Anti-Muslim Racism

Anti-Muslim racism refers to a type of discrimination that is aimed against Muslim or supposedly Muslim people, regardless of whether and in what form they practice Islam. Unlike Islamophobia or hostility towards Muslims, the term anti-Muslim racism does not only refer to hostility towards the groups in question but also to structural discrimination and the (at times unconscious) differentiation between Muslim and non-Muslim people, and is therefore to be preferred from an anti-racist perspective.

People are marked as being Muslim due to external traits, and are considered fundamentally and irrefutably different. Anti-Muslim racism therefore derives a religious and cultural affiliation from an apparently ethnic background. ‘German’ is seen as being analogous with ‘Christian’, and conversely ‘Muslim’ cannot be ‘German’. Other negative ascriptions are associated with this, for example, the Muslim religion or culture is described as sexist, antisemitic, violent, against democracy or trans– and queerphobic. Anti-Muslim racism is also used to justify social inequalities or exclusion.

This form of discrimination can be found as a form victim blaming in pejorative portrayals of Muslim people in the media and in public discussions, but is also expressed in a day to day context in the form of verbal, physical and sexualized violence as well as in discriminatory structures.

Sources: IDA-NRW; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung; Amadeu Antonio Foundation