Nice article, Irfan - but I tend to agree with Pericles, in that I see Islamophobia as more of a product of ignorant fear than of the mindless hatred that spawned the Holocaust. Mind you, the cause of the fear and hatred that produce these destructive sentiments is a bit like the old chicken and egg: does the fear cause the hatred or is it vice versa?

Certainly, several of the boofheaded comments above could emanate from either root cause. But I agree that it is the fear that seems to predominate, and I'm also hopeful that over time it will dissipate and take much of our society's anti-Islamic prejudice with it. Unfortunately, as some of our correspondents demonstrate, there will always be a small but hateful minority who need an object for their misanthropy.

My previous last line:

There is something very ominous and wierd when such things are not 'got'.

*points to CJ Morgan's post*

Notice how "anti Islamic prejudice" is reserved for the Boof headed?

Yet.. this anti Christian anti Jew prejudice is......well.. 'quite ok'

Surah 9:30 ".. (Jews and Christians) may Allah destroy them" (Shakir translation)

Funny...I absolutely don't find any 'anti Muslim' comments in the Bible....not a single one... from Genesis to Revelation...nothing.

as I said.. its weird when people don't 'get' it.

CJ.. you wonder why people keep on ? Your position seems to be "PUH-lease stop reminding of the facts...
a) I have my mind made up and.
b) I'll just ignore them anyway."

Well done CJ.. you would do well to heed the words of another poster who quoated Mark Twain "Its better to be silent when people say ur a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" :)

Boazy: "Yet.. this anti Christian anti Jew prejudice is......well.. 'quite ok'...

Funny...I absolutely don't find any 'anti Muslim' comments in the Bible....not a single one... from Genesis to Revelation...nothing."

You should heed your own advice, Boazy. Who says that "anti Jew prejudice" is "quite ok"? Irfan certainly didn't and neither did I. And as I've said before, I've got no problems with Christians who aren't in the business of spreading hatred, trying to convert me or trying to impose their morality on the rest of us.

As for there being no mention of Islam in the Bible, I don't suppose you've considered that the fact that it was purportedly written 600 years before the advent of Islam would have anything to do with it?

As I recall, the Old Testament has quite a bit of negative stuff to say about other religions, and the New Testament has been used as the basis for anti-Semitism for centuries. That comment is as stupid as redneck's one about Paradise - I don't suppose we atheists would be welcome in the Christian Heaven either, if indeed it existed.

You and your redneck cohorts should read more Mark Twain and watch less YouTube, I reckon. Xenophobic fear and loathing may not be restricted to the boofheaded minority, but it certainly finds its dumbest expression there.

to boaz-david..."Surah 9:30 ".. (Jews and Christians) may Allah destroy them" (Shakir translation)"

boaz you have to stop translating the koran so litteraly...even muslims whom read it everyday in its original language dont have the confidence in its meaning...they say that each sura and its sentence or aya has 9 levels of meanings...and apparently revealed as one goes through life and moves up the path of spiritual development...

your interpretation could also be interpreted as 'a duty on muslims to recognize evil souls and prevent their acts' or 'protect the holy land from organized evil souls' or 'protect and defend the good souls' and so on...not globally 'christians/jews/select arabic tribe'...and for that matter history shows under islamic control all allowed to jeursalem to pray...

koran is considered not just a book but 'god actually said'...and why no translation from its original arabic is allowed to be called koran but 'interpretation'...and worse its language is as cryptic as christ sermons(bar book of thomas)...so until you learn arabic then read the koran, then have meaningful theological discussions with others on possible meanings or got your spiritual eye open and understand its meaning this way...you are just speculating and just that...and literally translating parts of koran as proof that islam is a blindly violent religion is pushing things too far...remember each muslim has to tackle the issue that their soul has to answer for its own actions while having a body before god on judgment day...think about that...

Sam

Surely resentful and deluded Islamists have passed their Used-By Date? I am sick to death of these whingers. Why must we Australians continually have to listen to and read their interminable sooking over their own failures?

Newsflash. Anti-Semitism was based on lies. On the other hand, the entire world is now aware of what the Islamists are up to. Islamophobia is totally rational

Irfan, while some analogies between anti-Jewish sentiment and anti-Muslim sentiment exists it is never the less important to be aware of significant differences between the two.

In 1935 Germany passed legislation, the Citizenship Law, which distinguished between citizens of the Reich and "subjects" who were henceforth deprived of all civic rights. Only those of German or related blood could be citizens. Jews did not qualify. Further,the law for the Defence of German Blood and Honour forbade marriage and extramarital relations between Jews and citizens of German blood.

There is no similar institutionalised discrimination against Muslims anywhere in the Western world.