9/11: DOB of Islamophobia

September 11, 2006—The fifth anniversary of the birth of Islamophobia

It is a custom in India that when a Muslim bride bids farewell to her parents’ home, the Holy Quran is held slightly above her head. The significance of this ritual is that as the bride prepares to step into her new home --- that of her husband --- she carries with her the blessings of the Holy Book. So that she is happy and secure in her marital life. In line with this practice, I remember the Quran being held over my sister’s head during her wedding on December 27, 2001.

Circa September 7, 2006. My sister was preparing to return to the US (her marital abode) after spending a three-month-long vacation with us (our family). Relatives and friends flocked to visit us and showered my sister with gifts. One of our religious friends gifted her a frame that had the Surah Fatiha inscribed on it, a CD of the recitation of the Holy Quran and a box of Lebanese sweets labelled in Arabic. My sister was elated to have such wonderful gifts. Yet, she decided not to take them with her to the US. And we too advised her not to carry the frame, the CD or the box of sweets. Simply because we were worried that the CD, the frame and perhaps even the box of sweets could land her into trouble at Western airports. Yes, we, who had placed the Holy Quran atop my sister’s head on December 27, 2001 so that she leads a blissful marital life were worried on September 7, 2006 that carrying the same Holy Book could spell trouble for her. Were we wrong? Morally, yes. But contextually, right. For anything and everything written in Arabic, especially if it has something to do with Islam, smells of fish to the Non-Muslim world. For instance, peace activist Raed Jarrar was forced to take off his T-shirt at the JFK airport in New York last month because it had the slogan “We will not be silent” written on it in Arabic! Not very long ago, three young Muslim men were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi because they were talking to each other about the “masail” (the Arabic/Urdu word meaning problems) faced at airports. The person sitting next to them thought the bearded Muslim men were talking of “missiles” and reported to the police. They were interrogated for 12 hours before they were left free without any charge.

Islamophobia --- an epidemic that has engulfed the world ever since September 11, 2001 ---- is refusing to recede. Five years on, it is just getting stronger. Islamophobia --- which I expect would soon make it to the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries--- affects two groups of people in strikingly different ways. One group comprises the Non-Muslims. The other group comprises the Muslims. The Non-Muslims are phobic of Islam because they think it breeds Osamas and Osama wannabes. They are the more popular and direct victims of Islamophobia. The other group – the Muslims—are the unrecognised and indirect victims of Islamophobia. For whenever they do or say something that exerts their Islamic identity, they are likely to fall prey to the Islamophobia-infected minds of Non-Muslims.

Islamophobia may be more visible at airports. But its other strains could be found elsewhere. Like the Internet. You’d find many Muslims refraining from forwarding Islamic mails. What if those mails are misinterpreted by someone who’s scrutinising them? You’d also find Muslims afraid of donating to charities that help their brethren in militancy-affected areas. What if they are accused of funding terrorism? And now Muslims may also be wary of using cellphones and laptops in an aircraft. Why? Because the 12 men who were arrested at the Amsterdam airport on August 23 for allegedly suspicious behaviour arising out of using and exchanging cellphones aboard a Northwest Airlines plane all happened to be Muslims!

Yes, the sad reality five years after 9/11 is that Muslims have never been so insecure as before, that they have never been put under such a ferocious scanner as before. People all over the world are marking the fifth anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack ever. It’s time they marked five years of the onset of Islamophobia too and searched for its permanent end.