People's Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Research Scientist Larbi BEN M’HIDI University O.E.B Departement of English
Islamophobia in the West.An analytical study of 7/7 bombings in Britain and 9/11 events in America
A dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Letters and Languages, Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master in: Anglo American Studies
By
Aoues Soumia
Board of Examiners: -Dr.Dib Fatima -Mrs.Badi Rima -
- 2018/2019 Dedication
To my endearing parents, brothers and sisters
I
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my supervisor Filali Billel for his encouragement, contribution, critique and his help. My appreciation goes to Professor Boughrara for his consistent help, guidance. I would like to thank those who support me in achieving this work .I express my gratefulness to all my teachers of the Department of English at the
University of Oum El Bouaghi.
II
Abstract
The tragic events of 9/11 in America and 7/7 in Britain led to a complete total change of the world’s public opinion towards the Muslim world .Just after the famous bombings listed so far ,Muslim people all over the world turned to be seen as extremists ,criminals and bloody terrorists.Moreover ,Islam as a sacred universal religion is savagely accused of being a creed of hatred ,violence ,and terrorism.The tragic incidents of New York and
London had left a devastating impact on both American and British but also on the whole world .The bad consequences of these events had resulted in a tragic fear from
Islam and also from all what seems to be or represent Islam .This fear of Islam is consequently called ‘Islamophobia’.
Key words: Hate crimes, Britain, USA,Islamophobia, iscrimination,Islam,Immigrants,
Muslims, 7/7 bombings, 9/11 attacks.
III
Résumé
Les événements tragiques du 11 septembre à l'Amérique et ceux du 7 juillet en Grande-
Bretagne avaient complètement transformé l'opinion publique mondiale à l'égard du monde musulman. Juste après les fameux attentats répertoriés jusqu'à présent, le peuple musulman Partout dans le monde, ils étaient perçus comme des extrémistes, des criminels et des terroristes sanglants. En outre, l’islam, religion universelle et sacrée, est farouchement accusé de croyance en la haine, la violence et le terrorisme. Les tragiques incidents de New York et de Londres impact dévastateur sur les Américains et les
Britanniques, mais aussi sur le monde entier. Les mauvaises conséquences de ces
événements ont entraîné une peur tragique de l'islam et de tout ce qui semble être ou représenter l'Islam. Cette peur de l'islam est par conséquent appelée "islamophobie".
IV
ملخص
أدت هجمات 11 سبتمبر و7يناير إلى تغير نظرة العالم تجاه المسلمين كليا ,حيث أصبح المسلمون اليوم ينظر
إليهمأنهم متطرفون ومجرمون وإرهابيون .وينظر إلىاإلسالم انه دين عنف وكراهية ودين إرهاب.خلفت
هذهاإلحداثإضرار نفسية على األمريكيين والبريطانيين خاصة والعالم عامة.خلقت هذه اإلحداث فوارق كبيرة بين
االديان ,كما اصبح الخوف من اإلسالم منتشرا بشكل كبير في العالم الغربي مما اثر ذلك على حياة المسلمين بشكل
سلبي ,فلم يعد المسلمون يشعرون بانهم جزء من هاذين البلدين بل يشعرون بأنهم متمشين . أصبحت ظاهرة
االسالموفوبيا منتشرة بشكل كبير خاصة في العقد األخير مما تسبب في زيادة جرائم الكراهية والعنف ضد
المسلمين في كل من أماكن العمل والشارع والمدرسة والجامعي وغيرها
V
List of Abbreviations
CAIR Council on American Islamic Relations.
CIA Commonwealth Immigrants Act
CRE Commission for Racial Equality
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigations
MCB Muslim Council of Britain
MET Metropolitan Police Service
PET Preventing Extremism Together
RRAs Race Relation Acts
VI
Table of Contents
Dedication…………………………………………………………………………..i
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………….ii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..iii
General
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1
Chapter one: Islamophobia in Britain ‘’the 7/7 Bombings’’
Introduction………………………………………………………….…………………4
I. The roots of Islamophobia……………………………………………………...……7
A. Tracing a definition of Islamophobia……………..………….……………….……11
II.Muslim community in Britain……………….………………………………….…..13
III.7/7bombings……………………………………………………………………….18
A. The Impact of 7/7 on British Muslims…………………………………………...…19
B.Media bias in UK…………………………………………………………………...20
VI.Islamophobia in Britain…………………………………………………………...23
Conclusion………………. ……………………………………………………………23
Chapter II: 9/11 Events and the Agitation of Islamophobia.
VII
Introduction… ………………………………………………………………………...24
I. The hijacking of the four planes: Timeline of Events…………… ……...……24
1. Terrorist acts before9/11……… …………………………………………...…28
2. 9/11 and the Aftermath…………… ………………………………………….30
3. The Impact of 9/11 on Immigration…………….………………………….…33
II.The Intensification of Islamophobia…………………… …………………….34
A) lsamophobiainU.S.A………………………………………………………..36
Conclusion………………………………………… ………………………..……41
Chapter 3: ‘’Levels of Islamophobia’’
I.British case pre and after 7/7 bombings……… ………………………….……..43
1. Islamophobia in Britain between 2000-2005…………………….…………….47
2. Islamophobia in Britain between ‘’2005-2010’’...... 50
II.American case: Islamophobia pre and post 9/11……..………………………..52
1.Islamophobia in USA between ‘’1995-2001’’…………………………….…...53
2.Islamophobia in USA between ‘’2001, 2010’’…………….…………..………54
General conclusion……………………………………………………………….……60
Work cited………………………………………………..……………………………72
VIII
General Introduction
The world now is full of tensions, confrontations, and troubles. Living in peace and calm became a difficult or impossible dream to be achieved. Others think that we have used to live this way, and others think that we are responsible for that situation. God created the strong side and the weak side, the poor and the rich, the oppressor and oppressed, maybe those differences should be exist, may be a punishment or maybe a test.
Muslims and Islam; religion and followers are two important parts of the world.
Nobody can imaging the world without Muslims and their faith .The true religion that came to as via the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), to come out from darkness into lights.
The religion of five pillars, to believe in only one God and his prophets. To pray, to give charity, to behave good as much you can .Others believed Islam and others did not.
Others supported this faith and others did not.
Muslims are centered in everywhere, North, West, East, South, and the middle.
Others living in their motherland, but other are immigrants. They used to be immigrants for such reasons. Muslims in the West is a significant topic to focus on. Muslims are suffering there, they are not very welcomed, because of faith, people or civilization?
Not yet clear. Maybe because they belongs to the other side ‘’the Orient’’,and they never used to be a part of the ‘’Occident’’ side...Of course differences. Clash of civilization is not a new term ,the Islamic civilization and the Western one are not the same. These differences left with negative impacts .Racism ,discrimination ,anti-
Muslim sentiments, and Islamophobia ,best topics to be studied to know more the negative side consisted in the relation between Islam and the west.
1
Islamophobia,or hatred, fear of Islam. To hate, to prejudge something without previous knowing. This phenomenon is wild spread in contemporary times, but had deep roots backs to the old periods. Islamophobia is a vast and complex subject .My research goes to focus just on two well known incidents .9/11 in America and 7/7 In the
United Kingdom. No one can deny how did those events impacted Muslims life in the world, where these events changed the Muslims course of life, which are now seen as terrorism and extremists, monsters and violent. Recent events in New Zealand have shown how Islam has become an outcast and rejected in Western circles, in addition to other events, including clashes between Muslims and Westerners; the burning of mosques and Islamic schools, the exposure of Muslim women to violence because of the veil, tearing the Koran and insulting the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH),all of which demonstrated the spread of Islamophobia.
For many thinkers and sociologists, Islamophobia has deep roots in history. They argue that hostility to Islam was born out of the great and eternal struggle between the
Christian and Muslim worlds. It is a conflict that has existed since the first clash between Muslims and Christians during the Arab-Muslim conquest of southern Europe, then during the Crusades in the East, and then during the European colonial expansion in Arab and Muslim societies.
As I have said Islamophobia as a phenomenon raised in West ,especially after the tragic events happened in America that are known as 9/11 ,followed by other disaster happened in Britain in the 7 July 2005 that refer to us as 7/7 bombings. Those two events are still remembered in USA and Britain, and still considered as the worst terrorist attacks in the world.
2
This research aims at giving a clear definition for the word Islamophobia, with explaining the origins, and the roots of this phenomenon. It also seeks to describe the two events (7/7 and 9/11) how they happened and how they affect the life of Muslims in
Britain and America before and after, and how they raised the panic and fear of Islam in both USA and Britain .As well as how the CampaignsIntensive media and public discourses fueled the 'fear' of Islam.
The main questions which this thesis deals with are:
1. What are the hidden reasons behind the spreading of this phenomenon in the
West?
2. At what extent did the 7/7 and 9/11 affected Muslims life in both America and
Britain nations?
3. How these attacks affected the intensification of Islamophobia?
The research paper relies on the primary and the secondary sources whenever possible.
The primary sources include American and British documents; journals, presidential speeches and other official documents. The secondary sources are also utilized in this research. These include a variety of books, articles, thesis, surveys and relevant reports for instance, EUMC and CAIR reports.
This research is based on two important approaches: Descriptive and analytical approaches. The former one describes the situation of Muslims before and after the tragic events ‘’7/7 and 9/11’’ In Britain and USA .The second one aims at analyzing the main surveys and reports which are linked to the 9/11 and 7/7 and its impact on
Muslims’ lives especially American Muslims.
3
The thesis consists of three chapters .The first chapter is divided into four sections.
The first section is an introduction to what is Islamophobia and its origins. The second section gives an overview of British Muslim community. The third section narrates the chronological events of 7 July bombings. The fourth section describes how these events impacted Muslims life and resulted in the rising of hate crimes, discrimination, and
Islamophobia.
The second chapter describes the sequence of the11th September attacks on the
World Trade Center .It gives the accurate explanation of the hijacking of the four planes. The chapter describes the impacts of those events on Muslims, on immigration and on foreign policy. It emphasizes on the American Muslim minority and the way in which they were treated after the 9/11.
The third chapter analysis the intensification of Islamophobia in both Britain and
America. The chapter measures the seize of Islamophobia before and after the two incidents. At the end it provides a little suggestion of how tackling this phenomenon.
4
Chapter One:
Islamophobia in Britain ‘’the 7/7 Bombings’’
1. Introduction:
The history of Muslim presence in Britain can be said to have already started in the twelfth and thirteen century for trade purposes .They first came as sea man and sailors.Muslim’s immigration as a process started in the seventeenth century when
Ottoman merchants travelled to England for economic reasons. The number of these merchants rose during the nineteenth century as they decided to settle there permanently. The Muslim minority groups are diverse in terms of their geographical, cultural, social, linguistic, and political affiliations. The biggest part of Muslim population in the United Kingdom came from South Asia, particularly from Pakistan,
Bangladesh and India.
Immigration started to be noticed in the UK in the twentieth century. Mass immigration was brought up for economic reasons as both immigrants and Britain needed it. In the aftermath of the WWII, Britain needed working hands for its factories and economies and immigrants lived in bad conditions back home, so they sought a refuge in the UK to help their families back home or bring them to Britain if possible.This led to the establishment of the Muslim communities in Britain (Ansari 6).
The Muslim community came under the spotlight in the early eighties. The Iranian revolution of 1979, the images of the burnings of Salman Rushdie‟ Satanic Verses in
1989, Khomeini‟s call for the death of Rushdie, and the Gulf war draw the public attention to the Muslim communities. The 9/11and 7 July bombings, however, was a turning point events that attracted the world’s attention to Muslims. Islam came to be
5 perceived as a religion of violent, dangerous, and Muslims were perceived as barbarians, extremists, and terrorists. Hence the phenomenon of Islamophobia or fear of
Islam began to worsen.
I. The roots of Islamophobia:
The relationship between Islam and the West was not considered so good since a long time; it was full of tension, confrontations, and threats. The Crusades are the best example can be mentioned to describe this relation, which were a series of wars launched by Christians of Europe on the Muslims of the East and South of the
Mediterranean over two centuries, its main purpose was to retake ‘Jerusalem’ and the
Holy lands back from Muslim control. There were about eight crusades between 1095
CE and 1270 CE. Each one crusade met with success and failure, but the prominent matter of occupying Jerusalem and the Holy lands has failed (Madden ,Dickson
&Baldwin).
