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Rise of Islamophobia in the UK: Dismissal of Muslim Minister

  • Ruqiya Anwar Ruqiya Anwar
  • Source: Al Mayadeen Net
  • 5 Feb 2022 16:44
  • 4 Shares
6 Min Read

Islamophobia has become the driving force behind the emergence of far-right movements in the UK.

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  • Rise of Islamophobia in the UK: Dismissal of Muslim Minister
    Rise of Islamophobia in the UK: Dismissal of Muslim Minister

Islamophobia has become the driving force behind the emergence of far-right movements in the UK. According to research conducted by the charity (hope not hate in its report, State of hate 2019) 35% of Britons, Islam is usually a threat to the British way of life. This is in contrast to 30% who thought it was compatible.

A Muslim MP in the UK, Nusrat Ghani, recently claimed that a government whip cited her Islam as a basis for her dismissal as a minister in 2020. Moreover, her Muslimness was presented as a concern, when she requested an explanation. In 2018, Ms. Ghani was promoted to the Department of Transport, making her the first female Muslim minister to speak in the House of Commons. In February 2020, she lost her post as part of Mr. Johnson's government's mini-reshuffle.

Ms. Ghani discussed that during negotiations about the reshuffle, "Muslimness was raised as an issue," and her status as a Muslim woman was making colleagues uncomfortable. According to reports, the Wealden MP dropped the topic after being advised that if she "persisted" in question about it, she would be "disliked and her career and reputation destroyed When she questioned, whether this was acceptable in any way and stated that there was little she could do about her identity, she was forced to listen to a monologue about how difficult it was to define when people were being racist and that the party didn't have a problem and that it needed to do more to defend it."

However, William Wragg, the chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, who initially highlighted the issue, complimented Ms. Ghani's bravery in speaking up. "I am honored to call her a friend and colleague. Things must change for the better."

Ms. Ghani's treatment, according to fellow Tory MP and former minister Steve Baker, was unbearable. “I value Nus Ghani as a great colleague, and I’m appalled. We must get to the bottom of it,” he tweeted. The allegations "extremely horrified" claims the opposition party’s (labor) deputy leader Angela Rayner, “These are shocking and horrible claims." Anyone should never be discriminated against because of their faith.

A separate incidence occurred. Last year, racist charges made by former cricketer Azeem Rafiq led to the resignations of many top executives from Yorkshire County Cricket Club in the UK. Azeem Rafiq is a 30-year-old former professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire for the majority of his career. He was born in Pakistan and immigrated to England at the age of ten. He led England as a young man before becoming Yorkshire captain in 2012. He claimed that "systemic racism" at Yorkshire County Cricket Club had driven him to contemplate suicide. During his tenure at the club, Rafiq claims he was subjected to a barrage of abuse, including discriminatory remarks about his Pakistani origin.

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Most significantly, the Conservative Party has been accused of Islamophobia in the past. According to the Muslim Women's Network UK, the MP's experiences demonstrate the additional difficulties that Muslim women confront. The Islamophobic incident in the United Kingdom has brought attention to the additional difficulties that Muslim women face, and it has the potential to be extremely harmful in the struggle for equality.

Hence, "some ethnic minority women may reconsider running for local council and general elections as a result of Nus Ghani's experiences, which is very detrimental to those striving for equality and social justice. It serves as a reminder that women should not only be encouraged to enter politics (or any other field) but also supported once they have achieved success."

Nusrat Ghani's testimony of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party is disturbing, but not surprising, according to the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain. The fact that she is experiencing this as a Muslim woman at the top of the party just emphasizes the problem's pervasiveness. For far too long, the Conservative Party's institutionalized Islamophobia has gone unchecked.

Notably, the anti-Muslim sentiment remains an issue in the conservative party, for many British Muslims, islamophobia has reached unbearable levels. Workplace discrimination and street harassment are all too widespread. Islamophobia is a constructed fear or prejudice fostered by the current global power system, which is Eurocentric and Orientalist. Islamophobia reintroduces and supports a worldwide racial system that maintains and extends resource distribution inequities (Suleman,2022).

Islamophobia has risen at an alarming rate in the United Kingdom in recent years. Muslims' portrayal as a security and cultural threat has become common in the UK. Immigration, 9/11, additional terrorist acts, the financial crisis of 2008/9, and the refugee crisis have all created a broader racist political climate in the UK, which has been compounded by the 'hostile environment. Muslims are perceived as a threat in the UK, which makes them seem like fair targets for disproportionate amounts of suspicion, surveillance, and intelligence collecting. Multiculturalism has been under threat since 9/11, and Islamophobia has risen. 

As a result, Muslims in the United Kingdom have faced significant discrimination and often violence, having been characterized as one of the most discriminated groups in the country. The Citizens are more likely than any other religion to hold discriminatory and negative opinions about Islam, and a considerable percentage of this population holds inaccurate and suspicious ideas about British Muslim populations.

Therefore, the extent and nature of Islamophobia must be accurately recorded, and the narratives and fallacious logic employed in Islamophobic attacks must be effectively deconstructed and addressed. There is a need for a reconsideration of dominant perceptions about Islam and Muslims, one that is more in line with the realities of the faith and its practice.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Islamophobia
  • Nusrat Ghani
  • London
  • United Kingdom
Ruqiya Anwar

Ruqiya Anwar

Researcher.

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