Navaid Aziz – Islamophobia What to know and do about it

			aka Julian barakallahu, calm, melodic minor him al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa Sallim
wa barik ala nabina Muhammad in LA early he was off big Marian and my bad. My dear brothers and
sisters, I'm going to start off just straightforward right away. Yesterday we received the
horrendous news that Alexander Bissonnette was going to have his sentence reduced from 40 years to
25 years, and allow him parole after 25 years. Now, when you look at this incident, it often gets
overshadowed by Christ Church, and after Christ Church, there was a big uproar across the world, in
terms of how we need to tackle right wing extremism and online hate speech because it directly
		

			played into that. And while that global uproar, it did a lot for creating awareness on Islamophobia.
What it did, that had an adverse effect was overshadow the incident at the Quebec mosque. And I know
we're going to be having our beloved brother, Mohammed RBD. Speaking later on in this, but I believe
it ties directly in to this. Now, our responsibility towards this, and this is some that we keep on
seeing is that the lives of Muslims are often perceived, not as valuable as the lives of non
Muslims. And you will often see that the rights of Muslims are often perceived as not as valuable as
the rights of non Muslims. And this is going to be this has been a recurring theme. And it continues
		

			to be a recurring theme, and we have an obligation to fight it. And that is why when this event came
about, I was honored to that the MS Society and much of mine in Ottawa, invited me to speak about
this, because it's something that is very near and dear to my heart, and something that I believe we
as Muslims, and specifically, Muslim Canadians, across Canada, need to be participating in and
advocating for in fighting Islamophobia, in our country and across the world. So let us start off,
firstly, by when we talk about Islamophobia, what exactly are we speaking about, and I referred, or
I rather research multiple sources, but one of the best sources that I came across, and I'll be
		

			sharing this later on as well, is a book called The fear of Islam, by Todd H. Green. And this was
published in 2019. I believe it's a second edition that was published in 2019. And he had the most
comprehensive definition that I would like to expand upon. He says it is the fear of and hostility
towards Muslims and Islam, that is rooted in racism. And that results in individual and systemic
discrimination, exclusion, and violence targeting Muslims and those perceived as Muslims. It's a lot
to take in. Now, the fear and hostility towards Muslims, and Islam. So now, when we think of public
perception of Islam, how do we believe or what do we think the world and Canadians across Canada
		

			perceive Muslims? Is it favorable? Is it non favorable? We're going to be going into statistics a
bit later on. But that's what the first part of the definition is referring to that are people
actually afraid of Muslims? And does that fear lead to hostility towards Muslims? Now this fear and
hatred towards Muslims? Is it rooted in racism, if it is rooted in racism, meaning it leads to
discriminatory actions on an individual level or systemic level, then that is, by essence,
Islamophobia, and that will further leads to exclusion and violence, targeting Muslims and those
perceived as Muslims. Now, why does it talk about those perceived as Muslims, because if you look at
		

			it, historically, the very first person that died, post 911, as an Islamophobic attack was actually
a Sikh Muslim. So it was it was actually a Sikh individual, they perceived him to be Muslim, and
this they attacked him and killed him. And this was right after 911. So that's what it says those
perceived as Muslims is included in this definition. So now it is this fear and hostility towards
Muslims and Islam. Is it founded, not founded, obviously, that is something academics, I've
discussed a lot. Some of the problems that academics face when discussing Islamophobia is where is
that fine line that the West, you know, finds itself promoting in criticizing religion, particularly
		

			Islam, versus, you know, attacking Muslims and discriminating against them? This is something that
academics are struggling with right now. And the Muslim community has a very big burden on its
shoulders, to disseminate what is actually mainstream, real Islam versus that which is perceived to
be Islam, by the actions of a few criminals or even actions that are done culturally but are are
attributed to Islam. Now, what are the aims and objectives of Islamophobia if you would agree
		

			breaking them down. What are some of the objectives, there was a report that was done by running
meat in 1997. And this was presented to the British government, in hopes of, you know, having more
of an inclusive society, more of a multicultural society. And he talked about Islamophobia. And
perhaps this was the first one of the first reports, or at least one of the first reports, I was
able to find, that talked about Islamophobia as a real discriminatory movement prior to that it was
just inclusive in the general form of racism against colored people. Now, the aim of Islamophobia is
several, but four of the main aims and objectives of Islamophobia is to prove that Islam is
		