There is no doubt that the years of bloody conflict brought by the Crusades had a bearing on Mideast and Western nations for many years, and still influence political and cultural views held nowadays. Now ,the Muslims in all parts of the Arabic world considers Crusades as an European conquests aims at expanding Christianity and controlling the Muslims lands, but this is different from the Western perspective because most of Christians believe that crusades aims at liberating Christians from
Muslims oppression.
Islam is seen by the West as a religion that have no origin, no sense, a heresy, and that is based on’ Muhammad’ not on ‘God’, means that Muhammad is the one who brought this new idea of creating a new religion to be separated from’ Christianity’ .For many centuries Islam was called ‘Muhammadism’, and was considered as a threat to
Christianity (Nasr 13).
6
The West never liked the way in which Islam had spread; it was always described as a violent religion that spread by sword. The Islamic Conquests or the Arabic conquests that are known by Arabs as‘El fotohat EL Islamia ’were the source on which the West based on to describe Muslims as barbarians and savages. Muslims were seen as the
‘‘other’’ or the ’enemy ‘since they arrived at the European borders (Anonymous).He stated that the hostility towards Islam and its followers did not start just after the 9/11, it has a historical roots, by saying:
‘Western animosity toward Islam and Muslims is not just a post 9/11 phenomenon
There are ample historical precedents. In the past, Islam and its followers became a new religious-political enemy for the Christians after most of the Middle East and North
Africa, which had been under Christian Byzantine control, had come under Muslim rule in the seventh and eighth centuries. The Battle of Poitiers in 732, where the Franks defeated the invading Arabs, was still considered in the twentieth century to be the most decisive battle in early medieval European history’ ( qt.in Buehler ‘’introduction’’).
In Renaissance Europe, Islam as a religion was hated by many, but as a culture was respected and liked. Goethe, a Germany poet and playwright, had celebrated Persian
Islamic culture in his work called West-östlicher Diwan, which is a group of collected poems inspired by the Persian poet Ḥāfiẓ .Curiosity, led Goethe to be more attracted and interested by the Islamic culture (Buehler 641).
In the Romantic period , there was an opposition ,as well as, support to Islam as a religion (Nasr 13).Thomas Carlyle a Scottish writer and philosopher ,described the prophet Muhammad as a great hero in his book titled ‘’On Heroes and Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History’ ’.In this book there was a second lecture titled ‘ Hero as
Prophet ‘in which he said ‘’ how one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two
7 decades. He also have said ‘’Mahomet’s Creed we called a kind of Christianity; and really, if we look at the wild rapt earnestness with which it was believed and laid to heart, I should say a better kind than that of those miserable Syrian Sects…A bastard kind of Christianity but a living kind.”In this part Carlyle tried to show some kindness and compassion for Islam (Hassan 4).
By twentieth century, there were an official establishment of boundaries of individual nations, with the return of political rule to every Islamic nation-state after 1400 years of dispute and hostility between the Middle Eastern Islamic world and Christendom
.Without forgetting how people from the two sides exchanged relationships, friendships, and marriages (Buehler 641).
From twentieth century to the present day, prejudice and hostility towards Islam and Muslims raised to become a phobia .In the United States for instance, the extreme
Evangelical churches had a similar belief to the Catholic Church that Islam is a heresy
(Nasr 14).
A. Tracing a Definition of Islamophobia:
Generally Islamophobia is defined as fear, hatred , and prejudice towards Islam and its followers (Muslims).The word Islamophobia is consisted of two concepts ‘Islam ‘and
‘phobia’, the former one is a word derived from the word ‘Silm’, which originally
Arabic in the meaning of ‘peace’ and also the name of the religion that was sent to the prophet Muhammed (Pbuh),and the second one has a Greek origin, and it has taken its meaning from the word ‘Phobos’ which means ‘God of fear’. When these two words taken into consideration, Islamophobia means fear of Islam (Kirman 197-198).
The emission of the term Islamophobia is still debatable, the first view indicates that Islamophobia was first appeared in the Runnemede Trust Report in a book entitledA
8
Very Light Sleeper : the persistence and dangers of anti-Semitism”(1994) which led to a report entitled Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All” (Hassan 1).
The other view indicates that the term was first used in France by Etienne Dinet and his
Algerian friend Slima Ben Ibrahim, when they wrote ‘accès de délire islamophobe ’in
English means Islamophobic delusional access, when writing about the Prophet
Muhammad on 1925 (Allen 5).
Other sources suggest that the term was used in 1910 by the French Africanist
Maurice Delafosse in an article entitled “L’état actuel de l’islam dans l’Afrique occidental française” followed by a book entitled La politique musulmane dans l’Afrique Occidentale Française written by the French colonial bureaucrat Alain
Quellien ( Mrázek 22).
Other views indicate that the term was first used in English by Edward Said who worked on ‘’Orientalism’’, and wrotein 1985 about’’ the connection…between
Islamophobia and anti-Semitism” (Hassan 1).The term Islamophobia became more widely used after its appearance in the Runnemedy Trust Report in 1997.Runnemedy is the leading independent Think –Tank on race equality and race relations in the UK that was established in 1986 by Jim Rose and Anthony Lester. It aims at generating intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain through research, network building, leading debate, and policy engagement .The Runnemedy report defines Islamophobia as:
’ Islamophobia refers to unfounded hostility towards Islam. It refers
also to the practical consequences of such hostility in unfair
discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities, and to
the exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political and social
affairs (qt.in Torrance 4).
9
The Runnymede Trust report has ten chapters and contains sixty recommendations.
It begins with describing the nature of anti-Muslim prejudice and stresses s a key distinction between “closed: and “open” views of Islam. Islamophobia is amended with
“closed” views and its eight main features are as follows:
1)Islam seen as a single monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to new realities; (2)
Islam seen as separate and other not having any aims and values in common with other cultures; (3) Islam is seen as inferior to the West -barbaric, irrational, primitive, sexist;
(4) Islam seen as a violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, engaged in a clash of civilizations; (5) Islam seen as a political ideology, used for political or military advantage; (6) Muslims reject the West’s criticism of Islam out of hand; (7) hostility toward Islam used to justify discriminatory practices toward Muslims and their exclusion from mainstream society; (8) Islamophobia seen as national - anti-Muslim hostility accepted as natural and “normal”(qt.in Hassan 2).
In other words, the report established a set of concepts that aim at normalizing the manifestations of Islamophobia.
Islamophobia is not a new phenomenon, and the term has been used to define this new-old as a result of the increasing racism and hostility towards Muslims and their faith. Islamophobia could simply be defined as a ‘’modern epidemic of an age-old prejudice towards and fear of Islam"(qt.in Erdenir 28).When explaining the roots of
Islamophobia, he stated that ‘’Islamophobia might represent the age-old prejudice toward Islam; yet it would be an over simplification to explain the contemporary hostility toward Muslims entirely through a conflict that dates back to the eleventh century’’ (Erdenir 28) i.e.We can point out that Islamophobia has roots that go back to
10 the past,but we cannot define this phenomenon by linking it entirely to the existing conflicts in the past.
Islamophobia as a term appeared in the Runnemedy Trust Report papers as a reflection to the movement made by British Muslims against the publication of the Satanic Verses in 1989 (Sayyid 13), a novel that was published in 1988 by Salman who belongs to an
Indian Muslim family, he was born in India, then he moved to Britain and became an
Indian citizen. Satanic Verses is a nine-chapter story. The story based on two main characters (Gabriel and Saladin Chamcha).In his book Salman explicitly abused to
Islam, using inappropriate terms. Many Muslims came out to express their anger, and burned numerous copies of the book. In14 February 1989 Alkhomeini called for the death of Salman, and that was seen by the Media very strongly at that time (‘’Thirty years on…’’).
The Satanic Verses received positive reviews, was a 1988 ‘’Booker prize’’ finalist, and won the 1988 Whitbread Award for novel of the year (Netton 3). In contrast, It was criticized by many such Ahmad Deedat (the most influential Muslim missionaries and polemicists of the twentieth century) who wrote a small book entitled ‘’How Salman
Rushdie Fooled the West’’.Ahmad in his bookcriticized Salman deeply for using a bad
English, silly words, that does not make sense (‘’How Rushdie Fooled The
West?’’,12:12,20:17) .Now, Al Khomeini’s call for the death of Selman was failed, and
Selman now is living under UK police protection (McGrath).
When defining Islamophobia, other terms are closest in meaning used to express a group of negative feelings against Islam and Muslims, such as Muslimophobia, Anti-
Islam, and Anti-Muslimism. Those terms are widely used that carries the same feeling of hatred, prejudice, antagonism, and panic against Muslims. But the term that is
11 frequently used by politicians, journalists and intellectuals is’ Islamophobia (‘’The
Growing of Islamophobia after the 9/11…’’ 6).
Muslims are the group that never been liked or respected by the West since the emergence of Islam in 622.During this long contact between Islam and the West,
Muslims were seen as ‘’bad people’’, and were always portrayed negatively as barbaric, ignorant people, closed minded, semi-citizens,maddened terrorists, or intolerant zealots.
Those negative descriptions are still used against Muslims today (Abbas 29).
Furthermore, many incidents such as the Gulf War, Satanic verses and the Iranian revolution put the Muslims on spot light of Media (newspapers, magazines, TV show etc...) As well as, the 9/11events and the 7/7 bombings that made stereotypes, prejudices, and racism appears again against Muslims. After those two events happened,two attitudes have emerged. The first one is the depiction of Islamic religion as the religion ‘of sword’; the belief of that Prophet Muhammad was a violent person.
The second attitude is the identification of Islam as a code of beliefs and actions that are irrational, anti-modern and rigid (Duad 6).
Negative stereotypes towards Muslims rose to a large extent as they were included in entertainment, which led the British journalists such Peter Oborne and James Jones mention that the term Islamophobia is the last respectable prejudice used in modern
Brittan (Daud 7).
Islamophobia as a phenomenon became more debatable, and put into question. One of the attendees at a big lecture held in Britain byZakir Naik the Indian Islamic televangelist, and the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), as well as the founder of the Peace TV channel through which he reaches 200 million viewers,asked about if there is Islamophobia in the West, then Zakir answered:
12
‘’Yes …there is Islamophobia especially in this dreadful century. I believe one
of the major reasons of this phenomenon is the Media. The Media spreads
several misconceptions about the religion of Islam, I am not saying that all
Muslims are hundred percent are good; there are bad people in every community
including Muslims, what does the Media do? They pick up of the bad people of
the Muslim community and they portray in the Media as they the example
Muslims’’. (What is Islamophobia? 01:10, 01:55).
In this lecture that was broadcasted on Peace TV Zakir stated that Islamophobia does exist today and that the reason for its spread is the media, because the media focuses only on the criminal category of Muslims and shows the public that this category represents all Muslims around the world.
The Media portrays Islamic civilization in worse image, the one that failed, and the one that died .In this context, Buhler stated that ‘’The image of Islam as a decadent and dying civilization, backward and sensual, has made its way into popular culture through
TV images, Hollywood movies, and reporting by the mass media. We can see here the construction of another’ (641).
II. Muslim Community in Britain:
Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdome following Christianity. The majority of Muslims in UK belongs to ‘’Sunni’, while few of them belongs to ‘’Shea’’
(‘’UK Masjid Statistics’’).
Islam is also considered as the fastest growing religion in UK, due to immigration, increasing in birth rate and conversion (Sherwood).Previously, many
British people converted to Islam because they were attracted to this faith’s beliefs and teachings (Anonymous).
13
Most of UK Muslims came from India and Pakistan followed by other numbers from
China, Black Africa (Somalia and Nigeria), Turks, Middle East and North Africa. The influx of immigration started after the Second World War in Britain. Large groups from
India, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis immigrated to Britain to help rebuilt the country
.Consequently, Britain became a diverse ethnic country that consists of many colors, races, and religions (Ansari 6).
