"Islamophobia, Dehumanisation & Constructing Otherness" by Dr. Osman Latiff (2020-11-30) #

0:00:02 [Music]
0:00:09 [Music]
0:00:32 and welcome to all
0:00:34 on this presentation on islamophobia
0:00:36 dehumanization and constructing
0:00:37 otherness
0:00:38 as part of islam phobia awareness week
0:00:40 and uh presented by
0:00:42 uh sapience institute i want to thank
0:00:45 all of you for your attendance all of
0:00:47 you for being here with us today
0:00:48 inshallah
0:00:49 this of course is a very crucial topic
0:00:51 one that has
0:00:52 uh you know very and many ramifications
0:00:56 consequences causes and effects affects
0:00:59 every single one of us as human beings
0:01:01 and particularly for us as muslims
0:01:03 but in the in the broader scale of
0:01:04 things all of us as human beings because
0:01:06 we're dealing with
0:01:07 a very human affair and that is to um
0:01:11 you know render somebody as less than
0:01:13 human or to subhumanize them and
0:01:14 dehumanize them
0:01:16 and we'll look at today in charlotte
0:01:17 many many different things uh to do with
0:01:19 the way that
0:01:20 otherness is constructed in human
0:01:22 society how it has
0:01:23 bring on us as muslims and therefore
0:01:25 creates and leads to
0:01:27 this uh um irrational fear of islam
0:01:30 islamophobia
0:01:31 and also how it taps into other trends
0:01:34 in society all of which if not
0:01:36 if they're not if they're not understood
0:01:39 properly if they're not dealt with in a
0:01:41 way that is
0:01:43 uh that is pleasing to allah and in a
0:01:45 way that is guided by islamic principles
0:01:47 and values
0:01:48 um you know will lead to tragic
0:01:51 consequences and
0:01:52 and therefore in situations where
0:01:54 genocidal tendencies emerge in human
0:01:56 society we
0:01:57 all all of us as human beings have a
0:02:00 responsibility
0:02:01 if i wanted to take this inshallah as a
0:02:03 very important topic
0:02:04 intruder for our discussion today um and
0:02:07 again i welcome all of you for your
0:02:08 attendance so
0:02:09 let us therefore begin in the name of
0:02:11 allah subhanahu wa to allah
0:02:12 we ask allah for all success for all
0:02:14 ability
0:02:17 there is no success or ability except
0:02:18 with allah
0:02:22 all right so the first thing i want us
0:02:24 to look at right now is
0:02:26 is what does it mean to see the human
0:02:29 what does that mean remember of course
0:02:31 that uh
0:02:32 when we have attitudes uh mindsets
0:02:36 opinions views um that lead to
0:02:40 uh disallowing uh another human being
0:02:43 to have what one believes is incessantly
0:02:46 sorry is uh is inherently valuable in
0:02:49 oneself and we deny that to somebody
0:02:52 else
0:02:52 it leads to the tendencies i've just
0:02:55 mentioned earlier about othering and
0:02:57 dehumanization
0:02:58 and what that is is the relegating of
0:03:00 another to a distance of
0:03:02 other now that distance could be a
0:03:04 cultural distance it could also be
0:03:06 a physical distance but within within
0:03:09 the troops of that physical distancing
0:03:12 uh we we erect these mental
0:03:15 physical barriers and walls and we
0:03:18 designate
0:03:19 to that distant physical or cultural
0:03:21 other
0:03:22 uh you know and as a place of of outside
0:03:25 outsideness an outsider place a place
0:03:28 that is not
0:03:29 as befitting and valuable and worthy as
0:03:32 the place that we're inhabiting
0:03:35 and this exists of course as a mental
0:03:36 construct exists
0:03:38 uh in in many different mediums of media
0:03:41 formats uh also exists physically as
0:03:44 well
0:03:45 that is to say seeing in the other much
0:03:47 less and sometimes a complete absence
0:03:50 of what one sees in oneself right so all
0:03:52 that is morally reprehensible
0:03:54 is defined in the other whatever you
0:03:56 deem good in yourself
0:03:58 is good within yourself and within your
0:04:01 own
0:04:01 uh you know clique within your own
0:04:04 social network
0:04:06 uh but whatever is morally reprehensible
0:04:08 then is defined in that other
0:04:10 and that's really how otherness is
0:04:11 constructed it's like uh
0:04:14 like it says on mental canvases every
0:04:16 one of us has a mental canvas
0:04:18 but if we're painting on our mental
0:04:20 canvases
0:04:22 uh with broad strokes and white brushes
0:04:25 what we're doing
0:04:25 is that we're disallowing uh those
0:04:29 identifications and those fine lines and
0:04:31 those nuances
0:04:33 and and and grayer areas and color and
0:04:36 subtle
0:04:36 outlines we're disallowing them on
0:04:38 others because we're figuring on other
0:04:40 people
0:04:41 as a single identity
0:04:44 we're disallowing uh in individuality
0:04:47 and that's really
0:04:48 where where empathy breathes from it
0:04:51 breeds from
0:04:52 individualizing another human being and
0:04:55 and believing
0:04:56 and believing valuable that that other
0:04:58 person has
0:04:59 life experiences uh oftentimes they're
0:05:02 gonna
0:05:02 almost uh resemble mine very closely all
0:05:06 of us meaning we all have hopes and
0:05:07 fears
0:05:08 and dreams in life but if we're painting
0:05:11 on our mental canvases
0:05:13 uh this dehumanized distant culturally
0:05:16 distant physically distant
0:05:17 dehumanize other with only wide brushes
0:05:20 and using broad strokes that means we're
0:05:22 not
0:05:23 allowing that person to to exist
0:05:27 uh you know as as a full human being or
0:05:30 as somebody who has you know more than
0:05:33 one
0:05:34 uh part of himself is not just
0:05:37 seen as as totally one thing for example
0:05:40 and that's really i think a good apart
0:05:42 for us a place for us to begin
0:05:44 now the key thing is that there are too
0:05:46 many positive human attributes
0:05:48 uh that allah creates within human
0:05:50 beings of course allah in the quran
0:05:52 he says there is a nobility in in the
0:05:55 sons of adam
0:05:56 and within that we begin of course from
0:05:58 a very fitra based state a fifth rabbi
0:06:00 state that where
0:06:01 you know we're inherently inclined uh
0:06:04 and recognizing of allah subhanahu
0:06:06 wa'ta'ala we have these good traits
0:06:08 within us
0:06:09 but the self itself as a person of
0:06:11 course lives
0:06:12 in his social settings
0:06:15 uh we are affected by environment for
0:06:18 environment is a big thing
0:06:19 because the prophet even said that even
0:06:21 though the child is born on this fitra
0:06:23 it's his parents who would make him into
0:06:25 you know turn him into a jew or a
0:06:26 christian or a fire worshiper
0:06:27 our social settings our friends our
0:06:29 networks our parents
0:06:31 our schooling our media all of these
0:06:34 things have an effect
0:06:35 on us and our value systems and our
0:06:37 beliefs um
0:06:45 allah says consider the self right how
0:06:47 it's
0:06:48 in inclined towards it's inspired
0:06:50 towards
0:06:51 uh depravity evil but also inclined
0:06:55 towards inspired
0:06:56 you know with with goodness and
0:06:58 saintliness in a piety and consciousness
0:07:00 of allah
0:07:00 you could find in fact in one human
0:07:02 being both of these
0:07:04 both of these kind of modes within one
0:07:06 person a person could be
0:07:08 very very good to those that he wants to
0:07:10 be very very good to
0:07:11 and very evil to those who wants to be
0:07:13 very very evil too
0:07:15 uh so but within the human being there's
0:07:17 too many positive human attributes
0:07:19 which prevent us from seeing others as
0:07:21 expendable right so just tap into
0:07:23 the human conscience the fact that every
0:07:26 single person in fact every one of
0:07:27 everything in allah's creation
0:07:29 it has a part of that mercy which allah
0:07:32 which what the prophet spoke about when
0:07:33 he says
0:07:35 allah has a hundred parts of his mercy
0:07:37 one's
0:07:41 and allah is revealed one part of his
0:07:42 mercy between humans and jinn
0:07:44 and and animals even you know and you
0:07:47 know
0:07:48 they all share from that one part of
0:07:50 allah's mercy and allah has delayed 99
0:07:52 parts
0:07:52 to show a mercy to his servants on the
0:07:54 day of judgment
0:07:56 may of those recipients of allah's mercy
0:08:00 in this life and also in the next life
0:08:02 um right so to see others as expendable
0:08:05 the human eyes and other
0:08:06 impeding us from uh acting in cruelty
0:08:10 and with murderous intent that's not
0:08:11 that the natural state of man
0:08:13 to be like that dehumanization is to
0:08:15 undermine those impediments so all those
0:08:17 good impediments right that we have
0:08:18 preventing us
0:08:20 from being so evil is undermined
0:08:23 with and through dehumanization chris
0:08:25 whedon defines
0:08:26 othering as referring to the process of
0:08:29 constructing another people
0:08:30 or a group as radically different to
0:08:32 oneself as
0:08:34 or one's own group usually on the basis
0:08:36 of racist or no ethnic-centric
0:08:38 ethnocentric discussion
0:08:39 so therefore that's going to define what
0:08:41 our group is is it
0:08:43 is an ethnic group for example is a
0:08:45 group based upon our race
0:08:46 for example is that or is that all and
0:08:49 only where we see
0:08:50 uh you know human humanity existing and
0:08:54 everything other than that outside of
0:08:55 that
0:08:56 is is void of humanity and therefore we
0:08:59 wouldn't see those people
0:09:00 uh as uh as fully human
0:09:04 that's really where where dehumanization
0:09:06 sits
0:09:07 now here we have uh the main topic of
0:09:10 ours today which is islamophobia now i'm
0:09:13 beginning of course i began with
0:09:14 seeing the human and a bit of small
0:09:17 discussion about othering and
0:09:18 humanization because
0:09:20 this is really where xenophobia sits it
0:09:22 sits in this discourse it sits within
0:09:25 the discourse of
0:09:26 othering right and and when it's
