Modern Muslims' Online Struggle: Countering Islamophobia One Tweet at a Time

COMMENTARYMODERN MUSLIMS’ ONLINE STRUGGLE: COUNTERING ISLAMOPHOBIA ONE TWEET AT A TIME

Modern Muslims’ Online Struggle: Countering Islamophobia One Tweet at a Time

SAHAR KHAMIS

University of Maryland, College Park ORCID No: 0000-0001-9073-4937

ABSTRACT This commentary sheds light on some of the most creative online campaigns which have been launched to counter Islamophobia and overcome the negative stereotypes and skewed (mis)representations of Islam and Muslims, especially in the West. It provides a number of scholarly definitions of Islamophobia and explains why, and how, social media could act as a double-edged sword, which may fuel Islamophobia, on the one hand, while providing effective tools to counter it, on the other hand. It highlights several examples illustrating both effects of the social media, while focusing on the factors behind the success of some online countering Islamophobia campaigns, such as the amplification of Muslims’ voices, including gendered voices; the deployment of humor; and the selection of suit- able strategies, tactics, and tools. It concludes with a few thoughts on what needs to be done to ensure the success and continuation of countering Islamophobia efforts, moving forward.

Keywords: Islamophobia, Cyberspace, Social Media, Muslims, Online Campaigns

Insight Turkey 2021 Vol. 23 / No. 2 / pp. 51-63

Received Date: 25/04/2021 • Accepted Date: 26/05/2021 • DOI: 10.25253/99.2021232.4

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Introduction the process of profiling and stereotyping the ‘Other’ is Islamophobia. uslims globally are using the internet, not just as a win- Islamophobia could be defined as “an Mdow to see and be seen by exaggerated fear, hatred, and hostil- the rest of the world, but also as a tool ity toward Islam and Muslims that is with which to push back against the perpetuated by negative stereotypes many attempts to sideline them, pro- resulting in bias, discrimination, and file them, stigmatize them and silence the marginalization and exclusion of them.1 Their efforts to deploy digital Muslims from social, political, and 2 media as a platform that gives voice civic life.” Its spread has prompted to the voiceless, thus helping them to “an increasingly visible ‘backlash’ amplify and spread their messages, against Muslims across Europe and 3 became particularly important in the United States.” The term ‘back- the midst of the rising wave of Islam- lash’ encompasses all of the negative ophobia after 9/11, especially in the messages received by Muslims and all West. With the alarming increase in harmful acts against them, whether incidents of hatred against Muslims physical, psychological, or both. This worldwide and the dangerous new includes the controversial cartoon wave of Islamophobia that has been drawings of Prophet Muhammad by 4 witnessed more recently, many Mus- Danish artists in 2006 that triggered lims have resorted to online cam- negative reactions among many Mus- paigns to fight against negative mis- lims and some non-Muslims. representations, rectify their images, and spread correct awareness about Some authors define Islamophobia their faith and traditions, their mul- as “an unfounded hostility towards tifaceted identities and lived realities. Muslims, and, therefore, fear or dis- 5 This commentary provides various like of all or most Muslims,” while examples illustrating how different others define it as “an allegedly irra- groups of Muslims are engaging in tional fear of losing life or liberty to tireless online efforts to achieve all of Islamic rule merely because the laws, these goals. sacred texts, and traditional practices of Islam demand the submission of culture, politics, religion, and all so- Definitions of Islamophobia cial expression.”6 This last definition, unlike previous ones, mentions ‘los- The idea of fearing a certain group of ing life’ as a direct result of Islam. This people because of their culture, race, fear could be attributed to the fact traditions, religious beliefs, or simply that many terrorist attacks are cov- because they are different is not new. ered extensively and disproportion- It has been around for centuries. This ately, on national media in the West, process of ethnic, racial, and religious especially if the attacker happens to profiling has been commonly referred have an Arab or a Muslim name, cre- to as stereotyping. One example of ating an association in the minds of