A) Geographical Distribution:
According to the Census of 2011, the majority of Muslim population concentrated in four regions London, West Midlands, North West Yorkshire, and the Humber. The table shows that the largest number of Muslims is living in London representing 37.4% of the Muslim population, followed by West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber. These areas are considered as the most noticeable regions where Muslims centered. The following table contains the regions that are the most populous with
Muslims (‘’ British Muslims in Numbers’’ 25).
Principal Cities Muslim pop Muslim pop percentage
London 1.012.830 37,4
West Midland 376,152 13,9
North West 256,458 13,2
Yorkshire and the 326,050 12,0
Humber
South East 201,651 7,5
East 148,341 5,5
East Midlands 140,649 5,2
Source: Census 2011. ONS Table QS208EW
14 b) Civic life:
According to the Census of 2011, most of the Muslim population is able to speak
English very well, Whereas as it were 6 of them have a destitute capability in English
.They are likely to have issues of communication in their way of life (35).Muslims contain 4.8 of the British populace and 8.1 of all school children aged from 5 to 15, are
Muslims. In Birmingham for example, youthful Muslim population shapes 86 of the school age populace (37-38).Muslims send their children to school to ensure their mindfulness and education .In comparison to other young adults from other religions, most them are married, and prefer marriage rather than cohabitation. The 2011 census indicates that the majority of Muslim households are composed of married couples and their children (approximately 260,000 Muslims) and the extent of couple families (35% is altogether higher compared to the British families 15%) (‘’ British Muslims in
Numbers’’ 34-35-36).
c) Religious and Cultural Aspects:
Muslim immigrants were welcomed by the UK, with permitting them to practice their religion in keeping with the Trinitarian act 1812.In order that they had the right to pray in work places, Enjoying their holidays, and obtain Halal food from public establishment. The first two immigrant generations had a comfortable life in United
Kingdom, creating them a lot of curious about British politics and society over their original countries (Wojtowicz14).
15
III.‘’The 7 July Bombings’’
A. Timeline of Events:
On the morning of the 7 July 2005,at about 8:50 am, four bombs were exploded in the centre of London , three were done in Underground station and the fourth one on the upper deck of bus in Tailstock Square .Fifty two commuters were killed and hundreds of people were injured. The bombs were conducted by four young British Muslims
(‘’Report of the Official Account…2’’).The London bombings victims were people of different nationalities, British and non-British, whites and non-whites Muslims and non-
Muslims. Later, after two weeks ,on 21 July there were another attempt attacks on the public transport system of London, but this time there were no victims (‘’ The Impact of
7 July 2005 London …’’4).
The July month 2005 In the UK started as usual in a normal positive way .There were a competition over who would host the Olympic Games of 2012 and London took this chance. On the day of July started raining, the village was crowded as usual, people are leaving to work. At approximately 8:50, three explosions happened.the first in a
Circle Line tunnel between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations, the second on the
Circle Line just outside Edgware Road and the third in a Piccadilly Line tunnel between
King’s Cross and Russell Square. After an hour and half ,at about 9:47 am, the fourth bomb exploded on the upper deck of a no 30 bus in Tavistock Square leaving dead and injured people .The bombs left 56 dead included the bombers and more than 700 injured
(‘’Report of The Official Account …’’2).
16
B) Chronological Occurrence of Events:
Before 7 July 2005
On the First half of June 2005, the British Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, JTAC, presented the results of the assessment concerning threat, but they were positive depending on the assessment that there was no single “group with both the current intent and the capability to attack the threat was lowered from “severe general” (third highest) to ‘substantial’.On about 22 June, a police officer observed a Pakistani who was going to enter the country at the ferry terminal in Felixstowe. The police officer decided to not follow the man, this man was included in the list of potential al-Qaeda members. Then, he left the UK via Stan stead airport on 5 July (Deverall &Stern 24).
On the 4July, an Egyptian citizen, chemist at the University of Leeds traveled from Britain to his country Egypt; he was called Magdy El- Nashar.After two days,
London won the competition based on the choice of the host of the Olympic Games in
2012.At the same time, the G8 summit started in Gleneagles, that means The British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, 1500 police officers from the Metropolitan Police and many politically key persons were in Scotland (‘’Report of The Official Account...’’3).
During the summer of 2005, more than 200 suspected Islamism extremists were severally monitored by the police and security of England. Ten surveillance operations were mounted around the clock (Deverall &Stern 24).
The 7 July Day
On the morning of 7 July, at about 3.58, a rented car was driven by Shehzad Tanweer was carrying Tanweer, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Hasib Hussain. This car was caught on CCTV in Hyde Park Road. After one hour the car stops at Woodall Services on the M1 to fill up with petrol, Tanweer the man who wears a white T-shirt, dark
17 jacket went to pay money. After moments he buys a sandwich and took a look at the
CCTV camera and left the place (‘’Report on the Official account…’’ 2)
Jermaine Lindsay who was driving a red Fiat Brava (second car) arrives at Luton station car park at 05.07; he was taking a look on the station, walking around and checking the car many times. At 06.49, The Micra (the car that carried Tanweer and his friends) arrived at Luton station next to Brava; the 4 men get out of their cars and carried large and full rucksacks. One car was left with some explosives but the other was not. The four guys bought tickets and went to the platform for the King’s Cross
Thameslink train. The train leaves Luton station at 07:40 am and the 4 were acting normally, leaving no doubt. The train arrives at King Cross at about 8:23, after few minutes the four started hugging, and then divided into four directions.Tanweer went to an Eastbound Circle Line train ,Khan to an westbound Circle Line train, and Lindsay to the Southbound Piccadilly Line train, while Hussain went towards the Piccadilly Line entrance(‘’Report of The official Account …’’3-4).
Half an hour later, the tragic events began. First, at Liverpool Street, the eastbound
Circle Line train blows up leaving 8 dead, including Taweer and 170 injured. Next, At
Edgware Road, the train that was carrying Muhammad Sidique Khan exploded and also left seven dead including Khan, and 163 injured. Third incident occurred on the
Piccadilly Line. The explosion killed 27 people including Lindsay, and injured over
340.And The last bomb that blow up on the top deck of the Number 30 bus at
Tavistock Square, killing 14 people ,including Hussein ,and injuring more than 110
(‘’Report of The official Account’’ 5-6).
At the first moments after the explosion passengers felt into total darkness and were so frightened .The internal lights and all communications were cut off, the passengers could not contact the driver, and the driver himself could not contact the line control
18 centers. From about 8 am to 9 am ,the image was not clear ,it was absolutely blurry, many calls was made, and reports that was consist of different contents was presented
,some of them says that the train deviated from the railway because someone was there
(‘’Report of the 7 July Review Committee’’13).
As a result, passengers on the three trains could not communicate with their drivers, at least they could inform the transport and emergency services about what was happening there .One of them named Kirsty a passenger of King Cross’s /Russell
Square train described how was it difficult to inform about the incident at that moment , he said ‘’there was obviously no communication from anyone; I did rather pathetically pull the emergency handle at one stage.It was a desperate need to do something’’(Deverall &Stern 14).
By 09:15 am the image becameclearer, showing that three explosions happened in three different places. The rescue arrived at Aldgate at 9.15, then at Edgware Road at
9.18, and at Russell Square at 9.38 .The first ambulance arrived at 9:56 ,but before that a group of doctors and assisters were there taking care of the injured.(‘’Report of the 7
July Review Committee’’37).
Hours after the attacks, the Prime minister returned from the G8 meeting and joint the COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms)meeting, promising to present those responsible to the Justice .The BBC News channel broadcasted the images from the place of the incident in coordination with the BBC1 channel. The coverage news on
BBC avoided using the term ‘’Terrorism’’ at that time. At 10.45 other channel called
Sky news broadcast a horrible images of theTavistock Square explosion when the top deck of the bus busted (Deverall &Stern 36).The Queen Elizabeth and members of the
Royal Family had visited those who were injured in the Hospital andshow up Sympathy to those who dead in these events (‘Report on the Official Account ’26).
19
After about 55 minutes, BBC broadcasted that Al Qaida could be the responsible on those detonations. At 12.00 Tony Blair announced that the happening was a terrorists attack, and he was in the G8 summit meeting at that moment.After three hours, the
Mayor of London, made a speech expressing his sympathy for the painful incident. At
16.24, the London underground continued to be shut down.And at 22:20 pm, The Police office received many calls from Hassid Hussein’s parents searching about their son
(Deverall& Stern 27-28).
On 10 July, a survived woman called Davinia was shown on the first pages of newspapers, as a bloody, injured victim and as a symbol of the terrorist attacks. The day after, at exactly 22.00,the CCTV was checked by many police officers, to discover the four men of Asian origins carrying begs on the back, and moving to the King’s Cross underground, Hassib Hussein is the one who could be identified at the beginning of investigations .On 12 July, at 17.00, the police discovered the apartment in 18
Alexandra Grove in Leeds, they found ten kilos of “potentially dangerous” chemicals stored in a bathtub that backs to the bombers, as well as, the Egypt chemistry Magdi
Mahamoud el-Nashar (‘’Shaken, not stunned..’’29).
On 21 July, other attacks were planned by four men targeting three places in the
London Underground, Oval, Shepherd’s Bush and Warren Street, and one bus, but they failed, the bombs didn’t work, as a result, one man was injured, and the four escaped.
Later, the four were identified by the cameras.
After those two attacks, about 10000 police officers were ordered to protect the public transport system inside and outside (‘’ Shaken, not stunned’’30). On the first
September, a surprised video was broadcasted on al-Jazeera TV network, in which
Mohammed Sidique Khan appeared to explain the reasons behind this attacks .He said:
20
‘Your democratically elected governments continuously
perpetuate atrocities against my people all over the world. And
your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am
directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim
brothers and sisters’’ I myself, I make duaato Allah....to raise me
amongst those whom I love like the prophets, the messengers, the
martyrs and today’s heroes like our beloved Sheikh Osama Bin
Laden, Dr Ayman alZawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and all
the other brothers and sisters that are fighting in the...of this
cause’ (‘Report of the Official Account’…19).
After the video broadcasted on TV, it became clearer to the world that Al Qaeda was the main driver of these attacks.
C) The Impact of 7/7 on British Muslims:
Directly after the 7 July day, the UK government stated that any behavior against
Muslims is absolutely forbidden, and if someone broke the rules will be punished harshly. Sir Iqbal Sacranic, the Secretary General of the (MCB) made clear that those attacks have no relation with Islamic teachings, and those doers are not a good Muslims
(‘’The Impact of 7July…’’10).
Immediately after the 7 July bombings, the press reacted objectively by concentrating on the point that the Muslims were also among the victims of the attacks to not show
Muslims as terrorists .However ,the content of reports shifted to focus on radicalization
,integration, and immigration issues when the bombers were identified as British-born
Muslims (‘’The Impact of 7 July…’’11).
21
In the other side, hate crimes targeting Muslims rose to a large extent. The
Metropolitan Police of London (MET) registered a fast increase of hate crimes verbally and physically against individuals, groups, or even places starting with attacking a mosque in Leeds and Sikh temples in Kent were attacked. As a result, the (MCB) demanded for a security service to protect the Muslim citizens from any potential attack, and immediately the Police service responded (‘’the impact of 7…’’14).
III. Media Bias in UK:
Media is a key factor that shapes public opinion and covers events and realities.
It is considered as one of the most important means that directs people‘s attitudes toward a specific issue. In Britain, the Media spot the light on Islam and Muslims especially after 9/11 and 7/7.Muslims are often portrayed and treated as ‘’extremists’’ and ‘’terrorists’’.
The British Media use a language that describes Muslims in negative way. It distorts the meaning of some Arabic words such as the word ‘Jihad’’ which is represented as an aggressive act of terror against the West, indeed the accurate meaning of that term is ‘struggle’ (Tahir 22).Constantly, when talking about Muslims the Media use words such as ‘fundamentalists ’,’ extremists’, ’radical’ ’, and ‘Islamists’ (23).
