Al-Azhar Observatory: Islamophobia Is a Systemic Structure Fueled by Politics, and Victimhood Discourse Alone Is Insufficient

Al-Azhar Observatory: Islamophobia Is a Systemic Structure Fueled by Politics, and Victimhood Discourse Alone Is Insufficient
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Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism said in a recent report that Islamophobia has moved beyond isolated personal bias or emotional reactions, evolving into a structured and systemic phenomenon embedded within the global order. According to the report, fear of Muslims is increasingly managed and reproduced through political and security narratives, particularly during periods of crisis and major geopolitical change.

The Observatory noted that reducing Islamophobia to individual hatred obscures its functional nature, as it is often politically instrumentalized to justify exclusionary policies and exceptional measures that undermine pluralism and civil rights. It added that Western academic studies and research center reports show that many negative perceptions of Islam are shaped by media ecosystems and political rhetoric that reproduce stereotypes, rather than by direct social interaction.

In this context, the report cautioned that reliance on a victimhood-centered discourse, despite its legitimacy, has yielded limited results and has at times unintentionally reinforced portrayals of Muslims as reactive rather than proactive actors. Such framing, it said, has also fueled polarized “us versus them” narratives exploited by far-right movements.