Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala'a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Islamophobia: Is it on the Rise or non-Existent in Sub-Saharan Africa

Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Islamophobia: Is it on the Rise or non-Existent in Sub-Saharan Africa? Muhammed Haron (University of Botswana) Abstract Whilst the issue of Islamophobia has generally been on the rise in European and North American nation states according to some reports, the question that confronts one is: whether it has been and whether it still is widespread in Africa? If not, then what are the reasons for it not being the case and if so then why does one note a qualitative difference in response to this phenomenon between Europeans/Americans and Africans(/Asians)? Even though this paper does not intend to pursue a comparative study, it wishes to reflect upon this phenomenon taking into account the broad African context before it zooms in on selected regions as brief case studies. But before returning to these and other relevant questions, it should be stated that some scholars argued and underscored that sensationalist (western oriented) media reports (see Richardson 2004: 75) and scandalous scholarly outputs produced by individuals such as Hammond (2012); some of the latter have been financially supported by (western based) think tanks and antiMuslim NGOs ignited and fuelled this phenomenon (Ali et al 2011). Indeed many studies have tangibly demonstrated to what extent outrageous media reports and disgraceful scholarship have helped to spread the notion that Islam - as a bona fide world religious tradition - is essentially irrational and fundamentally violent; and as a consequence of the skewed and questionable reasoning in these studies, they reached the conclusion that Islam’s devoted adherents are basically conservative in their outlook, opaque in their attitudes, and traditional in their behaviour and as a result are chief supporters of extremism and terrorism. The referred-to studies have shown that this type of reasoning is definitely problematic and unquestionably debatable and that they should be countered and challenged at different levels. When one seriously reviews and critically reflects upon the presence of Islamophobia in Africa - particularly in the sub-Saharan regions (such as East Africa and Southern Africa) where Islam forms part of the minority religious traditions – one finds few (African) newspaper reports or magazine feature articles perpetuating negative images of Islam and Muslims; this is so despite the fact that these regions’ communities have been wracked by incessant violence and relentless conflict that have been triggered by groups such as Boko Haram in West Africa or al-Shabab in Northeast Africa (i.e. the Horn of Africa). So whilst this is indeed positive and says much for Africa’s Muslim and non-Muslim relations and especially the latter’s views and opinions towards Islam and Muslims, one cannot argue that Islamophobia is not existent on the continent. Spurts of anti-Muslim positions have been on the increase in certain countries such as Angola where even Page | 1 Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 the government has stepped in to curb the presence of Islam and the growth of Muslims (Nkrumah 2015; Haron 2015). The essay’s purpose is three-fold: The first is to reflect broadly upon the concept of Islamophobia and here it intends to use Africa as its continental context; the second – using a Page | 2 textual studies’ approach – is to briefly make reference to the European setting before turning the focus to case studies from certain parts of Africa with special attention to Southern Africa where Muslims encountered flare-ups of anti-Islam/Muslim propaganda. And the third is reveal to what degree this phenomenon has taken root in African societies and to draw lessons from the African experiences. So in order to bring to the fore the African position, the essay extracts information from selected online (Southern) African newspaper reports;? the negative notions that have been associated with Islam and Muslims; views that reinforce the stereotypical arguments against this religion and its adherents. Key Words: Islamophobia, Islam, Muslims, Africa, Southern Africa, Media, Academia 1. Introduction When comparing Southern Africa to other regions on the African continent, it may be described as a relatively stable and moderately thriving region economically and politically; all of the region’s nation-states have adopted the democratic model of governance though one or two (namely, Zimbabwe and Swaziland) of these might be out of step with the model as such (Du Toit 1995; Omari et al 2007). But despite the region’s relatively secure position in the mentioned areas, it was rather unsettled and shaken by the sudden xenophobic flare-ups at different historical moments during the first few years of the new millennium (circa 2000-2015). These outbursts naturally led scholars such as Hassim et al (2008) to ask a series of difficult questions (a) about South Africa’s inability to effectively deal with this matter and (b) with the general attitude that South Africans adopt towards seasonal migrants and distressed refugees; some of whom hailed from neighbouring nation-states such as Mozambique and others from far flung ones such as Somalia. Though many of them have been granted temporary residence and some of them managed to become naturalized citizens, these have not helped to transform their status quo into positive outcomes; regrettably anyone known to be a foreigner from other parts of the continent were either harassed or attacked. These xenophobic assaults spiralled out of control and the South African government found itself in a very difficult position because the structures that it had in place in the late 1990s could not satisfactorily contain these outbursts and bring them to a peaceful end. Whilst these remain a challenge for the South African authorities as well as civil society, the concern lingers on as to how the government will be able to stop these terrible acts. Consequently many questions cropped up such as: why have these eruptions taken place? What was the cause for the series of attacks against the underpaid workers from neighbouring Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 countries and entrepreneurial migrants from other parts of the continent? Were these muggings deliberately instigated to unnerve South Africa politically? Why were South Africa’s Black communities aiming at fellow Africans such as the Somalis, Ethiopians and others who have demonstrated their enterprising skills and who have not been responsible for the inequalities that currently exist in South Africa? How come they did not attack the East Europeans who were Page | 3 brought by the apartheid regime to bolster the White population and who were given preferential treatment over the years? And were these xenophobic muggings also inherently Islamophobic since many Somalis and Pakistanis were targeted? Though this essay does not intend to deal with the