Islamophobic incidents

Islamophobia denotes prejudice against, or hatred or irrational fear of, Muslims.The Times, Tamils kill 116 Muslims, 13 August 1990

Associated Press, Tamil Rebels Order Muslims to Leave City, 17 June 1995

The act took place when around 30 Tamil rebels raided four mosques in the town of Kattankudi, where over 300 people were prostrating during prayers. The LTTE later apologized (during the 2000 peace talks) for this act and asked the Muslims to return back, but very few Muslims have taken up the offer.

United Kingdom

In March 2006, Jamia Masjid mosque in Preston was attacked by gangs of white youths using brick and concrete block. The white youths damaged a number of cars outside the mosque and stabbed a 16 year-old Muslim teenager. On July 6, 2009, the Glasgow branch of Islamic Relief was badly damaged by a fire which police said was started deliberately, and which members of the Muslim community of Scotland allege was Islamophobic.

In 2005, The Guardian commissioned an ICM poll which indicated an increase in Islamophobic incidents, particularly after the London bombings in July 2005. Another survey of Muslims, this by the Open Society Institute, found that of those polled 32% believed they had suffered religious discrimination at airports, and 80% said they had experienced Islamophobia. In July 2005, a Muslim man, Kamal Raza Butt, was beaten to death outside a corner shop in Nottingham by a gang of youths who shouted anti-Islamic abuse at him.

On the 26 August 2007 fans of the English football club Newcastle United directed Islamophobic chants at Egyptian Middlesbrough F.C. striker Mido. An FA investigation was launched He revealed his anger at The FA's investigation, believing that they would make no difference to any future abuse. Two men were eventually arrested over the chanting and were due to appear at Teesside Magistrates Court.

In January 2010, a report from the University of Exeter's European Muslim research centre noted that the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes has increased, ranging from "death threats and [...] to persistent low-level assaults, such as spitting and name-calling," for which the media and politicians have been blamed with fueling anti-Muslim hatred. The Islamophobic incidents it described include: "Neil Lewington, a violent extremist nationalist convicted in July 2009 of a bomb plot; Terence Gavan, a violent extremist nationalist convicted in January 2010 of manufacturing nail bombs and other explosives, firearms and weapons; a gang attack in November 2009 on Muslim students at City University; the [...] in September 2009 of Muslim pensioner, Ikram Syed ul-Haq; a serious assault in August 2007 on the Imam at London Central Mosque; and an arson attack in June 2009 on Greenwich Islamic Centre." Other Islamophobic incidents mentioned in the report include "Yasir, a young Moroccan," being "nearly killed while waiting to take a bus from Willesden to Regent's Park in London" and "left in a coma for three months"; "Mohammed Kohelee," a "caretaker who suffered burns to his body while trying to PReVENT an arson attack against Greenwich Mosque"; "the [...]" of "Tooting pensioner Ekram Haque" who "was brutally beaten to death in front of his three year old granddaughter" by a "race-hate" gang; and "police officers" being injured "during an English Defence League (EDL) march in Stoke."

In August 2011, The Barnabas Fund, a charity for persecuted Christian minorities, began campaigning against what it said was the growing "Islamisation" of Britain.

United States of America

In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, many residents of Middle Eastern descent and African American Muslims became victims of the initial rage at "Muslim terrorists" as the initial news stories hypothesized. KFOR-TV's coverage of the bombing informed viewers that a member of the Nation of Islam had taken credit for the bombing. Even though the network cautioned that it might be a crank call, it repeated the claim throughout the day's coverage. KFOR had also mistakenly identified an Iraqi resident as "John Doe 2", which subjected him to public harassment and caused the loss of his job. It was also reported that an Iraqi woman had a miscarriage after men shouting anti-Muslim epithets shattered the windows in her home. According to a report prepared by the Arab American Institute, three days after the bombings, "more than 200 serious hate crimes were committed against Arab Americans and American Muslims. The same was true in the days following September 11." There were also suggestions on the radio that all Arab Americans "be put in internment camps". Moreover, Daniel Zwerdling observed that "while the planners of the 'Time For Healing' service took great pains to be inclusive and to include Jews, Catholics, and evangelical Christians among the religious leaders at the service, Islamic groups were excluded".