0:09:28 unchecked
0:09:29 and it's in in its very extreme forms it
0:09:31 would lead to
0:09:32 dehumanization now we're going to go
0:09:34 through many examples of that inshallah
0:09:35 today
0:09:36 so islamophobia is defined is rooted in
0:09:38 in racism
0:09:40 and is a type of racism that targets
0:09:42 expressions
0:09:43 of muslimness or perceived muslimness
0:09:46 now let's think about that for a moment
0:09:47 what does that mean
0:09:48 what is muslimness what does that mean
0:09:51 that means of course you know what
0:09:53 islamophobia
0:09:55 is is people's fear
0:09:58 which then results in abuse and attacks
0:10:01 and
0:10:02 hatred uh for for things and for people
0:10:06 and for symbols that express
0:10:09 muslimness or islam islamic symbols
0:10:12 islamic code islamic behavior
0:10:13 islamic dress code islamic personages
0:10:17 people of importance prophets and so on
0:10:20 and so forth
0:10:21 and that's where it's written in racism
0:10:23 and it's a type of racism that targets
0:10:25 expressions of muslimness
0:10:27 or perceived muslimness
0:10:30 it's an exaggerated fare this is an
0:10:33 exaggerated affair
0:10:34 hatred and hostility towards islam
0:10:37 and muslims that is perpetuated by a
0:10:40 negative stereotype we're going to go
0:10:41 through many examples of that today how
0:10:43 these constructs are created and how
0:10:45 they have an effect on people's uh
0:10:47 views about other human beings in this
0:10:50 case muslims
0:10:51 so perpetuated by negative stereotypes
0:10:53 resulting in bias discrimination
0:10:55 and the marginalization exclusion of
0:10:57 muslims from social political and civil
0:11:00 and civic life which of course is going
0:11:01 to be the natural consequence of that
0:11:03 and it's true therefore for you know
0:11:05 just think about uh
0:11:07 if anybody knows about nazi germany you
0:11:10 would realize that the nazis of course
0:11:11 had this very
0:11:12 um sophisticated propaganda campaign
0:11:15 joseph goebbels and others
0:11:17 in targeting the jews as
0:11:20 as a minority in in germany and then
0:11:23 later of course in
0:11:24 other places in poland for example um
0:11:27 and then
0:11:28 building up creating negative
0:11:29 stereotypes about them
0:11:31 and that therefore once it enters the
0:11:32 public consciousness the public mind
0:11:35 it's uh proliferated throughout media
0:11:38 and schooling and textbooks and
0:11:39 everything else
0:11:40 it would result in discrimination
0:11:43 because
0:11:43 the the recipients of that negative
0:11:46 stereotyping
0:11:48 and discrimination the recipients of
0:11:50 that of course
0:11:51 would slowly uh begin to see
0:11:54 the jewish population as less as less
0:11:56 worthy
0:11:57 than themselves and then of course when
0:12:00 it's going to continue that it was you
0:12:01 know
0:12:01 because you would have so much uh you
0:12:04 know visual
0:12:05 and written propaganda about the jews as
0:12:08 being less than humans as being
0:12:10 you know like vermin and cockroaches and
0:12:15 savage-like and animal-like uh that
0:12:17 would happen to public consciousness
0:12:19 about those people and it's the same
0:12:21 here with islamophobia and with all
0:12:22 people in any examples
0:12:24 where we have phobias to do with like an
0:12:27 exaggerated or irrational fear towards
0:12:30 the people whether they're black
0:12:31 people in racism islamophobia and
0:12:34 muslims
0:12:35 uh the vietnamese the vietcong for
0:12:37 example
0:12:38 and so marginalization and exclusion of
0:12:40 muslims from social political and civic
0:12:42 life and so therefore that's another
0:12:44 definition of islamophobia
0:12:47 now let's look at this constructing the
0:12:51 other constructing the other what does
0:12:53 that mean
0:12:54 here we are so
0:12:58 all right so um now the dehumanized
0:13:01 other is
0:13:02 irrational savage and
0:13:06 uh and threatening right this is from my
0:13:09 book
0:13:09 on being human which is available for a
0:13:12 free download from
0:13:13 sapience institute website uh the
0:13:15 juveniles other is irrational
0:13:17 savage and threatening on mental canvas
0:13:20 is a humanized other is painted with
0:13:21 broad strokes and white brushes
0:13:23 there are no identifications no fine
0:13:24 lines nuances that we discussed no green
0:13:26 light in the greys and those
0:13:27 outlines that human eyes is fed
0:13:30 mistreated and generalized
0:13:32 uh and so in rallying calls against the
0:13:35 other images and narratives
0:13:37 of how alien barbaric and inhu and human
0:13:41 the other is are propped up these ideas
0:13:43 are then repeated continuously
0:13:45 and relentlessly until believing
0:13:47 anything different about that other
0:13:49 becomes
0:13:49 incongruous right it becomes the status
0:13:52 quo that becomes
0:13:53 the dominant uh view
0:13:57 about that other any sympathizers with
0:13:59 that other are better placed
0:14:01 with that other rather than with us
0:14:04 thinking about
0:14:04 this the self and other constructs the
0:14:07 self heard the selfness is in fact
0:14:09 is created uh initi is in fact created
0:14:14 and sustained
0:14:15 with the creation of the other right
0:14:18 because the self of course becomes the
0:14:20 the the binary becomes the
0:14:23 dichotomy of that other if the other is
0:14:26 total evil
0:14:27 uh then the self is uh is
0:14:30 is total good then or is less evil at
0:14:33 least uh
0:14:34 than being total good uh i want us to
0:14:37 look at this image over here this is a
0:14:39 an image from the rehabilitation and
0:14:42 research center for torture
0:14:44 torture victims in copenhagen and
0:14:47 denmark i think the
0:14:48 the picture reveals a lot is also in the
0:14:50 book on being human
0:14:53 and this is entitled surrounded by
0:14:56 torturers he cannot see
0:14:58 uh anonymous watercolor okay here we are
0:15:01 now what is to look at this picture for
0:15:02 a second and think about what we're
0:15:03 seeing here
0:15:05 uh now this of course is very evocative
0:15:07 image uh
0:15:08 in fact the image is called the image in
0:15:10 fact is called the fair is still
0:15:12 me and what does it suggest it suggests
0:15:14 a beastial persona or of a tortured
0:15:17 person
0:15:18 donning a hood that conceals uh a
0:15:22 bear-like identity so you can probably
0:15:23 make up
0:15:24 you know from that hood a kind of a
0:15:26 bear-like image
0:15:28 now though he can't see the idea is that
0:15:31 he's very much to be seen
0:15:33 right as a centerpiece as if heralded by
0:15:35 the prison guards
0:15:36 in the images there's also a halo around
0:15:38 him you can probably make up
0:15:39 and we wonder whether this halo edged
0:15:41 around
0:15:42 uh him is is the beam of a torch from
0:15:45 behind him
0:15:46 a floodlight shining onto him or whether
0:15:48 in fact
0:15:50 the artist instead challenges us to
0:15:53 consider the binary oppositions
0:15:55 wherein symbols of dehumanized and
0:15:56 dehumanized life
0:15:58 become uh become juxtaposed
0:16:02 you could also probably see that behind
0:16:03 him you see the gods and the
0:16:05 the the togetherness of the gods is set
0:16:08 against the isolation of the prisoner
0:16:10 like therefore the pac-like formation of
0:16:13 the gods and the lone
0:16:14 bear-like prisoner is in fact ironic
0:16:17 because
0:16:18 he's supposed to be the one that's fair
0:16:19 then not them uh
0:16:22 and it's like the wounded bear-like
0:16:24 prisoner who has been
0:16:25 hunted and the prison guards they herald
0:16:28 him
0:16:29 there's much to be seen in this
0:16:30 photograph in this picture sorry
0:16:32 in this painting the cartoon suggests a
0:16:34 larger larger-than-life
0:16:35 individual and though his his protruding
0:16:38 feet
0:16:39 uh you know perhaps reflect limbs
0:16:41 swollen by beating
0:16:43 and in this the prisoner appears
0:16:46 imbalanced
0:16:47 now since his feet don't seem to appear
0:16:50 any
0:16:51 and injuries on his feet uh you know
0:16:54 might they
0:16:55 our perception of it might they in fact
0:16:57 be
0:16:58 be symbolic uh of of his own stamped
0:17:02 presence there's different ways that we
0:17:04 could see this picture
0:17:05 but i want you to pay attention to the
0:17:07 way that our perceptions
0:17:10 uh really have uh a bearing on what we
0:17:12 make up
0:17:13 what we make of this picture right the
0:17:15 the bail i could i think is very
0:17:17 interesting think about his clothing
0:17:18 clothing being ripped the blood on his
0:17:20 chair we have this contrast between
0:17:23 the civil and the uncivil and so the
0:17:25 gods behind him
0:17:27 uh who who perhaps tortured him who
0:17:29 captured him
0:17:30 uh who do this to prisoners maybe in
0:17:34 all days all different days uh
0:17:38 a pair civilized civil with their
0:17:40 uniforms
0:17:41 and this person the innocent perhaps
0:17:43 perhaps an innocent victim uh
0:17:46 is is made to appear as um as a beast
0:17:49 gel
0:17:50 right so and also the scruffy clothes of
0:17:52 the prisoner
0:17:53 and is she undone and is gotten undone
0:17:55 and everything else so
0:17:57 now muslims and i will go through it now
0:18:00 if we look at the next picture
0:18:05 look at this picture over here
0:18:09 so muslims
0:18:14 we of course we face a a constant
0:18:17 uh sense of othering a barrage of
0:18:20 press reports like the one that you can
0:18:21 see in front of you now from the daily
0:18:22 mail
0:18:26 and what do they do they they kind of
0:18:28 vilify uh
0:18:30 muslims muslim faith muslim
0:18:33 dress code or other muslims they they
0:18:37 this kind of uh sense of othering it
0:18:40 heightens anxieties and comes to shape
0:18:42 the way that we see ourselves as a
0:18:44 people almost largely defined
0:18:47 through violence right because that's
0:18:50 the perception it's a bit like um
