Where does this internalized Islamophobia come from? In the 2019 study, only Muslims were less Islamophobic than Jews, but some Muslims still endorsed Islamophobic sentiments.
Over the last two annual polls conducted by ISPU, the findings reveal that white Evangelicals hold the most Islamophobic attitudes of any faith group while Jews are among the lowest. Called the “Islamophobia Index,” the measure is based on answers to specific survey questions regarding Muslims and their assumed behaviors. Over the last two years, the ISPU and Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative have used a measure tracking anti-Muslim sentiment that they developed. The findings are as interesting as they are unexpected. According to a study by the Institute for Social and Political Understanding ( ISPU), a research organization that studies American Muslims in depth, Muslim Americans can themselves be Islamophobic. New research, however, puts this notion into question. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it. The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small.Ĭlick here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of AllahĪlhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. With this sober reality, you might assume that American Muslims would be unified in collective opposition to the dangerous bigotry that is Islamophobia.
In other words, being Muslim means confronting an Islamophobia that is real, that is part of American government policy, and that can even be deadly. Being Muslim American means belonging to a faith community that, according to the research, endures the highest levels of religious discrimination in the country today. Being Muslim American today means worrying if your own house of worship will be attacked by a white supremacist, as happened in New Zealand, and in states across America. Being Muslim American today means dealing with a president who recently expanded his travel ban to six new countries, all of which have sizable Muslim populations. What surprised me was what all the Muslim students listed not as a privilege but as a source of marginalization: being Muslim. Unsurprisingly, my students pointed out many intelligent things, such as how English-language skills and physical ability are often unacknowledged as forms of privilege. Following Gay’s lead, I asked my students to reflect critically on their own lives, on when they benefited from certain forms of privilege and when they didn’t. Last semester, I was teaching Roxane Gay’s essay “Peculiar Benefits” to a class of college freshmen.