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Western audiences between Muslims and acts of terrorism. However, only Muslims in Europe suffer a very tiny fringe of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims support terrorism, from different forms of let alone engage in it. discrimination, including racial and religious profiling, There is no doubt that the rise of recent international trends, such as and sometimes even right-wing politics, populism, and restrictions on their rights to White Supremacy, and the rhetoric associated with them, especially adhere to various aspects of from some of the political leaders in their Muslim faith Europe and the United States in recent years, have fueled Islamophobic sentiments, resulting in attacks on mosques, Islamic centers, and Mus- modest, religiously compliant swim- lim individuals on an unprecedented wear worn by some Muslim women), scale. These Islamophobic acts have a and banning the niqab (full-face cov- greater impact on those with visible ering) by law in 2010 –an action that Muslim identifies, such as women was subsequently critiqued by the UN who wear the hijab (Islamic head- Human Rights Commission as an un- scarf), for example. justified decision that disproportion- ately targets the minority of Muslim Muslims in Europe suffer from differ- women who wear it, thereby violating ent forms of discrimination, includ- their rights of religious freedom.9 ing racial and religious profiling, and sometimes even restrictions on their Islamophobia has been steadily on the rights to adhere to various aspects of rise in the United States since the ter- their Muslim faith. One glaring ex- rorist attacks of 9/11, which marked a ample is France’s repeated efforts to seismic geopolitical shift in the por- impose restrictions on Muslim wom- trayal of Muslims across the media. It en’s religious attire. The most recent of changed people’s perceptions of Islam such efforts is France’s 2021 decision and made them anxious and fearful to ban girls under eighteen years of of an entire group of people. The at- age from wearing the hijab in pub- tacks made people wonder if all Mus- lic, and prohibiting mothers wearing lims were extremists and, if they were, the hijab from accompanying their when would they attack again? Given children on school field trips.7 These that thousands of people died that decisions are just the latest among a day, they were right to fear terrorists, series of actions by the French gov- who belong to extremist groups like ernment aimed at restricting the hijab al-Qaeda. However, the problem was in France.8 These include banning the the proliferation of overgeneralized wearing of the hijab in public schools stereotypes that are still widespread, in France, banning the burkini (the even though terrorist groups repre-

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An anti-Muslim tweet on a laptop screen in London, UK, on April 3, 2017. YUI MOK / PA Images via Getty Images

sent only a tiny fraction of the world’s plexities and nuances of the concept 1.8 billion Muslims. of Islamophobia by situating it within the appropriate historical, social, po- Already a problem, Islamophobia litical, and cultural settings, as well as became exponentially much worse the appropriate temporal and spatial after President Trump came to office contextualization. Like all forms of in 2016. During his presidency, some discrimination and xenophobia, Is- of the most prominent Islamophobes lamophobia is part of an ever-evolv- launched campaigns online, using ing, multifaceted and elusive process the internet to spout hatred and fuel that takes different forms; and is ex- anger and discrimination against im- pressed through various manifesta- migrants and minorities in general, tions, based on a multitude of under- and Muslims in particular.10 This lying factors and shifting influences. new wave of Islamophobia during Trump’s presidency extended beyond mere rhetoric to include serious dis- Islamophobia Online: The Double- criminatory policies targeting Mus- Edged Sword of Cyberspace lims, such as the infamous Muslim Travel Ban,11 which was revoked by Many of the ongoing dynamics and President Biden on the first day of his interactions around Islam and Mus- presidency. lims in cyberspace nowadays illustrate the double-edged sword effect As the above discussion clearly illus- of the internet when it comes to the trates, we must acknowledge the com- complex phenomenon of Islamopho-