0:18:52 w e b du bois has a wonderful book
0:18:55 called uh the souls of black folk where
0:18:57 he describes this concept of double
0:18:59 consciousness
0:19:00 so there's one thing about w boys boys
0:19:03 defining
0:19:04 the way that black people in america
0:19:06 african americans
0:19:07 saw themselves but they're living in in
0:19:10 two
0:19:11 uh juxtaposed kind of identities really
0:19:15 because
0:19:15 one way that their ha one consciousness
0:19:18 is the way that
0:19:19 uh the whites have imputed upon them
0:19:21 already
0:19:22 a standard of behavior standard of
0:19:24 living a center of beliefs
0:19:25 and therefore they struggle because they
0:19:27 think you know what what
0:19:29 what are we actually exhibiting are we
0:19:32 truly exhibiting our own consciousness
0:19:35 right uh or are we exhibiting what the
0:19:38 whites
0:19:38 would have us er exhibit you know it's a
0:19:42 very interesting
0:19:43 concept and it's and it really taps into
0:19:44 the idea of seeing and being seen
0:19:47 right so because we're always being seen
0:19:50 does that notion of
0:19:51 being seen therefore have an effect and
0:19:53 a bearing on the way that we
0:19:55 choose to be seen by the people who are
0:19:58 always putting the spotlight on us and
0:20:00 and have us
0:20:01 uh you know projected in a particular
0:20:03 way uh so therefore motifs of barbarity
0:20:06 uh so if a normal person for example saw
0:20:09 a person
0:20:10 a picture like this well i wouldn't i
0:20:12 wouldn't say and i think we shouldn't
0:20:13 use normal person because
0:20:15 that's again an incorrect assumption
0:20:17 every person
0:20:18 is different and unique but perhaps we
0:20:20 can say that if some people
0:20:23 looked upon a picture like this they
0:20:25 would
0:20:26 have already framed within their minds
0:20:28 uh
0:20:29 within and through those pictures the
0:20:32 different kind of hats of the
0:20:33 silhouettes of the hats
0:20:34 that the people are wearing the burkas
0:20:36 for example the niqab
0:20:38 motifs of barbarity backwitness images
0:20:41 of women in hijab or burqa
0:20:43 framed around narratives of fair these
0:20:46 are refugees
0:20:47 right refugees pictured showing
0:20:49 therefore this is what
0:20:50 refugees are bringing with them right
0:20:53 this is what they're going to look like
0:20:54 and as you can see you can see rats rats
0:20:57 following them
0:20:58 you know it's this horrendous horrific
0:21:00 picture
0:21:02 this is fair of the affair of muslims
0:21:04 and the unknown
0:21:06 a common place and so
0:21:09 if you look here side by side
0:21:13 1930s nazi anti-semitic propaganda
0:21:16 and a daily mail cartoon from 17
0:21:18 november 2015
0:21:20 right so you see rats and remember that
0:21:24 rats are a pest rats are a pest and so
0:21:27 like
0:21:28 as in so to have rats and cooperated in
0:21:31 the language of propaganda
0:21:33 in the holocaust or here with muslims
0:21:35 and islamophobia
0:21:37 it's deliberately delivering this
0:21:38 message therefore that a pest needs to
0:21:40 be
0:21:41 you have to have an infestation you
0:21:43 manifestation you need a cleansing you
0:21:45 need
0:21:46 a removal of that infestation uh you
0:21:49 know to save yourselves and
0:21:51 and the population and so on and so
0:21:52 forth and therefore to be
0:21:54 projected to be predict to project it
0:21:57 you know as
0:21:58 human beings accompanied by rats is is
0:22:01 very
0:22:02 uh is very telling you know of that and
0:22:04 so
0:22:05 that's an example and this of course
0:22:08 this daily example i'm only choosing
0:22:10 uh or one example here but it's daily
0:22:12 examples of things like that that we can
0:22:14 see
0:22:15 uh in in in media particularly tabloid
0:22:18 media
0:22:19 all right so now who and what do we see
0:22:23 and what do we see this is very
0:22:25 interesting i think for us right now
0:22:27 um this is from
0:22:31 sanya hamadi right again this is it's
0:22:33 interesting because san hamadi himself
0:22:36 is a is an arab
0:22:39 and this is the uh the
0:22:43 this is the the narrative he has of
0:22:46 arabs
0:22:47 uh and he said the arabs so far have
0:22:49 demonstrated an incapacity for
0:22:51 disciplined and abiding unity
0:22:54 they experience collective outbursts of
0:22:56 enthusiasm but do not pursue patiently
0:22:59 collective endeavors which are usually
0:23:02 embraced half-heartedly
0:23:03 which are uh yeah they show a lack of
0:23:06 coordination
0:23:08 right lack of coordination and harmony
0:23:11 in organizing in organization
0:23:15 and function nor have they revealed an
0:23:17 inability
0:23:18 for cooperation any collective action
0:23:22 for a common benefit
0:23:23 or a mutual profit is alien to them
0:23:26 and just think about this just look at
0:23:28 this and think about it for a second
0:23:29 what's actually being
0:23:31 said over here right and think about the
0:23:33 ways that
0:23:34 uh in this individual's mind right and
0:23:38 from what he's writing over here the way
0:23:40 that a construct of arabs is created
0:23:43 and i've i've i've highlighted specific
0:23:46 words here
0:23:47 and um edward saeed makes mention of
0:23:50 this case as well
0:23:51 collective outbursts collective
0:23:53 endeavors
0:23:54 coordination cooperation collective
0:23:57 action
0:23:57 common benefit one of the tragic ironies
0:24:00 behind this whole thing is the fact that
0:24:01 there's no mention
0:24:03 about what those collective things
0:24:04 actually are
0:24:06 right so what is it what is a collective
0:24:08 endeavor that they're supposed to not be
0:24:10 able to do
0:24:11 what is collective action that they're
0:24:12 not doing what is common benefit that
0:24:15 they're not providing
0:24:16 right what is the cooperation that they
0:24:17 are not providing that they're not
0:24:18 fulfilling facilitating
0:24:20 what is the coordination and so by
0:24:22 leaving it so vague and ambiguous
0:24:24 by by using these kind of words it just
0:24:27 taps into public consciousness
0:24:29 and of course is very disparaging
0:24:30 towards our people the other key thing
0:24:32 about islamophobia is that
0:24:34 and this is an example so the way that
0:24:36 uh we we are seeing
0:24:38 uh one people as
0:24:42 one uh you know as as one as one
0:24:45 group and disallowing uh people
0:24:48 to be kind of a complex a complex
0:24:52 the complex complex mesh of all
0:24:54 individual
0:24:56 people right so the arabs of course are
0:24:59 not one
0:25:00 ethnic people living in one geographical
0:25:03 area
0:25:04 you have arabs from all over the uh
0:25:07 different countries of the world and and
0:25:09 each of them have different
0:25:11 uh different tastes and different skills
0:25:14 and talents and each one of them have
0:25:16 different
0:25:16 uh culture and different you know likes
0:25:19 and dislikes and this is i mean it's
0:25:21 just very simple
0:25:22 but it's but it's true for every other
0:25:24 human being it's all for all of us
0:25:26 but therefore by casting all arabs
0:25:29 as one and the same and therefore uh
0:25:31 unable to do
0:25:32 the things that hamadi mentions uh this
0:25:36 is a clear reflection of what islami
0:25:38 phobia is and where it results from and
0:25:40 how it's created and generated
0:25:42 um now
0:25:46 all right here we are all right so now
0:25:48 uh
0:25:49 herbert kelman reminds us that to
0:25:51 humanize someone is to perceive him as
0:25:53 an individual
0:25:54 independent and and distinguishable from
0:25:56 others
0:25:57 right that's something of course hamadi
0:25:59 doesn't do in his
0:26:00 uh in his comment right so to perceive
0:26:03 as an individual
0:26:04 independent and distinguishable from
0:26:06 others capable of making choices
0:26:09 right but by by castigating all arabs
0:26:12 as one and therefore uh unable to do so
0:26:15 many things
0:26:16 uh it's just the opposite of this the
0:26:18 same way one's predispositions to
0:26:20 error or one's likes and dislikes are
0:26:23 necessarily part of oneself
0:26:25 then so too must exist in the other
0:26:28 whatever you're seeing in yourself of
0:26:29 your own vulnerabilities
0:26:30 they also exist in another human being
0:26:32 which would mean an acceptance of being
0:26:34 disagreed with
0:26:35 or even in being disliked actually right
0:26:37 so but it's just
0:26:38 allowing therefore that space of uh
0:26:41 of humanizing to take place um the idea
0:26:45 is to see the other as a complex
0:26:47 human being to be genuinely curious
0:26:50 about the other person and to realize
0:26:52 that experiences affect different people
0:26:54 in different ways and do not be
0:26:56 presumptuous
0:26:57 about one person's attitude and
0:26:59 viewpoints due to an attitude
0:27:01 formed about the group to which the
0:27:03 other belongs
0:27:05 or because of views that um
0:27:08 uh you know his in group has formed
0:27:11 about one's
0:27:12 self is a requirement of empathy
0:27:15 um now before i continue let me go back
0:27:18 a little bit actually
0:27:19 so on on this one about again hamadi's
0:27:23 thing there is a longer discussion i
0:27:25 have in my book on being human
0:27:27 uh about the way that uh
0:27:30 arabs and muslims have had a kind of
0:27:33 just
0:27:34 successive negative portrayals uh in
0:27:37 in political cartoons in american
0:27:39 newspapers
0:27:40 in in american movies uh there's a
0:27:43 big research connected by a man called
0:27:45 lindenmann
0:27:47 and his research reveals this that in
0:27:50 papers like you know the washington post
0:27:51 washington star the miami news
0:27:53 the baltimore sun and others there's
0:27:56 always this excessive negative portrayal
0:27:59 uh in political cartoons uh
0:28:02 you find this for example particularly
0:28:05 during
0:28:06 you know israel's wars and campaigns of
0:28:08 barbarity
0:28:10 uh in in against the the people of gaza
