Islamophobia" and Today's Ideological Jihad
By focus ing on "Isla mophob ia" inste ad of the unplea sant reali ties of
'Islam, the UN dishonors past and present victims of jihad terror, andcol-
ludes with terrorists, Although this stance is born of political correctness
and a putative concern to prevent vilification of innocent Muslims, it
act u a l l y p r e v e n t s h o n e s t a t t e m p t s b y M u s l i m s a n d n o n-
M u s l i m s t o address the actual sources of jihad terror and find some
way to turnMuslimsaway from the path of violence.
What is Islamophobia, anyway? jou r n a l i s t a n d Is l a mi c
a p o l o g i s t S t e p h e n S c h w a r t z d e f i n e s " Is l a mo p h obia" this way:
Notwithstanding the arguments of some Westerners, Islamo-
phobia exists; it is not a myth. Islamophobia consists of:
attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the
world
condemning all of Islam and its history as extremist
denying the active existenc e, in the contempor ary world, of
a moderate Muslim majority
insisting that Muslims accede to the demands of non-
Muslims (based on ignorance and arrogance) for various the-
ological changes in their religion
tre ati ng all con fli cts inv ol vin g Mus li ms (in clu din g, fo r
example, that in Bosnia-Herzegovinaa decade ago), as the
fault of Muslims themselves
inciting war against Islam as a whole'
While there may be by this definition some Islamophobes in the world,
Schwartz actually obscures more than he reveals. Does labeling as "Islam-
,bic" the practice of "attacking the entire religion of Islam as a prob-
tor the world" mean thatit isalso Islamophobic to focus attention on