Already riven by the prevalent prejudice, bigotry, hatred, racism and unending violence, the world seems to have been fractured further in this increasingly intolerant era. With the muslims having been stifled all over the world, the extreme hatred and prejudice against muslims have engulfed the globe. Islamophobia is one of the unpalatable things which contributed to choking the lives of muslims, especially in European countries and India. The far-right political parties, bigoted people showing estrangement against muslims, violence against muslim women, institutionalized discrimination and societal apartheid remained a norm over the century, but gained fillip after the gruesome incident of 9/11 in DC.
The recent incidents fanning the situation further while instigating muslims’ sentiments have shown an utmost disregard for more than 22% population ( 1.8b) of muslims across the globe, revealing the despicable and amoral hypocrisy of West and other so-called liberal countries. These heinous incidents include the desecration of Holy Quran by Iraqi refugee in Swedish capital, burning of a copy of Holy Quran in front of Turkish embassy by a far-right politician, and setting a copy of Holy Quran on fire in Denmark on 21 January by Rasmus Paludan, a far-right provocative person. That these undettered and unprovoked events have further encouraged the provocative instigators as they might have been emboldened by the callous approach shown by the global and regional authorities, may not be an overstatement.
The systematic prejudice against muslims is axiomatic in the so-called democratic country, India, where muslims have constantly been subjected to violence and chaos, with muslim women having been abused, raped, made nude, humiliated and castigated through catcalls. The Karnataka High Court verdict to exact ban on wearing hijab is a clear manifestation of how the state has always been engaged in the organized apartheid against muslims, highlighting the extreme vulnerabilities of muslims who are not allowed to live their lives in the light of Islamic principles. All this, compounded by the fact that Hindutva-driven government based on RSS ideology has been keen on ostracising muslims, makes the future of Indian muslims fuzzier and grimmer.
The world has been grudgingly adamant to combat islamophobia that has hurt the sentiments of near 2 billion people. The West and European countries have abetted such provocations and desecrations in the garb of preserving right to freedom of expression and speech. Such provocative elements were further egged on as they were not held answerable for what they had done, revealing the evil intentions of assaulting muslims through desecrating their Holy symbols. However, a question arises about why the world, especially West and Europe, turns its back on the right to freedom of expression and speech when it comes to the denial of Holocaust as people defying Holocaust event are given the token of being culprits and held liable to penalties. As far as the muslim countries and OIC are concerned, they have done nothing more than condemning the grisly incidents. However, some Muslim countries reveal more rage through sending the ambassador of the country– where incident happens- packing as has recently been done by Morocco. Some of these little efforts bore fruit when 15 March was designated for combating islamophobia by UN in recognition of the then-PM of Pakistan, Imran Khan’s efforts, who nudged the global leaders through making them peek into their hypocritical actions.
The world must accept the fact that all the faiths around the world cannot be desecrated under the guise of freedom of expression and speech, and bringing the perpetrators to justice must be ensured to curb the violent attitudes towards muslims and other believers as well. Combating islamophobia requires collective actions and robust responses by the muslim countries and OIC ( Organization of Islamic Countries) in order to root out this menace. Furthermore, the religious freedom and respect for all religions and their symbols should be promoted for getting befitting outcomes, fostering a cooperative, cohesive and congenial environment. Additionally, awareness campaigns about the Islamic values and the huge respect muslims have for Islam, should be launched, suggesting pragmatic ways of coexistence.