			monolithic and static. Number two, that Islam is separate and other number three, that Islam is
inferior. And number four, Islam is the enemy. These are some of the main objectives, or four of the
main objectives that I came across of Islamophobia. Now, this leads to a very important conversation
is Islamophobia an intentional movement or an unintentional movement. And I think we need to
recognize that there are parts of the Islamophobia movement that are unintentional, people literally
just don't know any better. They've just been watching too much Fox News, they've been exposed to
too much propaganda, and thus, they have a negative perception of Islam. But then there's another
		

			component to the Islamophobia movement, that actually is intentional, that in deliberately, in
Milan, maligns, Muslims and Islam in a very negative Limelight, to make it perceived as these things
that we spoke about. And you're there is one of the books that I'll be recommending the Islamophobia
industry later on in the presentation, and this books, but this book basically proves how you have
these movements, and a lot of them in the United States of America, some of them from the Middle
East itself, as well, that does a lot of damage in funding these groups that basically just focused
on targeting the Muslim community. So now let's get back to the aims that I was speaking about. So
		

			the first aim is that Islam is monolithic and static. What is it trying to prove over here? What
does this actually mean? When you say Islam is a is as monolithic and static, it's referring to that
Islam is just one movement, and it is just one denomination, and just one group of people and all
Muslims are exactly the same. Now, fundamentally, in terms of a creed system, yes, I would say 99.9%
of Muslims will have the same creedal values. But that still does not mean that Islam is a monolith.
And the objective behind this aim is to prove that if we can say that, that I should represent in
slam, then therefore, all of a sudden is like dash, and that is the aim behind this Islamophobic.
		

			The behind the sun for the behind this point, that Islam is a monolith, all of it is like that.
Number two, Islam is separate and other meaning that when we view Canadians, can Muslims actually be
Canadians? Can Muslims actually be Americans? Can Muslims actually be British, European, Australian,
or citizens of any other country, and then Islamophobia, it tries this, this deliberate movement, it
tries to prove that, in reality, Islam is separate and other, and therefore Muslims can not be
citizens that value, the same values as the countries that they are part of. And this is a very
important point, that if you look from a psychological and sociological perspective, before people
		

			can harm someone, they have to otherwise them, they have to be able to say that this person is not
from me or not from people that I cherish, and value, and therefore it is okay to harm them. And
that is one of the first processes that needs to take place. If you're able to prove that these
people's values are different than yours, and they don't cherish the same things that you do, you've
already begun the other ideation process, which is one of the first steps towards violence taking
place towards them. And that is the second day. Number three, the Islamophobia movement tries to
prove that Islam is inferior, and they will often take cultural practices, and say that this is what
		

			Islam actually promotes. So one of the biggest things that, you know, up until 2016 2017, that used
to be said was that Muslim women aren't allowed to drive. And obviously, this isn't they aren't the
one country. It might have been down to some other countries, but it was mainly just inherent to one
country, and Islam. And the Muslim community was maligned by that saying that Muslim women were
oppressed. If you look throughout history, and the rights that Muslims had, and this is on a tangent
by itself, you've seen sisters that have done great work in this sisters like Dahlia Mujahid and
others that talk about the liberation of women through Islam, and how over time, it wasn't that
		

			Muslim women became more
		

			First, it was at the definition of freedom changed. And when the definition of freedom changed, then
comparing the, you know, our morals and values that are grounded in our faith to Western New, you
know, Neo liberal secular values, obviously, there is going to be some sort of conflict over there.
So you can refer to those talks by by didyma, Jade and others. So when they talk about Islam being
inferior, it is about our values, and our ethics. And when they tried to do that, it basically
promotes a second class citizenship that not all people are equal, because Islam is inferior,
therefore, they do not deserve equality. And last but not least, Islam as the enemy, meaning that
		