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bia, as the internet, with its many applications, instant and unfiltered One such dangerous nature, wide outreach and multiple usages provides, both the best plat- phenomenon is the rise of forms from which to spread Islam- ‘cloaked Facebook pages,’ ophobia, as well as the ideal tools to which are created to spread counter it, simultaneously.12 political propaganda In regard to its negative side, some of the unmonitored and unchecked internet platforms and interactions by warning against the dangers of could be considered one of the main so-called ‘Islamic extremism,’ thus factors behind the proliferation of instilling fear and hatred in people’s Islamophobia internationally, as hearts against Islam and Muslims. they provide an ideal environment Some of the recent comments that for the spread of rumors, un-vet- have circulated under the hashtag ted messages, misinformation, and #BanIslam include tweets such as, disinformation. “A 24-year-old resident of an asy- lum-seeker center in Holland has One such dangerous phenomenon is been arrested after going on a stab- the rise of ‘cloaked Facebook pages,’ bing rampage injuring seven people which are “created to spread political inside the center. The motive for the propaganda by cloaking a user profile stabbing was not immediately clear. and imitating the identity of a politi- Poor WiFi signal maybe. #BanIslam cal opponent in order to spark hate- #ReligionofPeaceLOL;” and “Con- ful and aggressive reactions.”13 One tinuing the policy of appeasement example of this harmful and danger- with the Iranian regime is a very dan- ous phenomenon is the creation of gerous thing; and they should know fake Islamist pages under false Mus- that if they do, Iranian terrorists will lim names to spout hatred against open the doors of their homes in the non-Muslims; and to spread radical, United States, and that is why the extremist ideologies, thus triggering world must stand up to them #BanIs- negative and aggressive reactions l am .” 15 In a similar vein, a woman us- from non-Muslims online and per- ing an account called “IAmNotABot- petuating hate speech.14 IAmAmericanPatriot” tweeted, “The Mullahs’ blood lusts are insatiable. The internet also offers unfiltered We’re already witnessing the results platforms for the spread of content of embracing their ideology here in that can sometimes harm Muslims our great country and the exposure and negatively affect their image to it is taking a dreadful toll. #BanIs- and reputation. This includes Islam- lam #NoSharia.”16 ophobic Twitter campaigns, such as #BanIslam, to give just one example, In a new digital world, where infor- which fuels anti-Muslim sentiments mation exchange occurs instantly

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pels some of the myths, stereotypes, The strategic use of humor and misconceptions commonly held about Muslims in general, and Amer- in both of these campaigns ican Muslims in particular, such as served the purpose and perceiving them as new immigrants helped to create a strong, to the West, associating them collec- tively with extremism, radicalization, powerful, and far-reaching and terrorism, or thinking of them as impact Arabs only.17 Another good effort was the 2016 launch of an online campaign, titled and simultaneously, it is impossi- #MuslimsAreSpeakingOut, under the ble to stop or censor these types of umbrella of the Foundation for Eth- campaigns entirely, especially tak- nic Understanding (FFEU) with the ing into account the speed and ease support of major American Muslim with which they can be reinvented organizations, as part of a three-year and re-shared many times over in campaign combating extremism and cyberspace. Islamophobia. The campaign was di- rected against the canard that Mus- On the positive side, the internet lims do not speak out against terror- also offers unique opportunities to ist attacks, citing the overwhelming counter Islamophobia and to provide condemnation of terrorist violence some of the fastest, most effective, by virtually all Muslim leaders and and most powerful tools to fight it, organizations in the United States, through organized, mediated online and around the world. The campaign campaigns. Some of these campaigns showcased their leading role in the have recently been launched by young fight against the extremists who have Muslims online, as will be discussed hijacked the narrative of Islam. It also below, although there is still certainly highlights the positive contributions a dire need for more systematic and Muslims bring to their societies and continuous efforts in this regard. their sustained efforts to nurture ties with other faith communities. The campaign deployed a mixture of on- Countering-Islamophobia line tools, including YouTube vid- Campaigns: Voice and Humor as eos, tweets, and a Facebook page, to Effective Tools achieve its goals.18

Some good examples of efforts by Alongside these campaigns, which Muslims to counter Islamophobia have focused on raising Muslim online include a YouTube video pro- voices and highlighting Muslim iden- duced by Unity Productions Founda- tities online, other campaigns have tion (UPF), titled, “American Mus- deployed an equally effective tool, lims: Facts vs. Fiction,” which dis- namely humor, which has proven to

