Recordings › Unanswered Questions- An interview with Mufti Abu Layth · 6 Apr 2015 › Segment 12 of 15
Why is Islamophobia rising?
malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imaam imams prayer leader muftis riba ribaa sood usuryWhy Islamophobia is rising: a reaction to the Muslim awakening, fear of the unknown and scaremongering
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This segment44:32 to 47:10 · 2 min 38 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth says it is rising as a reaction to the worldwide awakening of Muslims to their faith, because people fear what they do not understand, and because of scaremongering and a few fools who misportray Islam.
In more detail
Finishing the previous answer, Mufti Abu Layth says appearing modern does not mean boycotting classical thought and that the only way forward is to reclaim traditional Islam. Asked whether Islamophobia is rising and why, he says it is, and gives his personal understanding: part of the rise is a reaction to the collective awakening of Islam and Muslims as a social phenomenon, with far more activity, books in print and interest than two or three decades ago, so that names like Imam Malik are now spoken of in communities where they were never mentioned. People are afraid of what is different, and he quotes an Arabic saying that people easily oppose what they do not understand, so Islamophobia is largely born of not understanding Islam and Muslims. He adds that a marginal input comes from some fools who misportray Islam, saying things like wanting to take over the country, which aggravates people and provokes reactions, as with the anti-Islam movements seen recently in Germany and elsewhere in Europe; much of it, he says, is down to scaremongering, misrepresentation and fear of the unknown.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedIn your opinion, is there a rise in Islamophobia in recent times? If so, why is this happening?
- The question was reconstructed from Mufti Abu Layth's restatement; the questioner's own words are not in the recording
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says the rise in Islamophobia is a reaction to the collective awakening of Muslims to their faith, fed by fear of what people do not understand, by scaremongering and misrepresentation, and marginally by fools who misportray Islam.
“I feel that the part of that rise in islamophobia is associated with the collective Awakening of Islam and the Muslims as a as a as a type of social phenomenon”
Category: other
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine44:32 to 47:10 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
Islam reaches Eskimos they have to walk around in thobes and sandals I don't think that was ever the the purpose and they never ever made such claims in fact Imam Abu hanifah himself was critiqued for for the type of dress that he was introducing getting involved in there was this new trend at the time of long sleeves and so on and and he was becoming a part of that but the point being that you C just because you appear modern in your dress sense or the way you might do certain things does not mean that conceptually you are calling to boycotting classical thought which is
absolutely inaccurate so no not at all uh I do believe that the only true Way Forward is to claim and to reclaim and be part of traditional Islam so why I do feel that there has been that's my personal understanding whether people agree with it or not and I feel that the part of that rise in islamophobia is associated with the collective Awakening of Islam and the Muslims as a as a as a type of social phenomenon so worldwide people seem to be uh Awakening to Islam in one way or another there seems to be a lot like I mentioned a lot more
activity than there was like let's say two decades ago three decades ago there seems to be a lot more books in print now people seem to have an interest I mean we for example here in the UK are speaking about people like Imam Malik we speaking about we speaking about names which would never have been mentioned in communities like this before so there seems to be this Awakening now with it there does also as a reaction I do feel that there has been an Awakening or a rise not an Awakening but a rise in islamophobia because I mean people are afraid at times of things which are
different um in Arabic there's a saying that people easily become opposed to something which they do not understand so I do feel that I feel that this is really because um people don't understand uh Islam and Muslims and also at times there is a small I do feel there is a marginal input by Sometimes some fools or maybe some idiots that do Mis portray Islam and they they bring out certain they make certain statements and they say certain things which then aggravates certain people to react and
so people think what's going on you know people say oh we're going to do this we're going to take over the country we're going to do this we're going scry takes place and and so recently like we see in countries like within Europe like Germany and the whole you know the the whole movements the anti-islam movements and stuff like this so I do feel that it's definitely there has been a Rise um I do feel a lot of it is down to things like scry and it's down to things like uh you know just misrepresentations and just being afraid of what you don't truly understand that sort of phobia I think that really we have to ourselves
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2015-04-06-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/12/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2015, April 6). Why is Islamophobia rising? [Video, segment 2015-04-06-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/12/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2015. "Why is Islamophobia rising?" Video, segment 2015-04-06-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded April 6, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/12/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2015-04-06-S12, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Why is Islamophobia rising?}}, year = {2015}, month = {4}, date = {2015-04-06}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/12/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/12/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2015-04-06-S12, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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