May 1, 2019 – AMP Report
Istanbul conference addresses Islamophobia
AMP Report
The second International Conference on Islamophobia, organized by the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (IZU), was held under the theme Islamophobia: Analyzing its Discourses and Geopolitics, will see world renowned experts on the subject discussing various facets of the growing problem of Islamophobia.
Last year’s conference was themed Contextualizing Islamophobia: Its Impact on Culture and Global Politics. 
The three-day event featured over 20 renowned speakers and scholars including Anne Norton of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S., author of the important book ‘On the Muslim Question’, which she says has become the great question of our time; Salman Sayyid of the University of Leeds, UK; Vice President of Turkey’s Diyanet Selim Argun; Talip Kucukcan of the University of Marmara, Turkey; Tamara Sonn of Georgetown University, U.S.; Farid Hafez of the University of Salzburg, Austria; Hatem Bazian of the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.; Ihsan Bagby of the University of Kentucky, U.S.; Dalia Fahmy of Long Island University, U.S.; Luwei Rose Luqiu of Hong Kong Baptist University, China; and Varsha Basheer of University of Kerala, India.
Islamic scholars from around the globe deliberated on the roots and geopolitics of Islamophobia at a three-day conference (April 12-14, 2019) in Istanbul, Turkey.
Mehmet Bulut
In his opening speech, IZU rector Mehmet Bulut said Mehmet Bulut, the rector of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, said anti-Muslim racism threatens human rights in grave and unconscionable ways.
Stating that Muslims all around the world continue to bear the burdens of anti-Muslim ideology, he said: "In Myanmar, the native Rohingya have been brutalized, killed and expelled for their Muslim faith."
"In India, Islamophobia has taken an ugly turn in Kashmir and other states, where Hindu nationalists have been turning peaceful co-existence into polarized communities. Uyghur Muslims are similarly being subjected to industrial-scale persecution.
"Despite the visible concern, many leaders and public figures have for these breaches of basic human rights, and despite the dangerous implications of Islamophobia on peace and democracy, very little has been done to address these many problems head-on," he added.
Bulut said it was incumbent on all "concerned citizens of the world" to address the dire problem of Islamophobia in all its manifestations.
Anne Norton
Also speaking at the event, Anne Norton, professor of Political Science and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, underlined the importance of solidarity among Muslims and allies to combat anti-Muslim hatred.
"For example, in New Zealand, the indigenous people did their traditional dance Haka for Muslims," she said. "…These acts of solidarity are profoundly important in showing to people that they have common aims."
At least 50 Muslim worshippers were massacred, with as many injured, in a terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15.
" To combat Islamophobia and other forms of hatred and bigotry, we have to learn to love the difference," she said.
Norton said Islamophobia was part of a "greater network of bigotry and xenophobia" including that of antisemitism and anti-black racism.
"There is a long history here (in Istanbul) of living with difference and of living well with the difference. I think this place between Europe and Asia with this history is perhaps the best site to combat Islamophobia," she noted.
Speaking of the imperial powers across the world including the Ottoman Empire, Norton said: "Even in the United States, on television, one can see the revival of the Ottoman past in public space and the Ottoman past in public cultures."
"What interest me more is the philosophic contribution that can be taken from these empires," she said.
Norton also said people needed to be protected from the power of the state as well as from "torture, hunger, separation from their families and deprivation".
Discussing the geopolitics of Islamophobia, Salman Sayyid, professor of rhetoric and decolonial thought at the University of Leeds in the U.K., observed that Islamophobia "transcends geography", underlining that it was not the behavior of the victims that was to blame for Islamophobia.
"What did the Rohingya ever do to deserve their fate? It is not a problem of behavior," Sayyid said.
Dangerous role of think-tanks
Explaining the dangerous role of think-tanks in rationalizing Islamophobia, Farid Hafez, a senior researcher and lecturer at the University of Salzburg in Austria, said “like the counter-jihad movement, some right-wing circles or different foundations support specific political interests. They are supporting think tanks in order to create knowledge”.
