“Islamophobia” is a word I cannot trust. It hides the truth. What we face is racism. A deep, old racism that puts people in boxes before they even speak. A racism that judges them not for who they are but for where they come from. This racism has a name—Orientalism. It has a face—the supremacy of white culture. And it has roots—roots in the power of the church, in the histories of empires, in the belief that one way of life is better than all others.
But this word, “Islamophobia,” does something dangerous. It turns the story around. It tells us that criticizing Islam is the same as hating people. It tells us that questioning religious conservatism, calling out patriarchy, and standing against the harm done in the name of religion is wrong. It takes away our voice, our right to speak against injustice, and wraps it in silence.
And this silence is not about race. It goes deeper than that. In cities across Europe, you hear the echoes of hatred. In protests for Palestine, there are chants against Jews. There are flags of Turkey and Qatar, states that have their own bloody hands in oppression. Turkey blocks clean water for a million people in Rojava, and Qatar pours money into conservative groups that spread division. Yet, all of this is accepted. All of it is tolerated under the cover of something they call “cultural relativism.”
This “relativism” is a lie. It is Orientalism wearing new clothes. It is racism hiding behind academic theories. It says, “We must respect other cultures, even if they oppress.” But what it really means is, “We will turn away from injustice as long as it doesn’t threaten us.”
When some people in the West, claiming to fight against colonialism and racism, insult an opponent of Islamic fascism in Iran so cruelly, denying their truth and spreading lies about their society, there is another kind of racism on the other side. It is the kind that sees the color of someone’s skin or the scarf on a woman’s head and, with just one look, demands that this unfortunate person from the East explain themselves.
I cannot accept this. I will not be silent. Criticizing Islam is not hate. It is asking for freedom—for women, for those who are silenced, for those who are told they must obey. It is standing against the same forces that once silenced others, whether in the name of Christianity, empire, or power.
Islamophobia, as a word, tries to confuse us. It wants us to believe that calling out harm is the same as causing it. But we must see through this trick. Racism is real. Orientalism is real. And the fight against oppression, no matter what shape it takes, is a fight we must take on with clear eyes and brave hearts.
What you think?