Editing Islamophobia (section)

==Criticism==
Although the term "Islamophobia" is widely recognized and used,{{sfn|Poole|2003|p=218|loc=''The Runnymede Trust has been successful in that the term Islamophobia is now widely recognized and used, though many right-wing commentators reject its existence or argue that it is justified. However, now becoming a catch-all label for any harassment involving Muslims, it should not be considered unproblematic''}} its use, construction, and the concept itself, have been criticized.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Moten |first=Abdul Rashid |author-link=Abdul Rashid Moten |editor-last=Shahin |editor-first=Emad El-Din |editor-link=Emad Shahin |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics |title=Islamophobia |volume=1 |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973935-6 |pages=618–620}}</ref> Additionally, the exact meaning of Islamophobia continues to be debated amongst academics and policymakers alike. The term has proven problematic and is viewed by some as an obstacle to constructive [[criticism of Islam]]. Its detractors fear that it can be applied to any critique of Islamic practices and beliefs, suggesting terms such as "anti-Muslim" instead.<ref name="A Dictionary of Sociology">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Sociology|edition=4th
|editor=John Scott|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|title=Islamophobia|isbn=978-0-19-968358-1|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199683581.001.0001/acref-9780199683581-e-2536|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The classification of "closed" and "open" views set out in the ''Runnymede report'' has been criticized as an oversimplification of a complex issue by scholars like [[Chris Allen (academic)|Chris Allen]], [[Fred Halliday]], and [[Kenan Malik]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Chris Allen|title= Islamophobia |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|isbn= 978-0-19-530513-5 |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-1178|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Professor Mohammad H. Tamdgidi of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, has generally endorsed the definition of Islamophobia as defined by the Runnymede Trust's ''Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All''. However, he notes that the report's list of "open" views of Islam itself presents "an inadvertent definitional framework for Islamophilia": that is, it "falls in the trap of regarding Islam monolithically, in turn as being characterized by one or another trait, and does not adequately express the complex heterogeneity of a historical phenomenon whose contradictory interpretations, traditions, and sociopolitical trends have been shaped and has in turn been shaped, as in the case of any world tradition, by other world-historical forces."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Tamdgidi | first1 = Mohammad H. | year = 2012 | title = Beyond Islamophobia and Islamophilia as Western Epistemic Racisms: Revisiting Runnymede Trust's Definition in a World-History Context | url = http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Tamdgidi.pdf | journal = Islamophobia Studies Journal | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | page = 76 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131029212606/http://crg.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Tamdgidi.pdf | archive-date = 29 October 2013 }}</ref>

Although a range of Western commentators have expressed objections to the term "Islamophobia", in his paper "A Measure of Islamophobia", British academic [[Salman Sayyid]] (2014) argues that these criticisms are a form of etymological fundamentalism and echo earlier comments on racism and antisemitism. Racism and antisemitism were also accused of blocking free speech, of being conceptually weak and too nebulous for practical purposes.<ref>Sayyid (2014) 'A measure of Islamophobia' Islamophobia Studies Journal, Vol 2. No. 1, pp. 10–25.</ref>

The French philosopher [[Pascal Bruckner]] calls the term "a clever invention because it amounts to making Islam a subject that one cannot touch without being accused of racism."<ref name="Bruckner">{{cite magazine |last1=Michael Walzer |author1-link=Michael Walzer |date=Winter 2015 |title=Islamism and the Left |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/islamism-and-the-left |access-date=2 November 2015 |magazine=[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bruckner |first=Pascal |date=2010-11-23 |title=L'invention de l'"islamophobie" |url=https://www.liberation.fr/societe/2010/11/23/l-invention-de-l-islamophobie_695512/ |website=Libération |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lévy |first1=Elisabeth |last2=Mihaely |first2=Gil |date=2012-10-29 |title=Pascal Bruckner : L'islamophobie, ça n'existe pas ! |url=https://www.causeur.fr/pascal-bruckner-islamophobie-19758 |website=Causeur |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

The [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]] has been criticized for restricting [[freedom of speech]] and [[freedom of religion]] by describing [[apostasy]] and [[heresy]] as Islamophobia.<ref name="j971">{{cite book | last1=Marshall | first1=Paul | last2=Shea | first2=Nina | title=Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=1 December 2011 | isbn=978-0-19-981226-4 | doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812264.001.0001}}</ref>

The concept of Islamophobia as formulated by Runnymede was criticized by [[Fred Halliday]]. He writes that the target of hostility in the modern era is not Islam and its tenets as much as it is Muslims, suggesting that a more accurate term would be "Anti-Muslimism". He also states that strains and types of prejudice against Islam and Muslims vary across different nations and cultures, which is not recognized in the Runnymede analysis, as it was specifically about Muslims in Britain.<ref name="Aldridge1">{{Cite book |last=Aldridge |first=Alan |title=Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction |date=1 February 2000 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=978-0-7456-2083-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionincontem0000aldr/page/138 138] |url=https://archive.org/details/religionincontem0000aldr/page/138 }}</ref> Poole responds that many Islamophobic discourses attack what they perceive to be Islam's tenets, while Miles and Brown write that Islamophobia is usually based upon negative stereotypes about Islam which are then translated into attacks on Muslims. They also argue that "the existence of different 'Islamophobias' does not invalidate the concept of Islamophobia any more than the existence of different racisms invalidates the concept of racism."{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=166}}{{sfn|Miles|Brown|2003|p=165}}{{sfn|Poole|2003|p=219}} In a 2011 paper in ''American Behavioral Scientist'', Erik Bleich stated "there is no widely accepted definition of Islamophobia that permits systematic comparative and causal analysis", and advances "indiscriminate negative attitudes or emotions directed at Islam or Muslims" as a possible solution to this issue.<ref name="Bleich">{{cite journal | last1 = Bleich | first1 = Erik | year = 2011 | title = What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is There? Theorizing and Measuring an Emerging Comparative Concept | journal = [[American Behavioral Scientist]] | volume = 55 | issue = 12| pages = 1581–1600 | doi=10.1177/0002764211409387| s2cid = 143679557 }}</ref>

In order to differentiate between prejudiced views of Islam and secularly motivated criticism of Islam, Roland Imhoff and Julia Recker formulated the concept "Islamoprejudice", which they subsequently operationalised in an experiment. The experiment showed that their definition provided a tool for accurate differentiation.<ref name=Imhoff>{{Cite journal |last1= Imhoff |first1= Roland |last2 = Recker |first2 = Julia |date = 2012-08-17 |title=Differentiating Islamophobia: Introducing a new scale to measure Islamoprejudice and Secular Islam Critique |url=https://www.academia.edu/545302 |journal = [[Political Psychology]] |publisher = [[International Society of Political Psychology]] |via = [[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |publication-date = December 2012 |volume = 33 |issue = 6 |pages = 811–924 |doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00911.x}}</ref> Nevertheless, other researchers' experimental work indicates that, even when Westerners seem to make an effort to distinguish between criticizing (Muslim) ideas and values and respecting Muslims as persons, they still show prejudice and discrimination of Muslims—compared to non-Muslims—when these targets defend [[Illiberal democracy|illiberal]] causes.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1111/pops.12416|title = Western Anti-Muslim Prejudice: Value Conflict or Discrimination of Persons Too?| journal=Political Psychology| volume=39| issue=2| pages=281–301|year = 2018|last1 = Van Der Noll|first1 = Jolanda| last2=Saroglou| first2=Vassilis| last3=Latour| first3=David| last4=Dolezal| first4=Nathalie}}</ref>