Juslin Lewis argues that ‘’the way in which Muslims are discussed or talked about in the press tend to be in a context that clearly are rather negative. So it is terrorism, It is about the clash between Christianity and Islam, and it is about Islam as an extreme religion’’ (232).So Muslims are often portrayed as a threat to non-Muslims to white pure people or to Christianity as a religion .Ahmed see that the image of Muslims presented in the Media gone worst since the aftermath of 9/11, Madridbombings, and
War on Terror (12).
22
Furthermore, the word’ Muslim is repeated numerously in newspapers and articles especially after 9/11as shown in table below (Saeed 12-13).
Table: Articles Containing the Word ‘Muslim’:
Newspaper 2000–2001 2001–2002 Percentage of increase
The Guardian 817 2,043 250
The Independent 681 1,556 228
The Times 535 1,486 278
The Daily Telegraph 417 1,176 282
Daily Mail 202 650 322
Daily Mirror 164 920 561
Daily Express 139 305 219
The Sun 80 526 658
Daily Star 40 144 360
(Saeed 13).
It seems that the including of the word ‘Muslim’ in British newspapers increased heavily after 9/11events and beyond.
VI.Islamophobia in Britain:
Islamophobia is fear, hatred, and prejudice towards Muslims and their religion Islam.
These negative feelingsare expressed in sort of racism, discrimination, and stereotyping made against Muslims (individuals, groups, or places) (20).Muslims in Britain are struggling to achieve integration, especially after the 9/11and 7/7, when Islamophobia raised to a large extent. On 2005, researches indicated that 47% of Muslim students suffered of Islamophobia especially at universities .Some of British Muslims were
23 asked about their conditions in UK, they announced that they feel worried, tired,
Helpless, and Anxious (The Guardian, 2010).
Women and young British Muslims are the most vulnerable to Islamophobia
.Women suffer because of their outlook (Hijab or Burqaa), one of them said that she was called ‘’Ben Laden’s sister’’ by group of teenagers on the London Underground
(The Guardian, 2010).Results shows that 29% of women cannot get a job compared to half overall population who are between 16-24.Other results shows that the black women is also a victim, they receive unfair penalties at work because of their skin color.
(Sheikh 27).
The London Development agency (2008) found that 50% of veiled women feel that they lack progress opportunities at work, 18% could have a job only if they take off their veils or headscarves .According to Tell Mama 56% of women are attacked on the streets by white men .As a result, women in Britain became more threatened in their daily activities (‘’Voices of Young Muslims’’28).
For young Muslims, the 2011 Census shows that less than 18% are employed compared to 34% of overall pop. Despite that boys are doing well in their studies, they struggle to access the labor market .In addition to that, 60%of them answered that they prefer to not show their Muslim identities. For women, some of them said that they prefer to take off their headscarves to feel more comfortable and less pressure (Sheikh 16).
Home Office shows that hate crimes are on the rise between 2016 and 2017.Hate crime percentage increased from 27% to 35% .Mosques are also targeted by 35%, the number of attacks raised from 47 to 110; only 6 cases pass to prosecution between ‘’2011-
2017’’, means that the prosecution level is too low. As a result, Muslims are less protected by law, which made Britain a racist and violent country (The independent,
2017).
24
Consequently, Muslims in Britain living under difficult conditions, and facing different kinds of racism, discrimination in different places(School ,companies ,streets
,transportation etc…) .And this is an example of some stories were told by someone who have experienced Islamophobia for the first time.
‘It was a very busy train, and I was standing. A lady was taking up two seats
with her bag. I asked her if she could make space and she said: ‘No, it’s not
for your kind.’ I said: ‘excuse me?’ Then I said: ‘If you do not move the bag
yourself, I will move it somewhere you will not like!’ That was the first time
I experienced Islamophobia. Sometimes people will defend you, fight for you
and speak for you. Although, are we mentally ready and prepared for these
things though? When it happens, you don’t know what to do or say’ (qt.in
Sheikh 23).
Pathetically, Islamophobia as a phenomenon passed limits, and shifted to the world of children as told by some student when faced Islamophobia at school, said:
‘There was a lot of racism and Islamophobia in my primary school. It was
hard, I thought there was something wrong with me for being Muslim. It
wasn’t just students that made me feel bad, teachers did too. They would
force us to pray the Christian way, and they were very forceful with their
religion. The teachers made it very clear that they didn’t like me (qt.in Sheikh
24).
Conclusion:
The 7/7 bombings had a negative impact on Muslim community in Britain.
Muslims life have completely changed .Muslims were seen as ‘’terrorists’’ and
‘’extremists ‘’by non Muslims, the media became inimical, the image of Islam have
25 been distorted; from a religion of peace to a religion of violence and extremism.
Muslims were seen as a ‘threat’’ to the national security, which led the government to create new approaches to counter terrorism to stop any other potential attack. As a result, Muslim community living under suspect and pressure led to the further alienation of a whole new generation of Muslims who were growing up in fear and distrust.
26
Chapter II
9/11 Events and the Agitation of Islamophobia
Introduction
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States - and behind it the world - was surprised by a television broadcast of pictures of two hijacked civilian planes that pierced the walls of the World Trade Center towers in New York and landed them on the ground. Another plane slammed into one of the wings of the Pentagon, Washington is severely damaged (‘’Post-9/11Backlash’’).
The aftermath of these attacks - in which nearly 3,000 people of many nationalities and ethnicities were killed and al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for - has been a series of political and military events that have changed the course of entire peoples' history and sparked wars of bloody violence that killed millions of people between wounded, detained and homeless
I .The hijacking of the four planes: Timeline of Events:
On the day of 11th September ,four planes were targeted by 19 higackers .The first plane called American Airlines Flight11carried the following hijackers
;Mohammed Atta (pilot),Abdul Aziz al Omari ,Whaeel al Shehiri,Satam al Suqami, andWaeel Al Shehri.The second (American Airlines Flight 77) consisted of five hijackers also;Hani Hanjour (pilot),Khalid al Mihdhar,Mahid Moked,Nawaf al
Hazmi,and Salem al Hazmi.The third plane (Flight 93) that collapsed in Pennsylvania includes 4 hijackers ; Ziad Samir Jarrah (Pilot) Saeed al Ghamdi , Ahmed al Nami ,and
Ahmad al Haznawi.And the last plane (Flight 175) that hit the South Tower of the
World Trade Center carried the rest members such as; Marwan al Shehhi (Pilot)
27
Mohand al Shehri, Hamza al Ghamdi, Fayez Banihammad ,and Ahmed al Ghamdi(‘’11
September 2001 Hijackers’’). a) Hijacking for American United 11:
At 06:00, Atta and Omari flight from Poland to Boston’s Logan International
Airport. They arrived at 6:45.After 7 minutes Atta received a call from Marwan al
Shehhi that supposed to be the last call. Between 6:45 and 7:40, Atta and Omari have met with Satan al Suqami, Wail al Shehhi, and Waheel al Shehhi (1).All of them have passed the checkpoints successfully then boarded the plane (‘’The 9/11 Commission
Report’’1-2) .The hijacking started at 08:14, when two hijackers stabbed two servants after taking cockpit keys by force. Then, Atta entered the cockpit and killed both pilots,
Omari followed Atta to the cockpit. One passenger, Louis Daniel, tried to stop them but was suddenly stabbed by Suqami, who was sitting behind him. Hijackers sprayed Mace and pipers and ordered passengers to move to the back of the plane. Betty Ong and
Madeline Sweeny two passengers were reporting events by using phone .At 8:19, Ong reported that some one’s stabbed in business class, there was a Mace, and they can’t breathe. Amy Sweeney connected to the Office and started reporting events to the manager Michal Woodward (5).
At 08:44, Sweeney told Woodward that something is wrong, and they are in a rapid descent. Woodward asked Sweeney to look out the window in order to describe what she saw, then Sweeney answered “we are flying low; we are flying very, very low.
We are flying way too low” (6). After seconds she said “Oh my God we are way too low”, and then the call ended. Finally, at 08:46:40, the plane crashed into the North
Tower of the North Trade Center in New York leaving unforgettable tragedy (‘’The
9/11 Commission Report’’5-6-7).
28 b) Hijacking for United 175:
The plane departed Logan Airport at 8:14; it had fifty six passengers, and 7 attendants, between 8:42, 8:46 terrorists started their plan, using knives, Mace and pipers with claiming to have a bomb as the others did in the first plane. Everybody moved to the back, after the pilots killed .At 8:47, situation started to get worse, and things became clear that the plane was hijacked. At 8:51, the Aircraft changed the track, with the New York Air Traffic controllers trying to have a contact, but all in vain (‘’The
9/11 Commission Report’’8).
Lee Hanson from Easton received a call from his son Peter who were on the aircraft .Peter said “I think they have taken over the cockpit-An attendant have been stabbed-and someone else up front may have been killed (7). The plane is making strange moves”. Hijackers took control the plane, direct it to New York City, at this moment, Brian David Sweeney left a message to his wife telling her that the plane has been hijacked. Lee Hanson received the last call from his son Peter, in which he said:
“It’s getting bad , Dad-A stewards was stabbed …I think we are
going down-I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and
fly into a building-Don’t worry, Dad-If it happened , it’ll be very
fast-My God ,my God’’ (qt.in The 9/11 Commission..8).
Before the call ends, Hanson heard a women screaming, turned on TV and saw the second plane colliding the second World Trade Center. At exactly 09:03, the aircraft crashed into the Trade Center under the vision of New York habitants, press, and photographers, leaving dead, injured etc.(‘’The 9/11 Commission’’…8). c) Hijacking for United 77:
The plane flew at 8:46, piloted by Captain Charles F .Burlingame and First Officer
David Charlebois, carrying 58 passengers, and four attendants (8). Hijacking started at
29
8:52, terrorists followed same steps that their friends did .With using knives, they moved everybody to the rear of the aircraft .At 8:54 the plane deviated from the path, turning South. Passengers started calling their kindred. At 9:12 Renee May contacted her mother Nancy May , in Las Vegas informing her that the plane have been hijacked by 6 people ,and that they pushed everybody to the back of the plane. Between 9:16 and
9:26, other women called Barbara Olson phoned her husband Ted Olson, the solicitor
General of the United States reporting of what Hijackers did. After the call cut off, Ted tried to contact the Attorney General John Ashcroft but failed.
After few minutes Barbara received phone call from her husband again informing her of what happened to the previous planes that crashed into towers. The second call ends, and Barbara had shown no fear, or panic. Hijackers drove the plane toward
Pentagon, very quickly (9).
At 09:37:46, the plane crashed into the pentagon, flying at about 530 miles per hour. As a result, many people including military persons who were in the building have been killed (‘’ the 9/11 Commission Report’’8-9-10). d) Hijacking for United 93:
At 8:42, the plane departed from Newark (New Jersey), piloted by Captain Jason
Dahl, and First Officer Leroy Homer, carrying 5 attendants, and 37 passengers, including four hijackers. At 9:19 Ed Ballinger a United flight dispatcher sends warning to his flights “Beware any cockpit intrusion-Two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center».
United 93 received the warning at 09:23.After 3 minutes, Jason the pilot responded “Ed, confirm latest msg plz-Jason” (‘’the 9/11 Commission Report’’10).
Hijackers started at 9:28, some voices could be recorded from the cockpit “Hey get out of here-get out of here-get out of here…”At 9:32, Jarrah, a kidnaper made a fake announcement to the passengers “Ladies and Gentlemen: Here the Captain, please sit
30 down keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. The voice data of the cockpit recorded a women screaming and struggling with one of kidnapers who trying to keep her silent or maybe killed her (‘’the 9/11 Commission Report’’11).
After few minutes, passengers started contacting their friends and families by using phones informing what is going on the plane, they reported that hijackers using knives, and having a bomb. The FBI later informed that there was a fake bomb.
Passengers have been told by their kindred about what happened to the previous airplanes, and that the 93 has been hijacked too. Passengers finished their calls, one of them left a message call in which he said “Everyone’s running up to the first class. I’ve to go. Bye” (‘’the 9/11 Commission Report’’13). At these moments passengers made some counter-attack on the hijackers to seize control of the aircraft. At 9:59 AM, the
South Tower (2 WTC) collapses.
