Greeting and happy Ramadan..

As from the subject I wanted to voice a few thoughts on Islamophobia - the word.

I think it is time we stop using this term as it is easily refuted as nonsense, and its use is used by some of the worst people in the worst debates. Firstly, the word phobia literally means "an irrational, intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people." I know of a man with a phobia towards trains and he cannot walk near a train track without shuddering. I know the term phobia has been used to define people who hate homosexuals, but I have first hand experience of people actually having a phobia towards gay men. Upon entry to a gay club a man tried to kiss me (I am straight btw) and I held him away, this was seen by a friend of mine who was with our group and became very uncomfortable (and would not visit the loo on his own) at the thought of having to keep another man at bay.. So, homophobia does exist and is a valid word.

Now, there are people who dislike Muslims, some more than others. there are some people who object to the slaughter of animals for halal food, for no other reason than the dislike of the religion of Islam that they hold. There are a number of websites popping up (youtube and facebook accounts, blogs, rss feeds etc) that are clearly either designed to offend Muslims or simply try to convert other people to the idea that Islam is bad and needs to be amended/banned/whatever.

I would describe these people (and websites) as anti-Islamic!

Just as Jew haters are called Anti-Semites, I think a similar term is more accurate.

Plus, there are quite a few people who can stand up and refute the term Islamophobe when it has been applied to them. an ex-Muslim who may be deemed an Apostate and may speak out against Islam as an ideology. Often these people are called Islamophobes, but when some Imam tells the press that that same person should be put to death, the word "phobia" really falls down. A homosexual living in an Islamic country might have very good reason to fear Islam, but would we call that a phobia? No, and only people with little imagination to build an argument would use that term to describe such a person.

Yet, foolishly.. There are many people who have called various critics of Islamic practices as Islamophobic (and even racist?). Examples of this can be found on youtube through news footage of Peter Tatchell, Mariam Namazie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and so on.

And so I think the term Islamophobia is damaging the actual arguments made by Muslims (and imho some often very good arguments). Take the Cordoba House proposed to be built near ground zero, surely no one could argue that it being built, given the US maintaining that freedom of religion is a right to all. Yet there are plenty of people who oppose the idea, and when they are called Islamophobes, they can reference some genuine critics of Islam who have been called that term despite not showing a single moment of hatred towards Muslims - reducing the words impact and weakening the argument against them.

And so I think people should start to use the term Anti-Islamic, as I think it is far more accurate and appropriate!