Islamophobia and beyond

Members of the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism hold a rally in Melbourne, Australia in 2015

You don't have to be Muslim to be the target of Islamophobia.

Islamophobia has become an established term in the English language. Your automatic spell-checker will not mark it with a red line underneath in the text. For some of us, this is part of the test of the lexical naturalness of this concept and its meaning in society.

A greater degree of naturalisation will come when your automatic spell-checker ceases to underline in red derivatives of Islamophobia, such as Islamophobic, Islamophobe or Islamophobisation.


The software on my computer is out-of-date, so maybe I am lagging behind. The term has also entered Arabic and is used without definition or explanation in the language. This is another test of naturalness, but now across cultures.

Islamophobia refers to stereotypical and negative attitudes by non-Muslims towards Islam, Muslims and what is popularly known as Islamic culture. 

As a phenomenon, Islamophobia is a rough and ready attitude with little tolerance for complexity and diversity. In its totalising form, it admits no rough edges. In fact, one does not have to be Muslim to be subject to Islamophobic attitudes.

Islamophobic slurs

After the London attacks in July 2005, Sikh men were subjected to Islamophobic slurs, even attacks, because they were thought to be Muslim.