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be a very effective technique in coun- NADE.’ I’ll keep monitoring his be- tering Islamophobia. havior. #MuslimsReportStuff;” “I am Muslim. Want 2 report six Ameri- One good example is the #Islam- cans won the Nobel Prize this year ophobin pill campaign launched by in various sciences. ALL of them the Council on American-Islamic immigrants. #MuslimsReportStuff;” Relations (CAIR), which was a hi- “I took an extra pack of free peanuts larious, sarcastic, witty, and tactful at the car wash this afternoon. #Mus- campaign, suggesting that those who limsReportStuff;” and “My husband exhibit signs of Islamophobia, or ex- did the dishes today… suspicious ac- cessive, irrational fear of Muslims, tivity? I’ll keep an eye out. #Muslims- should seek healing from this disease ReportStuff.”20 by taking the make-believe #Islam- ophobin pill until all their Islamopho- The strategic use of humor in both of bic symptoms are cured. Featuring these campaigns served the purpose the mock pill in an online video and and helped to create a strong, pow- on various social media platforms, erful, and far-reaching impact. These the campaign states, “#Islamopho- excellent examples illustrate the bin provides multi-symptom relief power of the internet, social media, for chronic Islamophobia. The max- and citizen journalism when prop- imum strength formula treats blind erly used and effectively deployed. intolerance, unthinking bigotry, irra- They also exemplify some of the ef- tional fear of Muslims, and U.S. pres- fective strategies and tactics needed idential election year scapegoating.”19 to counter Islamophobia, including combining technological savviness Another online campaign that effec- with cultural competency, wit, hu- tively deployed humor was #Mus- mor, intelligence, and swift reply, in limsReportStuff. When presidential addition to using the right message, candidate Donald Trump answered a through the right medium to reach question by a Muslim woman during the right audience at the right time. the second presidential debate about the potential danger of Islamophobia and what he is planning to do about Gendered Anti-Islamophobia it, he responded with an Islamopho- Campaigns: Muslim Women’s bic answer, suggesting that Amer- Online Resistance ican Muslims should always report anything they witness that may seem A quick Google search for the term remotely suspicious. This triggered ‘Muslim women’ generates hundreds the Twitter campaign by Muslims, of photos of women totally cloaked #MuslimsReportStuff, which was hi- in black garments from head to toe, larious, witty, sarcastic, and bitterly and even artistic images of women funny. It included tweets like, “Attn: confined to the harem, in a Shah- FBI and CIA: my 4-year-old cousin razad-like, fairytale fashion. These called Aryana Grande ‘Ariana GRE- images never exist in a vacuum;

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fallen soldier, which made her very Another interesting example emotional.22 In response to this inci- dent, other Muslim women started a of Muslim women’s gendered far-reaching Twitter campaign using online campaigns to express the hashtag #CanYouHearUsNow to and assert their diverse and show just how powerful, strong, vo- cal, and outspoken they are, exhibit- hybrid gendered identities in ing clear examples of their successes cyberspace was the launch of and achievements in various pro- fessional fields. In other words, they the annual global campaign effectively and powerfully countered #MuslimWomensDay and ‘resisted’ the distorted stereotype of the silenced, oppressed, and mar- ginalized Muslim woman by making their ‘voices’ heard, loudly and clearly, neither are they generated by coin- through this Twitter campaign.23 cidence. Rather, they are reflective of long-held, deeply-rooted stereo- Many of the tweets in this massive types21 about Muslim women, who campaign went viral on Twitter, have been traditionally –falsely– de- spilling over into mainstream me- picted as submissive, repressed, and dia. Here are a few examples, among silenced; or as overly sexualized ob- many. A tweet from the Washing- jects –or both– from a purely Orien- ton D.C.-based group Karamah24 talist, Western perspective. (Muslim Women Lawyers for Hu- man Rights) proclaimed: “Today we Therefore, any serious attempt to raise our voices for Muslim women counter Islamophobia must take into around the world who empower account and illustrate Muslim wom- their community #CanYouHearUs- en’s shifting identities, complex re- Now.” American-Muslim activ- alities, multiple agencies, and varied ist Hind Makki, commenting on a resistances. photo of eighty American Muslim women speakers at the Islamic So- In 2016, Republican presidential nom- ciety of North America (ISNA), de- inee Donald Trump insinuated that clared, “Check out all these Muslim Ms. Ghazala Khan’s religion might women speakers NOT silent at a have stopped her from speaking at major American Muslim conference the Democratic National Convention, #CanYouHearUsNow.” In a post dis- when she stood beside her husband, playing an image of Wonder Woman, Mr. Khizr Khan, on stage. Soon after, Faiza N. Ali tweeted: “I’m an orga- Ms. Khan stood up for herself and nizer, activist, public servant fighting spoke out in a televised interview, ex- 4 dignity and respect. Pretty much plaining that she remained silent only Wonder Woman #CanYouHearUs- after seeing a displayed photo of her Now.” Rim-Sarah Alouane provoc- martyred son, a Muslim American atively asked, “@realDonaldTrump

