Historical Origins of European Islamophobia

The Nexus of Islamist Terrorism, Colonialism and the Holy Wars Reconsidered

Abstract

This article is a rethinking of the modern trend in the Islamophobia scholarship, which frames European Islamophobia as a post-9/11 phenomenon. Though Islamist terrorism had a notoriety of raising anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiments, the bigotry towards Islam, hatred against Muslims and prejudices about their cultural inferiority lurk deep in the history of European colonialism and the Holy Wars. This article suggests an assumption, that is, why Western scholars strive to coin 9/11 as the ‘starting point’ of Islamophobia. It also explains how demonization of Muslims during the Holy Wars and their dehumanization in the colonial period provided for the emergence of this phenomenon.