I’ve been thinking about Islamophobia a great deal. Not just reflecting on the concept and its intellectual dimensions, but also writing about it in various ways: its structural, cultural, institutional, legal, societal and political norms, outcomes and processes, and the many different ways of trying to make sense of it. This has been going on for as long as I can remember, ever since I began my PhD on questions relating to Muslims and other South Asian religious minorities thirty years ago.
I think there are two things happening at the same time. These are two insurmountable forces moving against each other, and there is nothing to stop them. Nor is there anything to manage the space between them in a way that is progressive and inclusive for all. Instead, that space ends up reinforcing existing power relations, which invariably generate more Islamophobia.
On the one hand, there is a growing global Muslim population, alongside a European Muslim dynamic of integration, assimilation and multiculturalism. This is creating significant population pockets, with implications for physical and cultural integration. It is an inevitable consequence of post-war migration and settlement patterns, compounded, at least in the UK, by entrenched problems of downward social mobility. Half of British Muslims live in the poorest 20% of areas in the country, while only 4% live in the richest 20%. That tells you there is a deep unevenness, and it is not going away.
In a book project I’m currently working on with a publisher, I explore the idea of the bent ladder, which I’ll also be discussing in Salford later this week. It’s hard to get out of the inner cities. And once you get through the education system and do everything that is expected of you, as you climb towards the top and try to move into senior positions, you are blocked. You are prevented from gaining full recognition and acceptance because of an inherent lack of trust that is beyond your ability to overcome. This stems from wider Western hegemonic norms built on racialisation, supremacism and xenophobia, and from all the institutional and legal outcomes that have flowed from them. This is why so few make it to the very top. Those who do can also face a very rapid slide down, routinely confronted by white fragility and the likelihood of being regarded as somehow just not good enough. One slight error or issue, and they are pushed out altogether. Unfortunately, it’s a very long drop from that height, and the climb back up is a lengthy journey, if it is possible at all. I’m giving this talk in three days, but I’m also working on a book that will speak to individuals who can reflect on their own stories in this way.
So why does it have to be this way? Because a generalisable political movement has emerged in the Western political landscape that makes it acceptable to speak out against Muslims and immigrants, even though colour racism, sexism and homophobia are no longer considered acceptable. Unfortunately, the current climate has permitted a generalised Islamophobia that reinforces existing power relations between Muslim minorities and majority societal structures and norms, which over time have come to feel a sense of threat: of elimination and of replacement. This idea is promulgated by various transnational political forces with economic might behind them. They are able to convince malleable minds that their group is under threat, and that this threat comes from Muslims and immigrants in particular, especially as today’s immigrants tend to be of Muslim background, notably those fleeing persecution and seeking asylum.
These, then, are the two immovable forces. On one side, there is a natural and inevitable progression in Muslim growth and integration, driven by Muslims’ own will and effort, combined with resilience, determination and opportunity where it can be realised. On the other, there is huge resistance to the visibility and proximity of Muslims in institutions and public life. That resistance grows far stronger and more determined, in ways that lead inevitably towards the clash of civilisations presented forty years ago. Not because it was real, true or verifiable, but because it was a thesis designed to promote the Western hegemonic model after the end of the Cold War. It is now becoming the self-fulfilling prophecy it foretold all those years ago, turning a hard-right political project into an economic, social and political reality.
This is why, for many people, it seems they are only ever a small step away from being regarded as a threat or a problem by systems and institutions that simply cannot understand Muslims in all their heterogeneity, diversity and immensely rich cultural heritage. Such is the power of the homogenising forces of racialisation and exclusion. And while the UN and European institutions may make positive noises about Islamophobia, national governments tend to weaken these efforts. In the UK, Islamophobia has been diluted into the idea of hostility, which then frames any resistance to it as a notion without legal force. This strips away the dynamics of institutional discrimination and treats the issue as a cultural, interpersonal matter, leaving it weaker than ever. I know the people behind the UK definition did everything they could to make it as strong as possible, but they were always up against it. Many would ultimately say they have betrayed communities. It is fairer to argue that they tried, but the outcome was almost inevitable from the start. The wins are small and limited, while the pushback is often greater and stronger than ever.
These are the two irreconcilable, immutable and unfathomable forces working against each other, with no clear path forward. The most likely direction is further conflict, misunderstanding, division and polarisation, which those with power and vested interests can exploit easily and effectively, using communication and media technologies that give them more reach and authority than at any time in human history.
And now for the good news: it doesn’t have to be this way. Gen Z is rising across the West. Germany and the Netherlands, in particular, have seen mass youth movements challenging dominant norms in ways reminiscent of the 1960s, when a generation felt left behind by the progress achieved by the one before. In France, too, the recent clashes have seen young people take to the streets in large numbers, refusing to accept a political order they feel has failed them. This resilience and appetite for change is real and significant. It is global, and it is emerging just as the movements it opposes are collapsing from within.
Fascism, authoritarianism and populism were all the rage until very recently, but Viktor Orbán has been removed after 16 years. A youth movement in Serbia has unseated the political order there. Spain has a progressive leader who is willing to stand up to the imperial obsessions of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, which is itself struggling just a day before the midterms. It looks as though the Democrats will win the House resoundingly, leaving a lame-duck president for two years who will probably lash out as he brings the whole house down with him. Literally. But that is something we might have predicted in advance.
In the UK, smarter voices are now rising up with a fundamental desire to reverse Brexit, which was an absolute disaster of the most disproportionate kind. It was built on lies, deceit, misdirection and misinformation, and driven by a whole host of individuals aligned with global power structures. Their aim was essentially to sow disarray and unsettle democratic norms in the West while securing offshore tax breaks for their rich friends. In the end, though, common sense has prevailed. Without a doubt, I can see Brexit being reversed within perhaps five years, if not sooner, and my greatest hope is that it happens as soon as possible.
In the Middle East, too, Netanyahu has been unable to form a government, and the Israeli parties still won’t work with the Arab parties, despite pronouncements that Israel is the most democratic nation in the region. The likely outcome is a change of leadership and a shift away from the hard-right, extremist, ethno-nationalist policymaking that has characterised Israel in recent years. In India, Modi is not as powerful as he once was. And in Turkey, Erdoğan faces presidential elections in 2028, which he may well lose in the face of rising youth movements.
What these young people want is better standards, improved futures and a restored planet, one that is safe and secure for all. They get diversity, they get inclusion and they get humanity in ways that are necessary and right in today’s world. With that comes an understanding that Muslims and Islam are part of this landscape, an unavoidable and undeniable reality. That is something to be proud of and to embrace, rather than retreating into a sense of supremacism that leads to isolationism, self-selection and the hoarding of wealth, power and status, and ultimately to the destruction of the planet and potentially of humanity itself. Younger people are simply smarter than they have been for a long time, and that is a good thing for all of us.