Is Islamophobia Necessary?
By Steve Huntley | January 17th, 2025
Thinking the unthinkable.
Maybe a little Islamophobia is not a bad thing. Maybe it’s even warranted. Or maybe even necessary.
That’s not a call to discriminate or hate.
No, it’s just a simple recognition that many bad things are done in Islam’s name. No other religion in the world has seen so much murder and bloody mayhem committed under its banner. A bombing, a mass shooting or a SUV plowing through crowds nearly always come with cries of Allah Akbar.
The most recent attack, a truck assault on merrymakers in New Orleans by an ISIS-flag-waving terrorist, has faded from the headlines. But no one thinks there’s a scintilla of hope that the New Year’s massacre will be the last attack in America by Islamist killers.
These atrocities targeting innocent civilians have gone on for far too long and in too many places. The Twin Towers in New York. An Army post in Texas. An Orlando, Fla., nightclub. The Boston Marathon.
The outrages leaving us in shock, grief and anger happen not just in America but around the globe.
The French massacre over cartoons of Mohammad. A French school teacher beheaded. Stabbing and car attacks on London Bridge. A beer truck driven into a Stockholm crowd. Bombings in New Delhi and Mumbai. Synagogues and Eastern Orthodox churches hit in Russia. And even Muslim-on-Muslim attacks in nations such as Turkey, Somalia and Pakistan.
And on and on the list goes.
Immediately following one of these atrocities in America or Europe comes a statement from some elite official huffing that Islam is a religion of peace. And that we can’t let ourselves succumb to Islamophobia, or racism, or xenophobia.
In other words, don’t believe your lying eyes.
Our betters think we’re racist to our core and that they must be on constant guard to keep our base instincts in check. To them, just seeing a Muslim fingerprint on terrorist atrocity after terrorist atrocity is racist.
And it’s not just terrorism that we’re asked to ignore.
In Britain, mostly Muslim Pakistani gangs raped and groomed for serial sexual abuse to thousands of English girls.
It’s been going on for many years and mostly ignored for all that time — in obsequious to the commandment not to blame Islam, not to stigmatize Muslims.
Only in recent weeks thanks to an X post by Elon Musk has this crime against humanity been exposed as the scandal it should have been seen as from the start.
The mask of the Islamophobia accusation/warning has been ripped off for all of us to see the victims.
Other outrages are occurring elsewhere in Europe.
Immigrants from Muslim nations have sexually assaulted more than 52,000 German women and girls since 2019 — a wave of sexual violence by foreigners not seen since the Red Army rolled over Nazi Germany raping virtually every women in its path.
Crime and gang violence have surged in Sweden, much of it attributable to immigrants who refuse to assimilate into the make-nice culture of Scandinavia. In France, more than 70 percent of prison inmates are Muslim. In Amsterdam, a Muslim mob attacked Israeli soccer fans in town for a sporting event.
In America and in Europe, Muslim immigration pulls in its wake the ancient poison of antisemitism.
The dark side of Islam has been on display in the harassment and intimidation of Jews on our elite college campuses and in the streets of London in pro-Hamas demonstrations.
And our woke betters tell us that we’re supposed to look the other way, that to see a Muslim connection in all this would be Islamophobia.
Muslims wounding our societies with terrorism and crime — and we’re not allowed to connect the dots out of fear of being labeled a bigot. To adapt today’s argot, its Islamophobia-shaming.
But people are fed up.
In Europe, unchecked mass immigration and the accompanying crime are behind a surge in recent elections by right-wing political parties—or “far right” as they are characterized in mainstream press accounts aimed at smearing them. Anger over illegal immigration also fueled Donald Trump’s stunning victory in November.
Of course, not all immigrant crime comes from Muslims. Laken Riley’s murder in Georgia — a crime that outraged the nation — was done by a Venezuelan.
Still, worry about Muslim terrorism is ever present in concerns about illegal immigration.
Islam is a religion of peace, they tell us. Okay.
But there’s Islam and then there’s Islamism.
Islamism is a culture of hate and death within the Muslim world. It holds nothing but contempt for our values of liberty and an open society. It has no interest in peace. Only in jihad violence. Only in damaging and destroying Western society. It’s not a small thing. It’s a significant, powerful movement within Islam.
