I'd like to believe that I'm objective; I think that I'm fair in what I write and say. Fairness and objectivity are two reasons why I have to call out a recent opinion piece by Khaled A Beydoun which was published on the Al Jazeera website. Beydoun is another Muslim writer who would have us believe that "Islamaphobia" is a form of racism. Admittedly, Beydoun defines Islamophobia as "the suspicion and fear of Islam and its 1.7 billion adherents", but he seems to be confused on the definition of "racism".
Islam is not a race. Islam is a religion and a belief-system whose believers come from a variety of races and ethnic backgrounds. Not all Muslims are Arab. You could, logically argue that Islamophobia is a form of bigotry, but I'm not at all certain that that description fits Trump.
I would modify Beydoun's definition of the word Islamophobia as "an unreasonable suspicion and fear of Islam". So, we'd have to ask if Trump's fear of Islam is unreasonable?
While calling for a ban (temporary or otherwise) of all Muslim immigration into the United States might be extreme, there are elements in Islam which do pose a threat to Western civilization and picking out which Muslims are extreme, and which are not, is not an easy task.
Beydoun claims that the "word brand Trump" is becoming synonymous with the expansion of racism and the incitement of Islamophobic violence. That may be true among the political Left where the word racism is thrown about carelessly, but I've seen little evidence of Islamophobic violence in the United States.
To my knowledge, no American is calling for the beheading of Muslims.
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