APPG’s definition states “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
Islamophobia is demonstrated in, and articulated through, speech, writing, behaviours, structures, policies, legislation, or activities that work to control, regulate, or exclude Muslim participation within social, civic, economic and political life, or which embody hatred, vilification, stereotyping, abuse, discrimination, or violence directed at Muslims.
Contemporary examples of Islamophobia in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, considering the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
- Causing, calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim due to their religious identity.
- Causing, calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of individuals due to their perceived or actual connection to or support of Muslims.
- Charging Muslims with conspiring to harm humanity and/or the Western way of life or blaming Muslims for the economic and social ills of society.
- Making mendacious, dehumanising, vilifying, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Muslims.
- Objectifying and generalising Muslims as different, exotic, or underdeveloped, or implying that they are outside of, distinct from, or incompatible with British society and identity.
- Espousing the belief that Muslims are inferior to other social or religious groups.
- Accusing Muslims as a collective of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Muslim person, group, or nation, or even for acts committed by non-Muslims.
- Applying double standards by requiring of Muslims a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other social, religious, or ethnic group.
- Applying ethnocentric approaches to the treatment of Muslims (judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture), for example, evaluating Muslim women's choice of dress exclusively through the speaker's expectations and without reference to the personal cultural norms and values of the women in question.
- Acts of aggression within which the targets, whether they are people or property – such as buildings, schools, places of worship and cemeteries – are selected because they are, or are perceived to be, Muslim(s) or linked to Muslims.
- While criticism of Islam within legitimate realms of debate and free speech is not in itself Islamophobic, it may become Islamophobic if the arguments presented are used to justify or encourage vilification, stereotyping, dehumanization, demonization, or exclusion of Muslims. For example, by using criticism of religion to argue that Muslims are collectively evil or violent.
To learn more about Islamophobia in the UK, read the House of Lords Library Briefing, ‘Islamophobia in the UK’.
TELL MAMA supports victims of anti-Muslim hate and is a public service which also measures and monitors anti-Muslim incidents.
Learn more about The University of Edinburgh’s support and guidance for students who have experienced any forms of discrimination.
The Advice Place is run by the Student's Association and is a third party crime reporting site. If you are a victim of a crime, they can support you.
You can call 999 in an emergency to speak to Police or 101 for non-emergencies. If not an emergency, but you wish to report something, you can report online.
Learn more about The University of Edinburgh’s support and guidance for students who have experienced any forms of discrimination.
The Advice Place is run by the Student's Association and is a third party crime reporting site. If you are a victim of a crime, they can support you.
You can call 999 in an emergency to speak to Police or 101 for non-emergencies. If not an emergency, but you wish to report something, you can report online.