			Islam is at war with the West. And it's that there's a clash of civilizations that is taking place,
this is something that for those of you that have engaged with the academic field will come across
on a regular basis. But this is a directed divide promoted by the Islamophobia, industry, and those
that deliberately promote Islamophobia, that Islam is the enemy. And the US act like 911, the US
acts like, you know, the seven, seven bombings, the nice attacks, and all of these attacks that have
taken place, that the perpetrators were Muslim, and they attribute this they attribute to this to
Islam, what they don't want to look at is all of these movements that have come about in the name of
		

			anti Western, you know, feeling and sentiment, where were these movements, let's just say 100 years
ago, if you look at it, historically, Muslims migrated to Canada, in the 1870s. This is one of the
first migrants that we have documented to Alberta, to London, Ontario, and to some of these areas,
like labiche, you know, the first major migrant communities where Muslims migrated to. If Islam was
really at war with the West, then why is it that we have no documented terrorist attacks? Up until
that point, we only see the beginning of terrorist attacks done by Muslims and those that attributed
themselves to Islam very, very late on, you know, as early as the 1990, or sorry, as late and or as
		

			early, you're going to view it as the 1990s. Right 1990s onwards, that's when you first start seeing
these things. How about 120 years prior to that, that we have documented evidence that Muslims were
living in the West, and I was doing all Canada and North America, obviously, they migrated to
England and to France and other places much, much earlier on. But speaking in the North American
context, and this is what often gets ignored, that foreign policy has a huge role to play in this
invasion of Muslim countries has a huge role to play in this, you know, not helping Muslim countries
that are being persecuted by their own governments has a huge role to play in this overthrowing
		

			governments and leaving a vacuum there has a huge role to play in this. And all of this needs to be
looked at, as to why there are problems within the Muslim countries, and why there have been attacks
against the West in the in the quote unquote, name of Islam, even though it has something to do in
Islam with them itself. These are the acts of a few Muslims that claim to act with the name of
Islam, but in reality, Islam is free from their actions. So these are some of the main goals and
objectives of the deliberate Islamophobia movement. Now, what I want to look at is actually some of
the statistics that talk about what happens in Canada, what actually happens in Canada, and what the
		

			perception of
		

			of non Muslims is towards Canadians. So there have been multiple studies that have been done. The
one of the most famous ones that I was able to come across was by CJ PME, which is Canadians for
justice and peace in the Middle East. They did a 2018 survey on Islamophobia in Canada, where they
surveyed 1079 different individuals from November 24, to December 4 of 2017. And they found some
very alarming statistics that I wanted to share with you. So there are five main things that I'll
share from this survey, number one that Canadians are least comfortable with a figure of authority,
who wears hijab as opposed to any other religious garb. So this shows us that Canadians were very,
		

			very uncomfortable if they had a prime minister that wears hijab at 44%. Whereas if the Prime
Minister wore a cross, it was only a 21% level of discomfort. Canadians are more likely to harbor
negative status.
		

			Types against Muslim Canadians, then they are to Christians or Jewish Canadians. For example, more
Canadians consider Muslims, less tolerant, less adoptable, less open minded, more violent, and more
oppressive a women, then fellow Christians or Jews, they also found in the study, Canadians are less
comfortable welcoming a Muslim into their family versus people of other religious faiths. Whereas
only 12% of respondents were uncomfortable with a family member getting engaged to someone of a
different religious faith 31% were uncomfortable with a family member getting engaged to a Muslim,
so almost three times as bad. So the general sentiment and this understand this statistic, that if
		

			you were to get married to someone of faith,
		

			only 12% of people felt uncomfortable if the person was from a different faith. But as soon as that
person is identified as a Muslim, that jumps up to 31% 31%. So just under, you know, three times
more just under three times more level of comfort. Canadians believe in the protection of religious
values generally, but are less concerned for the religious rights of their Muslim co citizens. So
for example, 82% of respondents give importance to religious freedom generally, but only 68% of
Canadians give importance to the protection of the rights of Muslims to practice their religion. So
this shows us that Canadians in general, are very inclusive of religious practices, and they don't
		

			have a problem with faith being practiced
		

			by people. But as soon as it became the right of protecting individuals to practice their faith,
particularly Muslims, only 68%. We're okay with this. And then last, but not least, their fifth main
point was a surprising number of people 17% perceive the Canadian Muslim community as a monolith
with uniform views only. And this goes back to the point that I was making earlier on, that if you
can successfully identify Islam as a monolith, and therefore identify Islam as being sympathetic
towards the isotype movements, then therefore, all of Islam is evil, and wants to spread evil, and
so on and so forth. 17% of Muslims actually believed that Islam was a monolith, they did not know of
		