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Muslim women in France protest the plans for banning the headscarf, which is on the agenda of politicians, with the ‘Don’t touch my headscarf’ movement on social media. AA

I’m a #humanrights scholar, trying cesses of Muslim women who –like to make sure rights and freedoms are journalists, activists, academics, and protected. What do you do? #Can- more– demonstrated how they regu- YouHearUsNow.” And Dalia Moga- larly speak out to make the world a hed, co-author of the book Who better place.26 The campaign was also Speaks for Islam? asserted: “Muslim praised for helping Muslim women women ‘not allowed to speak?’ I gave take back their own narratives –es- a @TEDTalks and got a standing ova- pecially at a time when their (mis) tion #CanYouHearUsNow.”25 perceived oppression under Islam was being exploited as a means to In commenting on this influential implement discriminatory policies, online campaign, some mainstream and at a time when they are still the media outlets described it as a pow- most frequent targets of hate crimes erful and effective effort to showcase and bias incidents. The public im- the diverse voices, talents, and suc- pact of this campaign also reveals

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how social media democratizes voice on Twitter in 2017 to propagate their sharing if used properly: amplifying narratives of diversity and to assert voices often ignored by mainstream their agency. In many of these tweets, media while, at the same time, en- women were pictured wearing hijabs couraging reporters and journalists as a way to assert their Muslim iden- to pay attention and communicate tities and to fight the pervasive idea accurate stories.27 Other media out- that Muslim women lack agency. In lets commended Muslim women for one of these tweets, a woman shared amplifying their voices, broadcasting a selfie with the caption, “About time their strength, and, most importantly, we got a #MuslimWomensDay. Per- reclaiming the narrative from Trump haps it’s a step towards being heard while exposing his Islamophobic, inshallah. #TraditionallyUnsubmis- sexist, and misogynistic rhetoric in a sive #Muslimah.”31 simple, agile, effective, and powerful manner.28 On its 5th anniversary in 2021, #Mus- limWomensDay provided another Another interesting example of Mus- excellent opportunity for many Mus- lim women’s gendered online cam- lim women from different walks of paigns to express and assert their di- life to represent their diverse identi- verse and hybrid gendered identities ties through a number of tweets and in cyberspace was the launch of the posts on a number of social media annual global campaign #Muslim- platforms, including Twitter, Face- WomensDay on March 27, 2017.29 book, Snapchat, and Instagram. Many This idea was introduced by a young of these posts combined text with vi- American-Muslim feminist and ac- sual imagery –photographs, selfies, tivist, Amani al-Khatahtbeh, in re- videos– marking another example of sponse to Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban how Muslim women utilize the dig- as a way to amplify Muslim wom- ital sphere to amplify their messages en’s voices and to boost the visibility and share them with a widely diverse of their obscured and/or misrepre- global audience –expressing and ne- sented identities. It is worth noting gotiating their individual identities that al-Khatahtbeh is the founder while challenging the commonly of a group blog called ‘Muslim Girl’ held misconceptions and stereotypes, which subsequently became an on- clouding their lived realities and var- line magazine and a foundation ded- ied experiences. icated to increasing Muslim women’s media representation and visibility, Other postings from the #Muslim- providing them with a safe space to WomensDay 2021 global campaign reclaim their ‘narratives’ and to am- included a tweet from a young plify their ‘voices.’30 Muslim woman, Shahed Ezaydi: “A happy #MuslimWomensDay to all A number of Muslim women, rep- Muslim women everywhere! We are resenting different backgrounds and constantly sidelined, silenced, and identities, used #MuslimWomensDay excluded, so today is a day to listen

