The Role of the Islamophobia Network in America in Distorting the Image of Islam and Muslims Post - 9/11

Abstract

Anti-Muslim sentiment witnessed a significant increase in the USA in the period that followed the September11, 2001 attacks. Muslims living in America became subject to different forms of discrimination and violence. Sections of the mainstream population perceived the attacks as a war on the USA by hateful Muslims. Attitudes of Islam and Muslims became very negative and every the US Muslim turned into a potential terrorist. However, this decreasing favorability of Islam and Muslim did not come in a totally spontaneous way in reaction to the attack on America. There is evidence that a well-organized, well-funded network of experts and scholars have launched an organized campaign exploiting the climate of fear and suspicion to distort the image of Islam and give a negative and stereotypical image of the US Muslims. This thesis sheds light on this 'Islamophobia network' , its composition, funding, strategies, objectives, and activities; and most importantly examines its influence and the role it has been playing in the spread of Islamophobia in the USA in the post-9/11 era.