The Origins of Islamophobia
Islamophobia makes Islam inviolate and that’s why we should stop using the term to describe anti-Muslim bigotry
📸 : via Abdur-Rahman Muhammad
Where did the term Islamophobia as it’s used today originate?
A few theories exist, and the one which makes the most sense because it carries the best credibility involves a claim that a Muslim Brotherhood think tank called the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT), coined the term to silence critics in the early 1990s. Proponents of political Islam gathered at a meeting of the IIIT to discuss ways to silence their critics by promoting their own victimhood, appealing to western guilt. In a bid to mimic the gay community with homophobia, the members of the IIIT decided to create the term Islamophobia. They wanted to “ beat up their critics,” recalls Abdur-Rahman Muhammad , a former radical Islamist and Imam who now works to counter Islamic extremism who attended that meeting. You might recognise Abdur-Rahman Muhammad from his appearance in the Netflix documentary about Malcolm X.
The question of whether America is “Islamophobic” - now bandied about so casually, as though opposition to the mosque has revealed a nasty strain in the American psyche, akin to the terrible racism or anti-Semitism that once ran wild - is so deeply offensive. This loathsome term is nothing more than a thought-terminating cliché conceived in the bowels of Muslim think tanks for the purpose of beating down critics. —Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, Whether or not Ground Zero mosque is built, U.S. Muslims have access to the American Dream, 2010
So, according to this theory, the Muslim Brotherhood intended the term “Islamophobia” as a political weapon. They intended it as a propaganda tool to influence public perceptions of Muslims and to prevent and close scrutiny of Islam and the Islamic community as a source of radicalism. When we designate a group as a victim, we’ve removed their collective responsibility and exempted them from any accountability.
There’s another theory worth noting, it claims that the Ayatollah Khomeini coined the term in reaction to the Iranian women who rejected forced hijab. In their January 15, 2025 submission to the UK Parliament, the Southall Black Sister wrote that, “in Britain, too, it was religious authorities who pushed for the adoption of ‘Islamophobia’ as they were concerned that ‘anti-Muslim hatred or racism’ would not protect mosques and madrassas from criticism.”
I think of these two theories as parts of one overall theory, namely, that Islamic fundamentalists have coined the term Islamophobia to silence critics by branding Muslims as perpetual victims.
At the end of the 1970s, Iranian fundamentalists invented the term “Islamophobia” formed in analogy to “xenophobia”. The aim of this word was to declare Islam inviolate. Whoever crosses this border is deemed a racist. This term, which is worthy of totalitarian propaganda, is deliberately unspecific about whether it refers to a religion, a belief system or its faithful adherents around the world. — Pascal Bruckner, The Invention of Islamophobia, 2011
Pascal Bruckner has written about the term Islamophobia and the way it feeds the narcissism of western guilt. In fact Quillette reviewed his book, and that review mentions an early essay Bruckner wrote, Enlightenment fundamentalism or racism of the anti-racists? In another early essay, Bruckner corroborates the claim about Islamophobia made by the Black Southall Sisters. It’s certainly possible that the IIIT independently coined the term Islamophobia, unaware it existed, or, more likely, that they borrowed the term from the Ayatollah and Iranian fundamentalists. The term Islamophobia does have a ring that’s similar to homophobia. Perhaps that gives it some appeal? Bruckner describes multiculturalism as the racism of the antiracists. Yes, that will shock and disturb some. Wait, shhhh, and give the benefit of the doubt—follow Bruckner’s rationale.
A French, British or Dutch citizen will be prosecuted for beating his wife, for example. But should the crime go unpunished if it turns out that the perpetrator is a Sunni or Shiite? Should his faith give him the right to transgress the law of the land? This is the glorification in others of what we have always beaten ourselves up about: outrageous protectionism, cultural narcissism and inveterate ethnocentrism! — Bruckner, Enlightenment fundamentalism or racism of the anti-racists?, 2007
Any Canadian reading this can’t deny that our brand of multiculturalism has devolved into this — we do have a judiciary which hands down lesser sentences to immigrants, we have Gladue. Undeniably, we have a race-based justice system. Did we envision that outcome years ago when we decided we would make ourselves a multicultural society? I don’t think we did. I think we envisioned that, somehow, recognising these cultural differences would make us more equal. It hasn’t done that, though. Instead, the narcissism of guilt has crept in and taken over. This seems like another version of racism, doesn’t it?
An Imginary Racism: Islamophobia and Guilt by Pascal Bruckner
Imposing permanent victimhood on any group removes agency from that group. When a group or individual cannot take responsibility for themselves, then they cannot have control over their own choices and the journey associated with these choices. They end up serving the objectives of those who have designated them victim or oppressed. Any victimhood identity quickly slides into a kind of oppression that becomes self limiting. It can feed narcissism and morph into radicalism. Most extremes originate from a seed of habitual victimhood. Fundamentalists want protection for their ideas and belief systems. They cultivate protection for their ideas at the expense of people. That’s what’s happened with the term Islamophobia and the identity that it seeks to shield. Islamophobia is a fake term and we would do well to drop it in our discourse. We ought to want to protect people, not identities. Do we know the difference, even?
All that said, we definitely don’t need a taxpayer funded “Islamophobia Envoy” position in Canada.