			any diversity of opinion amongst the Muslim community, which is very alarming. So this is one of the
main source of statistics that they found, again, was Canadian justice for peace in the Middle East.
And this is 2018. Angus Reed also did a study in 2015. And he found that 46% of Canadians have an
unfavorable view of Islam, more than any other religious tradition, fewer than half of Canadians
would find it acceptable for one of their children to marry a Muslim, lower than any other group.
56% of Canadians believe that Islam suppresses woman's rights, more than half of people living in
Ontario, feel mainstream Muslim doctrines promote violence. And for me, this was just absurd, like
		

			coming from Ontario, when you have major cities like Ottawa, like Toronto, and then you have big
Muslim populations, like you do in London, Ontario, and other parts of like Mississauga, Scarborough
and all these things. It was, you know, as they say, gobsmacking, to see that 52 that more than half
of people living in Ontario, felt that mainstream Western doctrines promote violence, which, you
know, boggles my mind. And this is going to lead to my point, when we talk about actions that
Muslims need to partake in to counter this, again, there's a very heavy burden upon us. 51% support
government surveillance of mosques. 31% Canadians approve American President Donald Trump's
		

			restrictions on travelers from Muslim majority countries. So these are some other statistics by
Angus Reed as well. And there are other statistics that can be shared, as well. Now, what is the
point of these statistics? The reason why I want to share these statistics is to show what people
actually believe. And when people actually have a belief system. There's a small minority of people
that will actually go on and act upon their invalid belief systems, and in this case, Islamophobic
belief systems. So these belief systems have led to assaults on the Muslim community. So we see that
in September of 2014, six Muslim students were attacked at Queen's University, may 2016, another
		

			student was attacked at Western University. It's led to violence against women. In 2011. A Muslim
woman wearing Hijab was with her children when she was attacked in Mississauga. In 2013, a 17 year
old was attacked in St. catharines. She was punched in the nose and had her hijab pulled off in
2015, a pregnant woman
		

			By wearing the hijab was attacked by teenagers in Toronto where they tried to pull off her hijab. It
is also alleged attacks on multiple massages like this these past couple of months. What we've seen
in Quebec, in particular has been horrendous. But let's just look at a timeline. On December
31 2013. A bomb threat was made against a mosque in Vancouver. On May 2014, a man tried to throw a
molotov cocktail through a mosque in Montreal on November 2014. On Nova on November 14 of 2015, a
day after the Paris attacks, the only mosque in Peterborough was set on fire in October 12 of 2020,
which is of this year, Toronto Police confirmed they are investigating threats made against a local
		

			mosque. The messages received by the most include the threat to do a Christ Church all over again,
to do a Christchurch all over again, this was October 2020, just a bit over a month ago. So it's led
to attacks on mosques as well. And obviously the biggest incident in Quebec history. As of recent
was the Quebec City mosque shooting were in January 2017, a gunman opened fire upon worshippers at
Islamic cultural center of Quebec, killing six and wounding 19 others and wounding 19 others. And
then, most recently, with another heinous crime that took place was on September 12, where Mohammed
Aslam is the face, who was a volunteer at the IMO was stabbed in the neck while he was just sitting
		

			outside the mustard. So those belief systems, it's very important to understand these statistics,
because then you can also see the proportion proportionate violence that will result from these
belief systems, whereas had Muslims when viewed in a positive light, then obviously, this would not
be taking place, and obviously this would not be taking place. Now, let me get to my conclusion, let
me get to my conclusion. Number one is increasing our own literacy on Islamophobia. I believe that
as Muslims, we are not as literate, as we should be about Islam or phobia. And what I want to share
with you are four resources, there are two books, one project, and then one academic article. So the
		

			two books and these are probably you know, if you want to prioritize what you should start with
these two books in general, I think, if you're interested in this field, or you want to get
interested in this field, there must haves. Number one is the fear of Islam, by Todd H. Greene is a
very valuable book to get second edition, as I mentioned, was published in 2019. So the fear of
Islam by Todd H. Green. then number two is the Islamophobia industry how the right manufacturers
fear of Muslims, this is by Nathan Chapman lean, Nathan Chapman lean, it also has two editions,
originally published in 2012, and then republished in 2017, try to get the 2017 version as you can.
		