In the aftermath of 9/11, hate crimes against people of Middle-Eastern descent increased from 354 attacks in 2000 to 1,501 attacks in 2001. Among the victims of the backlash was a Middle-Eastern man in Houston, Texas who was shot and wounded after an assailant accused him of "blowing up the country" and four immigrants shot and killed by a man named Larme Price who confessed to [...] them as "revenge" for the September 11 attacks. Although Price described his victims as Arabs, only one was from an Arab country. This appears to be a trend; on account of stereotypes of Arabs, several non-Arab, non-Muslim groups were subjected to attacks in the wake of 9/11, including several Sikh men attacked for wearing their religiously mandated turban. According to a report prepared by the Arab American Institute, three days after the Oklahoma City bombing (which was committed by a Caucasian man), "more than 200 serious hate crimes were committed against Arab Americans and American Muslims. The same was true in the days following September 11."

Zohreh Assemi, an Iranian American Muslim owner of a nail salon in Locust Valley, New York, was robbed, beaten, and called a "[...]" in September 2007 in what authorities call a bias crime. Assemi was kicked, sliced with a boxcutter, and had her hand smashed with a hammer. The perpetrators, who forcibly removed $2,000 from the salon and scrawled anti-Muslim slurs on the mirrors, also told Assemi to "get out of town" and that her kind were not "welcomed" in the area. The attack followed two weeks of phone calls in which she was called a "[...]" and told to "get out of town," friends and family said.

While en route to Chicago, Shahrukh Khan, a well-known Bollywood actor, was held for what he described as "humiliating" questioning for several hours in Newark Airport, New Jersey because of his common Muslim surname Khan. He was released only following the intervention of The INDIAN embassy.

On August 25, 2010, a New York taxi driver was stabbed after a passenger asked if he was Muslim.

The Dove World Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Florida planned to burn Qurans on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Despite warning from the military leadership in the Afghan War, Terry Jones, the pastor of the centre, said it would be "tragic" if anybody's life was lost as a result of the planned Quran burning. While he added "Still, I must say that we feel that we must sooner or later stand up to Islam, and if we don't, it's not going to go away." His church's website claims to "expose Islam" as a "violent and oppressive religion;" it also displays a sign reading "Islam is of the Devil."

In March, 2011 the Center for Security Policy released a study which concluded that "religious bias crimes - also known as hate crimes - against Muslim Americans, measured by the categories of incidents, offenses or victims, have remained relatively low with a downward trend since 2001, and are significantly less than the numbers of bias crimes against Jewish victims."

On March 21, 2012, Iraqi-American Shaima Alawadi was found in her home (which had been broken into) in El Cajon, California, badly beaten, next to a note that read "Go back to your country, you [...]". She was taken off life support on March 24, 2012 and died shortly afterwards. Alawadi was the mother of five and had recently moved to southern California from Detroit. Her husband is also Iraqi; he works in the defense industry acting as a cultural advisor to members of the American military who are going to be stationed in Iraq. Her family had received a threatening note earlier in the month. On November 8, 2012 Shaima Alawadi´s husband Kassim Alhimidi was arrested for the [...] and the police stated that they believed the [...] was a result of domestic violence.

In April 2012, various media sources reported that the Joint Forces Staff College taught an anti-Islam course. The course taught that "they [Muslims] hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you." It also proposed justified the destruction of the cities of Mecca and Medina "without regard for civilian deaths". The course was suspended after a student objected to the material.

In early August 2012 U.S. Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL) said at a town hall that radical Muslims were “trying to kill Americans every week.” Soon after his remarks several attacks against Muslims took place in his district, including an August 12 acid bomb attack on a Muslim school in Lombard, Illinois during evening Ramadan prayers and hate graffiti found on August 16 in a Muslim Cemetery. There also were several other attacks of mosques with pellet guns, acid bombs, eggs, or unclean animal parts. Some incidents are being investigated as hate crimes.

December 27, 2012 in New York City 31 year old Erika Menendez allegedly push an Indian immigrant and small businessman named Sunando Sen onto the subway tracks where he was struck and killed by a train. Menendez, who has a long history of mental illness and violence, told police: "I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims… Ever since 2001 when they put down the Twin Towers, I've been beating them up." She has been charged with 2nd degree [...] as a hate crime.

Incidents on aircraft

Some incidents with Muslim passengers on aircraft have given rise to the expression "Flying while Muslim".