0:28:13 uh a tendency of of just negative and
0:28:16 dehumanizing portrayals of arabs
0:28:18 and and sometimes oftentimes in fact
0:28:20 specifically palestinian arabs
0:28:22 now such negative images in fact are
0:28:24 often used
0:28:25 to promote american wars
0:28:28 like for example in iraq or in the case
0:28:31 of uh
0:28:32 other analysis like by parma or nasser
0:28:35 to promote israel's campaigns against
0:28:36 palestinians
0:28:38 um now nasser in fact has an interesting
0:28:40 chapter because
0:28:41 his work is on in fact his book is
0:28:43 called real
0:28:44 bad arabs real as in our eel badasses
0:28:48 upon their real bad arabs and he studies
0:28:52 uh the portrayal of arabs in american
0:28:55 movies
0:28:56 uh between like the late or 1890s
0:29:00 and and around 1960 and it reveals this
0:29:03 predominant image and that's a lot of
0:29:05 years
0:29:06 60 70 years predominant image of arabs
0:29:09 as backwards
0:29:10 as evil and as inhumane right
0:29:14 in in you have jack shahi i know sir i
0:29:17 think jack shaheen
0:29:18 has the book called real bad arabs he
0:29:21 has
0:29:21 an analysis of even more he looks at
0:29:23 over 900 hollywood movies
0:29:26 between 1896 and 2001
0:29:29 and this finds his dominant trend of
0:29:31 media presentation of arabs
0:29:33 as the dehumanized villain right so the
0:29:36 arab is always
0:29:38 the one to be fared as a villain uh and
0:29:41 you also have for example
0:29:42 that dehumanization negative portrayal
0:29:45 of arabs in radio in television
0:29:47 movies the arabs are prone to committing
0:29:50 acts of terrorism
0:29:52 against americans that's the muslim
0:29:54 faith you know
0:29:55 the muslim faith is kind of behind all
0:29:58 of this
0:29:58 uh and these are kind of mythical images
0:30:00 of arabs
0:30:01 as inherently evil violent uncultured
0:30:05 threatening uh prominent in in you know
0:30:07 social science textbooks even in
0:30:09 elementary schools right and so
0:30:13 this negative stereotype by arabs is
0:30:16 very predominant
0:30:17 yeah in media but also in in in
0:30:20 hollywood and and
0:30:21 in the movie industry um and so
0:30:25 now here's an example this is from
0:30:27 edward saeed he says the arabs appear as
0:30:29 an
0:30:29 over uh sorry let's go down sorry my
0:30:34 mistake
0:30:39 yeah so what he says is says that the
0:30:42 arabs appear
0:30:43 as an oversexed degenerate capable
0:30:47 it is if it is true of cleverly devious
0:30:51 intrigues but essentially sadistic
0:30:54 treacherous
0:30:55 low in newsreels and or newspapers the
0:30:58 arab is always shown in large numbers
0:31:01 right no individuality this whole point
0:31:03 so just think about the importance of
0:31:04 individual
0:31:05 individuality and so he says therefore
0:31:07 the arab is never
0:31:08 shown as an individual always as in
0:31:11 large numbers
0:31:12 no individuality no personal
0:31:14 characteristics of experiences
0:31:16 most of the pictures represent mass rage
0:31:19 and misery or irrational uh
0:31:23 inner gestures all right so just think
0:31:24 about the contrast there
0:31:26 one of my i have a book being released
0:31:28 in charlotte just in a few months now
0:31:30 uh entitled uh between war
0:31:34 descent and empathy seeing our others in
0:31:36 darkened spaces
0:31:37 and i have a chapter that discusses this
0:31:40 kind of the chap looks at the visual
0:31:43 constructs
0:31:44 that sometimes are very effective
0:31:48 in empathy bearing at other times they
0:31:50 kind of
0:31:51 impede upon that empathy bearing and
0:31:55 and i have a contrast between american
0:31:57 school shootings
0:31:59 with a particular focus on 2007 virginia
0:32:02 tech school shooting
0:32:03 which was like a high point in american
0:32:04 media because every single life was
0:32:06 humanized and
0:32:07 a lot of uh air time was given to seeing
0:32:10 the
0:32:10 the families of the victims but
0:32:14 by contrasting that then with iraq in
0:32:16 fact 2007 it was the worst year in iraq
0:32:19 since the war began in iraq um but you
0:32:22 don't have that sense of individualizing
0:32:24 even in suffering and grief
0:32:26 uh as edward said says you know many
0:32:28 years ago that is
0:32:29 this kind of seeing them as one uh one
0:32:32 homogenous
0:32:34 mesh uh and not as as individuals
0:32:38 and so uh
0:32:41 here's the question now here's another
0:32:43 way of looking at it this is from
0:32:45 uh now this is from in fact this is
0:32:47 interesting because
0:32:48 here we have a um uh this is from john
0:32:52 howard griffin in his book called black
0:32:54 like me
0:32:55 now he was a white american author who
0:32:57 temporarily altered
0:32:58 the pigment of his skin in order to
0:33:01 experience and
0:33:02 understand first hand the life of a
0:33:04 black man
0:33:05 very interesting a very courageous and
0:33:07 brave of him do that this is in southern
0:33:08 states of america
0:33:10 he describes his experience in in this
0:33:12 book black like me
0:33:13 now what this book recounts is numerous
0:33:16 incidents of the othering of black
0:33:17 people
0:33:18 of the arousing of hatred and suspicion
0:33:20 towards griffin
0:33:21 uh who you know for the whites he was an
0:33:25 african-american although he was really
0:33:26 a white person
0:33:27 his experience is very telling of the
0:33:29 psychology of dehumanization
0:33:31 prevalent in the states during that time
0:33:34 in fact what he writes is this he says
0:33:36 that i
0:33:38 learned within a very few hours that no
0:33:40 one was judging me
0:33:41 by my qualities as a human right
0:33:44 so now if you look at this he said they
0:33:46 could not see me or any other black man
0:33:48 as human individual
0:33:50 because they buried us under the garbage
0:33:52 of their stereotype give us that's a
0:33:53 very powerful
0:33:55 opening line read that again they could
0:33:57 not see me or any black man
0:33:59 as a human individual because they
0:34:02 buried us under the garbage of their
0:34:04 stereotype view of us
0:34:05 they saw us as different from themselves
0:34:08 in fundamental ways how could white men
0:34:11 ever really know black men if on every
0:34:13 contact the white man's stereotype view
0:34:15 of the black man
0:34:16 got in the way it's about the building
0:34:19 up of those stereotypes right i never
0:34:22 knew a black man who felt this
0:34:24 stereotype view
0:34:25 fit him right so that's kind of
0:34:28 obviously
0:34:28 unfair it's an it's the lie uh
0:34:32 always in every encounter even with good
0:34:33 whites we had the feeling that the white
0:34:35 person was not talking with us
0:34:37 but with the image of us that's a very
0:34:41 powerful line right that last line
0:34:44 right we had the feeling that the white
0:34:48 person was not talking with us
0:34:49 but with his image of us that image
0:34:53 creation is perpetuated in media
0:34:56 through just talking you know amongst
0:34:59 themselves stereotyping
0:35:02 lying uh you know the media visual
0:35:05 representations
0:35:06 all of these things have an effect on
0:35:08 the way that image
0:35:10 of of black people was created and this
0:35:12 is something that john howard griffin
0:35:13 really reveals uh you know quite
0:35:16 poignantly
0:35:17 in in his book and so
0:35:21 that's i think a very very powerful
0:35:23 observation that you know he makes
0:35:26 uh in in his book that there's they're
0:35:27 not in fact speaking with us
0:35:30 they're in fact speaking uh you know
0:35:32 with that image
0:35:33 of us instead all right so
0:35:37 now why do people why do we dehumanize
0:35:40 what is it
0:35:41 now amongst other reasons there are
0:35:43 potential political
0:35:44 motivations now this is something
0:35:46 interesting this is from
0:35:48 butler's book precarious life uh the
0:35:50 powers of mourning and violence and
0:35:52 uh you know of course there's many
0:35:56 things that she advocates that we
0:35:57 inherently disagree with
0:35:59 uh you know but but this i think was
0:36:02 interesting and this
0:36:03 is a lot that she i mean she does in
0:36:06 fact
0:36:06 in relation to um the human suffering
0:36:09 element of of authorized victims
0:36:12 of war and conflict and she says that
0:36:15 the very conception of the human is
0:36:17 brought into question
0:36:18 it is not simply that some humans are
0:36:21 treated as humans
0:36:22 and others are dehumanized it is rather
0:36:24 that humanization becomes the condition
0:36:27 for the production of the human to the
0:36:29 extent that a western civilization
0:36:30 defines itself
0:36:32 over and against the population
0:36:33 understood as the definition of the
0:36:35 illegitimate if not
0:36:36 db human this whole point i made about
0:36:38 that the binary
0:36:40 the the juxtaposing of self and
0:36:43 otherness
0:36:44 that the self in fact is defined and
0:36:46 created
0:36:47 with that and through that juxtaposing
0:36:49 of
0:36:50 uh of of the other the if the other
0:36:53 therefore
0:36:54 is made up of all of these evil
0:36:56 tendencies and traits then the self of
0:36:57 course must be
0:36:58 you know uh pure
0:37:01 and wholesome and this is the way that
0:37:04 these things are created
0:37:06 um now i also want us to
0:37:09 think about um
0:37:12 yeah so here we are now
0:37:17 the one we dehumanize we now count as
0:37:20 the other
0:37:22 uh the other consists of incomplete
0:37:25 parts
0:37:26 right incomplete parts insufficiently
0:37:29 human and thus inadequate for a place
0:37:33 in the world or our world for the
0:37:35 dehumanized principles of morality
0:37:38 no longer apply and any moral restraints
0:37:41 against abuse
0:37:42 torture or killing are readily overcome
0:37:45 right
0:37:45 so you know that that suffering is going
0:37:47 to be proliferated because
0:37:49 those restraints against abuse moral
0:37:52 restraints
0:37:53 you know a bettering of education a