And in Islam itself is a dark side. In Europe, which lacks America’s experience in assimilating immigration populations, there’s a strong current within Muslim communities scornful of Western norms, resistant to assimilating into European cultures and comfortable with sexual violence toward women and girls.
If it’s Islamophobia to recognize all that, then so be it.
At some point, in explaining terrorism, progressives will start spouting off about “colonialism” and “white supremacy” and “the oppressed” and the like.
It’s time to flush that kind of you-know-what down the toilet. It’s nothing but blame-the-victim rubbish.
The woke crowd will observe, correctly, that it’s not unknown after an attack for it to come out that the Muslim terrorist was born in this country. Or wasn’t even of immigrant heritage. That was the case with the killer responsible for the New Orleans deaths; he was an African American who converted to Islam and was radicalized through what he saw and read on the internet.
True enough. Still, the issue remains Islam. And no yammering about home-grown terrorism can change that.
What has changed is that the don’t-be-an-Islamophobe-shaming has been exposed for what it is — a subterfuge to keep us from demanding that government and law enforcement confront the Islamist menace and Muslim crime for what they are.
Islamophobia-shaming is the product of the identity-politics obsession of the left, a mania that decrees crime and terror can’t be associated with race, ethnicity, or religion.
We can thank Musk for ripping away the Islamophobia charade with his X posting about the horrors of serial and gang rape of English girls by the mostly Pakistani Muslims. And in Britain the Islamophobia smear is again being deployed by elites to try to deflect the public outrage over the rapes of innocent girls and the weak government and law enforcement response.
But the Islamophobia charge is losing its grip over us.
Progressives can try to dirty our fears and anger over the crimes and terrorism of Muslims with an accusation of Islamophobia as much as they want. But it shouldn’t work anymore.
Actual Islamophobia of course exists, and should be condemned, confronted and, where appropriate, prosecuted whenever it raises its ugly head against the mass of Muslims who, like the rest of us, only want to raise their families in peace and live the American dream.
But the constant handwringing about Islamophobia from the far left is making it a meaningless term. Just like the “racist” slur has come to mean basically disagreement with anything the woke crowd says.
Progressives have transformed Islamophobia into just another word for our very reasonable apprehension and anxiety over Islamist terror and crime.
Islamophobia shaming no longer has the power to stop us from seeing the world as it is.
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Steve Huntley, a retired Chicago journalist now living in Austin, Texas, has contributed other pieces to johnkassnews.com from an examination of the secret jail for Christopher Columbus and other politically problematic public art to an essay on Americans suffering from Joe Biden gas pain.
For almost three decades Huntley spent most of his career in Chicago journalism at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was a feature writer, metro reporter, night city editor, metropolitan editor, editorial page editor and a columnist for the opinion pages.
Before that he was a reporter and editor with United Press International (UPI) in the South and Chicago, and Chicago bureau chief and a senior editor in Washington with U.S. News & World Report. Northwestern University Press has issued soft cover and eBook editions of Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America by Truman K. Gibson Jr. with Steve Huntley, a memoir of a Chicagoan who was a member of President Roosevelt’s World War II Black Cabinet working to desegregate the military.
Comments 20
As with many religions, it is a small minority of fanatics with some historical grudge who perpetrate horrible crimes in the name of their version of God. Besmirching the entire population believing in that version of God is patently unfair and un-American. Many fanatics of various religious persuasions throughout the world are currently perpetrating heinous crimes in the name of their version of God. Southern Asia and Africa are good examples, but the worst, even compared to Salafists, is Moscow’s Russian Orthodox Church, which condones, promotes and blesses the horrors befalling residents of Ukraine. Ironically, most of those victims in Ukraine are ethnically Russians, speak Russian and are members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Fanaticism tends to “eat their own”, as much as their perceived religious enemies. (Other Orthodox Church, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, etc.)
In my experience in high school in Oak Lawn, Muslims and white kids and refugees from the Baltic countries got along. If there was prejudice, I didn’t hear about it. There was one student, Kevin Mathias, who was supposedly a neo-Nazi. But people stayed away from him.
