Students’ Views of the Contributing Factors, Effects and Ways to Overcome Islamophobia in Malaysia and the West

Abstract

Islamophobia is on the rise in the West, and the spread of it through Western media content has alarmed Muslims around the world including in Malaysia. Islam as a religion peace has been described as a religion that promotes violence. Anti-Islamic sentiment and its adherents increased drastically in Europe, such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom, causing tensions in the communities in those areas. The awarding of Qatar, a Muslim country, to host 2022 FIFA World Cup is the recent example of the case in point. Hence, this paper explores Islamophobia issues in Malaysia and the West from the views of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s students, i.e., knowledge, contributing factors, effects on Muslims, and ways to overcome Islamophobia. A quantitative survey questionnaire was disseminated online to the students and 60 of them responded. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis method. Results indicate that the students’ were knowledgeable about Islamophobia, and they viewed the Western mainstream media as the major factor contributing to the rise of Islamophobia. The students agreed that Muslims in the West received bad treatments as the effects of Islamophobia, and the most effective way to overcome Islamophobia is through the use of online and social media.