“They get funds in order to support, to analyze the reality; and what we can observe when it comes to anti-Muslim agendas within certain think tanks, they are following specific goals. They are offering expertise, offering advises to political actors," he added.
Islamophobia and anti-Semitism
Explaining similarities and differences between Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, Tamara Sonn, a professor at Georgetown University in the U.S., said: “Islamophobia is hatred toward all Muslims because of the perceived actions of some Muslims. Similarly, anti-Semitism is hatred of all Jews because of the perceived actions of some Jews. These forms of bigotry must be dealt with together."
Islamophobia and anti-Semitism "share a common thread", Sonn said.
Asim Qureshi, research director at London-based advocacy group CAGE, said Islamophobia is a “kind of racism, not only because it employs the logic of racism, but also because it pathologizes Muslims”.
In her presentation on the rise of the alt-right and mainstreaming of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S., Dalia Fahmy, an associate professor of political science at Long Island University, said that there was a dramatic increase in anti-Muslim violence since 2015.
Arab autocrats and Islamophobia
Speaking on how Islamophobia was used as a tool in supporting autocratic rule, Usaama al-Azami, a lecturer at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education in the U.K., said Arab autocracies were the world’s “most powerful Islamophobes”. 
“[And] the geopolitical context of [such a phenomenon] is the Arab spring,” he said in his presentation.
His talk was corroborated by Dr. Sami Al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), who said: “We have some governments in the region, in the Muslim world, who are helping Islamophobes and empowering practitioners of Islamophobia in order to fight their own citizens and movements because they are trying to keep their privileges and autocratic regimes.”
Hatem Bazian, a professor and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, said Western views of Islam are often constructed with limited or no actual engagement with Muslims -- theologically, culturally or philosophically.
“Islamophobia is not simply a form of cultural racism; it has roots in historical, biological racism against the inferior other,” he said.
Ahmed Bedier, president of the U.S.-based organization United Voices of America, said Islamophobia is more than just racism.
“It is a deliberate network with deep political roots,” Bedier said.
“Islamophobia is more effective today because Muslims are weak,” he added.
Legal framework needed
In his recommendation, CIGA director Al-Arian said that understanding Islamophobia at every level is important and it needs to be confronted at all levels.
“We need to educate and then act to confront Islamophobia,” he stressed.
Talip Kucukcan, a former member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and current professor at Istanbul’s Marmara University, said a legal framework against Islamophobia is needed.
“Otherwise, whatever work we do [to fight Islamophobia], it will melt down,” he said.
He insisted that politicians need to be involved in raising the issue of Islamophobia.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has 57 member states, he said, and this issue needs to be raised and nation-states need to be engaged.
Speaking about Islamophobia in India, Varsha Basheer, an academic at the University of Kerala, said the Muslim community requires structural changes from within.
“We need power other than the intellect,” she added.
Telling our story
Elsadig Elsheikh, director of the global justice program at the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, said there is a need for intervention at multiple levels, including society, education, public policy and “how we tell our story”.
“We need to decolonize ourselves, and there is a need for a lot of work within ourselves and our societies,” he said.
James Carr, a lecturer at the University of Limerick in Ireland, said Muslims need to "engage with the systems [of state] but with open eyes”.
"We need to display a robust Muslim identity," Carr said.
Shaireen Rasheed, a professor at Long Island University, said Muslims must also build coalitions with other communities.
“Scholars need to translate their words into action,” she said.
Ravza Kavakci Kan, a lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, said attacks like last month’s mosque shooting in New Zealand cause more tension in society.
“But by seeing that the people of New Zealand came together and stood in solidarity [with the victims] gives us hope as human beings in a world where there is increasing discrimination, increasing xenophobia and increasing Islamophobia which are linked together,” Kan said.
[ This report is based on inputs from Anadolu News Agency/ International Islamic News Agency/ Daily Sabah]
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
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Maryam Turab
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