On the topic of Islam itself, now that Oak Lawn’s demographics have changed and many Arab and Muslim newcomers are here, I do believe Islam needs a reformation. It is the youngest of the major religions, taking form in 800 A.D. It is also anachronistic in many of its tenets. The treatment of women is a huge black eye. So too are the royal Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran. In Iran, it took a huge protest to make it OK not to wear a hijab–and still the authorities sentenced protesters to death.
You might want to read Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book Heretic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heretic:_Why_Islam_Needs_a_Reformation_Now She was a former Muslim believer who was tired of being oppressed and now speaks for the need for Islam to change.
The biggest obstacle is the Saudis, who fund madrassas throughout the world that radicalize young Muslims into Wahhabism. This is the Saudis’ hard-core, antisemitic view of the world. It should be noted that the 9/11 hijackers were overwhelmingly Saudis.
I’m clueless as to how the comments are missing the point of Mr. Huntley’s column. He is not calling for hate. He is calling for the Western world to wake up to the fact that Islamism is the cause of much strife around the world, and we need to root them out. There is no reason to allow Islamism to flourish.
The main reason we are allowing those lacking basic Judeo-Christian values into our countries is because of low birth rates. We have sold generations of women on the idea that children are a detriment to their future, and now we are reaping what we sow.
We are on the road toward being like Israel where buses will not reach their destinations. We needn’t fear large scale terrorism like 9/11. We need, however, to be aware of upticks of violence against women and frequent, small scale terrorism the likes of New Orleans. There is no cultural acceptance of this if the West is to survive.
Very well said, Erin. I wouldn’t have expected Comments at JKN missing Huntley’s brave and important point, or pointing toward irrelevant mitigations. But that old “religion of peace” blindness keeps refusing to recognize the ongoing global war.
As my favorite commenter sometimes says, “bingo.”
Good column sir. There are many good and honorable people here in America of this faith. But unfortunately there are some here with bad intent. Pay attention America. If you see something, say something.
Treat a person the way they earn to be treated. Good, bad, or otherwise. Regardless of creed, color, or [insert special identity of the month]. Just the way your mother (should have) taught you.
I was going to visit my relatives in Ireland this year for my 75th birthday(not), but the Irish power structure keeps pushing its Jew-hating agenda locally and internationally. When challenged on their anti-Sematic Jew hating attitudes and practices they all claim their problem is with Israel and not the Jewish people per say, and in their responses, all use the old clique that they have in-laws or Jewish friends…where have I heard that claim before. As the Irish have lost their religion and are quickly losing their culture, I am sure Mohammad will replace Sean or Shamus as the given birth name. Perhaps the Irish should reread their great novelist James Joyce’s epic work “Ulysses” where his sympathetic protagonist the Jewish Leopold Bloom lived in the Irish universe of the character Mr. Deasy who proclaimed Jew merchants are already at work–sign of nation’s decline.
Good article with a rare but spot on observation: many if not most Islamic terrorists are home-grown converts. Most US Muslims are comfortably middle-class small businessmen and professionals – the gas station, Dr’s office, and 7-11 stereotypes are really accurate. Most new immigrants [I teach many of their children] every year are shocked by how wrong what they were told about the US was and what a good and tolerant place it really is.
Steve,
Excellent article, you have expressed my sediments exactly. Keep up your great work.
Mike DeMent
A frequent comment from apologists for both Islamacist grooming groups and illegal alien criminals I hear in both the US and from European nations is that “white citizens do that same crime more often,” with the implication being that we don’t need to worry about either the Islamacists or the illegal aliens, just arrest more people who are neither.
I call bullshit. Yes, anyone who commits crimes needs to be penalized. But on a per capita basis, not a raw numbers basis, both Islamacists and illegal aliens commit far more crimes. It needs to stop.
Bravo, Steve!
Islamophobia is just COMMON SENSE for anyone not of the Islam faith, our lives and those of loved ones may very well depend on our having open eyes and being watchful for neferious or suspicious activity in our community, from Islam, any other religion or social clique.
