Islamophobia

With a Foreword by O.I.C. Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, an Introduction by John Esposito of Georgetown University, 14 contributions by American and European authors, 12 cartoons plus nine photographs and tables, this is a valid attempt indeed to analyze the hatred, racism, and bigotry currently focused in the West on Islam. Esposito’s masterful 15-page summary warns of an alarming increase, way before 9/11, of Islamophobia, a term coined in 1922 by Orientalist Étienne Dinet. Shockingly aggressive quotes from Ann Coulters, Daniel Pipes, and Geert Wilders vividly illustrate that danger. So do statistics, registered in Britain in 1999, of 280.000 offences motivated by ethnic and cultural racism. 43% of all Americans admit to anti-Muslim prejudice while similar percentages oppose mosque construction in a Europe which is seen as being gradually transformed into Eurabia.

Individual essays focus on specifics of Islamophobia in Austria, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States against a background of multiculturalism, anti-Americanism, wars on Terror, and anti-Islamic cartoons. The most important contributions are summarized here: