1. What brought you to writing about Muslim related topics? Why have you decided to write this book?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: Almost 20 years ago in my early twenties, I had an English colleague, named Aaron who came to work one morning waving the front page of the local daily at me featuring the headline news of the aftermath of a Palestinian suicide bomber where a number of innocent Israelis died. As he walked past me towards his desk, waving the paper in his left hand, he said in a condescending tone:
“Look Siddiq what one of your brothers did today. What is wrong with you people and the suicide bombings?”.
It was short, abrupt and most unfortunately, rhetorical and yet I often wish I had a comeback line for him at the time. I didn’t. That happened in the late nineties a few short years prior to 9/11 but to me, those were life trajectory altering words for one very simple reason. While such bigoted passing comments are sometimes commonplace in today’s work environment, I like most Muslims today did not know how to react or what to say in response to his seemingly simple curveball comment. To my hazy recollection, I may have bowed my head in regret or embarrassment at the time but maybe, this reaction of mine was more of what my mental state of mind was rather than how I ended up reacting.
Either way, my reaction was muted as I could not find the words I could string together in any sequence to respond to his bigotry.
At lunch hour that day, I remember staying back to read and re-read the front-page article but to no avail. I ended the day with no more informed than I was at the beginning of that troubling day. I spent the next day at work just as troubled with the usual biased media onslaught on ordinary Muslims. Admittedly, there were times I found myself ashamed of who I was, and the more this feeling compounded, the more I struggled to reconcile my identity with my beliefs and yet something inside me called for a different kind of an uprising: An uprising that meant I had to arm myself with facts and defend myself from the unabashed global witch-hunt against ordinary Muslims, or at the very least myself. The thing is people have been insulting my way of life for as long as I care to remember but this can’t be it. Is it enough to simply brush this off as someone else’s problem?
In the last two decades since, I as an introvert have found safe refuge in and must have read well over 250 bestseller books and well over 15,000 news articles focusing on politics, war, religion and needless to say, I’m still struggling to make sense of all the ivy-league intellectual garbage that astoundingly passes for foreign policy in Washington and London today when it comes to politics and terrorism. Nonetheless, I often find myself still, lost for words when individuals with Muslim names commit acts of violence.
Worse still, I feel twice as gutted when ordinary people, politicians, celebrities react with Islamophobia.
2. What were the biggest challenges(of writing this book)?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: My book, Q&A with an Islamophobe features some of the most vile, widely debunked and yet variedly repeated Islamophobic comments by renowned Islamophobes, anti-Muslim hate groups, talk-show hosts, right-wing politicians, atheists in an easy-to-reference Q&A format.
The challenge for me therefore was go through hours after hours of YouTube videos, facebook posts and articles written by leading renowned Islamophobes and anti-Muslim hate groups to ensure the most critical questions are addressed and thoroughly dismantled – and presented in the most, ordinary Muslim user-friendly, non-academic format.
3. Which justifications for Islamophobia have you most encountered while writing your book? The biggest myths?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: There are many to list but in the end, it comes down to two key issues Islamophobes often use.
The first and most widely mis-interpreted issue is the role of violence in Islam and how the exclusive actions of individuals with Muslim names who commit acts of violence has a bearing on Islam. The other issue is the perceived subjugation of women in Islam.
I must however state the reason Islamophobes and anti-Muslim hate groups can use these two issues in varying forms is because in the case of women, there are men among Muslims like men in other faiths and belief systems including atheism who mistreat their women. Similarly, the tiny fringe of extremists who often drink alcohol, eat pork, never pray, abuse their partners and have criminal records yet are tragically fooled into thinking killing innocent civilians to avenge the injustices against Muslims, will help them redeem themselves. These two groups provide all the ammunition Islamophobes and anti-Muslim hate groups need to misrepresent Islam and ordinary Muslims.
4. Many refer to 9/11 when they relate to Islamophobia. Why did you choose to go back into time centuries ago?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: I find it intriguing how we often find it hard to visualise life before 9/11 but the truth is, Islamophobia did not start or worsen after 9/11.
Islamophobia has been with us since the time of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him). Islamophobia is the idea that people will resist, launch a misinformation campaign and sometimes even hurt and try and kill you, your family and followers if necessary.
Pharoah tried doing the same with Musa (peace be upon him). The Quraysh of Mecca did the same and worse with Prophet Muhammad. The advent of Al Qaeda in the early to mid-nineties certainly made Islamophobia worse. The mainstream media too, has played a reckless role in synthesizing the mysterious Muslim they hardly understand into a threat that we are often misreported to be.
5. How do you explain the persistence of many myths and misconceptions about Muslims? Do you think it is intentional?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: Going back to my earlier point, most of the myths and anti-Muslim trites are recycled.
The key is to cut, paste, smear and repeat the already discredited issues over and over again.
So for example, when TV stations develop panel discussions about whether “Islam is a violent religion”, they are not examining an issue but are indirectly perpetuating a false prejudice further when the key is to dispel such myths not legitimise them which lazy reporting within the much celebrated “freedom of speech” the media hides behind, tends to lead to. As for whether this is intentional, it is important to point out discredited statements, myths and misconceptions are often promoted by politicians and the media who rely on them for ratings and readership following.
Instead of resolving key issues related to the euro zone crisis or the multi-faceted Brexit and austerity measures that is affecting pension contribution and support for health and elderly care, these Islamophobic opportunists prefer spending time putting the blame on new immigrants rather than businessmen cutting wages and planting the seeds of distrust (debating swimsuits, hijabs and beards) when curiously, the real job of a politician is to focus on important social issues that can heal and unite, not gaslight and divide the population.
6. What are your thoughts about countries like Poland or Slovakia that hold violent anti-Muslim views despite having a very tiny Muslim minority?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: It is all purely political. Mainstream politics have failed Europe and its people and this also include countries like Hungary and Czech Republic and a growing list of countries in addition to Poland and Slovakia. This includes citizens both white and non-white struggling to find jobs while salaries and social welfare are today symmetrically plunging. This has created fresh opportunities for many upstart political parties or parties with links to pre-Holocaust thinking to come to the fore by blaming new immigrants rather than businessmen cutting wages.
7. The French state has been accused of exporting its concealed Islamophobia such as “the neutrality of public space” or “the liberation of Muslim women from their fathers, brothers and husbands”. Have you come across such rhetoric in the Asia Pacific region?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: The Asia Pacific region is a vast continent. Muslims in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea enjoy great deal of freedom to practice their own religion while Muslims in Myanmar, China and arguably India are seeing increasingly serious forms of state intervention when it comes to doing the same.
Like Europe however, the communal violence is politically motivated to appease the vote bank such as in Myanmar and India.
In China meanwhile, it is about being in full hegemonic control by the state where not only are Muslims persecuted but other minorities that are not growing as quickly such Christians and other minority sects face similar restrictions as well.
8. What is the state of public opinion towards the Rohingya genocide? Are they perceived as a persecuted Muslim minority and/or ethnic group that does not belong in Burma?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: If there is a silver lining to what is happening with the Rohingyas, it is the outpouring financial support from ordinary Muslims the world over, something that has been inarguably the most unifying thing Muslims have done in my memory as a collective group, the world over. While every single Muslim and non-Muslims governments have miserably failed the Rohingyas, ordinary Muslims have risen up to the challenge although funding itself is nowhere nearly enough or more like a drop in the bucket. Nevertheless, this is more than what Muslim-majority governments have done or rather, not done.
Not being able to stand up to the Americans or Britain is one thing but for almost 57 Muslim-majority governments not doing a single thing beyond issuing empty statements of condemnation is without a doubt, the most conclusive proof of how none of the 57 Muslim-majority governments can ever be expected to come to the rescue of Muslims anywhere. Not in Myanmar and clearly not in Jerusalem either.
In the end, it is and will be about how the current onslaught of Islamophobia won’t change or weaken unless millions if not tens of millions of Muslims will rise up to the challenge themselves and become eloquent activists for themselves and their faith.
9. Has your research made you more optimistic or pessimistic about Islamophobia in Western societies? What is your assessment of the current state of resistance to Islamophobia?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: My work on dismantling Islamophobia has helped me see the double standards espoused by Islamophobes and anti-Muslim hate groups much more clearly than where I was when I began this journey three years ago. Having said that, I must point out evidently, we are not alone.
Millions of well-meaning non-Muslim citizens in the West know right from wrong. They understand the anti-Muslim polemics are here to stay and yet are with us, shoulder-to-shoulder. This group which is growing bigger day-after-day as the double standards of the Islamophobes and anti-Muslim hate groups are exposed, more than make up for the glaring absence of support by 57-odd Muslim-majority governments around the world.
Therefore in the end, countering Islamophobia will be grassroots-driven from the ground-up and for this reason alone, my optimism marginally exceeds my pessimism.
10. Would you say that Muslims are most persecuted when they give up on their intellectual and economic autonomy?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: I hope you don’t mind me being honest but this is too “academic” a question. Muslims will remain a sitting duck, open to attack unless we get up from our armchairs and act today, not tomorrow or until the next act of terror occurs.
Write a letter to the editor, write to your legislator, write a column, raise awareness about the hardships of Palestinians or the Rohingyas, Syrians, Iraqis, Afghanis, Libyans, Yemenis, etc., peacefully protest, sign a petition, make a WhatsApp video, read about the illegal settlements, pre-1967 borders, etc., verify list of names of companies operating in the illegal settlements, research names of companies operating in Myanmar. Arm yourself with facts.
Do something. Do anything.
11. Any last words?
SIDDIQ BAZARWALA: I end my thoughts with some of the most defining words that beautifully summarises the best course of letting our action become the biggest defender of our faith:
“To a cartoon you reply with a cartoon, to a drawing with a drawing, to a newspaper article with a newspaper article… But you don’t reply with guns,” said Mustafa Riad of the Union mosque in the southern city of Montpellier, Southern France.
Siddiq Bazarwala 