Anti-Muslim hate, or Islamophobia, is a type of religious discrimination targeting members of the Islamic faith. As Islam is such an established religion with 29 countries with 90% membership or more and many other countries with significant Muslim populations, it is often found in conjunction with hatred based on ethnicity.
Anti-Muslim slur: “Mujeet”
A new term has begun to gain popularity over the last few months. “Mujeet” is derived from a combination of “Muslim” and “Pajeet”. The term “Pajeet” is a derogatory slur word used to refer to Indians. Originally referring specifically to Muslims of South Asia, “Mujeet” has almost immediately expanded to include any Muslim regardless of location. “Mujeet” is currently relatively unknown, with only Wiktionary and Urban Dictionary currently having an explanation online. As its popularity is still relatively new, social media sites have not yet placed it on their banned words lists. As such, hatred against Muslims is currently easy to find on most social media sites by a search as the term “Mujeet” is not restricted from use or search on any of the 11 sites monitored for this briefing, with only Bitchute and TikTok currently returning no anti-Muslim hate for such a search.
This post to Reddit appears to be screenshotted from the 4chan politically incorrect board. The Reddit user comments that “Mujeets are trying to suck up to the Gora”. Gora is an Indian term used to refer to white people. It does not appear to have any negative connotations. The copied post references a double murder of 2 children that occurred in Budaun, India in March of 2024. Media reported that the accused was a barber in the area known to the family. The yellow user identifies the accused as a Muslim, although there is no evidence in the media coverage that the man was Muslim. The yellow user is also proud of the alleged actions of the accused. Over the past few years, the word “based” has begun to be used colloquially as a term of praise or approval. This approval of the murder of Indian children is an example of anti-Asian racism. The green and blue users then go on to say that both Muslims and Indians are equally bad.
In this video from Gab, a store owner defends his shop using a sword when several armed assailants force entry, attempting to steal the store’s merchandise. The poster is equally derogatory to the store owner and the criminals trying to rob him, using slurs to refer to them. Answering criminality with hatred is quite common but still inexcusable. Attacking victims with hateful slurs is preposterous behaviour.
The Israel-Palestine conflict
The conflict between Israel and Palestine regularly results in events that capture public interest. The discussion of these events on social media produces hatred with equal regularity. With the filters and exclusions employed by social media sites to prevent certain words or phrases from being posted to their sites, a combination of constantly evolving slurs and words that are only hateful in context are used by people who are trying to find ways to express hatred online.
A common theme of anti-Muslim hate is equating Islam and terrorism. This is encouraged by the fact that the Islamist organisation Hamas has been officially designated as a terrorist organisation in Australia and elsewhere, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July 2024 has resulted in discussions speculating on his place in “paradise”. The following two posts are specifically referencing Ismail’s death in relation to a stereotype of Muslims that has been used for decades: the 72 virgins in paradise. The stereotype is that those who are martyred for Islam will receive a place in paradise with 72 virgins to attend them. This has evolved over time to now include any Muslim who commits acts of terrorism in the name of Islam receiving 72 virgins. Such posts attempt to reinforce the notion that Islam believes in, practices, and rewards terrorism.
This post from Gab is one such post. The use of the word “Exterminated” implies that the subject was vermin with the goal of dehumanisation, the reference to 72 virgins equates Islam to terrorism, and the graphic portrayal of the death is described with a subtle sense of glee.
The following post on LinkedIn uses the 72 virgins concept in the same way but includes an implied notion that the Islamic texts were misleading regarding what the virgins would be like. This concept portrays the religion as duplicitous and dishonest. The post concludes with a stereotype of Muslims performing sex acts with livestock, most commonly goats. This is one of many narratives portraying Muslims as unable to control their libido.
Sarcastic use of the term “religion of peace”
Another portrayal of Muslims as perpetrators of terrorism and violence is the sarcastic use of the phrase “religion of peace” to describe Islam. The use of this phrase is particularly problematic for AI to filter as it is also used genuinely by those who argue that Islam is peaceful and that the violence associated with Islam comes from minority extremist groups. Additionally, the sarcastic use of this phrase ignores violence perpetrated by other religious groups, implying that it is only Islam that is a violent religion. This is not accurate.
This video posted to Facebook shows a woman being beaten by a man with some sort of strap, possibly a belt. The poster uses the “religion of peace” comment in the negative, sarcastic connotation as a blanket statement for all of Islam, even though no direct reference is made to Islam or Muslims, based on the actions of a few people.
This poster from Threads is very vocal across multiple posts in their disdain for Islam. This is a typical example of their posts. The post begins by implying that Muslims are uneducated or brainwashed, once again using the “religion of peace” line to refer to Islam generally. The post then goes on to enumerate things that the poster perceives as typically Muslim and violent, including physical and sexual abuse of women and the killing of nonbelievers. The poster additionally states that there are certainly countless occurrences of these things in majority Muslim countries that are not known of. This is presented as fact but with no evidence to back it up.
Conclusion
It is common for people to attempt to justify hateful behaviour by claiming that it is deserved somehow. This notion is asinine as basic human rights are non-conditional. All people deserve to be treated with basic decency regardless of their actions and especially regardless of the actions of others who share traits with them. This can be achieved by correct education during a person’s upbringing, both in the home and in public forums, to form a worldview of unity and kindness. This will take time as it can be especially hard to teach these lessons to those who are actively being discriminated against. This is because discrimination can have a polarising effect. While some will see the harmful effects caused by the discrimination and hatred they experience, others will instead become angry and lash out against those who discriminate against them, causing more hatred. If these matters are handled correctly, each generation will be less hateful than the last. Until then, efforts must be made to continually update moderation to keep up with the ever-evolving nature of hate.