In the end, Jarrah took control the plane moving it up and down, left and right. At
10:00:26, a passenger said “In the cockpit, if we don’t we’ll die .After 16 seconds other one shouted “Roll it?”At 10:01:00 Jarrah talked to one hijacker asking him by saying
“Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?”Then the airplane started moving down, one hijacker was shouting “Allah is greatest .Allah is greatest”. Passengers started screaming, the air crashed in an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania (14).
The aim was to crash into symbols of the American Republic, the Capitol or the White
House, but failed (‘’the 9/11 Commission Report’’14).
One of the main factors that led to the failure to save America from the attacks was that the threats were not given much importance either by the government, the people, or the media. Terrorism was not the primary concern of security in the US government. On
September 4, 2001, Richard Clarke proposed an anti-terrorism policy but received no
31 immediate response from the government until a week later (‘’ The 9/11 Commission
Report’’11)
Among other factors was the weakness of US intelligence where the FAA's capabilities were weak, the flight ban lists and the search for passengers identified by the CAPPS screening system could have been expanded but not. Another factor is the lack of military expertise .It has not been fully reacted to the government to hiring armies to fight bin Laden for fear of lost. Third, the imagination failed, as America always succeeded in anticipating an attack and preparing to counter it, but this time it was not able to predict any such terrorist attacks from bin Laden and his group.(‘’ The
Commission Reprt..’’12).
1. Terrorist acts before9/11:
In the late 1990s, there were many threats from Islamic groups aimed at killing large numbers of American people. In 1993 there were two terrorist attempts. The first in February, when a terrorist group led by Yusuf Ramzi tried to blow up a truck bomb at the World Trade Center, which led to his downfall. Six people were killed and 1,000 wounded. In October of the same year, a group of Somali men shot down US helicopters, resulting in 18 deaths and 73 injuries (Storn 5)
In 1995, the Oklahoma City explosion, which killed 168 people on April 9
1995, was a horrific event that dominated the news for weeks, but it was quickly determined to be domestic terrorism(Storn10). In 1996, Osama bin Laden and four of his companions issued a declaration encouraging Muslims to kill any American, whether a citizen or militarily because of the US occupation of Palestine and its persecution of innocent Muslims (‘’Osama Bin Laden’s Fatwa …’’). In 1998, bin
Laden's group blew up several cars in front of the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and
32
Dar Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans(Embassy Bombings in East Africa). The US Customs also arrested a bomber named (Mohammad Rassam) with explosions in an attempt to blow up Los Angeles airport (3).
After the fall of the Soviet Union, a group of young Muslims, including bin Laden, went to jihad elsewhere after attacking the latter. Bin Laden published his ideas based on historical, cultural and religious sources, using some texts from the Koran, trying to convince many that he would restore honor and victory to those oppressed by developed countries. Bin Laden and his associates established a strong and pungent base in
Afghanistan with his money because he was very wealthy. He provided its members with weapons and good training. Bin Laden and his associates also established the idea of KSM with the help of Mohammed Atef (5-6).
The United States has repeatedly tried to spy on al Qaeda in Afghanistan, including by making a small plane called Predator.In 2001, US intelligence received some threats from al-Qaeda, with some calling it 'the red flash.(‘’The 9/11 Commission
Report’’3-5-6).
Since 1997, the United States has tried to pressure the al-Qaeda regime in
Afghanistan and expel bin Laden to a country where justice can be brought against him, but has failed. The US government also pressured the Pakistani government to sever ties with the Taliban. From 1999 to 2001, the United States pressured and disengaged
Emirates Airlines from Taliban, where bin Laden could not reach Afghanistan. An alliance was also made with the Saudi government to solve the bin laden problem diplomatically (‘’Al Qaeda’’).
II .9/11 and the Aftermath
33
After the disaster, in New York City, thousands of people were evacuated, 343 firefighters and paramedics and 60 police officers were dismayed to help,40 people were killed in Pennsylvania and 184 died in Washington, DC, . In total 3,000 died.
Operations broke out immediately and many donated their money for help. Many people came to help. Prayers were held in New York City and throughout the Western world (The Guardian, 2009).
The rescue continued until 9 October, with remains of towers continued to fire until 20 December (‘’ (Business inside the attacks’’).Only a few hours after the incident, without any evidence, CIA Director Rumsfeld ordered a plot to strike Iraq, believing that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks(CBC reported). After that, US intelligence discovered that there were people on the plane linked to al-Qaeda and that one of them was involved in the 2000 Yemen bombings (‘’Plans for Iraq Attack…’’).
Although there is no strong evidence indicates that Iraq was involved in the events of 11thDecember, Rumsfeld did not care about it and decided to continue his plan, saying: ‘’Go massive …Sweep it all up. Things related and not’’ (Roberts).
After 9/11, about 400 were arrested .Most of them were Muslims. Those persons were chosen arbitrary. Research indicated that they were treated harshly and tortured with dogs within prison. Fox news reported that among them were 60 Israelis .Those that were spying on U.S.A for a long time, and knew about the attacks but did not share or report them. (‘’Suspected Israeli Spies…’’).
On 17 September, the president George Bush visited the Islamic Center of
Washington stuck mosque, and made a speech to American Muslims by ensuring that those attacks cannot rise tension between native American and Muslims in USA .And that Muslims should not fear of anything, they must deal normally as usual, and these
34 events do not represent true Muslims. (‘’Six Days After 9/11…’’).In his famous speech,
Bush said:
‘These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets
of the Islamic faith…The faith of terror is not the true faith of Islam.
That’s not what Islam is about. Islam is peace .These terrorists don’t
present peace. They present evil and war …women who cover their
heads in this country must feel comfortable going outside their homes.
Moms who wear cover must be not intimidated in America…That’s not
America I know. That’s not the American value’. (‘’Read George W.
Bush’s Speech ‘’).
The events caused health damage, with more than 1,000 people including man and women have been exposed to cancer and the number is likely to raise further.
Twelve years after 9/11, a study found that the number of people with cancer reached
15% compared with those who have not poisoned at Ground Zero. Dr. Jim Milieus, the chairman of the striating committee for the WTC responder Medical program said that
‘’There are more cases out there, because we just know of people in our government- funded medical programs, not those who have been treated by their private doctors’’
(‘9/11 Still Claiming Victims’).
.In addition, these events have caused psychological damage, especially the category of adolescents who grew up under these events conditions, those who have seen that scene, either directly or indirectly, leaving panic, fear and anxiety, or living under the expectation of any other attacks (Eisenberg&Silver 1).
Politically, those events were a turning point in US-Arab foreign policy, where some Arab and Islamic countries and organizations that were described as “axis of evil
35
‘’targeted and accused for supporting the practice of terrorism (Iraq and Iran).In addition to that, the tensions in NATO, deteriorating relations with Russia, and a series of counterterrorism operations in the Western and Muslim world. Domestically, the events of 9/11 affected US political, economic and social life, and individuals and communities across the country (Kamil 244).
1. The Impact of 9/11 on Immigration:
After the 19 terrorists easily entered the United States using temporary visas, it became necessary for the US government to provide internal security after the events that took place. Before 9/11, the government did not think that border policing and security was a branch of counterterrorism .After 9/11 the government is focusing its attention on the issue of Muslim immigration and making it a priority, with an emphasis on border policing as well.
Immediately, after 9/11, the congress passed the PATRIOT Act of 2001to exclude foreigners if suspected to have relation with terrorists (Figueroa 467).
In 2002, Bush the president passed a new law to protect America from any terrorist attack called Homeland Security Act .The US applied what is called immigration enforcement for those who are undocumented, on 2001, about 200000 immigrants who have been removed from USA .Also the government decided to exclude all suspected criminals from all countries. By 2001, about 18000 criminals who have been removed even for simple or non-violent crime such as, driving on the sidewalk, by this way the government made it more difficult for immigrants to stay.In addition to the implementation of the Border Security and Visa Entry Act of 2002
(Hesson).
36
The impact of the 9/11 events was evident on the refugee stream, with more restrictive admission and resettlement procedures for Muslims than any other group, which reduced the number of refugees admitted to 40 percent, as well as 15 percent in
2005 (Conihan 3).The office of immigration data statistics indicated that the number of nonimmigrant from Muslim countries had decreased from 710,000 to 465,000 by 2001 including ‘’Kuwait ,Saudi Arabia ,Bahrain, and Qatar ‘’(Conihan5).In 1994 the nonimmigrant average was 2 ,but after 9/11 it decreased to 20%...) (Hesson).
In addition to that, the US government implementedthe Enter/Exit Registration System
(NSEERS) on September 2001. NSEERS, a system for registration of certain non- citizens within the United States, required non-immigrant men and boys from predominantly Arab and Muslim-majority countries to report to an immigration office to be photographed, fingerprinted and interviewed. Those targeted by the NSEERS program were only permitted to leave the United States from specialized ports. Failure to comply with the program often resulted in arrest and deportation (Conihan 6).In
2008, The US government added what is called Secure Communities, this new law gives the right to a police man to exclude an undocumented immigrant if she or he committed an offense (Hesson).
III .The Intensification of Islamophobia:
The phenomenon of Islamophobia has worsened recently in Western countries, especially in America. This is illustrated by the very large number of non-Muslim people in Western society who started to view Islam as religionviolence and that its spread throughout the world will inevitably cause harm to other faithsOther. Thus, some non-Muslims went to equate terrorists who claim to representIslam by the majority of
Muslims who always promote the values of peace and tolerance. They see that heinous actsare committed by terrorists because Islam encourages that .In addition, Anti-Islamic
37 rhetoric, which tries to tarnish the image of Islam, has received wide acceptance and popularity among Western societies...) (Anonymous)
It is clear that the media is primarily responsible for the spread “Fear” of Islam among Westerners, as negative perceptions of Islam are often perpetuated Muslims, with insulting words to “barbarism” and “hostility” in the Western media about Islamist groups. For example, when hosted in October As part of a debate with Afflict, he said, as part of a popular television show in the United States in 2014 American comedian
Bill Maher “Islam is the source of evil.”(The Guardian, 2014).
It is noted that many speakers Justified other acts of violence, such as those committed by white racists and Christians Fundamentalists, etc., though they were carried out by a fraction of lunatics, while the violence of some Islamist groups have been identified by the media as serious terrorist attacks. Unfortunately it was noted that the mainstream mediaremained silent and refrained of following the event when a group of Muslims roseloudly denouncing what ISIS is doing, as it did for several years with al-Qaeda .And terrorism in general (Millstein).
The Internet also plays a critical role in perpetuating manifestations of violence and hate speech .Against Muslims, according to a report by a pro-San Francisco advocacy group in May 2014.Hate speeches against Muslims on the Internet have become a viable means of spreading feelingsIslamophobia and hatred against Muslims. The report included examples of hate speech and how it could promote violence, and also provided an example of the Facebook page of the anti-Muslim blog, Pamela Geller, whose followers increased from about 19,000 in July 2013 to 78,000In late April 2014
(Sacirbey).
38
Islam has been consistently and erroneously portrayed as a religion of extremism and violence that calls for sheddingblood, which reflected a negative image about this religion in the public minds, as shown again, on theExample, by Bill Maher's statement that Islam is "the only religion that behaves like Mafia’’This negative image has led to widespread hostility and negative sentiment among Westerners. Towards Muslims who are now living as strangers in Western countries, including America (‘’Bill Maher vs.
Ben Affleck ").
A. The rising of Islamophobia in U.S.A:
The United States of America is among the countries where Islamophobia has reached a very high degree. The statistics of incidents and scenes of Islamophobia in the United
States in particular far exceed those of other Western countries, because the number of
Muslims living in the United States is very large compared to any other Western country.