When the woke crowd took away “stop and frisk” from law enforcement a terrible mistake was made – taking away an important tool of law enforcement and our protection!
So glad this topic has been given reach by John.
Nice job Steve.
Well stated. There are too few with a public platform willing to confront those truths. The elites in news and entertainment loudly tear their shirts over abuses by Catholic clergy or Christian-affiliates. But the Salman Rushdie example set for them assures their crickets response as readily as their woke aspirations.
You will never see Alec Baldwin on SNL portraying a Muslim rapist in a parody skit.
Islamism, or radical Islam, has always been antithetical to Western values. Look at the history of the Islamic occupation of parts of Spain starting in the 8th century. Even then, the “radical” Almohad muslims decided that the moderate Moors were not “pure enough” in the eyes of Islam and fought their own to impose a stricter form of religion. They’ve been fighting the West for centuries and it won’t end.
Gutsy and well said, Mr. Huntley. The irony is most of us have met Muslims who are wonderful, outstanding people. On the other hand, when the sort of atrocities that Mr. Huntley describes, I’m always amazed at the lack of forceful condemnation from Islamic leaders. This, to me, likely highlights the extent and complexity of the problem.
I rarely agree with Steve but he’s totally right here. And I’ll go a step further. ISLAM IS A PHONY RELIGION! PURE AND SIMPLE: PHONY THRU AND THRU.
Name any high ranking member of this PHONY religion have a press conference condemning their terrorist brothers action. Trump should threaten to destroy Mecca if another attack like 911 happens.
And don’t forget that Islamist Army psychiatrist in Texas that shot and killed multiple of our soldiers waiting to go on leave. My mother’s Hispanic nursing
aide lost her pregnant niece and future husband, who were in Army, and waiting to go home to deliver the child they were going to have. The deaths destroyed that family.
One fact barely touched is the birth rate in the Muslim community. It far outstrips the rest of us. While polygamy is outlawed here the number of female “relatives” living in some households and bearing several children each, while collecting WIC or ADCor whatever your states term for welfare is, grows. Taxpayers support this plan to out populate the rest of us. The movement away from women becoming moms in numbers enough to REPLACE themselves has continued with emphasis on self and career etc. Like many of our readers I have friends of that faith. They contribute to society and want just to do their part and live the American/western dream. The hard liners who denigrate women, abuse them and subjugate them has to be kept in check.
Spot on Erin. Be vigilant people. Much is lurking in the shadows, just waiting, especially with wide open borders the past 4 years.
I’m with Professor Dershowitz on this – you don’t negotiate with Terror. You don’t negotiate with Islamists. Great article. I always told my sons, still tell them, every single ting in life is two things. If you can embrace this, yo will be twice as smart as anyone else.
There is Islam, and there are Islamists. You have to work hard to make sure they remain distinct.
As far as I am concerned, Israel is doing an incredible job in this space
We’ve been called all of the names.
They simply don’t have the power that they once had.
How much did we know about the “religion of peace” before 9/11/2001?
How many felt the need to learn about Islam and Muslims in order to “understand” the butchery of that day?
I have read extensively about Nazi Germany, because I wanted to find out what causes a people to willingly support the killing of their own people-German Jews; let alone their perceived enemies.
And so the ones who are left don’t have to wrestle with their moral dilemma, we only put on trial the ones who held the pistol or turned the gas valve…to kill MILLIONS.
What is wrong with requiring immigrants coming here legally for a “better life” to follow our laws and customs? Why the carve-out for their religion?
It wasn’t that long ago in this country that we literally went to war with the Mormons over their religious beliefs, most notably the number of wives a man could have. I believe Brigham Young had 22.
So, their religious tenets were at loggerheads with our laws, so they can still practice their religion, but cannot be married to more than one wife at a time. That’s the law.
Why can’t we expect the same from our Muslim community? Why can’t we say, “if you come to this country, you need to assimilate. No; you cannot marry a 9 year old and certainly cannot have sexual relations with them”. Why must we allow them to violate the rights of every young woman because in their religion, women have little to no value?
I’m afraid that there is a storm coming and it’s not going to be pretty. All of the indicators are there. All of the trigger warnings are there.
And it won’t be our government protecting us.