debate regarding xenophobia it intends to comment on it en passant when discussing Islamophobia because they are cognate terms. It is, however, perhaps pertinent to briefly respond to one of the questions that made reference to pervasive inequalities because it is intimately related to the notion of racism that will also be covered in tandem with xenophobia. Numerous texts have been published that analyzed racism because it was a concept that was familiarly connected to the respective colonial and apartheid governments; both adopted a set of racist policies that deeply divided the South African society. This racist system, which was constructed to work in the interest of the White minority that freighted in the 1980s East Europeans to boost their demographic numbers, gave rise to poverty and inequality that were key characteristics of such societies. Though these two types of regimes do not exist anymore, the effects of their nefarious policies have been felt over a long period of time at different levels of the society. These racist policies’ outcome has unfortunately been so deep that even the current democratically elected South African government - since Mandela’s installation during April 1994 up until this day - has not succeeded to rid itself of both poverty and inequality; and the same can be said for its neighbouring states where these variables are also conspicuously visible. Here one may wish to make reference to a few relevant texts: the first is Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Nattras’ Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), which complemented Sampie Terreblance’s History of Inequality in South Africa (16522002) (Durban: University of Kwa-Zulu Natal Press, 2002), that analyzed the origins of inequality within the apartheid period and its persistence throughout the first decade of South Africa’s democratic rule; and the second is Herbert Jauch & Deprose Muchena’s Tearing us Apart: Inequalities in Southern Africa (Cape Town: Open Society, 2011) that, among others, identified the historical and structural causes of poverty and inequality and that proposed pro-poor alternatives to overcome these two variables regionally. Though Herbert Jauch & Deprose Muchena’s text did not underscore racism as a pivotal cause, this was invariably highlighted in Seekings & Nattras’ publication since racism was at the heart of colonial and apartheid rule; it was a key identity marker of the apartheid state. When one compares the current situation in Southern Africa to that of Europe, it may be argued that because of the nature of racism it effectively gave Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 birth to both xenophobia and Islamophobia. Since they are extensions of this key concept, they will be evaluated alongside one another and their commonalities will be stressed to highlight the links that exist. 2. Islamophobia: In Texts and Contexts Earlier in the introduction a few questions were posed pertaining to the cause for the xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans, and reference was made to, at least, three works that highlighted poverty and inequality as major spin-offs of racial policies that were formulated and implemented by colonial government in general and the apartheid government in particular. Since racism was central to these governments’ policies, an argument has been proffered that it is also a concept that gave birth to both xenophobia and Islamophobia. Though both may be considered twin concepts that emerged out of racism as has been the case in Europe - where this has been quite pronounced, the same cannot be said when one evaluates these two within the African framework; from the African perspective these two have been understood to be unrelated and thus slightly distinct from one another. Before revealing these dimensions and the commonalities that they share, a definition of racism at this stage would be instructive to illustrate the close connection that exists between it and the two mentioned concepts. 2.1 Its Cognate Terms: Comparisons and Correlations The concept ‘racism,’ according to Rattansi (2007), is not easy to define since it is ‘a multidimensional phenomenon.’ Rattansi explored and explained this concept quite thoroughly throughout the text; he made the point that the concept is connected to the word ‘race’ that contains elements from both biology and culture. The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary (www.merriamwebster.com) offered two uncomplicated definitions: the first is that it is ‘a belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race’ (over others), and the second is the concept simply means ‘racial prejudice or discrimination.’ And the online Cambridge Dictionary (www http://dictionary.cambridge.org/) recorded that it is ‘the belief that peoples’ qualities are influenced by their race and that the members of other races are not as good as the members of your own, or resulting unfair treatment of members of other races.’ Kalin (2011: 8) made reference to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance’s (ECRI) understanding of the concept; during December 2002 ECRI adopted a policy that defined the concept. The ECRI opined that it means ‘the belief that a ground such as race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic identity origin justifies contempt for a person or group of persons, or the notion of superiority of a person or a group of persons.’ ECRI, according to Kalin, asserted that unlike other religious groups the Muslims have been and are still discriminated against on the basis of all the mentioned elements that are captured in the concept’s definition. Page | 4 Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Now the fairly unsophisticated dictionary definitions and ECRI explanations provide a basic understanding of the concept; bearing in mind these, one can imagine how the colonial authorities and the apartheid regime conceptualized it, interpreted it and applied it so that it may work in their interest. Notwithstanding this, Rattansi noted that this concept came about because it was connected to cognate terms such as xenophobia (ILO et. al. 2005); he averred that instead Page | 5 of applying racism as a catch-all term in the post-Nazi period this particular nuanced term, which means Auslanderfeindlichkeit in German, gained currency within the German public domain; as a consequence it raised more questions since it essentially meant ‘fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners’ or worded differently ‘anything that is strange or foreign.’ Kim & Sundstrom (2014: 32-35) underlined the differences that exist between xenophobia and racism. Nonetheless, in the case of South Africa the indigenous isi-Zulu or isi-Xhosa speakers vented their anger and hostility towards Mozambiqueans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Ethiopians and Somalis who, they argued, have migrated to South African to ‘steal’ their jobs and as a result most of them are unemployed and homeless; these migrants, they harangued, contributed towards the perpetuation of the existing inequalities and the widening of the poverty margins that have wreaked havoc among the lower/disadvantage communities. Using these facile arguments, they tried to justify their xenophobic actions against these mainly African migrants and refugees. Though racism has been an age-old concept, the colonial administrations seem to have given it a special meaning that illustrated in concrete ways to what extent and how deep it affected communities that were discriminated against. Frank Griffel (2015: 30) made a telling remark when he pointed out that Muslims generally and Islam’s fundamentalists in particular considered racism along with imperialism to be inherent features of Western culture that have been manifested throughout history. That aside, whilst this term was given currency during the colonial era xenophobia and Islamophobia gained ascendancy during the post-colonial era; each of these terms has been encountered around the globe and hence their global relevance. Since Islamophobia attained a global status, many factors have contributed to this; so perhaps it’s now opportune to define and explain this term. 2.2 The Concept: An Explanation Before going back to Rattansi’s observations, one wishes to refer to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) depiction of a few stereotypical notions that Islamophobes perpetuate in their writings: among the statements that they circulate are that (a) Islam as a religious tradition is not only monolithic but that it cannot adapt to new realities, (b) it is not only inferior to the West but that it is incompatible with its value system, (c) it does not share any common values with any of the other religious traditions, (d) it is outmoded, barbaric and irrational, and since (e) it is a violent political ideology it supports achieving its goals through violent acts and terrorism. At this point, one wants to insert political scientist Quraysha Sooliman’s (2014: 36) Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 concluding remarks that echo those identified by CAIR (see Allen 2010). She underscored this when she stated that ‘Islam and Muslims are portrayed as an entity that is averse to modernisation and progress and at odds with western civilisation. The language employed by the proponents of this narrative diligently promotes these untruths. In any analysis or discussion of rebellion, resistance or violent aggression perpetuated by an individual identified as Muslim, usually all Page | 6 Muslims are held responsible for the actions and expected to apologise for behaviours which they do not identify with nor subscribe to, and Islam is put on trial. And even then, Muslims are not asked to contribute to the discourse; pseudo-academic analytical comment is offered on behalf of Muslims and Islam’ (Sooliman 2014: 36). Indeed pseudo-academics such as Peter Hammond and ex-Muslims such as Hirsi Ali, as Sooliman pointed out, are those individuals who come forth to speak about and strangely for Islam and Muslims; they do so as if they are the authentic voices. They are not and have never been but the West seems to believe so and accepts them as part of their team of experts. In any case, all the available evidence suggests that Islamophobes manufactured and constructed their ideas to denigrate and vilify Islam and Muslims in whichever way possible so that their beliefs and practices are rejected and they are marginalized wherever they find themselves. These Islamophobes have not only attempted to counter Muslim presence in the West but also in other continents such as Africa. On the latter continent, African behaviour has, providentially, been characterized and underlined by its philosophy of ubuntu (i.e. human kindness); it is a philosophical approach that basically underpins human relations among Africans and between them and others (such as Europeans and Asians); in other words, African communities’ outlook and interactions were and are shaped by it and as a result they have not been as gullible and naïve as those communities in Europe and the Americas where Islamophobia has become widespread and endemic. Returning to Rattansi one observes that apart from having demonstrated the relationship between racism and xenophobia, he also neatly illustrated the connection between racism and Islamophobia; one of the other cognate terms. He concurred with political scientist Fred Halliday who opined that the term was too broad because it (unnecessarily) encompasses ‘a large range of views and practices’ and ‘that it impedes a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon.’ Rattansi illustrated this when he made reference to the case of Robert Kilroy-Silk, the popular BBC television presenter who wrote in Express on Sunday (4 January 2004) that ‘We (i.e. the West) owe Arabs nothing’; the latter was suspended for having expressed derogatory remarks towards and about the Arabs (Allen 2010). Rattansi made further reference to Halliday who apparently pointed out that the Kilroy-Silk case also showed to what extent religious communities (be they Jewish, Sikhs or Muslims) have been racialized and how they confusingly conflated the word racism or race with other contested words such as ‘culture’ and ‘religion’. Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Based upon this puzzling conceptualization and usage, it was argued that the term ‘Islamophobia’, which means any kind of hostility towards Islam and Muslims by an individual or organizations, ‘is not necessarily racist.’ Though Kalin (2011) observed that ‘Islamophobia has become a form of racism,’ Sooliman (2014: 35), based upon her study, emphatically concluded ‘Islamophobia is racism;’ here one tends to concur with Sooliman and consider Rattansi’s Page | 7 argument rather problematic; this is particularly so when he like his Zionist counterparts seemed to espouse the view that anyone who is anti-Semite is racist (also see Meer and Noorani 2008). In this regard, the literary scholar Edward Said (1985) submitted that since Anti-Semiticism and Islamophobia come from the same source the similarities between the two are striking; from this one may reinforce the view that Islamophobic acts are also racist acts (see BIT 2015; Bahcecik 2013). Since it is beyond the scope of this essay to explore this debate any further, it is best to just state that it is somewhat challenging not to equate racism with Islamophobic flare-ups. What may categorically be stated is that xenophobia and Islamophobia are certainly permanent bed-fellows of racism; and since Islamophobia shares common characteristics with both, it cannot be dislodged from either of the two. Perhaps it is useful to wind up this section by making reference to a dictionary definition as well as a popular online site definition since the important Runnymede Trust report titled Islamophobia a Challenge for Us All, according to Bahcecik (2013: 149), did not venture to offer a tidy definition. Whilst the Oxford English Dictionary (www.oxfordreference.com) simply defined the term as ‘hatred or fear of Islam, esp. as a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims,’ the dedicated Islamophobia website (www.islamophobia.org) defined it as ‘a neologism (that) used to refer to an irrational fear or prejudice towards Muslims and the religion of Islam.’ An experienced USA journalist Stephen Schwartz (2010: 19-20) described this phenomenon ‘as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history as extremist, denying the existence of a moderate Muslim majority, regarding Islam as a problem for the world, treating conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault, insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion, and inciting war against Islam as a whole.’The latter’s broad, informative description demonstrated quite clearly what was and is meant by the term. Anthropologist Steven Vertovec (2002) highlighted the fact that the purported growth of this phenomenon ‘may be associated with increased Muslim presence in the Western society….’ (see Martin UK 2016). 3. Its Application 3.1 The European Setting Vertovec’s anthropological observations are certainly correct because that is where the term Islamophobia was coined and circulated in the 1980s. Abbas (2011: 63) like others affirmed that the Islamophobic activities in both America and Europe have not only increased but they have intensified since 9/11. For the record, many Islamophobic acts that took place in Europe and North Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 America were regularly monitored and uploaded by the Islamophobia-watch.org site. This was an informative user-friendly searchable online database that covered all sorts of Islamophobic incidents and it was operated by Islamophobia Watch under the joint leadership of Eddie Truman and Bob Pitt for a ten year period (circa 2005-2015); as a result of unknown internal disagreements Pitt set up islamophobiawatch.co.uk. In fact on 2 January 2015, Bob Pitt alerted everyone to the Page | 8 fact that ‘Twitter and Facebook (were) ‘allowing Islamophobia to flourish’ as anti-Muslim comments proliferate.’ In spite of monitoring groups such as Islamophobia Watch and the outputs of academics who have illustrated the negative impact of these acts, sensationalist (western oriented) media reports and scandalous scholarly reports that have been financially supported by (western based) think tanks and anti-Muslim NGOs have persisted in fuelling this phenomenon. Many studies have tangibly demonstrated to what extent outrageous media reports and disgraceful scholarship have helped to spread the notion that Islam - as a bona fide world religious tradition - is essentially irrational and fundamentally violent; and as a consequence of the skewed and questionable reasoning in these studies, they reached the conclusion that Muslims - its devoted adherents - are basically conservative in their attitudes, opaque in their mannerisms, and traditional in their behaviour and as a result are chief supporters of extremism and terrorism. The referred-to studies have shown that this type of reasoning is definitely problematic and unquestionably debatable and that they should be countered and challenged at different levels. Lamentably, the acts of Islamophobia appear to continue unabated and this was re-affirmed soon after the fatal 2016 Paris and Brussels detonations. All of these tragic European events have certainly not helped individuals such as Pitt and organizations such as CAIR that tried to educate online viewers about the negative effects of these dastardly deeds. Be that as it may the question is: Is this phenomenon rampant on the African continent or put differently: is it on the rise? Well to respond to this question one needs to scan the African landscape in particular the media to see whether this is a reality or just a myth. Some time ago when this researcher visited the Islamophobia Watch site during August 2007 it listed 1569 articles and BIT (2015) recorded 38 books that were published on this subject; but despite all of these outputs, it can be confirmed that very few of these published texts and online articles focused purely on the phenomenon in Africa. What this suggested was that the phenomenon was not as rife as it might have been reported by some media outlets. That being the case, it would be opportune to assess the issue on the continent; here, however, it is beyond the scope to cover the whole of the continent and it will therefore be extremely selective to demonstrate whether it is a rampant and widespread phenomenon or vice versa on the African continent. 3.2 The African Environment 3.2.1 The West African Scene: Samples from Nigeria and Ghana Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Mid-way during 2015 Gamal Nkrumah published his ‘The Phenomenon of Islamophobia in Africa is as depressing as it is distressing’ in the online issue of Ahram (9 July 2015 issue no. 1254 www.weekly.ahram.org.eg). Herein Nkrumah picked three countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ivory Coast) to prove that Islamophobia was on the rise on the African continent. Nkrumah countered Karen Armstrong who had observed that the West always viewed ‘Islam as a violent Page | 9 and intolerant faith’; and he added that Armstrong confidently asserted that ‘Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity’. Nkrumah found this statement somewhat problematic because, as he pointed out, Armstrong was unaware of, inter alia, the systematic enslavement and Islamization process that was underway in Nubia’s mountainous region. Though Nkrumah noted that the fashionable social media attested to the spread of this phenomenon and argued that these acts had resulted in Islamophobic flare-ups in those areas, he was not very convincing in putting forward his views. Nonetheless, Nkrumah stressed that when one meets many (mainline affiliated) African Christians then they would openly state and assertively describe ‘Islam as a menace’; this is surely an opinion that was, of course, perpetuated and circulated by many early and contemporary European Christian missionaries such as Peter Hammond whose missionary stance have been eloquently countered by Russel Buchanan (2010). As mentioned earlier though Nkrumah might be partially correct in his observation, this view is not necessarily widespread as he developed his argument. In fact one doubts whether adherents of African Traditional Religions (ATR) express similar opinions because ATR as a tradition has always been extremely tolerant and accommodating of others; this may be attributed to its adoption of ubuntu as its philosophicalreligious position in relation to others. Nkrumah’s article, as a matter of interest, made reference to three African states to underscore his debatable thesis that Islamophobia was and is on the rise: he first assessed Nigeria where Boko Haram (BH) has been causing mayhem; he then evaluated Ethiopia before he went on to examine developments in the Ivory Coast. Since Nigeria’s BH has dominated the news over the past few years and since it has grown into an uncontrollable menace, the essay turns its focus to Nigeria. (a) Nigeria’s Irrepressible Boko Haram