Some peoplethinks the rapidly growing numbers of Muslims as a threat to
American identity, making them feelwith a sense of fear and suspicion, believing that
Islamic identity would soon sweep away and distort American identity .soon or later,
Muslim immigrants will bring new values and ways of living that do not fully agree with Western values .They also believe that Shari ‘a or Islamic law will ultimately replace liberal democracy. For which they have fought for generations. This fear of
Islam has increased sharply to become a situation A phobia-like psyche about Islam and anything associated with that religion, and the situation get worsened when another phenomenon has emerged in the last two decades is extremism and terrorism in the name of Islam.
A) Opinion polls and reports of Islamophobia in the United States:
39
Authorities in the United States have issued reports onIslamophobia, as well as reports on surveys as following:
a) Hate against Muslims has risen in the United States;
b) Hate crimes against Muslims and Jews in the United States have risen to
higher proportions due to acts of violence perpetrated falsely in the name of
Islam in different countries;
c) Americans are now beginning to question the peaceful nature of Islam
because of the spread of violence in the name of this religion.
d) precisely, SAALT issued a reportUnder 'Suspension, Under Attack'
documents over 150 cases of hate speech and violenceAnti-foreigners by
political figures and US government officials from 2011 to The report found
that South Asians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and the EastArab communities
are increasingly confronted with a hostile climate in the United States
.Islamophobia in the United States.This report reveals the following:
a) More than 80% of documented cases of hate violence are caused by anti-
Muslim feelings. Over 90% of anti-foreign political commentaries are
characterized by prejudice againstMuslims.
b) Hate violence is particularly prevalent in the New York City / New Jersey
and Chicago areaand its suburbs as well as Southern and Northern California
(‘’Hatred for Muslims growing in America says reports’’)
B)Islamophobic Speeches and campaigns: a) ‘’First Amendment to Protect Christians Only’’
A public figure in the United States tried to convince the Americans that theircountry was supposed to beFor Christians only and denied the rights of other religions to live in the land of Uncle Sam. In a meeting with Jackson PollyPastor for Life Luncheon (May
40
2014) The President of the Supreme Court Roy Moore announced, the first amendment applies only to Christians because "Buddha did not create us, Muhammad did notcreates us, but the Lord of the Bible who created us "to continue," They did not bring the Koran aboard a ship of pilgrims. Let’s berealistic, let's go back to our history and learn from it.
Enough disregard, "claiming that America has lost its way, and thatPublishing a booklet containing copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, proves that all the founders of the nationthey knew that everything in America was linked to God
(Alabama’s chief justice: First Amendment only protects Christians b) ‘’Islam is a cancer that must be eradicated’’
John Bennett, Republican Vice-President, published statements on social media warning of the danger of The Americans Muslims refused to apologize in the face of criticism. "I have read the Quran and I found that 90 inPercent is violent and only 10 percent restorative, or what some say is the “peaceful” part of the Qur’an, before he points out that there is no difference between moderate and extremist Islam and that the goal of all Muslimsis the destruction of Western civilization from within, stressing that
“this is a cancer in our nation that must be eradicated”(Pitt). c) ‘’American Muslims have no opportunity to fully integrate into the United States’’
Anti-Muslim activist Brigitte Gabriel stated in November that American Muslims have no opportunity to fully integrate into American society. In an interview, Lieutenant
Colonel Gabriel said that he traveled recently traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, and did not see the US flag flying over the houses .At one point he stopped to ask about a destination and was ignored. Gabriel said ‘’Why is the Muslim community not integratewith the rest of American society ... because that's what they are told in mosques across the United States, Muslims are told that they should not profess
41
Americans on Christmas or Passover day and not to wish them a happy holiday’’(‘’Brigitte Gabriel: ‘No Chance’ Of Muslim…’’). d) ‘’Islam has no place in a civilized society’’
The head of the Christian Anti-Defamation Committee, Gary Cass, said on his organization's website that state militiasIslamism revealed the intentions of all Muslims, where he wrote: "We are indebted to the Islamic state ... here we aresee the true face of
Islam even though Muhammad is burning in hell. We will have to face the crueltruth, the fact that Islam has no place in a civilized society. Muslims cannot live ina society based on equality and Christian freedom. They will always seek to harm us. ”. In fact there is only one solution, violence "The only thing in the Bible that has proven its effectiveness for 1,400 yearsfrom history is just Christian war and self-defense ...
Christian leaders defeated Charles MartelIn 732, John Sobieski in 1672 Muslim Turks
[Ottoman] when trying to conquer the West .Who will the Lord send this time to save us? Will God ever intervene this time or will he leave us in Muslims hands ?Then he have warned Christians and called on them to prepare for more terrorist attacks inInside and out, saying that violence is a sacrifice to be made.(‘’Christian activist calls for holy war:’ Islam has no place in civilized society’). e) ‘’When there are many corrupt apples, the garden is corrupt’’
In a television session, Bill Maher spoke with Salman Rushdie about Islam
"When there are many corrupt apples, Undoubtedly the garden is corrupted, "said
MaherIn his discussion with American actor Ben Affleck, when Sam Harris described
Islam "is the source of evil thoughts" Maher claimed to be "terrorists and the main currents in Muslim societies share many of these evil ideas, ”Then Rushdie commented
42 inappropriately, adding, the West should never compromise when it comes to freedom of expression and standing against this extremism.(Mediate, Bill Maher).
In addition to these rhetoric, hatred and prejudice against Islam were used to gain public support in The United States the Islamophobic networks has includes funders, organizations and media platforms Propaganda advocates, activists and political actors who are very active To create a climate of fear, hatred and suspicion towards Muslims
,among those who hate Islam is Pamela Geller. In 2012, she established Initiative to defend American freedom by funding ads at all subway stations .It includes a quote from the Koran next to a picture of the World Trade Center's men, devoured by fire, to come back In May 2014, another terrible announcement claimed that Muslims' hatred of
Jews was derived from the Qur'an.In 2012, the court held that Geller's declarations were part of the term protected by law, A subway spokesman said they decided to turn a blind eye this time. Since August 2014 its abusive posters and anti-Islamic campaign roam the streets and stations on buses and metro subway in New York (‘’Washington DC:
Geller is back…’’). there are different small foundations belongs to rich people works on destroying the image of Islam and Muslims by providing money for different organizations such as right wing, and think tank in order to spread hate of Muslims and Islam in form of books , reports ,blogs, websites , and propaganda (2) there are seven well known foundations that promotes Islamophobia in USA; donors capital fund ,Richard Mellon
Scarf foundation,Russell berry foundation , and fair book foundation etc… (3) other persons who belongs to religious right such as , pat Robertson , John Hagee ,Ralph
Reed , Franklin Graham .In the media we find ; fox news Channel Washington Times,
43
The National Review , Christian Broadcast Network ,Pamela Geller and Atlas Shrugs , and freedom center .
Other examples including Political players such as; Representative .peter King, rep. Sue Myrick, rep. Allen west, Rep Renee Elmers, Rep Paul Brown .Grassroots organizations; Brigitte Gabriel (5) Act! For America, Pamela Geller ‘’Stop Islamization of America’’, State tea party movements .those individuals and organizations playing major role in destroying the image of Islam and Muslims as a result only 37% of
Americans who think positively about Islam (6). (‘’Fear, Inc. The roots of the
Islamophobia ‘’2-3-5-6).
The Council on American Islamist Relations(CAIR) and university of California
Berkley’s reported that agitation of spreading hatred against Islam and Muslims among
American societies became a business. 74 groups working on promoting prejudice against , hatred of Islam and Muslims including , the Abstraction Fund, Clarion Project
, David Hurwitz Freedom Center, Middle East Forum , American freedom Law center,
Center For Security , Policy , Investigative Project on Terrorism ,Jihad Watch and Act!
For America .As a result, many mosques were attacked harshly by non-Muslims in
USA, in addition to the implementation of a new low that put Muslims under discrimination and marginalization (the Guardian, Funding Islamophobia:$ 206 million went to promoting ‘hatred ‘of American Muslims).
C) Islamophobia in employment:
Experiments found that the callback jobs rate differs from Christian to Muslims , for instance, when asking for a job ,Christians are getting respond more than Muslims who in many cases being neglected , so that leads to bias against Muslims (‘’An experiment in hiring discrimination’’ 21).
44
D) Islamophobia in workplace:
Three days after 9/11, the employment opportunity commission and the department of justice passed orders to prevent any acts of discrimination could be made against Muslims’(172).After the 9/11 attacks the EEOC received more than 2500 discrimination charges linked to religious . Religious discrimination rose from 1.9 to
3.1% between 1992 and 2005 respectively charges linked to national origins raised especially after 9/11. EEOC received about 7,792 charges based on race origin. In 2002
EEOC received more than 9000 charges (173), many Muslims.
Other employees refuse to make a complaints against discrimination at work because they are illegal immigrants , so the statistics remain instable, it could carry more numbers studies Indicated that Muslims face racism and prejudice at work due to that employers and non-Muslims colleagues guess that they could be involved with terrorism activities , especially after many predicted about other attacks could be made by terrorism .Immediately after 9/11 the government passed the PATRIOT Act in order to give employers the right to pass harsh penalties against those employees who could be linked to terrorism (‘’Post 9/11 Backlash Discrimination…’’172-173-174).
E) Religious Discomforts:
A group of Muslims were treated badly in a company that provides wheelchairs to passengers .When they asked for time to rest and pray in Ramadan, the company refused their request. Supervisors said ‘’we don’t care about Ramadan. We’ll give you a break on our time not on your time ‘’ (‘’City Charges Queen wheelchair service company…’’).Other story belongs to a Muslim girl of about 18 years, she applied for a job in a ‘’Abercrombie Kids’’, but her request has been refused by a boss women .She asked her to take of the headscarf because this goes against ‘’Look policy ‘’one of the
45 work conditions that prevent head coverings .The girl said ‘’This was the first job I ever applied for ,and I was excited about the idea of working for Abercrombie & Fitch ‘’.She continues to say ‘’I was into fashion, and wore skinny jeans and imported scarves that matched my outfits .The interview crashed me because I never imagined anyone in the
Bay Area could reject me because of my head scarf ‘’(‘’Abercrombie &Fitch Sued For religious ’’).
F) Hate Crimes:
Some scholars indicates that signs of Islamophobia started to appear from
1990.Hatred of Muslims in America increased after several events such as, the Gulf war against Iraq 1990,and the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 (Figueroa 482).
Other researchers see that Islamophobia in America started since the Iranian War in 1979 (‘’The Rise of Anti-Muslim prejudice…31’’).However Gottschalk and
Greenwald point that Islamophobia started when America had dealt with trade slaves in the Middle East (31).Since a long time, Muslims are given a bad image in the Media in newspapers, reports, and movies .Jack shaheen addressed in his book ‘’Real bad
Arabs’’ how Hollywood offended to Arabs, he said;
From 1896 until today ,filmmakers have collectively indicated all
Arabs as public enemy #1-brutal ,heartless ,uncivilized religious
fanatics and money –mad cultural ‘’Others ‘bent on terrorizing
civilized Westerners ,especially Christians and Jews…Arabs are
brute murders sleazy rapists ,religious fanatics ,oil-rich ‘’dimwits
,and abusers of women’’.(qt.in Ali1037).
Ali also points out that Islamophobia in America existed before the events of
September, and that this phenomenon has crystallized in the minds of the American
46 people by orientalism , the thought that based on the distinction between the ‘’Orient’’ and the ‘’Occident’’; The west is the other side that owns authority and power over the
Orient (Ali 1036).
The number of hate crimes has been recorded from 1996 to the present. In this period, reports of hate crimes have increased almost nil, about 22 and 55 related to workplace .Indeed, Islamophobia and hate crimes rose significantly after 9/11, especially by 2005, where tension reached extreme degrees (Figueroa 484).
In 2013, three Muslim students were executed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
“Dea Shadi Barakat” (23 years), and his wife Yusur AbuSalha (21 years old) and her sister Razan Abu Salha (19 years old)(INDEPENDENT). On 17 February, more than 50 people came out of Minneapolis to protest against Islamophobia and racism in response to the killing of those Muslim students a week before. Demonstrators have a pool at a busy intersection in the heart of the local Somali community, close to University of
Minnesota campus, holding banners and chanting slogans. This was organized to honor the dead souls (‘’Minneapolis says no to Islamophobia…’’)
A new study shown that the year of 2015 is full of attacks targeted Muslims and places.
