Islamophilia

From WikiIslam

Islamophilia is a controversial neologism employed by some politicians, sociologists and journalists to describe uncritical admiration of the values of Islam, generally associated with an admiration of Islamic civilization. The neologism is disputed, as is its antonym Islamophobia. Islamophilia is used for non-muslims who are ,according for example Daniel Pipes, to much sympathysing with the ideology Islam. The highest level the word islamophilia reached was a cover article of Dutch opinion magazine Elsevier about the Quran. Journalist Gerry van der List used the word "islamophile" in the quote "the islamophile theologe Karen Armstrong".

Islamophilia, like the term Islamophobia, is not included in renomated dictionaries.

1 Use of the term
2 Root causes of Islamophilia
3 Consequences of Islamophilia
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] Use of the term

In The Guardian (18/9/01) the British publicist Julie Burchill opposes 'islamophobia' and 'islamophilia', asserting that the islamophilia is born from a certain culpability of its fellow-compatriots when they evoke the exactions of people of Moslem origin. On several weblogs and discussion platforms, as well in printed media the word is used in a likewise manner by publicists like Robert Spencer [1] and Daniel Pipes. Publicist Koenraad Elst described the British establishment as 'islamophilic' [2].

Chairman of the far-right British National Party, Nick Griffin, accuses the British establishment as well of islamophilia. [3]

The word is frequently used in conjunction to islamophobia in order to express the desire to stay in between those two extremes. [4]

[edit] Root causes of Islamophilia

Author Robert Aldrich supposes in his book Colonialism and Homosexuality (ISBN 0-415-19615-9) that islamophilia of colonialists was rooted in their homosexuality.

Andalusian regionalists are reported to exhibit islamophilic viewpoints in order to stress their regional identity [5]

Julie Burchill supposes that islamophilia is caused by a fear to be racist.

Robert Redeker hypothetizes that the French intellectualist establishment replaced their admiration for the Soviet political system with islamophilia. [6]

Author Bat Yeor regards the islamophilia of non-Muslims which live under protected status as provided for by Islamic law dhimmi, as one of the symptoms of dhimmitude: criticizing islam can have severe repercussions for dhimmi's, as manifest in e.g. Pakistan, where several Christians have been sentenced to prison terms on accusations of blasphemy. Thus according to her, fear is an important motivation.

Theo van Gogh hypothetized that the eulogy of Dutch politicians of Islam was motivated by the wish to control tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims.

[edit] Consequences of Islamophilia

Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes blame Islamophilia as the cause for failure to address problems within the Islamic world or with Islamic communities. Mansoor Hekmat cites comparable concerns, while he acknowledges that islamophilic viewpoints of non-Muslims can be of benefit for Muslim immigrants. [7]