For the past few years the world has been kept abreast about BH’s warlike actions; the media and an array of scholars have published information that unpacked BH ideology and its practices; as a result BH has not only unsettled Nigeria’s northern states but it has - as a result of Nigeria’s porous borders - also negatively affected a number of West African states such as Niger, Chad and Cameroun. Nkrumah has been among those Muslim observers, journalists and academics who publicly lamented BH’s harmful influences that not only heightened but that deepened the fears of Africa’s non-Muslim communities towards Islam and Muslims. Even though Islam has been identified with peace and its adherents regarded as peaceful followers, BH offered Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 a different dimension of Islam and its faithful adherents; and as a consequence of these developments, BH gave rise to the spread of an array of Islamophobic perceptions of Muslims that are difficult to counter and to reject. According to Brigaglia (2015), when ISIS made inroads in Southwest Asia states of Iraq Page | 10 and Syria, BH changed its name to al-Dawla al-Islāmiyya Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqiyā (The Islamic State, West African Province); it did so in order to identify strongly with ISIS’ ideals and teachings that are highly questionable theologically. Be that as it may, it has made in-roads into the West African region. As a result it forced the governments of Nigeria, Niger and Chad to work closely with each other; they did and still do so to monitor and counter BH’s unilateral spread. One cannot deny that BH definitely contributed towards negative images of Islam and Muslims; for example, its nefarious un-Islamic activities such as the kidnapping of young girls had caused Nkrumah to conclude that Islamophobia was growing in that region; whilst that might be so, it appears that West Africans in general and Nigerians’ in particular do not share those sentiments. Islamophobia literally seems to be a ‘foreign’ word in Nigeria and other West African states; this maybe because West African societies are an intensely multi-religious in their makeup; after all many of them are socially inter-related and they thus do not easily identify Muslims – as the Europeans do – with BH’s heinous crimes as well as those committed by mainly Muslim oriented extremist groups. Be that as it may, though Nkrumah’s observations are by and large correct when evaluating the impact that BH has had on the Nigerian society and their neighbouring nation-states, one cannot agree that this was and is the case with other nation-states in that region. In order to prove this point, it is perhaps prudent to take another example from the West African region in order to assess whether Islamophobia is indeed unchecked and pervasive; here Ghana that has a sizeable Muslim population has been selected and it reflects how this community’s leaders chose do deal with and counter this phenomenon. (b) Ghana’s Pro-Active Muslim Leadership During the early part of 2016 it was reported by an online site Modern Ghana (www.modernghana.com) that the Coalition of Muslim Organizations Ghana (COMOG) reported on incidents of Islamophobia that have been reported in the Ghanaian Media on the 7th of April 2016. The unknown spokesperson addressed the media and mentioned that Islamophobic feelings were vented in two instances earlier in 2016; the first was the visit of Bilal Philips during February 2016 and thereafter the religious tour of Pakistani missionaries during the early part of April 2016. He, however, rhetorically posed the question: ‘Do we need to cite more examples?’ He made mention of those groups that accused Muslims of doing missionary work and as far as they are concerned ‘Islamic missionary work is a threat to security of the nation’ (see www.modernghana.com). Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 The spokesperson, in addition, stated that many Muslims faced ridicule and suspicion in their work places and this is all because of the negative representation of Islam in the media. He opined that this is not the time ‘to denigrate the beliefs and practices of Muslims;’ these acts, he pleaded, are sensationalist reports that should be avoided. The rationale for the spokesperson’s argument is that if these types of media reports persist then they are bound to trigger the following Page | 11 responses: (a) inoculate the public against terror alerts – the reports as they appear cause false alarms that would put everyone at greater risks of terror one to be treated as a false alarm; (b) they would weaken the resolve of the youth to be loyal towards nation and that (c) Islamophobia is (in reality a) tool of radicalization. The request made by the COMOG’s representative is understandable and reasonable because if Islamophobia should spread as a result of misinformation and sensational reporting then it can reach a point that it becomes an uncontrollable ‘monster’ as has been the case with Nigeria’s infamous BH. When one seriously reviews and critically reflects upon the presence of Islamophobia in Africa - particularly in the sub-Saharan regions (such as East Africa and Southern Africa) where Islam forms part of the minority religious traditions – one finds few (African) newspaper reports or magazine feature articles perpetuating negative images of Islam and Muslims; this is so regardless of the fact that these regions’ communities have been wracked by incessant violence and relentless conflict that have been triggered by groups such as West Africa’s BH or East Africa’s al-Shabaab. So whilst this is indeed positive and says much for Africa’s Muslim and nonMuslim relations and especially the latter’s views and opinions towards Islam and Muslims, one cannot argue that Islamophobia is non-existent on the continent. Spurts of anti-Muslim positions have been on the increase in certain countries and in others they have been neutralized by both the government and civil society interventions; the latter interventions have been witnessed in East African states such as Ethiopia and Kenya where their respective governments have been proactively in countering potential Islamophobic through its interventionist tactics. 