Tribune .
