Probing the reflection of Islamophobia in Ibn Warrāq’s Portrayal of Islam

Document Type : Scholary

Authors

1 PhD student, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate professor, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Islamophobia is part of the universe of discourse in the Western thought system. Part of the wrong and hostile mentality of the Westerns about Islam should be sought in the way Islam is represented. One of the outstanding contemporary authors active in making a distorted image of Islam is Ibn Warrāq. His works have been promoted many times in different languages, and based on his own claim he has chosen a pen name discreetly in fear of having a fate as that of Salman Rushdie. The present study attempts to probe Islamophobia in the plot of Ibn Warrāq’s character as well as the reflection of Islamophobia in his portrayal of Islam. The results of the study show that Ibn Warrāq represents Islam as ugly, inhumane, and irrational and the Muslim as oppressed, belligerent, frustrated, and reactionary. He tries to inculcate the phobia of the religion of Islam into his non-Muslim reader and to encourage his Muslim reader to jump from believing Islam to its denial. Seeking clear, political aims, he tries to promote Islamophobia systematically.

Keywords

References

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Classical and Contemporary Islamic Studies (formerly known as Journal of Contemporary Islamic Studies)
Volume 4, Issue 1
Winter & Spring
January 2022
Pages 151-162

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