3.2.2 The Eastern African Region: Illustrations from Ethiopia and Kenya Comparing West Africa to East Africa (that includes a number of countries stretching from Ethiopia to Mozambique according to some political maps) one senses a palpable difference in their ethnic, cultural and linguistic identities; but whilst the two differ markedly from each other as a result of their atypical characteristics, one cannot deny that they do share certain similarities. They indeed share the same religious traditions that are present in both West and East Africa, namely Christianity and Islam; despite these common religious bonds they do employ them differently within their particular socio-political and economic environments because they are markedly different from each other. When one weighs, for example, the two regions up, one observes that their social cum historical backgrounds are obviously different from each other and that their geographical features are strikingly diverse. And when assesses the region’s Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 demographics one finds that in some instances the Muslims outnumber the Christians by a few percent, and in others that they differ substantially from one another numerically. In any case, since the essay only wishes to zoom in on two East African states its attention will remain focused these two in this essay; the first is Ethiopia that has about 25 m Muslims (i.e. about 35%) and the second is Kenya that has 4,3m Muslims (i.e. about 11,1%). Page | 12 (a) Ethiopia’s Government vis-à-vis its Salafi Theologians When Nkrumah commented on Ethiopia he stated that whenever he visited that country the anti-Muslim feelings were conspicuous. This he attributed to, among others, the Ethiopia-Somali conflict of 1977/1978 and to the Ethiopia-Sudan conflict during the 1990s; and oddly Nkrumah refrained from mentioning Ethiopia’s interference in the internal affairs of the already fractured Somali state and its partial involvement in Sudan’s North-South conflict. In addition, Nkrumah did not really explain the reasons for the anti-Muslim sentiments that are prevalent among Ethiopia’s Christians and more specifically about the inter-ethnic rivalry that prevails in certain parts of the country. And nor did Nkrumah’s article tangibly demonstrate the rise of this phenomenon; he, in fact, failed to justify its presence when he reflected upon Ethiopia. Nonetheless, other scholars such as Shinn (2014: 1-2) and Eresso (2015: 1-2) highlighted in their respective online texts that the cordial nature of Muslim-Christian relations existed despite intermittent interruptions that caused tension between these two communities soon after the Ethiopian state created an ethnic federalism during 1991. During 1995, for example, Addis Ababa’s al-Anwar mosque congregants clashed with the federal police forces that resulted in the death of twelve religious leaders (Eresso 2015: 1); the congregants accused the government for having interfered in the Supreme Council of Muslim Affairs activities; though the issue still looms, this event and subsequent developments did not spill over into other areas; the Ethiopian government like others in East Africa has been concerned with the growing number of Wahhabite trained theologians that returned to take up religious leadership posts countrywide; this was done in the mid 2000s with the assistance of al-Haramain Islamic Foundation that was later closed by the USA because it was accused of having been a funder of extremist Wahhabite activities. Besides these, there was also the Christian-Muslim conflict that took place in the western and north central part of the state during 2006. And in 2011 and 2012 tensions simmered and this prompted the federal forces to deal heavy-handedly with some of the Muslim extremist groups. On the whole the actual conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Muslim community was generally not about Islam as a religious tradition as such but more about the mounting influence of the Wahhabites thinking over the past two decades; other than that one may state that there are no reports that underscore the presence of Islamophobia within the Ethiopian nation-state. (b) Kenya’s Christian-Muslim Relations Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 The Kenyan government like the Ethiopian government has had to contend with Somalia’s unbalanced position in the region. Whatever took place within the Somali borders spilt over into the Kenyan territory and this automatically implied that the Kenyan government had to confront and respond to the ‘invasion’ of extremist groups; despite the principle of state sovereignty, Kenya was pushed into crossing over Somalia’s borders to counter some of Somalia’s notorious elements Page | 13 such as al-Shabaab; a group similar to BH in Nigeria that caused much problems for the region’s respective governments. The cause of the anxiety that developed between Kenya’s Christians and Muslims did not, however, develop because of al-Shabaab’s detestable acts such as the indiscriminate killings at Garissa University College during 2015 and the deadly blasts at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping complex during 2013; the overt tension had already existed prior to these happenings and it was in fact preceded by among others, the 1998 bombings of the USA embassy on Kenyan soil. Amidst these tense circumstances, the Kenyan government worked out strategies to neutralize the escalating conflict between the Christians who make up approximately 82% of the 45 m and the Muslims who make up only 11% of the total population; it, for example, judiciously amended its Constitution during 2010 by inserting a ‘religious freedom’ clause with the primary aim of safeguarding the religious rights of both individuals and communities. The clause was strategically included even though the government reasonably managed to defuse potential conflict points in the country over the years; this was in the light of the continuous incursions that have been made by al-Shabaab and other militant Muslim groups that occasionally unsettled the state and caused much acrimony between its Christians and Muslims. Here it may be pointed out that in spite of the various conflict points and the religious strains that reared their heads at certain historical moments and in particular areas within Kenya’s border, Islamophobia, as a noteworthy European phenomenon, failed to create a permanent presence as might have been expected. Brislen (2015) correctly highlighted that even though confrontations festered since Kenya’s independence, programmes such as The Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA www.procmura-prica.org) worked towards promoting healthy relations between these two major religious communities. Apart from the civil society’s efforts, Brislen also pointed to the fact that wherever these two religious communities resided in close proximity to each other, they tried to work in unison to deal with, among others, crime and climatic changes. All of these have been further complemented by the Kenyan government’s genuine contributions. The government, which has been and continues to be sensitive to the religious symbols and actions of its diverse communities, adopted a fairly pragmatic approach; this has resulted in staving off any major inter-religious conflict and this has by and large, left a positive imprint amidst very trying regional circumstances. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the government in Angola where the opposite approach was adopted and Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 implemented. It is to this state that this essay turns its focus; but before doing this it places Angola within a broader Southern African context. 