Crime and the fear of Muslims

Islamophobia, much like xenophobia, is not fundamentally about fear. As a phobia, it is irrational, but it has its rationality. It is ideology, and its purpose must be sought in what it does. One of its functions is found in social control of Muslim immigrant minorities in ‘western’ nations. It is deployed to that end by the socially powerful and exploitative, both wittingly and unwittingly, both manipulatively and (in Tony Blair’s famous formulation) ‘in good faith’ (cited in The Independent 2016). This includes the social construction of ‘suitable enemies’ (Fekete 2009) in times of social and economic turmoil, allaying any crisis of hegemony. It is also practised by the subaltern, not entirely ‘behind their backs’, but in socially constructed ignorance: the working class thus being disorganised by racism and distracted from pursuing their collective common interests. Trump’s agenda, including the ‘Muslim ban’, is as clear an indication of this as could be needed. Further, the ideology of Islamophobia functions to legitimate the ongoing pursuit of empire, in its contemporary form. The criminality of Muslims, the crimes or criminogenic nature of Islam, are therefore not the question. The important question is about the ends to which they are invoked – and the means.