The council on American Islamic Relations indicated that Islamic mosques were exposure to vandalism, harassment, and anti-Muslim bigotry about 63 times at this year.CNN reported about 17 incidents (hate crimes) targeted Muslims, especially after terrorist attacks in Paris .It also reported that by this year, Muslims as persons faced attacks more than properties. (‘’Threats, harassment, vandalism at mosques …’’).
Another period that was also very harsh on Muslims was between 2016 and
2017.FBI reported that ‘’Muslim individuals were the target of 18.7% of religiously motivated hate crimes, which was a drop of 6% from 2016’’ (‘’FBI: Spike in
47
USA’’...).The year of 2019 had witnessed more than 500 cases of attacks on Muslims and property; On 29 April, men entered a mosque and destroyed many Qurans situated in Queens New York .On 15 May; in Connecticut, someone burned a mosque leaving damage and injuries (‘’More Than 500 Hate Crimes Against American Muslims..’’).
Conclusion:
The years following the events of September are considered to be one of the most difficult stages that Muslims have gone through, especially whom living as minorities in non-Muslim countries, where they were blamed and were victims of hate, resulting from mistakes and acts they did not commit, such as murders, abductions and bombings of innocent people by terrorists, and extremist groups perpetrating crimes in the name of our true religion, who calls for love and peace. In other words, the rise of religious extremism during the period under review wasted the bright image of Islam, and impacting Muslims life in America.
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CHAPTER 3:
‘’Levels of Islamophobia’’
I. British Case:Islamophobia pre and post 7/7 2005 bombings.
Introduction:
Muslims in Britain constitute a considerable entity in the British society. They were living under ordinary laws of citizenship just like the other groups of immigrants whose religion is other than Islam .The British government worked on helping Muslims to incorporate and integrate with the British people .Multiculturalism was one of the most important issues that were actively debated by the government. This latter worked hard through both the famous houses of Lords and Commons in order to encourage people in
Britain to believe better in Multiculturalism and therefore live side by side with the
Muslim immigrants. Unfortunately, this has been proven a bit as a failure.
Consequently, anti- racist strategies were worked out to substitute to Multiculturalism
.These strategies were mainly meant to fight against the inequalities existing in British institutions themselves. Moreover, they give British Muslims better opportunities in the
British working class. This might serve of a great benefit for them to demonstrate their abilities and professional skills at work (Tahir 21).
For a long time ago, Muslim immigrants who arrived to settle in Britain were seen as the “others”. They are considered as second class citizens, not merely in Britain but almost in whole Europe. Racism and discrimination existed since Muslims started immigrating to the West .Islam and Muslims were seen as a threat since the Middle
Ages, because Islamic civilization was considered as a menace to the Christianity. Islam was spreading very rapidly compared to Christianity and therefore the Christians and their governments behind did all they could to block this invasion.
49
Before 2005, Muslims in Britain were approaching integration and moving away from the sense of alienation. British Muslims descendant from immigration tried their best to become part of Britain, and live without troubles; they were participating in all areas of the British civil life in order to hopefully give a positive image of Islam and consequently gain a sort of acceptance amid the British public. This goal was imminent, but unluckily it failed later. Some tragic events occurred and they ravaged all hopes for
Muslims to reach their aspirations. Once again, they were forced to start from the A level.
Despite that the 9/11attacks were far from UK but they had a clear impact on UK citizens and British Muslims life.
1. Islamophobia in Britain between (2000, 2005).
A .The impact of 9/11 on British Muslims:
The 11th September, 2001 attacks were unforgettable events that left a trauma on
USA societies in particular and the World in general. Nobody can easily remove this tragic scene from his memory. The two most famous Towers of the World center in
New York had collapsed and disappeared in less than an hour, causing more than 3000 victims and thousands of injuries .Those incidents have changed completely the world’s public opinion about Muslims and Islam.
After 9/11, the UK government began to worry about security in Britain and in order to protect Britain from any terrorist attacks, the “Preventing Extremism together
“was introduced by Home office. It worked on opening long conversations and debates with British Muslims to reduce terrorist attacks (Choudhury&Fenwick ‘’Executive
Summary’’).
50
“Counter terrorism” ,another program was applied by the British government to avoid any probable suspected terrorist attacks .Many Muslims were searched and arrested in the streets by the police under the Terrorism Act (44).Morethan half a million people have been detained. This has negatively affected the moral of the Muslim community who felt a bitter feeling of alienation and despair .Thousands of Muslims living in
Britain found themselves entrusted, suspected and even guilty to be a Muslim. They consider that this process promotes hostility against Islam as a religion and increases feelings of hatred and racism against the Muslim community (7).
In addition to that, Muslims were repeatedly arrested at Airports and were asked many questions to see whether they had linked to terrorism or not .They were chained by the police at several times. They were also submitted to long and severe detective investigations. They were asked questions such as how often they pray, how often they go to mosque etc… (9).
In Birmingham, a surveillance program was put in place to put a large number of cameras to monitor Muslims, the process that was strongly criticized by Muslims
(Choudhury &Fenwick 7-9).
In some areas in Britain, successful relations between the British Authority and Muslim citizens were built in Britain before 9/11, which helped to challenge the changes that emerged after the bombings. (‘’The impact of counter-terrorism measures…’’ 10). a) Hate crimes:
After the events of September, there was a growing fear in the British both society and government not only from the risk of possible attacks, but also from the fear of sudden reactions, whether physical or non physical by some anti- Muslim British extremists. Many women were subjected to physical and verbal assaults because of their
51 headscarves that easily reveal their identity as Muslims. One of them said that during those days she avoided walking in public places, and also reduced going to shops for fear of possible racial attacks.
Women were not the only victims, the attacks had targeted men also, youth and Islamic centers .Many mosques have been destroyed (‘’Hate Crimes against British
Muslims…’’ 20).
Immediately after the events in America, Muslims were linked to terrorism, the idea that Islam is anti-Christian revived again, and Islam was accused of being a violent religion, which made the far-right in Britain points out that Muslims are making an undesirable negative difference. A few days later, an Afghan man with a beard was assaulted with beating and curse, believing that he was a follower of bin Laden; he was left paralyzed (Tahir 32).
In November 2001,the British government passed a new law called Crime and
Security Bill to counter terrorism ,this law worked on arresting foreign nationals
,suspected persons who could be linked to terrorism activities ,and preventing funds associated to terrorism (The Guardian,2009).Statistics indicated that since 2001,about
237 Muslims were arrested .Data shows that 88% of Muslims put in prison in the UK as suspected terrorists.( ’The impact of counter-terrorism measures on …’’8).
The Data on hate crimes in Britain reported by The Metropolitan Police Service’s shows the number of incidents between 2004 and 2005 that were recorded at the same periods of year, as shown in the table below.
52
Number Number
Incidents 2004 Incidents 2005
July 4-10 11 68
July 11-17 22 92
July 18-24 20 67
July 25-31 9 79
August 1-7 7 60
August 8-14 9 35
August 15-21 10 28
Results included in this table shows that backlash incidents had raised significantly between ‘’2004-2005’’.This explains that
Islamophobia increased dramatically in 2005 (‘’Islamophobia
2007 Hate Crimes Survey’’8).
2. Islamophobia in Britain between ‘’2005-2010’’:
The year of 2005 in Britain is unforgettable, the tragedy of 7th of July had left sad, fear, and panic in the British society. Four young British Muslims of Pakistani origins had systematically exploded three trains and a bus in London, leaving 52 dead and more than 77 injured. Undoubtedly, those attacks left a negative effects on Islam and Muslims in Britain and resulted in rising of hate crime, prejudice, anti-Muslim sentiments, discrimination, racism, stereotypes, hostility, hate, and Islamophobia .The 7/7 bombings had fueled all kinds of negative sentiment against Muslim .So, Muslim situation in
Britain gone worst after these attacks .And Islamophobia had raised to a large extent.
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Few days after the attacks, the number of hate crimes rose significantly .Britains reactions against Muslims was fueled by anger, racism, hate of Islam that already left by
9/11 attacks. Between the 8 and 9 July, 6 mosques were attacked respectively; Al
Madina Jamia mosque in Leeds, Jamia mosque in Totter down, Bristol, Shajala mosque, in Birkenhead, Jamiat Tablighul Islam Mosque in Armley, Leeds, Shajalal mosque in
Easton, Bristol, a mosque at the Mazahirul Uloom Education and Cultural Institution, in
London .Others by fire, others by stones ,and others by destroying books of Qurans
(‘’Islamophobia 2007 Hate Crime Survey’’ 5).On 18 July, the Shah Jalal Mosque and
Islamic Cultural Centre in Cathays, Cardiff was attacked by pigs heads.
The year of 2006, saw an increasing attacks on persons, for instance, on 9 July
Imam Said Jaziri was threatened by a white man Pierre Brabant in front of the mosque, who wants to kill him by using knife, but the police came in time and arrested him. On
January 11, 2007, a Muslim woman of 37years old was attacked by a white male of 20 years old, when he tried to remove her veil ,but the victim survived without harm(’Islamophobia 2007 Hate...’’6). Among the factors that ignited the phenomenon of Islamophobia in years between2005 to 2010 is the emergence of other events such as, the cartoons insulted to the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark, 2006, and the Madrid bombings (2004).
Furthermore, the media played an important role in increasing the phenomenon of
Islamophobia, where Muslims are portrayed in a bad way always. This negative portraying began since, 2000 and rose to a considerable extent in 2006, until it reached the highest degrees during 2007 and 2008.Accoding to Allen (2012), 91% of British newspapers covering Muslim in bad way, especially during the last decade (Hussain
5).Researches indicated that about 1/3 of stories published in 2008 emphasized on
Muslims as terrorists, violent, extremists, and as a threat to the security(Hussain 6).The
54 former Yard counter-terrorism officer published a study in 2010 indicates that hate crimes against Muslims in London are fueled by the Media ,and mainstream politician .
This year witnessed a vast increasing of hate crimes that ranging from death threats, murder, spitting, and calling Muslims by different names .Those reactions are motivated by negative background gathered about Muslims that was promoted by the
Media, and mainstream. (The Guardian, 2010). ‘’Since 9/11 Muslim Londoners, no less than Muslims in towns and cities across Europe, have often been unfairly stigmatized as subversive threats to state security and social cohesion ,sometimes characterized as a fifth column’’( qt .in Jonathan ,Robert& Lambert,7).They have claimed that 9/11 -War on Terror ,and much of discourses that has encompasses it has performed a considerable role in increasing negative perceptions about Muslims as dangerous enemies rather than neighbors (Jonathan ,Robert& Lambert 7).
The year between ‘’2009 and 2010’’ witnessed a group of hate crimes reacted against Muslims in Britain .In July 2009,"Neil Lewington, a violent extremist nationalist convicted as a bomb plot’’. In January 2010, another man was arrested as a manufactory of nail bombs, and other explosives .In 2009,a group of students at
University were attacked by Mafia .In September 2009,Ikram Syed ul-Haq, a Muslim pensioner was killed .In addition to ,the attacks targeted the Greenwich Islamic Centre in Juan 2009.(The Guardian ,2009-2010).
‘’Since 9/11 Anti Muslims hate crimes appear to have become more prevalent than racist hate crimes where black and Asian Londoners are the victims .Anti Muslim hate crimes are confined to the margins but have increased dramatically during the last decade and have a debilitating impact on victims ,families , friends, and neighbors’’
(qt.in Jonathan ,Robert& Lambert,11).
55
II .American case: Islamophobia pre and post 9/11:
Muslim presence in USA backs to the ancient times when tens of thousands of
African slaves were brought to America in17th C, by trade, Muslims at that time were forced to change their religion and turn to Christianity but they kept their faith .From
1875 to 1912, another group of Muslims immigrated to America, whom originated from
Syria ,Jordan, Lebanon ,Palestine, and Turkey .Some of them converted to Christianity but others chose to remain as Muslims .The number of Muslims in America increased when many African-Americans converted to Islam in 1930 (Figuerea 480).Islam is the third largest religion in USA after Christianity and Judaism (Yunus 1).In 2000,the number of Muslims reached about 7 millions.1.2 millions are Arabs ,but the rest number was difficult to be identified because most of Arab Americans fear of revealing their identity to avoid passive reaction from non-Muslims . After passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, large numbers of Muslims started migrating to America followed by many other immigrants with diverse backgrounds. The change in immigration laws allowed highly-skilled professional immigrants to enter the U.S.