3.2.3 The Southern Africa Cone: Case studies from Angola and South Africa Southern Africa is a fairly vast region that includes ten nation-states; among them are Page | 14 Mozambique and Malawi that have occasionally been lumped with East African states. Whilst Mozambique has a population of 28,6m of which 23% are Muslims, Malawi has a population of 17,6m of which 36% are Muslims.. Most of them have small pockets of Muslims that are either 2% and less; but despite their numerical weakness these minorities have made an impact in different sectors in some of these states. Admittedly, South Africa’s Muslims - most of whom reside in the urban areas - are among those that have been socially, economically and politically active and their overall inputs have been recorded and acknowledged. Even though many of the region’s Muslims live in the sprawling cities and major towns, Mozambique’s Muslims do reside in the rural areas as well. On the whole and based upon random surveys of the region’s online and printed newspapers, one does not come across many articles that featured Islamophobic acts; however the two countries where the reports were recorded were in Angola and South Africa. In South Africa individuals and small groups have been accused of having perpetrated Islamophobic acts, and in Angola the government has been guilty of having acted undemocratically against religious minorities. (a) Angolan Government’s Islamophobic Attitude In an online article (www.freedomsfinalstand.com) Taylor made reference to a government official’s view that echoes the sentiments of the Angolan government and its populace towards Islam and Muslims; he titled it: Angola Gov. Official: ‘Islam is a Cult and Contrary to Angolan Culture: Gov. will ban Islam, (and) destroy all Mosques’ (15 April 2016). This is quite an overconfident statement to make during this era of democracy; an era in which individuals have the right to practice their religious tradition(s). Even so, Taylor further reported that in Luanda’s Viana Zango municipality during on 3 October 2013 a mosque’s minaret was broken down; this act as well as others that took place over the past few years reinforce the opinion that Angola’s government chose to adopt an Islamophobic stance towards its Muslim population of less than 100,000; the latter only make up about 3% of the total population (Viegas 2012; Haron 2013/2014). Sometime during November 2015 Rosa Cruz e Silva, the Angolan Minister of Culture, expressed her concern regarding the growth of Muslims in Angola and she apparently said: ‘Regarding Islam, the legalization process has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Therefore all mosques would be closed until further notice.’ ‘(Flavio 2015: 1). Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 When Rosa Cruz e Silva addressed the National Assembly’s Deputies of the Sixth Commission who had been visiting the facilities of the National Institute of Religious Affairs (NIRA) at some earlier date, she unsympathetically stated that, our worry has to do with the expansion of Islam and the consequences it may cause to the organization and structure of the Angolan society. She was given moral support by most of the Christian (Roman Catholic) leaders who opined that Page | 15 Muslim-owned businesses were actually ‘fronts’ for the establishment of mosques. (see IRPPR 2010: 2) In fact at an earlier date the Report on International Religious Freedom recorded that on 16 November 2010 in Cacuaco, Luanda Province, the authorities employed excessive force and removed a large tent that was used as a mosque. The Report mentioned that in Malange Province a Muslim group, who applied for permission to build a mosque on a piece of land they purchased, saw their foundations destroyed by heavy-handed authorities. The mentioned Report made reference to Lisboa dos Santos - NIRA’s Director before Maria de Fatima Republicano Viegas succeeded – who stated that although the law allows people to congregate for religious purposes, it ‘does (/did) not apply to Islam since Islam is (/was) illegal’ in Angola. These government actions are without a doubt Islamophobic despite the presence of a ‘Freedom of Religion’ clause in the country’s Constitution. Unfortunately, for the Muslim community they remained under NIRA and the government’s watchful eyes (Haron 2013/2014). When comparing Angola’s policy towards other religious traditions other than Christianity, one finds that South Africa’s posture is qualitatively different; it is not only very liberal but extremely accommodating. As a consequence, one does not come across a single example that blames the government for acting heavy handedly towards Islam or its adherents. So the question is why are there Islamophobic outbursts in South Africa? (b) South Africa’s Islamophobic Outbursts When Asmal (2008) embarked upon her post-graduate studies, she explored the relationship between Islamophobia and the media and reached the conclusion that in South Africa it was a non-issue despite the fact there were independent outbursts by a handful of individuals and groups at irregular intervals. It is not a growing phenomenon and nor has it been sustained by any person or organization. So the general consensus is that though Islamophobic irruptions occurred as will be narrated shortly, the phenomenon was somewhat kept alive by a few isolated incidences before and after 9/11. Indeed South Africa in the late 1990s encountered a situation where Muslim groups such as People against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) acted out of concern and as a result South Africa’s security apparatus was brought in to bring an end to some of its members’ violent behaviour; but despite it having been characterized as extremist, Islamophobic activities were seldom recorded. Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Nonetheless, a few cases need to be cited in order to highlight to what extent this phenomenon has been present and how the state managed to keep it from spinning out of control. It should also be stressed that the South African society emerged out a traumatic racist past and the government devised various instruments such as the Rollback Xenophobia programme in 1998 and hosted the UN conference in 2001 that took a definitive stand against racism, xenophobia and Page | 16 other related acts; and this would include Islamophobia that seems to have become a global issue only after 9/11. Before making reference to two specific cases, one has to state that though certain individuals instigated these types of acts, the media played and continues to play a critical role in disseminating information in a sensationalist manner and this caused some of these individuals to become Islamophobic. Earlier on in this essay one noted the pro-active role adopted by representatives from the Ghanaian Muslims when they had an audience with the media to clarify how the media reports at times misinforms instead of imparting correct information. Mention was also made of Richardson’s (2004) publication that highlighted the role of the British media in this affair. In any case, Ghana’s religious leadership cautioned that if misinformation about Muslims were reported then this usually lead to negative consequences; but if the media play a more responsible role when reporting then it can have the opposite effect. Even though South Africa’s Muslim organizations did not attempt something similar to what their co-religionists did in Ghana, they made an attempt to disseminate via their Friday sermons and other avenues such as the Tshwane based Media Review Network (MRN http://muslimreviewnet.com) information that would help to temper the spirit of the Muslim youth whenever blasphemous statements were uttered or critical remarks were made against Islam and its iconic figures. Here one may wish to briefly make reference to articles of one reporter whose reports were somewhat exaggerated and questionable. Kurt Shillinger wrote numerous newspaper articles that portrayed Muslims in a negative light; in one of two articles he outrageously speculated that ‘SA (was) a growing terrorist hideout' and in the other he problematically argued that ‘African Soil is Fertile for Jihadists.’ Both articles appeared in the Business Day newspaper; these were reports that appeared on the 6th of September 2005 and the 5th of October 2006 respectively. Newspaper articles such as these unnecessarily spread information that is not entirely true. One of the reasons for making this point is that they contain little substance and that they are rather speculative; and the other argument is that they influence the readers’ views and attitudes to such a degree that they ignite unhelpful thoughts and feelings towards Muslims and Islam. And it is such reports that instil unrestrained unease towards the other and in this instance the fear of the Muslim presence in their areas and neighbourhoods. Related to the question of the reporting in the media, Sooliman (2015) referred to an interesting case in which the online article had to be retracted. In Sooliman’s text (2015) she made mention of the South African journalist De Wet Potgieter who is the author of Black Widow White Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 Widow (Johannesburg: Penguin 2013). In one of Potgieter’s articles that was titled ‘Al-Qaeda: Alive and well in South Africa’ he wrongfully implicated the Dockrat family by publishing information without verifying them. The editor of Daily Maverick (13 May 2013), according to Sooliman (2014: 32), acknowledged that Potgieter had misled the readers with an unverified report and with false information ‘that undermined the integrity and credibility of South African Page | 17 Muslims’. In fact, Farhad Docrat, one of those who had been falsely accused wrote a response as reported by the newspaper’s reporter: ‘Farhad Ahmed Dockrat responds’ (15 May 2013). She emphasized that these types of examples ‘confirm that specific individuals, organisations and media outlets use stereotypes and generalisations to reinforce racism…’ (Sooliman 2014: 32). And she added that, ‘(b)y this I mean that the individuals propagating the falsehoods, stereotypes and antagonisms are fully cognizant that what they are advocating is neither the reality nor the truth, but is intentionally slanted to suit or feed into a higher agenda’ (ibid). She thus correctly pointed out that such reports have harmful outcomes and it is indeed important that the community needs to be vigilant when reading print and online newspapers. Whilst these are but two media reports that belong to a catalogue of others that have taken place over the past number of years, the argument still remains and it is that unlike the developments in France and Germany where Islamophobia has been rife, it is a phenomenon that only occurred in certain communities and it has only been committed by a handful of individuals. To round up, one wishes to briefly recall Rasool’s (2010) observations and that is that South Africa’s Muslims compared to many others on the continent and elsewhere around the globe generally enjoy equal rights along with all other citizens in South Africa. 4. Conclusion In wrapping up, an attempt was made in this essay to reflect broadly upon the concept of Islamophobia by relating it to two other cognate terms, namely racism and xenophobia; the rationale for having done so was because they share commonalities that have been experienced in European and African societies. The concept was, however, located within a broad African environment in order to assess whether it is rife as some purport it to be or whether it is on the rise after groups such have BH and al-Shabaab have caused mayhem in their respective regions. To prove that this was not the case the essay drew examples from selected regions on the African continent. The general conclusion that was reached was that Islamophobia has been prevalent but not on the same scale as witnessed in Europe and North America. The reason, it is assumed, is partly attributed to African communities’ philosophical outlook that is embedded in the notion of ubuntu and also because of the tolerant attitude that they adopt towards all religious traditions. And though this essay did not pursue a comparative study with regions such as Europe, it reflected by taking into account the broad African context within which this phenomenon occurred. When the essay Islam Extremism: Islamophobia (Arabic) (Eds Mudaththir Muhammad & Ala’a As-Sadiq). Doha (Qatar): Forum for Arabic and International Relations. 2017 in on a select group of African states it was demonstrated that though inter-religious conflict took place these never developed into Islamophobic outburst as understood within the European and American contexts. In fact it has been pointed out that this phenomenon was not as real as it was made out to be by journalists that were connected to sensationalist media outlets and by those associated with think tanks; groups and institutions that argued along the lines that it is a Page | 18 phenomenon that is on the rise and pervasive. Since that is the case, the final question that may be posed is: what lesson can one learn from the African continent as regards its stance towards Islamophobia? A few thoughts come to mind but the essay will close with a brief remark. At the outset one should acknowledge that when weighing the differences that exist between Africa and Europe (and any other continent) then one may identify a long list of items that underscore these. That said, it should be stated that Africa as a continent is indeed vastly different from Europe philosophically, sociologically, culturally, religiously, linguistically, politically and economically. Africa is a geographical locale where its inhabitants generally adopted a respectful and tolerant attitude towards groups that were different from them culturally, linguistically and religiously and this may be attributed to their philosophy of ubuntu; so it is as a consequence of this philosophical outlook that Islamophobia as a phenomenon was not able to or rather was not given the chance to entrench itself within the minds and hearts of the African societies; hence its relative absence from the African continent. 5. References Abbas, Tahir. 2011. 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