Islamophobia is on the rise in the Western world. Anti-Muslim hate has become a fuel for right-wing organizations, particularly as a strategy to garner electoral support in the US as well as Europe. In the guise of protecting national interests and safeguarding the native “superior culture” from “others,” the right-wing political parties have slowly mainstreamed anti-Muslim hate and prejudice across the Western world -this explanation of the rise of Islamophobia is accurate though incomplete.

For an average person, Islamophobia as a phenomenon emerged post 9/11 and became politically acceptable during the 2010’s decade. An examination of Western discourse on the Islamic world, however, suggests that stereotyping of Muslims is an old phenomenon, which at some levels began to take shape when Muslims of the Arabian Peninsula clashed militarily with the Byzantine and Persian Empire. Throughout the centuries, various Christian empires and entities continued to perpetuate stereotyping of Muslims to rally domestic political support, particularly through literature and art./ globalvillagespace