New Global Trends and Islamophobia | Syed Suhail Yaqoob

World has become highly unstable after the 9/11 episode. There have been interventions and counter-interventions in almost every country. After the fall of the Soviet Union, most people thought that the international system will get stabilised and there was no fear of nuclear war now. The United States of America (USA) emerged as a sole super power that dominated the world scenario through its economy, military and culture. Many satellite nations of Soviet Union established democracy and free market system. No war, no dis-equilibrium in the international arena was imagined. USA was imagined to be a benefactor of humanity and so its western allies. Now things seems to be getting out of control.

Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of Civilizations promoted that civilizations will go for a war in the near future. On one side, there will be western democracies and their enemies on the other side: Chinese civilization or even Muslim nations. The message was clear cut that western countries have to intervene in every nation to remove the threat that is posing to them. Islam has been chosen to be their arch rival. Western countries have always intervened in Muslim countries to keep the 25 % of the population under its control. To get legitimacy for their actions and interventions, Islamophobia was sold to their citizens through aggressive electronic and print media. After horrific events of the 9/11 this has seen an upward trend. The rise of ISIS in the middle-east is sold to the people all round the world to create hysteria about Islam, its laws and its people. Almost every terrorist attack around the world is blamed to be on the part of Muslims. Even a phrase was constructed which reads as ‘Every Muslim is not a terrorist but every terrorist is a Muslim’ as if no terrorist activity has ever been carried out by people of other religions! Gorge W. Bush and Tony Blair killed millions of people in Iraq war which was fought on lies and deception. However, false information sold about Islam has to do with the particular interest of the western countries. Islamophobia is a deceptive tactic to advance their interests (political, economic) of their own nations. Geo-politics have been a main feature of this trend.

Oil rich middle-east has an attraction. Whoever controls the oil, shall control the whole world. The rise in the price of oil in the early 1970s showed that oil could be made a bargaining chip and it was used against the countries that supported Israel. After that time the world has seen the rise of military bases in the middle-east to control the oil fields. Western countries supported dictatorship in this region. The middle-east market is largest in the world. Through oil western countries controlled the world through stooges in the region. Now, it is through Islamophobia that western countries have taken control over the oil market. It is interesting to note that oil production has not seen a declining trend even though the chaos has engulfed the region. Iraq, Libya and Syria have been in a mess. It is terrible that now terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is being used to intervene while a wholesale blame is made on Islam; not the actions of western countries. It is also been seen that the protection of Israel has been in the minds of all politicians of the western countries.

In western world, war is an industry that employs millions of people and sustains their economies. Their main export is the goods of war. Millions of dollars are spent by each and every country to promote research and development in this field. Recently, arms deals have been estimated to the amount of 60-70 billion US Dollars. Off course, it has witnessed increasing trend after the rise of ISIS. After the recession of 2008, the western countries have sold millions of war weapons to the middle-east and countries around the world. The aggressive media and interests of war industries have been averse to peace as it supports them. Peace for them means recessions and more unemployment and so war is to be extended to keep generating profits. War companies have been reluctant to let any peace deal to come to its final conclusion.

Most of the western countries have seen a declining fertility rates. The high expectancy has become a problem for them as their existence is under threat due to continuous immigration. Islamophobia has been used to keep check on the migration to their nations and also to contain the conversion of their own people to Islam. Islam has been the most growing religion in the West. Islamophobia has been deliberately used to keep Muslims out and contain the rising trend of conversions. It is a deliberate attempt to kill two crows with one shot. It is the reason why every terrorist activity is blamed on the Muslims.

Islamophobia has many facets: cultural, political and social. However, what they promote is completely against what Islam teaches. Islam came with a message of peace for the world. It brought peace to the Arabian region that was fraught with wars, casteism and idol worship. The Holy Quran says ‘Humanity is but a single Brotherhood: so make peace with your brethren (49:10). At other place it says ‘And we have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds (21:107]

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Author is Ph.D Researcher at Department of Economics, Aligarh Muslim University. He can be mailed at [email protected]

Photo: Jews for Racial and Economic Justice