0:37:54 bettering of teaching
0:37:56 um you know a an encountering
0:37:59 uh of humans together uh all of these
0:38:03 things you know can have an effect
0:38:05 but they're readily overcome
0:38:06 humanization is a facing it is to
0:38:09 contort another's image and ascribe to
0:38:12 it
0:38:12 all the qualities one would find
0:38:15 repugnant
0:38:16 to have within oneself all right
0:38:19 and of course the the list is endless of
0:38:22 the effects
0:38:23 of islamophobia of constructing of
0:38:26 otherness
0:38:26 of dehumanization and what it leads to
0:38:29 uh one of the
0:38:31 one of the sections in my book
0:38:34 uh is about a a very tragic incident
0:38:37 concerning
0:38:38 a young girl and her family in iraq
0:38:41 in 2006 and this is a very tragic case
0:38:44 of our sister our blessed sister abir
0:38:47 abir hamza qasim al-janabi and her
0:38:50 family
0:38:50 you know her family you know her sister
0:38:53 hadil
0:38:54 her father muhammad
0:38:58 her her mother uh
0:39:02 you know all of whom were killed on this
0:39:04 very tragic day and what happened is on
0:39:06 march
0:39:06 the 12th 2006 five u.s soldiers
0:39:11 uh of the 502nd infantry regiment
0:39:14 uh they they left their checkpoint
0:39:18 for the genevieve farm house this is
0:39:19 this very simple
0:39:21 family the genevieve family and this is
0:39:24 and they lived in the
0:39:26 southwest of the village of yusufiya in
0:39:28 the town of mahmudi in iraq
0:39:30 so one of the soldiers brian howard
0:39:34 he acted as acts as a lookout and the
0:39:37 other four soldiers
0:39:38 they entered the house they entered the
0:39:40 family home
0:39:41 the father in fact the father was
0:39:43 outside with hadil
0:39:45 uh you know um and so
0:39:49 they kind of pushed him in with their
0:39:51 guns to all get in
0:39:52 to all enter the house and this was
0:39:55 subsequent really to a plan devised
0:39:57 by the assailants of raping a [ __ ] girl
0:40:02 raping a [ __ ] girl right now that word
0:40:04 [ __ ] is very essential
0:40:06 because [ __ ] although muslims would see
0:40:08 that as a as a title
0:40:10 of of great respect because a person has
0:40:12 performed the hajj
0:40:13 the americans looked upon iraqis as
0:40:16 hajjis and that was a dehumanizing label
0:40:19 right to see someone sahaja you with
0:40:21 someone is like
0:40:22 seeing them as as a vermin or as
0:40:25 cockroach or as a rat
0:40:27 and so afternoon that day the soldiers
0:40:29 they entered the home
0:40:31 uh where you know two of the soldiers
0:40:33 barca and cortez
0:40:35 and green in fact three of them took
0:40:37 turns to rape a beer abeer abir was 14
0:40:40 years old
0:40:41 i have a chapter a very lengthy chapter
0:40:43 uh in my book that's coming out in
0:40:45 charlotte
0:40:45 in a few months time uh called
0:40:49 the framing of abir it's about
0:40:52 the mahmudiyah killings and the framing
0:40:53 of iberia and it's about the way that
0:40:55 abir khazal janabi
0:40:57 was framed in america in american media
0:41:00 and one of the first things
0:41:01 that you know commentators after the
0:41:04 effects
0:41:05 noticed but also some good you know
0:41:07 social media sites picked up on quite
0:41:09 early
0:41:10 is the fact that uh they never gave a
0:41:12 beer
0:41:13 very early on uh her true
0:41:16 age right in the american media she was
0:41:18 25 years old
0:41:20 right so the big difference in people's
0:41:22 minds about raping
0:41:24 a 14 year old child and then raping a 25
0:41:29 year old woman
0:41:30 right but by by because it went against
0:41:33 the dominant narrative
0:41:35 uh of in american media as american
0:41:38 saviors
0:41:39 entering into iraq and liberating the
0:41:40 iraqi people this went against the
0:41:42 dominant narrative of
0:41:44 of a woman damsel in distress victim
0:41:48 saved by american champions of of
0:41:50 freedom
0:41:51 went against that because the ones who
0:41:55 horrifically horrifically planned this
0:41:58 attack
0:41:59 raped this child you know abhir
0:42:03 took turns in doing that was
0:42:06 and then of course in the other room
0:42:08 they have the mother and the father have
0:42:09 hadil
0:42:10 and the remaining members family were
0:42:12 all shot dead you know
0:42:14 and it's likely that abeer would have
0:42:15 had her family being shot dead
0:42:18 as she was being raped
0:42:22 the men then shot dead up here set her
0:42:24 body on fire
0:42:25 and then left the house you know now
0:42:28 this is the key point about
0:42:29 dehumanization
0:42:30 and islamophobia green stephen green
0:42:34 you're also an ex-drone operator by the
0:42:36 way he stated that he raped a
0:42:38 14-year-old abeer and killed her
0:42:40 alongside her family
0:42:41 because he didn't this is the quote he
0:42:44 quote
0:42:44 didn't view iraqis as human
0:42:48 end quote right he didn't view iraqis
0:42:52 as human now how can somebody
0:42:55 not view iraqis as human when they look
0:42:59 like you
0:42:59 and they talk like you and they laugh
0:43:01 like you and they cry like you
0:43:03 all of these human the human humanity
0:43:06 the same we call these human codes of
0:43:08 recognizability
0:43:10 how did he not see that but because that
0:43:12 image
0:43:13 of iraq iraqi society iraqi people
0:43:16 muslim people in iraq negative image
0:43:19 negative portrayals is so
0:43:21 dominant in american media like i
0:43:23 mentioned
0:43:24 in american movies in american media
0:43:26 american images
0:43:28 of that distant arab muslim other
0:43:32 that of course taps into people's
0:43:34 consciousness of course it
0:43:36 has it doesn't excuse him for anything
0:43:38 for what he did
0:43:39 but that's that's how that image of the
0:43:42 other is
0:43:42 is created uh and this of course was a
0:43:45 very horrific case but these things
0:43:47 happen
0:43:48 on a daily basis in in war and there's
0:43:51 so many things that people could say
0:43:53 uh what happens in palestine what
0:43:54 happens in you know in
0:43:56 in places like in iraq uh in in syria
0:44:00 and many
0:44:00 different places in the world for
0:44:02 affecting muslims and also affecting
0:44:04 non-muslims victims of injustice and
0:44:06 violence as well
0:44:08 [Music]
0:44:10 now this is uh very interesting for our
0:44:13 topic about
0:44:15 othering because there is of course
0:44:20 a historical uh in a baggage there is
0:44:24 a lot uh kind of in in human history
0:44:27 that has created this uh sense of
0:44:31 othering particularly here in this case
0:44:32 of muslims um the european perception
0:44:36 of arabs muslims and turks as
0:44:39 dark and devilish others in fact
0:44:42 emanated from
0:44:44 uh military engagements ottomans had in
0:44:46 the balkans
0:44:47 uh and it had its important role in
0:44:50 creating this otherness about them and
0:44:53 in
0:44:53 self-image making as well uh
0:44:57 but the vilification so you'll see that
0:45:00 the vilifying of a people
0:45:01 carries with a train of propaganda so if
0:45:05 you look at this this is an account of
0:45:07 one of the surviving accounts of the
0:45:10 speech of of pope evan ii at claremont
0:45:14 um now in this speech of his
0:45:18 uh which of course is was written after
0:45:20 the
0:45:21 the the success of the crusaders in the
0:45:23 first crusade
0:45:24 so therefore it's kind of it's bound by
0:45:26 this uh
0:45:27 you know exaggeration but the but the
0:45:30 but the language is very key
0:45:32 so what he says is the grave reports
0:45:34 come from the lands around jerusalem
0:45:35 that are raised
0:45:36 absolutely alien to god has invaded the
0:45:39 land of the christians
0:45:40 uh which of course is completely
0:45:42 nonsense because muslims had been
0:45:44 settled there for
0:45:45 uh for many centuries by that time they
0:45:47 have either raised the churches of god
0:45:50 to the ground or enslaved them to their
0:45:52 own right which of course was complete
0:45:53 nonsense
0:45:54 they cut open the navels of those whom
0:45:55 they choose to torment
0:45:57 which was also complete nonsense then at
0:45:59 them as they lie on the ground with all
0:46:01 their entrails out which is so
0:46:03 so evil and sadistic but it's complete
0:46:05 nonsense what can i say of the appalling
0:46:08 violation of women
0:46:09 which is nonsense again on whom does the
0:46:11 task line of avenging this
0:46:14 if not on you so this is appeal you know
0:46:16 to
0:46:17 uh the people of france and
0:46:20 uh and christians to to right to the
0:46:23 challenge of
0:46:24 of uh fighting the muslims and of taking
0:46:27 the city of jerusalem from them
0:46:29 take the road to the holy sepulchre
0:46:31 rescue that land and rule over
0:46:32 yourselves
0:46:33 for that land as scripture says floweth
0:46:35 with milk and honey
0:46:36 take this road for the remission of your
0:46:38 sins assured of the unfading glory
0:46:41 of the kingdom of heaven and when pope
0:46:43 every second had said these words
0:46:44 everyone shouted in unison
0:46:46 due to wall to swole meaning god will
0:46:48 say god will said
0:46:50 now this is a a part of a much longer
0:46:52 discussion
0:46:53 uh you know there's a lot i mean my
0:46:57 my you know i'm a crusade historian by
0:47:00 the way
0:47:01 so my my my work my first book in fact
0:47:04 is
0:47:04 a book on the crusades my masters and pc
0:47:06 were both on the crusades
0:47:08 um but what this is really revealing
0:47:12 is that this account and other accounts
0:47:14 of
0:47:15 of christian pilgrims to jerusalem they
0:47:17 reveal that
0:47:18 you know before the 12th century a grand
0:47:21 narrative
0:47:21 of muslims as enemies as the spoilers of
0:47:24 jerusalem as
0:47:26 heathen didn't exist before that time
0:47:29 the stage hadn't yet been set the
0:47:31 political circumstances involving
0:47:33 the cell dukes you know encroaching into
0:47:36 constantinople and
0:47:37 battle of manzika in in 1074.
