There is no such thing as Islamophobia

The UK grooming gang scandal is not new, but the scandal becoming a, if not the, central issue in the country politics is. The problem was brought into the limelight by billionaire Elon Musk’s tweets. For decades, the rapes of thousands, maybe lakhs, of white girls did not attract the attention of the system as these should have, for the rapists were primarily Pakistani Muslims. There were a few convictions, but a lot of culprits could not be brought to book because police, prosecutors, and other authorities feared that more convictions would make them vulnerable to the charges of Islamophobia and racism. These bugbears send a chill down the spine of Westerners.

In this article, I will focus on the phony concept of Islamophobia.

But before that it would be instructive to note that many truths woke mobs have long tried to bury in bunkum and disingenuousness; one such truth is: that most terrorists are Muslims. There are extremists in all communities; they often adopt violent means to make their obnoxious presence felt; but there are hardly any instances of terrorism involving other religions anywhere in the world.

These are facts that any person who reads a newspaper knows; no amount of sophistry and circumlocution by pinkish professors and Left-leaning editorialists can refute these facts.

The UK and the US are among the most diverse countries in the world. A reasonable Brit or American sees people of all religious groups—Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and of course Christians—in their country.

While terrorism knows no religion, most of those usually involved in terrorist activities are Muslims, not just in the UK and the US but all over the world. Muslim terrorists have killed lakhs of people all over the world. In Jammu and Kashmir alone, more than 8,500 people, including 4,953, have died since 2000.

Muslims also have the problems of assimilation; they want the Shariat law to be imposed. The hardliners in the community also want to convert the entire world to Islam and ensure that Shariat is universally adopted.

Is it illogical for a Brit or American to fear Muslims? After all, Hindus and Buddhists don’t want their religious codes to become applicable in Western countries; they don’t bomb London, Madrid, and New York; they don’t drive heavy vehicles into Christmas markets.

Westerners don’t fear Hindus and Buddhists. Why is Islamophobia discussed all the time, while there is hardly any mention of Hinduphobia or Buddhophobia? There is no mention of Hinduphobia and Buddhophobia because they don’t exist.

Islamophobia too doesn’t exist—for a different reason.

Merriam-Webster describes ‘phobia’ as ‘an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation.’ Thus, ‘Islamophobia’ is an inexplicable and illogical fear of Islam. What makes the concept phony is that this fear is neither inexplicable nor illogical, as mentioned above.

It is not surprising that British parties are divided over the issue of Islamophobia. The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) said in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” Many parties, including the Labour Party, Lib Dems, and Scottish Conservatives, accepted it, but neither the then government nor the Conservative Party accepted it.

Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Opposition and the Conservative Party, said on January 8, “The Labour Party has adopted the APPG definition of ‘Islamophobia.’ The same APPG report said that talking about sex groomers was an example of Islamophobia. This is exactly why people are scared to tell the truth, and the lack of clarity means that innocent British Muslims are smeared by association… Will the Prime Minister look again at the Labour Party’s adoption of the definition of ‘Islamophobia’ and its chilling effect, and rule out introducing it in government?”

Ideas have consequences; bad ideas certainly have. The idea that birthed the phony concept of Islamophobia is essentially an illiberal, pre-modern idea: the idea that blasphemy is unlawful and, thus, punishable. It is aimed at undoing the grand achievements of mankind that emerged during the Age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century; these achievements were the product and function of the ideas of individual liberty, fairness, and equality.

Free speech is the essence of individual liberty. Postmodern and New Left elites have worked persistently in the last half century to undermine the Enlightenment project; they have tried to replace individual liberty, fairness, and equality with the toxic package called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Other toxic wares promoted in the marketplace of ideas are political correctness and multiculturalism.

And since in the Left’s scheme of things, nothing is more sacrosanct than the dogmas of its putrid ideology, political and intellectual elites fought hard for decades to keep the grooming gangs scandal under wraps. Tens of thousands of (mostly minor) girls were raped and then denied justice; those who spoke against the unspeakable crimes carried out by Pakistani Muslims were vilified as racists, bigots, and Islamophobes.

The fact that it took the might and gumption of Musk to turn the tables speaks volumes about the baneful influence of woke mobs in the West.