Are you prejudiced against Muslims?
Take this quiz to find out.
For the past few years, I have been invited to convene sessions, workshops and bookclubs on anti-racism and gender equity by international non-governmental organizations. I often start with an exercise that involves a quiz or a game. Anti-muslim prejudice is very much in the air now given the current climate of racism, fear and terror towards Muslims and a shocking uptick of incidents of violent harassment. It is important to unpack some of the embedded prejudices within us as individuals, and within our society. With that in mind, I developed the following “quiz” for a session on Islamophobia and it fostered some productive discussions in the groups.
The quiz presumes some education, open-mindedness, self-awareness as well as some mobility. No one will see your scores, so it is mainly an exercise in curiosity, honesty and self-reflection.
Are you prejudiced against Muslims? If a statement rings true, give yourself 1 point.
You support the plans to build a new mosque in your neighborhood but you have some concerns about noise pollution.
Even when they say it was a personal choice, most Muslim women are brainwashed into wearing a hijab.
It is hilarious that a majority of Muslims are named Mohammed.
Beheadings tend to be associated with Islam because of Sharia law.
You are leading a team at work and your Muslim co-worker requests prayer time accommodations. You are culturally sensitive but find this unreasonable.
Edward Said’s famous book Orientalism is a defense of Islam.
A young Muslim male politician is rising to the top. He is open about being a practising Muslim. You like the guy but find the religious declarations uncomfortable.
The clash of civilizations between Muslims and Christians can be traced back to the Crusades.
Two young Muslim men have moved into your building. You often see them returning late into the evening, backpacks on their shoulders. You feel a mild twinge of anxiety.
Your close colleague, a white woman, tells you she’s converting to Islam. She plans to marry her Muslim boyfriend. You think this is a bit much.
There is Islamophobia in our societies but anti-Blackness, anti-semitism and gender inequality are the most urgent issues today.
All religions are male-dominated and patriarchal but Islam is particularly oppressive towards women.
It is sad that there are no democratic Muslim-majority countries.
Muslims really cannot take a joke: remember all those controversies with the cartoons?
Fundamentalist Islam is one of the main reasons there is so much violence in the world.
The Ramadan fasting is cruel. They always force the little kids to do it too.
Unfortunately, Muslims living in the West are not quite as compatible with the Western way of life as other non-Western people.
Muslims do not know how to keep religion separate from politics, government and the state. They should be more secular.
Al Jazeera news network has a Muslim bias.
Islamic culture is rooted in religion and Western culture is rooted in rationality.
You have read less than 3 books (fiction or non-fiction) about Muslim history, Muslim life and Muslim people written by Muslim writers.
Breakdown of scores, analysis of the quiz and related readings is below. Please feel free to send me comments, questions and suggestions by replying to this email.
Love and solidarity❤️🔥
Bhakti Shringarpure
Thank you for this timely survey.
I wonder if I might make a suggestion?
The term ISLAMOPHOBIA, does not do justice to the severity of ANTI-MUSLIM RACISM, not just semantically, but functionally.
Racism is severe and destructive, often fatal to the subject of racism. In Arachnophobia, I am afraid of the spider. The spider itself remains unharmed. In ANTI-MUSLIM RACISM, the victim of racism can be, and often is, severely harmed. The term extends beyond the perpetrator of racism, and points to the plight of the victim.
Anti-Semitism, although inappropriately and monopolistically appropriated to exclude Arab Semites, doesn’t soft pedal around … we’ve never heard the term “Judeophobia”!
It is time we took a critical look at common, downplaying terminology.
The use of the phrase Allahu Akbar,seen as a terrorist scream of destruction can also be used as a question.
But if you read anything, or listened to any podcasts, about anti racism or anti imperialism most of these questions are obvious. And yet, many on the "left" stop educating themselves after a while and racism has a way of creeping back into those cracks.