American Islamophobia

Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear

By: Khaled A. Beydoun

Narrated by: Neil Shah

“I remember the four words that repeatedly scrolled across my mind after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. ‘Please don't be Muslims, please don't be Muslims.' The four words I whispered to myself on 9/11 reverberated through the mind of every Muslim American that day and every day after.... Our fear, and the collective breath or brace for the hateful backlash that ensued, symbolize the existential tightrope that defines Muslim American identity today.”

The term Islamophobia may be fairly new, but irrational fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims is anything but. Though many speak of Islamophobia's roots in racism, have we considered how anti-Muslim rhetoric is rooted in our legal system?

Using his unique lens as a critical race theorist and law professor, Khaled A. Beydoun captures the many ways in which law, policy, and official state rhetoric have fueled the frightening resurgence of Islamophobia in the US. Beydoun charts its long and terrible history, from the plight of enslaved African Muslims in the antebellum South and the laws prohibiting Muslim immigrants from becoming citizens to the ways the war on terror assigns blame for any terrorist act to Islam and the myriad trials Muslim Americans face in the Trump era. He passionately argues that by failing to frame Islamophobia as a system of bigotry endorsed and emboldened by law and carried out by government actors, US society ignores the injury it inflicts on both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Through the stories of Muslim Americans who have experienced Islamophobia across various racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, Beydoun shares how US laws shatter lives, whether directly or inadvertently. With an eye toward benefiting society as a whole, he recommends ways for Muslim Americans and their allies to build coalitions with other groups.

Like no work before it, American Islamophobia offers a robust and genuine portrait of Muslim America then and now.

©2018 Khaled A. Beydoun (P)2018 Tantor

Without stereotypes

A very powerful read - one without prejudices or stereotypes. All facts. Very enlightening. The end was extremely touching.

Accurate

Factual and accurate information! Reveals a way to look at the current political situation in America that is unfortunately accurate!

Intruiging!

Khaled Beydoun offers a great combination of personal storytelling and societal analysis in his book.

Insightful

A very insightful narrative that illuminated my understanding about the Muslin struggle and that helped me see the parallels to my own struggle of being a woman, black, and an American in a home where no one wants me.

Enlightening and necessary

Loved the idea of this book. The historical facts and statistics alone make it exceptionally useful and necessary in the quest to illuminate the reality of the American Muslim. The information was pretty coherent and well organized.

My only critique is in the bias (possibly unintentional) that seemed to permeate when analyzing some of the modern policy in the 21st century. While most of the claims made about history or news had substantial evidence supporting them, the claims about policy seemed to be based on opinion rather than fact.

I only noticed honestly because of this departure and because it is helpful in citing specific details from policy and directives when making a claim against an organization. Unfortunately, it detracted a bit from the overall narrative, however still a very insightful book and looking forward to more writings from the author.