			So those are the two books that I would recommend. Then there's a project called Project someone. So
Project someone.ca, if you go to this website, and search for Islamophobia, they actually have a
discussion on Islamophobia in Canada, in particular, very, very thorough, talks about a lot of
research that has been done particularly online as well, which is huge. And then last, but not
least, the academic paper that I wanted to share with you is Islamophobia in Canada, measuring the
realities of negative attitudes. And this was by Sarah Wilkins laflamme at University of Waterloo,
University of Waterloo. So these are some great resources that you can refer back to and increase
		

			your own literacy. Number two, is the importance of reporting hate crimes and Islamophobic attacks.
If you are a victim of an Islamophobic attack, and you have been threatened, by all means you need
to reach out to the nccn National Council of Canadian Muslims, you have to reach out to them and
report it. I know it is tedious, but there is the only way they can advocate for our rights, their
lobbying group that advocates for the rights of Muslims in Canada, you have to report your hate
crimes to them. And you have to report your hair your Islamophobic attack or how you are a victim of
Islamophobia phobic attack to your local police. These two groups in particular Yes, I know it's
		

			tedious. Yes, I know. It takes a long time. And yes, the fruits of our labor may not be seen in you
you may not get the justice that you deserve deserve in this life. And I'm not going to say that's
okay. But it's something we have to deal with for the greater good your award with Allah subhanho wa
Taala for your patients and helping them with some humanity will be there. But please, please take
the time to report to them. That is the only way the rights of Muslims can be advocated for by the
nccm and by your local police service. Number three, take time to talk to
		

			Researchers, one of the biggest complaints that researchers have is that when they look for Muslim
community members to talk about their experiences in places like Canada and United States, and in
Europe, there aren't people available that will take the time. I know sometimes they want one to
three hours of your time. But my dear brothers and sisters, if you can take that time, and perhaps
save someone's life in the future, would it not be worth it. So therefore, when we take time to
share our experiences, and to share our stories, and to help them get documented in academic
research papers, it goes a long way, when governments are trying to develop policy, and they use the
		

			research of these academics, and they use the research of these academics. Number four, and this is
mentioned as number four, not to show that it is the least, but it is usually something that is
talked about the most. And that is why put it as point number four. But in reality, it is the most
important, continue to seek the help of Allah subhanho wa Taala continue to make dua for your
community, for your society, for the country that you live in, for guidance, for protection. And for
all, for all say, this is something that we see is something that is often neglected that we do not
make enough dough for protection and for guidance for our societies and for the countries that we
		

			live in. And the Muslim community is a part of that. And the more we make dua for this, then
inshallah, the more our communities Stay safe, and the more that our communities are guided, then
inshallah less than this guidance is spread through Islamophobia and through other tactics, so it's
not to say that is the least important, it is the most important, I just shared it last, because it
is something that is often referred to the most it thought I would be under time when they started
my presentation. But Alhamdulilah polihale, we were able to cover all of this information. So I know
it's a lot of information that I shared. If any of you have any follow up questions, by all means,
		

			you can hit me up on Twitter, if you're using social media. If you want to email me about this
topic, please do email me, you can email me at [email protected] that's nav [email protected]. And we can
discuss Islamophobia further, I can share the resources and bounce ideas off of you as well. Last
but not least, get involved with the nccm Please, they're always looking for volunteers, and it's a
great growing experience as well for yourself and for the Muslim community. I pray that Allah
subhanaw taala protects our Muslim community in Canada and the Muslim Ummah all across the globe
that Allah subhanaw taala guides us and our non Muslim counterparts that Allah subhana wa tada
		

			gribbs is the tofield to represent Islam as it truly is, and that Allah subhanho wa Taala makes us
of those that live up to the example of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in
spreading Islam, not only through their statements, but through their actions as well. I mean, what
Afro Dhawan and 100 Allahabad mean sallalahu Southern botica in Vienna Mohammed winder earlier he
was talking to Jemaine Xochimilco and for your attention or Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi
wabarakatuh