0:47:41 al-barisalan uh you know they what did
0:47:44 they say
0:47:45 in emotion kind of a mental uh
0:47:48 imagining or reimagining of muslims as
0:47:51 the enemies
0:47:52 of god who had to be fought now these
0:47:55 four
0:47:55 different accounts of urban speech each
0:47:58 present
0:47:59 a different version of what his speech
0:48:01 entailed
0:48:02 but the build-up of anti-muslim rhetoric
0:48:05 is
0:48:06 is you know you can't mistake this
0:48:07 unmistakable he presents a situation
0:48:09 under a threat of a wicked race
0:48:11 partake in abominable practices crusade
0:48:14 propagandists you know from urban second
0:48:16 speech
0:48:17 uh in this time clermont 25 to fight the
0:48:20 crusades in subsequent decades
0:48:22 produced the image of the muslims as a
0:48:23 godless defiler
0:48:25 of christian sanctities as a barbaric
0:48:27 torture of christians as an idol
0:48:29 worshiper
0:48:30 the othering of the muslims had begun
0:48:31 and became more pronounced
0:48:33 when muslims were outside the bounds of
0:48:35 normative civilized society as
0:48:37 animals right when he says for example
0:48:40 who cut open the navels of those whom
0:48:42 they choose remember this is animalistic
0:48:44 taken from you know this account
0:48:47 right so now why this is so important
0:48:50 for us
0:48:50 understanding islamophobia it's very key
0:48:53 because
0:48:54 you see how propaganda plays an
0:48:56 essential
0:48:58 part in the build up to the crusades
0:49:01 right but this is how it happens for
0:49:03 anything for these uh
0:49:04 attacks that happen against muslims
0:49:07 right so
0:49:08 inflammatory imagery provokes moral
0:49:10 outrage
0:49:11 right uh and you see that the
0:49:15 in this case the othering of muslims was
0:49:17 connected to the idea of the spoiling of
0:49:19 christian sites
0:49:20 right the above i mean he preaches the
0:49:23 barbarity towards
0:49:24 other christians that come from uh come
0:49:27 from these lands
0:49:28 now what makes this interesting so as
0:49:30 you can see in the top it's not
0:49:32 i mean the genesis of the crusades was
0:49:33 not coming from from clermont
0:49:36 it began in fact in the iberian
0:49:37 peninsula uh
0:49:39 the spain in fact was the first theater
0:49:41 of crusading
0:49:42 and the pope gregory the seventh and and
0:49:45 then uh
0:49:46 evan a second after that so you had
0:49:48 crusades that were launched against
0:49:50 muslims
0:49:51 to retake the city of zaragoza for
0:49:54 example or
0:49:55 defend the church of taragona and the
0:49:57 remission of sins were granted
0:49:59 to christians from spain spanish
0:50:01 christians who would do that
0:50:03 you know in within spain but they would
0:50:05 have remission of sins as the
0:50:06 as christians later on a few years after
0:50:09 that
0:50:09 uh when they traveled to jerusalem
0:50:13 now this is interesting because
0:50:16 uh you know what happens and i'll just
0:50:19 move down one second
0:50:23 there we are now
0:50:26 the spanish inquisition of course uh in
0:50:29 the 16th century
0:50:30 uh was the worst was the worst
0:50:32 manifestation of this and by the way
0:50:34 so as we saw urban a second uh account
0:50:38 of people
0:50:39 shouting as a as the captain jerusalem
0:50:41 just full to fall so all these horrific
0:50:43 acts that they would commit against the
0:50:44 muslims
0:50:45 smashing babies heads against the walls
0:50:47 and slaughtering people
0:50:48 uh they would say decibel god wills that
0:50:50 god wills it to happen
0:50:52 uh thomas the tacomada the grand the
0:50:55 grand um
0:50:56 uh he was he wasn't the grandmaster he
0:50:59 was the um
0:51:01 he was a grand inquisitor the grand
0:51:03 inquisitor
0:51:04 after so you had nicholas america in his
0:51:06 book derek told him inquisitorium
0:51:08 and then you had thomas de camada top of
0:51:11 the mother he came out with the
0:51:12 the slogan
0:51:15 and just like means god wills it god
0:51:18 wills it
0:51:19 so the language is the same right so
0:51:21 whatever they're doing
0:51:22 in the inquisition horrific horrific
0:51:24 torture of muslims
0:51:26 just like where god wills it to happen
0:51:28 now that image
0:51:29 is built up so for example in in the uh
0:51:32 in spanish inquisition in 16th century
0:51:34 muslims were depicted as saracens
0:51:37 hagarians
0:51:38 hagerine beasts look at that hagreen
0:51:41 beast
0:51:42 in the 16th century in the hashburg
0:51:44 empire muslim turks
0:51:45 were portrayed as terrible turk
0:51:48 as a sub-human enemy spaniards uh
0:51:51 described the moras
0:51:53 as greedy and sadistic and official
0:51:56 documents of mariscos
0:51:57 uh were routinely referred to as
0:51:59 pestilence
0:52:01 just imagine that image a picture of
0:52:02 that of those rats as pestilence
0:52:04 as a plague a fever a pestilential horde
0:52:09 or beasts or vipers within the bosom of
0:52:11 spain
0:52:12 this was a kind of language used in
0:52:14 polemic texts
0:52:15 written in support of the expulsion of
0:52:17 muslims
0:52:18 now one of them a former preacher in
0:52:20 valencia francesca wrote that
0:52:22 how the treason and bad customs of the
0:52:24 mariscos
0:52:26 were inherited in their corrupted blood
0:52:28 and their mother's milk
0:52:30 it's crazy crazy look at that you know
0:52:33 they've inherited this evil you know
0:52:35 from because they're just naturally
0:52:37 evil but this then continues so as you
0:52:39 can see i've got radovan
0:52:40 karachik this is from the genocide in
0:52:42 bosnia he says muslims will disappear
0:52:45 what that people will disappear from the
0:52:47 face of
0:52:48 the earth now the genocide of muslims in
0:52:50 bosnia and from 1995
0:52:53 uh this concept is critical right and
0:52:56 understand i think i have
0:52:57 in the next slide maybe not uh
0:53:01 here we are it's actually over here all
0:53:03 right so just look at it i'll i'll go
0:53:05 back in a second
0:53:06 but here we have kratojek rather than
0:53:08 kratoc and he was infamous in describing
0:53:10 bosnian muslims as filth as traitors
0:53:12 and vermin that needed to be annihilated
0:53:15 in the words of
0:53:16 biljana plaffcik krejcic's deputy it was
0:53:19 serb genetically deformed material that
0:53:22 embraced
0:53:23 islam right let's go back for a second
0:53:26 now what makes this interesting
0:53:30 uh well not interesting but actually
0:53:32 just horrific
0:53:34 is this so if you look at the next one
0:53:37 okay so we have a bit more about race
0:53:39 over here but we can actually skip this
0:53:41 one
0:53:41 because we have covered a bit about race
0:53:43 but if we have different things about
0:53:45 the way that um uh
0:53:48 the processor amino gave such an amazing
0:53:51 space of acceptance and nobility
0:53:54 not just acceptance but nobility uh to
0:53:57 to bilal of course he was a black
0:53:59 abyssinian slave
0:54:01 and then of course taught that uh
0:54:04 you know that anyone who disparages
0:54:06 somebody else on account
0:54:07 of their ethnicity and color is his
0:54:09 reflection of ignorance
0:54:12 and the prophet demonstrated to one of
0:54:14 his noble companions
0:54:18 over here therefore we have um okay
0:54:22 here we are now okay we're going to get
0:54:26 to
0:54:27 terence manifesto in a second uh okay so
0:54:30 on june the 5th this is again
0:54:32 the holocaust 1942 the human beings
0:54:34 marked for the death and mobile
0:54:35 gas chambers at chelmo are always
0:54:38 referred to as the cargo
0:54:39 or the items it's going back to the
0:54:42 holocaust and
0:54:43 disallowing personal identity
0:54:45 disallowing disallowing the humanity
0:54:47 that they're not human beings with names
0:54:49 and naming of course is so powerful
0:54:51 because
0:54:52 it's a person's personality identity is
0:54:54 within that name
0:54:55 but they weren't allowed to have names
0:54:56 they were called cargo and items
0:54:58 therefore it made it easier
0:55:00 for those nazi soldiers and guards to
0:55:03 slaughter
0:55:03 the jewish population because they
0:55:06 didn't see them
0:55:06 as fully human beings now brent and
0:55:09 taran of course the
0:55:10 the one who took part in who who
0:55:14 carried out the christ church terror
0:55:16 attacks which claimed the lives of 50
0:55:18 muslims
0:55:19 praying at the noor masjid and the
0:55:21 linwood islamic center
0:55:23 last year in 2019 you know
0:55:26 for him you see this concept because
0:55:29 there existed an entrenched sense of
0:55:31 othering
0:55:32 of muslims in his manifesto this one the
0:55:35 great replacement
0:55:36 um and there's so much that connects the
0:55:39 mastermind of the bonus bosnian genocide
0:55:42 right rather than karajic that we just
0:55:44 read about a second ago
0:55:45 and taran in fact radovan karajik was
0:55:48 infamous in describing boston muslims as
0:55:49 filth as traitors
0:55:51 and vermin that needed to be annihilated
0:55:53 as we discussed but the
0:55:55 you see the parallels here you know so
0:55:58 so
0:55:59 uh patently because he describes
0:56:02 everything
0:56:03 in his in his manifesto right so look at
0:56:07 what he says
0:56:08 he says that um
0:56:11 so he describes that the motive for his
0:56:13 attack was to create fear and
0:56:16 calls for the killing of muslims in
0:56:19 europe it threatens
0:56:22 turks referring to them with the
0:56:24 dehumanizing
0:56:25 roaches meaning cockroaches and he says
0:56:28 in his manifesto
0:56:29 but if you attempt to live in european
0:56:31 lands anywhere west of the bosphorus
0:56:33 we will kill you and drive you roaches
0:56:36 from our lands
0:56:38 so what does it sound like it sounds
0:56:39 like urban a second
0:56:41 speech you know now here we have
0:56:44 uh someone that we're all familiar with
0:56:46 at least for those of us in the uk
0:56:49 katie hopkins so katie hopkins of course
0:56:52 very famous islamophobe who really
0:56:55 really
0:56:57 just has no uh has no
0:57:00 end in in dehumanizing and
0:57:03 uh uh muslims and uh is very
0:57:07 anti uh you know it's that sense of uh
0:57:10 she
0:57:10 it really has no uh tolerance for that
0:57:13 sense of muslimness that we saw in the
0:57:15 first definition
0:57:16 uh in april 2015 hope copkins wrote a
0:57:19 column
0:57:19 for the sun titled rescue boats against
0:57:21 about refugees
0:57:23 and she says i'd used a gunship to stop
0:57:25 migrants
0:57:26 in which she began by stating no i don't
0:57:28 care show me pictures of coffins
0:57:31 show me bodies floating in water play
0:57:33 violins
0:57:34 and show me skinny people looking sad i
0:57:37 still
0:57:37 don't care you think to yourself what
0:57:40 kind of
0:57:41 i mean what kind of uh i mean absence of
0:57:44 humanity there is
0:57:45 in that statement you know i mean that's
0:57:49 that's just horrific what she's saying
0:57:52 later in the piece she called migrants
0:57:53 in britain
0:57:54 this plague of feral humans look at that
0:57:58 migrants who are escaping war zones
0:58:02 you know who've lost family members and
0:58:04 they've just been surrounded by death
0:58:06 and they're coming for somewhere else
0:58:07 for safety and saying that this
0:58:09 plague of feral humans and stated make
0:58:12 no mistake
