The notion of Islamophobia is widely referenced. Phobia refers to irrational fear. In actuality, such a fear is empty and baseless. There is nothing to justify such a fear. But the individual still fears something -- an object, entity or event. A famous example is the fear of mice. We know that a mouse cannot hurt us, but most of us are afraid of them.
But the intention and goals of those who describe Islam as a cause for fear are different. We may say that the notion of fear of Islam was first formulated by the famous Orientalist Bernard Lewis in the 1990s. He discussed this even before the publication of Samuel Huntington's famous "clash of civilizations" thesis. He asserted that Western civilization was based on Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian heritage, that it has made visible progress and that some nations, particularly Muslims in the Middle East, are jealous of this progress because they have failed to make similar achievements. He holds that Muslims pose a threat to Western heritage and civilization. Therefore, he concludes that there is a growing threat spreading from the Islamic world toward the West and that this should be taken seriously.
Before the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Bush gave a speech in which he made reference to ideas like those of Bernard Lewis. The title of his speech was, "Why do they hate us?" Bush gave the following answer to this question: "Americans are asking: Why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." Of course, the "they" in Bush's address refers to Muslims who hate Americans. According to Bush, what drove the terrorists to carry out such a grave attack against the Twin Towers was this hatred.
When the twin towers were hit, this terror assault should have been explained by the West. Why did such a thing happen? Some theories were advanced to address this question. Some asserted that this was an act and provocation from the American "deep state." They needed a justification and pretext to invade the Middle East. So they relied on the terror attacks to achieve their goals. This is a view that is now attracting greater support. Others have argued that al-Qaeda was responsible for this. Because of the longstanding presence of the American military in the Muslims' sacred lands, its invasion in the region during the Gulf War and its killings of Muslims, al-Qaeda decided launch an attack. This suggests that al-Qaeda and its militants all planned and executed the whole incident. Therefore, it is not possible to talk about the involvement of the American state in this.
The explanation of the American president in his speech was important. He attempted to give this message to his nation and to the whole world: "We are good. We are achievers. We are brave. We are smart. We are strong. We are rich. And they are not. They are cowards. They are weak. They are poor. They are less smart. They get jealous of us instead of making progress and working to get better and achieve liberation and wealth. They envy us and eventually they start to hate us."
This was Bush's explanation. Western people partially believed this explanation due to extensive support by the media. What was injected into the minds of the masses was the idea that Islam poses a threat to the world, particularly to Western civilization, wealth and progress.