Many Muslims who came during this time period were from the Middle East and South
Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh)(‘’American Muslims in the United States’’).
More than 93% of Muslims centered in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York , Detroit ,and
Washington .Educated Muslims represents significant proportion ,about 40%,and 14% have graduated and post graduated (‘’Impact of 9/11 on well-Being of Arab American
220).
1. Islamophobia in USA between ‘’1995-2001’’
The relationship between USA and terrorism started in 1993 when terrorists blow up the
World Trade Center, leaving 6 victims and Thousands of injuries .America had no
56 experience on terrorism before .Attacks were happening elsewhere far from US, until
9/11came as the most surprising attacks in American history .Those events started to bring Muslims under the vision of Americans, and started to produce Islamophobia.
Professor Allen asserted that Islamophobia in America had rooted in old centuries
.Since a long time Islam is considered a threat to Christendom, followed by Crusades and colonialism that were sources which fueled Islamophobia (16).And events such as
Gulf War 1990 (war on Iraq), and the bombing of Trade Center in 1993 bought a new
Islamophobic era, called ‘’a contemporary Islamophobia’’. The Media was and remains a key factor that destroyed the image of Islam and Muslims within the West .Those events were published heavily in newspapers, with indication to Islam as a religion of terrorism .Whenever Muslims have been portrayed in the Media negatively, whenever
Islamophobia and hate crimes raised more. In 1999, a Commission Report on Human
Rights indicated that Muslims in America ‘’felt there was both latently and openly a form of Islamophobia and racial and religious intolerance in American society ’’
(Figurea 482).
Reports indicated that following the Oklahoma bombings in 1995, hate crimes increased to 277 cases perpetrated against Muslims (‘’ The impact of 9/11…’’, 220). Between
‘’1996, 1997), The number of hate crimes recorded by American Arab-Anti discrimination Committee had reached 55 cases linked to place of work ,and 22 cases were linked to government agencies (Figuerea 483). Furthermore, FBI found that anti- religious hate crimes in USA increased to 481 between 2000 and 2001 compared to the year of 2000 when there were only 28 cases in 2000.Consequently the percentage of increasing hate crimes reached 1.600 % (The Guardian, 2008).
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2 .Islamphobia in USA between ‘’2001, 2010’’
The 9/11 attacks in New York City can be described as the first chocking incidents happened in American History .The events that have destroyed every what was built by good Muslims.
Terrorism is the most dangerous phenomenon that threats the entire world, it can be defined as “the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological purposes ‘’ ( qt.in Shahid
452).Terrorism have no religion ,it is not linked to Islam as everybody thinks .It has several kinds ;kidnapping ,murder ,bombing etc (Shahid 452). Terrorism has nothing but bad effects that destroy all international and individual relations. It destroys all the good relations that have been established for a long time. The relationship with Muslims and Western world is now tied to terrorism .whenever, there were no attacks, Muslim situation be more stable .And, whenever terrorism attacks a European country, and
Muslims enter a difficult period, so difficult to get out.
The 9/11 results were harsh on the Arab world in general and on Iraq in particular
.Those events opened door for America to enter Iraq and fight terrorism as being said
,but actually other reasons were hiding behind that (Shahid 453).The attacks resulted in fear, anxiety, mistrust, suspect ,and instability in all European countries including
America .After the attack on World Trade Center in New York, leaving a huge number of dead ,injuries, and damages .Muslims conditions became more difficult in USA ,their situation worsens day after day .And their vulnerability to dangers became high
.Someone have said ‘’Every time we overcome a trauma ,we find ourselves struggling with another one ,leaving us with no room to breathe and reflect on what happened
58 earlier ,until we became numb’’. Another one said ‘’we usually like life for granted out, but after 11th, we began to value our lives and safety more’’. Another male described how life has been changed after 9/11, by saying ‘’ Before September
11th, few Americans knew about us as a people, culture, and religion. Now there are many Web sites, printed materials, and lectures that were created specifically after the attack that include. .information, educational materials, and articles about the Arabs and the real meaning of Islam’’ (ABU-RAS, 229).In this context, The events of 9/11 and the
Western campaign against so-called political Islam seem to have aroused the curiosity of many whites in the West .Although conversion to Islam has increased in the past among persecuted ethnic minorities, recent events are attracting whites from the middle and upper classes. Those who are the most West readers .So, reading and curiosity seem to have succeeded in attracting many to the Islamic learning centers, and thus proclaiming their Islam. ( Kamil 245).
a) Islamophobic acts and hate crimes:
Those events are taken from a report co-sponsored by the University of California,
Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender and the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR).The Center for Race and Gender is responsible for the special sections on
Park 51 and the 2010 election.
In 12 January 2009, two Muslim men in Seattle were physically attacked by a white man, when this latter heard them speaking other language .The white men forced the guy to speak English but he refused because of his weak English. Consequently, the man punched the guy and his friend when trying to defend each other, leaving them injured. The police then reported that the attack is a hate crime (‘’Islamophobia and its
Impact in the United States’’29).
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In 15 Juan, 2009.White man threatened to kill two Muslim women, a mother and a daughter, when the victims were in their car, wearing hijab and large dress .The man spat on the car and pronounced some racist words with threatening to kill them both(‘’Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States’’28).
On October 8, 2009.A woman was physically attacked by a non Muslim man when she was going to the mosque for having (Iftar) in Ramadan. Then he was arrested under a hate crime charge (‘’ Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States’’30).
On September 9, 2010, Reno, Nevada .It was written on the wall by anonymous
‘’don’t burn the Koran. Why? Just burn Muslims’’.September10, 2010, in West
Springfield, Muslims have complaint of being attacked repeatedly in place of work.
They received a hateful telephone messages and abuses (30).
In July 2009.A Muslim American woman of Turkish origins complaint of being harassed in place of work by a group of workers .The boss failed to resolve the problem and refused to transfer the field. So, this led to her resignation in the end .In 9April,
2010. A police officer from Arab origins litigated of being abused in workplace by his supervisor that calling him repeatedly by using words such ‘’rag head ‘and ‘’camel jockey’, indicating to his Arab American tradition (’Islamophobia and its Impact in the
United States’’ 32).
In November, 20, 2009.A Muslim student in Maine was prevented from praying by school officials, after discovering she was prying during breaks .CAIR defended the girl and asked to let her practice her faith (33). In September 18, 2010, workers discovered a burnt of books of Quran in front of a mosque in San Francisco. In Nov 30,
2009.A mail box backs to a mosque in Oregon was found doodled with the phrase
‘’Allah is p*g ‘’ (35).
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On October 31, 2010,in NY.C, group of demonstrators shouted on African American man in anti-Muslim march that mistakenly thought to be a Muslim .They surrounded him and called out ‘’no mosque here’’ calling him ‘’coward…coward’’. One of them yelled ‘’Mohamed is a p*g’’, and other said ‘’H e must have voted for Obama ‘’, other one said to demonstrators ‘’we’re against the Muslims not each other ‘in order to reduce tension (36).
In July 22, 2010.An opponent group fought against building of a mosque in northeast Temecula, Calif, by claiming that a mosque would create a ‘’haven for Islamic extremists’. A local Baptist pastor said ‘’The Islamic foothold is not strong here, and we really don’t want to see their influence spread’’ (27).
In front of a Connecticut mosque, a group of right -wing Christians raised anti-
Islamic signs and shouting ‘’Islam is a lie ‘and ‘’Jews hates Muslims’’. One of them accosted a small child living the mosque and yelled ‘’murders...murders’’. Those demonstrators decided to confront Muslims at mosques around the United States (26).
In 2009, a report released by Gallup, Media Tenor found that ‘’the tone of the
Media coverage of Islam was negative 40%of the time. Media Toner found that ‘’two- third of the television coverage about Islam associates Muslims with extremists’’ this report was covered between ‘’2007-2008’’ (‘’Islamophobia and its Impact in the United
States’’23).
According to a poll was released by CBS news in September 2006, 55% know someone who has negative feelings toward Muslims as a result of terrorism attacks of
September 11th .And about one in five said that they also share the same sentiments.40% Americans never met someone who owns anti-Muslim feelings, while three in four said they don’t have negative feelings toward Muslims (’Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States’’24).
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In 2009, FBI reported that 18, 9% of Muslims in USA were anti-religious victims
.LCCREF reported that hate crimes perpetrated against Arab American Muslims, and
Sikhs increased rapidly after 9/11.LCCREF, in 2009 marked an increase number of hate crimes more that pre 2001.In the beginning of 2010,a released report from the Gallup
Center for Muslims studies indicated that 43% of Americans avowed to feelings some prejudice towards Muslims .The study states that ‘’Americans are more than twice as likely to express negative feelings about Muslims as they are about Buddhists
,Christians and Jews’’(’Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States’’25).
The information included in this report indicates that the year of 2010 was full of hate crimes and Islamophobic cases, which means that Islamophobia is strongly presented in the years between (2001, 2010) in America.
Conclusion:
This research aims in conclusion to underline the following striking fact ;Islamophobia is not a new phenomenon, it is as old as the Islamic religion itself ,but it had much spread after the famous bombings happened in UK 7July 2005,as well as in 11
September 2001,which was attributed to al-Qaeda ,and had asserted the view that Islam is synonym of terrorism.
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General Conclusion
Islamophobia was always part of the British society; however, it was not obvious as it took the form of racism and discrimination. It is just after the 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings that Islamophobia became predominant within the British society. In other words, recent years noticed the transformation of Islamophobia from racial discrimination into violent activities against the Muslim communities. Islamophobic acts took the form of vicious crimes committed against mosques, Islamic centers,
Muslim organizations, and Muslim women wearing hijab or niqab, and bearded Muslim men wearing distinctive Islamic clothes.
In the aftermath of the 7/7 attacks the number of violent incidents against
Muslims increased. The word “Islam” or “Muslim” represented fear and threat; the two terms had a deep irreversible impact on the society. The MET in London indicated that directly after the attacks, the number of faith hate crimes against Muslims rose. This made the British Muslim community feel excluded, suspected, and at risk.
The 7/7 bombings were a turning point in British Muslims lives.
The fear of extremism led the British government to develop some counter- terrorism policies in order to ban the duplication of other crimes. The aftermath of the bombings witnessed a complete change in the treatment of the British Muslim community. Muslims became suspect of terrorism, Media became more hostile, and
Muslim issues were discussed as problems, Islamophobia and violence against Muslims dominated.
Likewise, Islamophobia had prevailed The United states of America after the tragedy of 11th September. Muslim situation in US was calm, normal, and stable, but after the incidents the situation became disturbing and even dangerous. Other analysts believe that Islamophobia in America was a mere fear of Islam, but after the events of
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September it became a hatred of Islam and Muslims. This hatred developed into hostility towards Muslims, which increased the rate of hate crimes so much that the
Muslim woman could not walk in the street safely because of hijab, and the Muslim man could not go to the mosque with a prayer hat.
Conditions became more complicated, anti-Islamic rhetoric had escalated especially after the Paris attacks on 13th 2015, and with the coming of Donald Trump to
America in 2017 Muslim setting went worse, when this later banned Muslims from emigrating to America, and made several speeches that fueled Islamophobia in America by saying that ‘’Islam hates as’’.
Indeed , Islamophobia the phenomenon is growing in USA and the West
.Muslims are still suffering of being discriminated by non-Muslims in European countries ,and Muslim responsible are trying to defend Muslims rights as much as possible .Finely ,as Muslims ,we must work on tackling this phenomenon as much as possible ,by showing the reality of our religions ,and providing non-Muslims with more information about the true Quranic and Prophet Muhammad teachings.
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