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and pass the mic to Muslim women.” Similarly, another Muslim woman, It is safe to conclude that tweeting as ‘King Marwa,’ declared, “Happy #MuslimWomensDay. Being these future dynamics will a Muslim woman means everyone certainly magnify the dual around you has ideas about who you role of the internet as a are and what you believe in. I encour- age you to speak to a Muslim woman perfect platform for spreading and understand where we come from –and simultaneously and OUR beliefs. Not the lies the media and false sources like to give. It is countering–Islamophobia OUR narrative.” This tweet was cou- pled with a drawing of a hijabi-wearing Muslim woman carrying a sign young Muslims. Many young Mus- that stated, “Muslim Women Do Not lims today, especially those who live Need Saving.”32 in diasporic communities outside their own home countries, are real- These shining examples illustrate izing the importance of becoming how Muslim women are able to effec- proactive, rather than reactive, when tively exercise their ‘agency’ online by confronting hatred and profiling, effectively utilizing the opportunities both offline and online.34 made possible in cyberspace to ‘re- sist’ misrepresentation, stereotyping, As part of their struggle to rectify profiling, and marginalization.33 By many of the false images associated engaging in these gendered online with Islam and Muslims, modern struggles, it can be said that Mus- Muslims are engaging in organized lim women are fighting two parallel online efforts to spread accurate battles simultaneously: one against awareness and correct misinforma- the negative stereotypes about Islam tion, rather than being on the de- and Muslims in general, and an- fensive, realizing that this is the best other against the false misrepresenta- way to further engage non-Muslims, tions and misperceptions of Muslim and lead them away from Islamopho- women in particular. bic tendencies. In doing so, many of them have realized that ignor- ing the problem will not make it go Conclusion away. Therefore, they have begun to actively change public opinion and Despite the negative wave of Islam- media perceptions through positive ophobia that has been on the rise messages, using the very same tools in recent years in many parts of the of digital media that have been used world, especially in Europe and the against them. United States, it is important to high- light one positive aspect, which is the It is only realistic to predict that fu- lessons learned by new generations of ture generations of young Muslims

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will exert more efforts to reach out 4. Martin Asser, “What the Muhammad Cartoons Portray,” BBC News, (January 2, 2010), retrieved to mainstream media, while also from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/46 making use of new media platforms, 93292.stm. such as online discussion forums and 5. Gordon Conway, “Islamophobia: A Challenge Twitter campaigns, to amplify their for Us All,” The Runnymede Trust Commission on message of resilience and resistance. British Muslims and Islamophobia, (London: Lon- This marks the emergence of a hetero- don Runnymede Trust, 1997). geneous, virtual ummah that mirrors 6. Shawn Armstrong, Islam, a Religion of Peace: An Inconvenient Truth, (2016), retrieved from https:// the transformation, hybridization, books.google.com/books?id=ZBggDQAAQBA- and negotiation of Muslim identities, J&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1, p. 188. as they constantly oscillate between 7. Hud Lesprit, “France Bans Hijab for Anyone Un- various push-and-pull forces, such der 18 – Secular Tyranny Rises,” The Muslim Scep- as tradition and modernity,35 while tic, (April 1, 2021), retrieved from https://muslims keptic.com/2021/04/01/france-bans-hijab-for- engaging in parallel struggles against anyone-under-18-secular-tyranny-rises/. marginalization, stigmatization, and 8. Stephen Croucher, “French-Muslims and the misrepresentation, both in real life Hijab: An Analysis of Identity and the Islamic Veil and in cyberspace. In France,” Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, Vol. 37, No. 3 (2008), pp. 199-213. This is especially important in the 9. “French ‘Burqa Ban’ Violates Human Rights, current era of digital communication, Rules UN Committee,” DW, (October 23, 2018), retrieved from https://www.dw.com/en/french- where most people get their news and burqa-ban-violates-human-rights-rules-un-com- engage in all forms of communication mittee/a-46007469. online, and it is likely to become even 10. Sahar Khamis, “American-Muslims’ E-Jihad: more important, moving forward, Trumping Islamophobia in the Trump Era,” Cyber- as more people become technologi- Orient, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2018), retrieved from http:// www.cyberorient.net/article.do?articleId=9923. cally savvy and internet-dependent. It is safe to conclude that these future 11. “Timeline of the Muslim Ban,” ACLU of Wash- ington, retrieved from https://www.aclu-wa.org/ dynamics will certainly magnify the pages/timeline-muslim-ban. dual role of the internet as a perfect 12. Khamis, “American-Muslims’ E-Jihad.” platform for spreading –and simulta- 13. Johan Farkas, Jannick Schou, and Christina neously countering– Islamophobia. Neumayer, “Cloaked Facebook Pages: Exploring Fake Islamist Propaganda in Social Media,” New Media and Society, Vol. 20, No. 1 (2017), pp. 1850- Endnotes 1867, p. 1850. 1. Mohammed el-Nawawy and Sahar Khamis, 14. Farkas, Schou and Neumayer, “Cloaked Face- Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses book Pages.” in Cyberspace, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 15. “#banislam Tweets,” Twitter, retrieved from 2009). https://twitter.com/hashtag/banislam?lang=en. 2. “Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim 16. “#banislam Tweets.” Sentiment in the West,” World Gallup Online, (2018), retrieved from http://news.gallup.com/ 17. “American Muslims: Facts vs. Fiction,” Unity poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-an- Productions Foundation, retrieved from https:// ti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFsn49Qxwl0. 3. David Tyrer, The Politics of Islamophobia: Race, 18. “#MuslimsAreSpeakingOut,” FFEU, retrieved Power and Fantasy, (London: Pluto Press, 2013), from https://ffeu.org/muslim-jewish/muslims-are p. 3. -speaking-sut/.