• On 16 August 2006 British passengers on board a flight from Malaga to Manchester requested the removal of two men of Asian descent from a plane. According to a spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga, "These men had aroused suspicion because of their appearance and the fact that they were speaking in a foreign language thought to be an Arabic language, and the pilot was refusing to take off until they were escorted off the plane." A security sweep of the plane found no explosives or any item of a [...] nature. Monarch Airlines booked the men, who were Urdu speakers, into a hotel room, gave them a free meal and sent them home on a later plane. The men later responded, "Just because we're Muslim, does not mean we are [...] bombers." The Islamic Human Rights Commission blamed "ever-increasing Islamophobia" related to the "war on terror" for the incident.
• A passenger traveling to the British Virgin Islands on a plane bound for the United States from Manchester in the UK was forced off the plane prior to takeoff. The man, a British-born Muslim residing in the United States, said he was singled out because he was a Muslim pilot and was left feeling "demoralized and humiliated. I must have met the profile on the day. I have an Arabic name, I am a Muslim, I'm from Britain and I know how to fly."
• On 21 November 2006, six imams were forcefully removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport for security reasons. The event led to an outcry from Muslim organizations in America saying that what happened showed the growing prejudice against Muslims in America. Investigations by the airline and police so far have reported that the airline and ground crews responded to security concerns properly in removing the men from the plane. See Flying Imams controversy for more details regarding this incident.
• In 2009 AirTran Airways removed nine Muslim passengers, including three children, from a flight and turned them over to the FBI after one of the men commented to another that they were sitting right next to the engines and wondered aloud where the safest place to sit on the plane was. Although the FBI subsequently cleared the passengers and called the incident a "misunderstanding," AirTran refused to seat the passengers on another flight, forcing them to purchase last minute tickets on another airline that had been secured with the FBI's assistance. A spokesman for AirTran initially defended the airline's actions and said they would not reimburse the passengers for the cost of the new tickets. Although the men had traditional beards and the women headscarves, AirTran denied that their actions were based on the passengers' appearance. The following day, after the incident received widespread media coverage, AirTran reversed its position and issued a public apology, adding that it would in fact reimburse the passengers for the cost of their rebooked tickets.

Politician-related incidents

• Oliver Duff of The Independent said in 2006 that the British National Party attempted to use increasing Islamophobia to make gains in local elections.
• The Islamic Human Rights Commission gave U.S Attorney General John Ashcroft a nomination for their 2003 "Islamophobe of the year" award for publicly saying, "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you"
• The UK Minister Peter Hain's statement that Britain's Muslim community is "isolationist" was met with accusations of Islamophobia, as well as Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's public claim that Western civilization is superior to Islam.
• CAIR and the Associated Press called United States Rep. Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (R-VA) islamophobic for his Dec. 2006 letter stating that Rep-elect Keith Ellison's desire to use the Qur'an during the swearing in ceremonies was a threat to "the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America" and for saying "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies."
• Concerning the US state of North Carolina’s position (as expressed by their attorney general’s office) in the ongoing case of ACLU of N.C. & Syidah Matteen v. State of North Carolina that the only swearing-in for testimony in court that was valid had to be on a Christian Bible (and that all others must choose to affirm), CAIR's Legal Director in Washington D.C, Arsalan Iftikhar, said “This shows there's a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment, especially here in the United States.”
• British cabinet ministers had been criticized in October 2006 for helping to "unleash a public anti-Muslim backlash" in the United Kingdom by blaming the Muslim community over issues of integration despite a study commissioned by the Home Office on white and Asian-Muslim youths demonstrating otherwise: that Asian-Muslim youths "are in fact the most tolerant of all" and that white British youths "have far more intolerant attitudes," concluding that intolerance from the white British community was a greater "barrier to integration" in the United Kingdom. A Europe-wide survey by Gallup in May 2009 also found that the Muslim communities in Britain, Germany and France felt more patriotic towards those countries than the general populations in those countries, while another survey found that Muslims supported the role of Christianity in British life more so than Christians themselves.

Media-related incidents

• A 2008 amateur shoot 'em up computer game called Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious [...] had as its aim [...] all Muslims that appear on the screen. The game's creator took down the game's download site with a statement of apology on his personal website, stating his original intention in releasing the game, to "mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion." He said this had not been understood by the wider public and that its release "did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people." However, it later emerged that the apology was indeed fake and the original game was an act of a political statement and not of anti-Muslim sentiment.
• In September 2012 the group Stop Islamization of America, which has been labeled a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, ran advertisements in the New York City subway reading "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." Several groups condemned the advertisements as "hate speech."
• Fawzia Afzal-Khan, CounterPunch, Weekend Edition August 24–26, 2012.

  In early January 2013 a related group put up advertisements next to 228 clocks in 39 New York subway stations showing the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center with a quote attributed to the Koran: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.” The New York City Transit Authority, which said it would have to carry the advertisements on First Amendment grounds, insisted that 25% of the ad contain a Transit Authority disclaimer. These advertisements also were criticized.

See also

• Islamophobia
• Persecution of Muslims
• Religious intolerance
• Religious persecution