0:58:13 these migrants are like cockroaches
0:58:15 right
0:58:16 exactly the language of dehumanization
0:58:18 is one of the same
0:58:19 it was the same in rwanda right so
0:58:23 uh if you look at rwanda here 94 tutsis
0:58:27 were castigated with a spoiled identity
0:58:30 a state of nothingness
0:58:31 as things cockroaches as animals
0:58:35 so you see what these things tap into
0:58:37 right they tap
0:58:38 into this culture of hate which leads
0:58:41 them to abuse which leads them to attack
0:58:43 which leads to murder
0:58:44 you know used to murder leads to attacks
0:58:47 against
0:58:48 people other human beings muslims
0:58:50 because of this
0:58:51 propaganda that's you know uh is uh
0:58:54 fueled in in tabloid media within a
0:58:57 people
0:58:58 like these ones i've just spoken about
0:59:01 now
0:59:02 now how do we question is for us how do
0:59:05 we
0:59:06 overcome uh how do we overcome
0:59:10 uh islamophobia through effective
0:59:12 engagement
0:59:13 uh now this is key for us to understand
0:59:16 because this is something that's quranic
0:59:18 and allah gives us a beautiful example
0:59:21 here because remember that
0:59:22 uh the prophet sallam he of course
0:59:25 underwent
0:59:26 uh you know very virile and and evil
0:59:29 attacks
0:59:30 from his own people you know people who
0:59:33 he was uh he was sent to initially of
0:59:36 course the makkan people
0:59:37 uh dealt with him in a very horrific way
0:59:40 uh
0:59:41 they they character assassinated him
0:59:43 they they
0:59:45 abused him they threw the intestines of
0:59:48 animals on him
0:59:49 you know they did horrific things to him
0:59:51 they did they killed his companions
0:59:54 they threw him out of makkah and live in
0:59:55 the wilderness
0:59:57 uh but allah gave a very beautiful
0:59:59 ordinance in the quran
1:00:01 about responding with that which is
1:00:03 better and allah
1:00:05 and allah ties this in fact to our role
1:00:08 as
1:00:08 duat our role as as carriers of islam as
1:00:11 callers
1:00:12 to islam
1:00:22 and who speaks better than someone who
1:00:24 calls people to allah
1:00:25 does what is right and says i am one of
1:00:28 those
1:00:28 devoted to allah and one of the muslims
1:00:30 and allah says
1:00:34 good and evil cannot be equal allah says
1:00:40 repel evil with what is better
1:00:47 and your enemy
1:00:50 will become as close as an old and
1:00:53 valued friend
1:00:55 but only those allah says who are
1:00:56 steadfast in patience
1:00:58 only those who are blessed with great
1:01:00 righteousness will attain
1:01:02 such goodness and if a prompting from
1:01:04 shaytan would stir you
1:01:06 he should steal you seek refuge with
1:01:07 allah and he is
1:01:09 all hearing and all-knowing a very
1:01:11 important paradigm for us to look
1:01:13 closely at
1:01:14 right about you know times in the
1:01:17 prophet's life where
1:01:18 these kind of things happen but we
1:01:20 should think about
1:01:21 the prophetic character the prophetic
1:01:24 example
1:01:25 right and then of course what allah
1:01:26 outlines for us as muslims
1:01:28 in the quran what kind of an example to
1:01:30 follow now of course
1:01:31 there may be a distinction to be made
1:01:33 between state power
1:01:35 state power you know propelled uh kept
1:01:38 in place
1:01:39 by uh you know nationalism
1:01:43 and by capitalism uh you know and
1:01:46 industries of war uh these things that
1:01:49 really perpetuate
1:01:50 uh dehumanization perpetuate
1:01:52 islamophobia
1:01:53 to to sell these wars and to create
1:01:56 these binaries in the world between
1:01:59 uh you know and just for the sake of
1:02:01 just the balance of power you know for
1:02:03 the sake of
1:02:03 uh projecting some nations as saviors of
1:02:07 freedom and liberty and so
1:02:09 and therefore the opposite end others as
1:02:12 being
1:02:12 the opposite of that and like we've
1:02:14 discussed before the way that constructs
1:02:16 of self and otherness are created
1:02:18 uh is really defined by one another
1:02:21 but we're dealing with the self so the
1:02:23 self therefore manufactures
1:02:25 uh this evil and imputed on the other
1:02:28 and therefore it gives legitimacy to
1:02:31 one's
1:02:32 self to oneself and so
1:02:37 uh you know in the prophet's time we
1:02:38 have been examples like that
1:02:40 but before we look at that here we are
1:02:42 okay now dehumanization
1:02:44 is a blurring this is from my book and
1:02:46 we're coming towards the end of it soon
1:02:47 inshallah
1:02:48 but just i wanted to incorporate this
1:02:50 because i think it's important
1:02:51 when we spoke about stephen green as
1:02:54 being a drone pilot
1:02:56 what does that do in our world today
1:02:58 dehumanization is a blurring of
1:03:00 distinctions
1:03:01 and rendering of others as faceless and
1:03:03 unlike ourselves
1:03:05 as discussed the rise of drone warfare
1:03:07 in our skies today
1:03:08 of remote controlled air war has
1:03:10 generated a new mode of de-personalized
1:03:12 killings
1:03:13 of dehumanizing of demonization distance
1:03:16 and detachment
1:03:17 chamber u in drone theory explain
1:03:19 thousands of miles can now be
1:03:21 interposed between the trigger on which
1:03:24 one's finger rests
1:03:25 and the cannon from which the cannonball
1:03:27 will fly
1:03:28 the mechanism of dehumanization and the
1:03:30 way it betrays the trueness of human
1:03:32 conscience
1:03:33 in its forcible self-antagonizing to
1:03:35 look away
1:03:36 from what lies of itself before itself
1:03:40 this is you know from from on being
1:03:41 human
1:03:43 but we're seeing how that's created and
1:03:45 constructed all right so
1:03:47 again about overcoming some phobia
1:03:49 through effective engagement
1:03:51 now there's a range of things here for
1:03:53 us to think about uh on the one hand of
1:03:55 course we see that in makkah allah is
1:03:56 revealing
1:04:07 be patient about what they say right and
1:04:09 glorify your lord
1:04:11 so in the morning and in the evening
1:04:13 allah is saying that continue with your
1:04:15 with your task of of remembering allah
1:04:17 subhanahu wa
1:04:18 allah allah says uh
1:04:22 be patient by what they say is
1:04:28 allah says be appreciated what they say
1:04:30 and remember our servant dawood
1:04:33 allah says he had power power of
1:04:35 obedience to allah
1:04:36 and he was awab
1:04:40 returning all of his affairs back to
1:04:42 allah meaning don't
1:04:43 lose your sense of that religious
1:04:46 discipline
1:04:47 of always being in allah's remembrance
1:04:49 of always praying to allah always
1:04:51 trusting in allah
1:04:53 be patient with what they say that's an
1:04:55 example here of the mama
1:04:57 the mama even i thought was important
1:04:59 now we often make an assumption that the
1:05:01 average
1:05:02 man you know might be naturally
1:05:04 confrontational or hostile to islam or
1:05:06 muslims we all of course process process
1:05:09 media information
1:05:11 in in different ways and there are those
1:05:13 who might be more susceptible to
1:05:14 stereotyping
1:05:16 than others depending on their
1:05:17 background information
1:05:20 demographics and genuine concerns that
1:05:22 when the prisoner of the omaha
1:05:26 decided to accept islam he said to the
1:05:29 prophet
1:05:30 that there was nothing he despised more
1:05:33 he says than your land but now your land
1:05:36 has become the most beloved land to me
1:05:39 right this means that you know
1:05:41 his other ring of islam and muslims
1:05:45 affect not only his perception of of the
1:05:47 russell
1:05:48 but also of the land associated with the
1:05:50 prophet the religion
1:05:52 the prophet the blessed face even
1:05:53 mentioned his religion and the city were
1:05:55 all a point
1:05:56 of concern for thomamer but the but the
1:05:59 prosecutions in a transformative
1:06:01 character
1:06:02 and forbearance opened a new space of
1:06:05 understanding for the prison remember
1:06:07 the president was saying this is dawah
1:06:08 this is
1:06:09 calling the world to allah how do you
1:06:12 call the world to allah
1:06:14 you know under the umbrella of such uh
1:06:17 you know intense
1:06:18 propaganda and media campaigning and and
1:06:21 and and abuse and and dehumanization
1:06:25 islamophobia how do you do that right
1:06:27 and you see the prophetic character
1:06:29 remarkable
1:06:30 right so he had he had a kind of it's
1:06:32 kind of a point of just concern for the
1:06:34 mama
1:06:35 right but the prophet from the
1:06:37 transformative character and
1:06:38 forbearance opened a new space of
1:06:40 understanding for the prisoner
1:06:42 though he initially assumed that the
1:06:43 process could in fact have killed
1:06:46 uh him he also knew that his release
1:06:48 from captivity was
1:06:50 was also a possibility right look at
1:06:53 examples here of
1:06:54 people at balbir saying balbara singh of
1:06:55 course was one of the masterminds of the
1:06:57 destruction of
1:06:59 of the babri masjid in the 1990s
1:07:02 you know that the uh that the hindus
1:07:06 uh destroyed you know now of course it's
1:07:08 it's a temple
1:07:10 um but he was one of those who and in
1:07:12 his account he says i did
1:07:14 it to please my gods you know uh
1:07:16 alhamdulillah
1:07:17 versus became muslim he's now uh
1:07:20 muhammad
1:07:21 i think muhammad is his name and he
1:07:23 makes his vow and he says i'm going to
1:07:25 now
1:07:25 build the 900 mosques you know i had to
1:07:29 compensate for what i did
1:07:30 and of course see if he became muslim
1:07:32 allah forgive all of his
1:07:33 sins but still he has that conscience
1:07:36 now he's built alhamdulillah more than
1:07:37 90 months
1:07:38 since that time 1990s his name is
1:07:41 muhammad
1:07:41 balbir singh other one of course jaram
1:07:44 van clever and this is
1:07:45 that dutch uh politician uh and these
1:07:48 are people who uh
1:07:49 i think he wrote the book he wrote a
1:07:51 book uh that was uh
1:07:54 against the process and then looking
1:07:57 closely at the prophetic life
1:07:58 prophetic character discipline he
1:08:02 himself becomes muslim subhanallah
1:08:04 right so this always people gonna
1:08:07 you know do things like these people did
1:08:09 over here
1:08:10 because guidance is in allah's hands but
1:08:12 allah wants us to do well
1:08:13 look at the example of the process and
1:08:15 abu bakr's father
1:08:16 very beautiful example now remember of
1:08:19 course that the makkans
1:08:21 you know were the ones who were you know
1:08:23 they were the ones who were the most
1:08:24 virile and the other ones they had this
1:08:26 whole propaganda campaign against islam
1:08:27 and the pro-salem
1:08:29 now the program comes back into makkah
1:08:30 the fatal mark of the opening of makkah
1:08:32 gets back into makkah and
1:08:37 when he does uh abubakar had a father
1:08:42 who was an elderly man and the and he
1:08:45 goes and he goes and you know brings his
1:08:46 father out to come and see the rasam
1:08:48 and when he does so the prophet looked
1:08:50 at the old man and says to abu bakr
1:08:52 he says
1:08:57 only you left the old man in his home so
1:08:59 i could have gone out to see him
1:09:01 so i could have gone out to see him