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19. Islamophobin, retrieved from http://www.Is- broadcast-their-strength-with-canyouhearus- lamophobin.org. now/. 20. “Muslims Report Stuff,” Twitter, retrieved from 29. Rosemary Pennington, “Making Space in So- https://twitter.com/muslims_report?lang=en. cial Media: #MuslimWomensDay in Twitter,” Jour- nal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 42, No. 3 (2018), 21. Anoosh Soltani and Hannah Thinyane, “How pp. 199-217. Muslim Women Break Stereotypes by Mixing Faith and Modesty with Fashion,” The Conversa- 30. Amani al-Khatahtbeh, Muslim Girl: A Coming of tion, (July 11, 2019), retrieved from https://the- Age, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016). conversation.com/how-muslim-women-break- 31. Pennington, “Making Space in Social Media,” stereotypes-by-mixing-faith-and-modesty-with- p. 206. fashion-110767. 32. Shahed Ezaydi, Twitter, 2:51 PM, (March 27, . Khamis, “American-Muslims’ E-Jihad.” 22 2021); King Marwa, Twitter, 9:10 PM, (March 23. Khamis, “American-Muslims’ E-Jihad.” 27, 2021), retrieved from https://muslimgirl. com/20-tweet-highlights-from-our-fifth-annu- 24. Karamah means ‘dignity’ in Arabic. al-muslimwomensday/. 25. “Muslim Women Ask: Can You Hear Us Now?” 33. El-Nawawy and Khamis, Islam Dot Com. Twitter, retrieved from https://twitter.com/i/event s/760197573839876097?lang=en. 34. Sahar Khamis, “The Internet and New Com- munication Dynamics among Diasporic Muslims: 26. “#CanYouHearUsNow,” Shorty Awards, re- Opportunities, Challenges and Paradoxes,” in trieved from https://shortyawards.com/2nd-so- Merve R. Kayıkcı and Leen D’Haenens (eds.), Eu- cialgood/canyouhearusnow. ropean Muslims and New Media, (Leuven: Leuven 27. “#CanYouHearUsNow.” University Press, 2017), pp. 35-52. 28. “Muslim Women Broadcast Their Strength 35. Gary Bunt, Hashtag Islam: How Cyber-Islamic with #CanYouHearUsNow,” Waging Nonviolence, Environments Are Transforming Religious Author- (August 2, 2016), retrieved from https://wag- ity, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ingnonviolence.org/2016/08/muslim-women- 2018).

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