1:09:03 subhanallah and abu bakr says no but he
1:09:06 has more of a need to see you
1:09:07 ya rasulullah and of course abu bakr's
1:09:10 words were true
1:09:11 but then the prophet then the narrator
1:09:13 says
1:09:15 and then the prophet sat the old man
1:09:18 down before him the
1:09:20 muscle then you he wiped over his his
1:09:23 suddenly you know his chest
1:09:25 and he said to him submit to allah then
1:09:27 he submitted to allah subhanahu wa
1:09:29 right so it's a beautiful reflection of
1:09:32 the way that
1:09:33 we should not treat all people the same
1:09:36 now for sure there are
1:09:38 uh anti-islamic and islamophobic
1:09:41 sentiments and media and this is a daily
1:09:44 thing happens across you know
1:09:45 across me that we see but we should
1:09:48 never think
1:09:50 that all people believe that nonsense
1:09:52 because i think
1:09:53 they actually don't they don't i mean
1:09:55 it's many people therefore you encounter
1:09:57 and they realize the bias in their own
1:09:59 media and they realize that they realize
1:10:01 our muslims are not
1:10:02 like that it's not of course uh our job
1:10:05 to apologize for anything and we should
1:10:07 not do that because that's another way
1:10:08 of
1:10:09 of being uh you know seeing this
1:10:12 just seeing and and being seen right we
1:10:15 we don't see ourselves
1:10:17 as as as uh as criminals
1:10:20 that we would have to apologize for
1:10:21 anything right uh the one who's a
1:10:24 criminal should apologize for his own
1:10:25 for his own mistake uh but alhamdulillah
1:10:28 the whole idea of of of individualizing
1:10:32 is one of the key points about about
1:10:34 human empathy
1:10:36 uh now uh think about
1:10:39 defining your own narrative or the
1:10:42 spiritual presence of a muslim allah
1:10:44 says the servants of rahman
1:10:47 lord of mercy are those who walk humbly
1:10:49 on the earth and who when the foolish
1:10:51 address them they reply peace
1:10:53 uh define your own narrative it's very
1:10:55 important for us
1:10:57 in our media in media wherever you're
1:11:00 wherever you have a place and a space if
1:11:02 you're an author if you're in the media
1:11:04 if you're a teacher you know if you're
1:11:07 somebody respected in society if you're
1:11:08 a khatib
1:11:09 an imam wherever you are define your
1:11:12 narrative
1:11:13 right because that's not if if that's
1:11:15 not always done well
1:11:17 by people in media in defining the
1:11:20 muslim narrative
1:11:22 uh that we of course always have a
1:11:24 responsibility before anything to find
1:11:26 our narrative
1:11:27 and think about this for as an example
1:11:29 on the battle of gohan
1:11:30 uh now of course there were losses on
1:11:33 the muslim side and abu sufyan was not a
1:11:34 muslim by that time
1:11:36 he took a place and he began to shout
1:11:39 and he
1:11:40 says to the prophet he says to the
1:11:41 prophet's company he says
1:11:44 is muhammad with you and the prophet
1:11:47 heard that and number book nobody heard
1:11:49 that
1:11:49 and the prophet says to them
1:11:52 don't answer him don't answer him and
1:11:55 then he shouts again and says
1:12:01 amongst you abu bakr amongst you and he
1:12:03 says prophet said again
1:12:05 don't answer him
1:12:08 then he says is homer amongst you
1:12:12 says and the prophet said don't answer
1:12:15 him
1:12:16 right and then abu sufyan said
1:12:20 now hubble the idol that they worship is
1:12:23 all majestic and great
1:12:24 what did the prophet say buhu answer him
1:12:28 now
1:12:29 and they said should we say rasulallah
1:12:32 and the prophet say said say allah
1:12:36 is higher and more majestic and more
1:12:37 glorious than that see how the narrative
1:12:40 was
1:12:40 in is in the muslim hands the prophet
1:12:43 was showing them you define your own
1:12:44 narrative
1:12:45 we don't have to respond right when when
1:12:47 they're saying is muhammad there is a
1:12:49 bakker
1:12:50 but now of course allah is of the allies
1:12:52 the concern
1:12:53 that's their problem the problem is that
1:12:55 they worship other worship with allah
1:12:57 they make sure with allah subhanahu
1:12:59 wa'ta'ala and they call it and they and
1:13:01 the prophet even in that situation still
1:13:03 had dawah
1:13:04 in his mind allahu akbar you know and
1:13:07 then abu sufyan said
1:13:09 uh he said
1:13:12 we have to god that we worship and you
1:13:15 have no israel
1:13:16 and the prophet said ajibu now answered
1:13:18 him and they said what should we say
1:13:19 rasulullah
1:13:20 and he said say to them
1:13:26 and then he said you know this is
1:13:27 revenge for badr and the sahaba they
1:13:30 said they said
1:13:31 that but our dead are in paradise or
1:13:33 that are in hell
1:13:34 you know so the narrative is very key
1:13:36 and essential here
1:13:37 right to be able to have active
1:13:39 engagement to challenge stereotypes
1:13:42 challenge biases you know write write
1:13:44 the books you know
1:13:45 make the make the podcast make the
1:13:48 documentaries
1:13:49 show of course you know the uh the the
1:13:52 evils of of islamophobia
1:13:54 and of course uh you know the the
1:13:57 vindicating of
1:13:58 uh or the the um
1:14:02 you know the the pressing upon these
1:14:04 stereotypical
1:14:06 uh you know points and language of of
1:14:09 of dehumanization and uh you know
1:14:12 against other innocent
1:14:13 people as well so uh
1:14:16 and now we're gonna end it here in
1:14:18 charlotte this is um
1:14:20 so one of the one of the key things i
1:14:22 think was that you know if
1:14:23 to overcome islam phobia effective
1:14:25 engagement there are of course
1:14:27 always key for us and to always remember
1:14:30 uh what what could happen you know when
1:14:32 these kind of things are unchecked
1:14:34 and it's not a pushing back against
1:14:37 these tendencies they're pushing back
1:14:39 against the stereotyping and pushing
1:14:41 back against the abuse
1:14:43 pushing back against islamophobia you
1:14:46 know due to
1:14:47 a very intense program of dehumanization
1:14:49 of the tutsi people
1:14:51 uh in rwanda these two big
1:14:54 tribes hutus and tutsis much of the
1:14:56 violence was carried out between
1:14:58 neighbor and neighbor
1:15:00 right so think about that right these
1:15:01 people who are neighbors
1:15:03 killed in killing each other husband and
1:15:06 wife
1:15:07 clergy and congregation teacher and
1:15:08 students who to militia
1:15:11 the interhom way resorted to hacking to
1:15:13 death men and women
1:15:14 they'd grown up with in schools attended
1:15:17 the same churches spoke the same
1:15:18 languages even intermarried
1:15:21 right but the campaign of othering the
1:15:23 tutsis was just fermented and
1:15:25 disseminated through schools
1:15:27 media and in political rhetoric we have
1:15:29 an obligation to push back against that
1:15:31 right inspiring armed youth to kill
1:15:34 openly
1:15:35 the murders you know would the murder
1:15:37 would force others
1:15:38 to do the same so if you have you know
1:15:40 if they had slogans like do or die
1:15:43 meaning in a kill or get killed
1:15:45 promising them food and stuff like that
1:15:48 right so the idea is therefore that uh
1:15:50 the tutsis were they were given like a
1:15:52 spoiled identity
1:15:54 state of nothingness things cockroaches
1:15:56 animals
1:15:58 and the country then descended into a
1:15:59 savage outbreak of violence
1:16:01 right so we found the same thing in uh
1:16:03 in the rape of the
1:16:04 king 1937 the holocaust right bosnia
1:16:08 all right they began they all began the
1:16:10 same way through an elaborate series of
1:16:12 propaganda
1:16:13 which featured in media and schools
1:16:16 the lynching of black people in america
1:16:18 was precipitated by a culture
1:16:20 in a culture of stigmatizing blacks
1:16:23 you know as the label of gooks was used
1:16:26 to authorize the vietnamese in the mili
1:16:28 massacre
1:16:29 in which hundreds of vietnamese
1:16:30 civilians were killed by american
1:16:31 soldiers
1:16:32 you know think about the that that that
1:16:35 [ __ ]
1:16:36 you know no it's not just of course it's
1:16:37 abeer's costume
1:16:39 family and the killing is horrific many
1:16:41 other families
1:16:42 also been killed in iraq and this is the
1:16:45 idea about killing a [ __ ]
1:16:47 you know so we have a lot therefore for
1:16:50 us to do
1:16:52 now uh one of the points made by philip
1:16:55 zimbardo in his book
1:16:56 um what is his book called again
1:17:00 the lucifer effect he said that the
1:17:03 yesterday's gooks
1:17:04 right have become today's hajjis and
1:17:07 towelheads
1:17:08 in the iraq wars the new corpse of
1:17:10 soldiers
1:17:11 derogates these different looking
1:17:13 citizens and soldiers right
1:17:16 so he decides sergeant majele and he
1:17:19 says that you you just sort of tried to
1:17:20 block out
1:17:21 the act that they're human beings and
1:17:23 see them as enemies
1:17:25 you call them hajjis you know you do all
1:17:27 these things that make it
1:17:28 easier to deal with killing them and
1:17:31 mistreating them
1:17:33 right so so much for us to bear in mind
1:17:36 now our world as i've written over here
1:17:39 is rapidly changing
1:17:40 more than 300 million people have lived
1:17:43 outside of their native homelands
1:17:45 and the average person is likely more
1:17:48 uh is today sorry more alert to his
1:17:50 world than ever before
1:17:52 the dichotomy is uh dichotomous
1:17:54 relationship between self and other
1:17:56 sometimes between spectate and spectated
1:17:59 has become more pronounced
1:18:01 the crisis of refugees of the rohingya
1:18:03 or in myanmar
1:18:04 or syrians in their mass exodus of their
1:18:06 country to escape the ongoing conflict
1:18:09 terrorist attacks and indiscriminate
1:18:10 killings created by isis
1:18:12 by neo-white's neo-nazi white
1:18:14 supremacists
1:18:15 or by hindu nationalists create anxiety
1:18:18 in our world
1:18:19 and sometimes the insecurity we feel
1:18:21 generates feelings that can range from
1:18:23 anxiety
1:18:24 insecurity and abhorrence at these
1:18:27 junctions
1:18:28 humans together we become fearful and
1:18:30 untrusting
1:18:31 now these feelings of fair mistrust
1:18:33 generalizations in group pressure to
1:18:35 conform
1:18:36 to prejudices right to prejudices
1:18:40 uh of the other feelings of betrayal and
1:18:43 recurrent discrimination in hostile
1:18:44 communities
1:18:45 become potential barriers to empathy so
1:18:48 i think therefore that we have
1:18:49 a very big work to do we should all be
1:18:52 aware of
1:18:53 islamophobia aware of the constructs
1:18:56 of othering and dehumanization how it
1:18:59 affected us
1:19:00 you know muslims in the past as i
1:19:02 mentioned examples of spanish
1:19:04 inquisition
1:19:05 or the crusades uh or you know
1:19:08 other countries are the examples and
1:19:11 also the way that it's affecting
1:19:13 us today uh we ask allah for for
1:19:16 strength ask allah that we can use you
1:19:19 know our
1:19:20 our faith as a strongest part you know
1:19:23 of our response
1:19:25 to these kind of currents um and may
1:19:28 allah protect
1:19:29 all people wherever they are
1:19:41 [Music]
1:19:49 you