Anyone else fed up with some of the blatant anti-muslim hatred on mumsnet?

[Parkingt111]

I don't know if i should even bother trying to address it anymore.
Anyone else fed up?

I really hope that's sarcasm.

This thread is a good example of why this board should have more protections.

😳 oh wow how long did it take?

If you were actually serious with this, the majority of child abusers in my birth country are white, non-Muslim men.

Where else do you think I should be 'allowed' to live?

There's a difference between debate and criticism of religions, and cruel/hate-filled/discriminatory speech or behaviour.

Yes there is, you and I might know this but they two are often conflated and discussions with legitimate concerns are shut down based on Islamophobia, same happens with the trans debate.

We aren't talking about debates and disagreements. We're experiencing online abuse, in-person abuse, discrimination, etc. as people, due to our faith. That's what we're talking about.

Anti Muslim abuse is never OK. This thread is talking specifically about it happening on MN. I happen to think that MN moderation is actually very heavy handed when it comes to deleting criticism of Islam so if you're seeing something still undeleted it's either not been picked up by MN mods yet or is genuinely not discriminatory much as you might disagree with it.

No idea or religion is beyond challenging. This is one of the best things about living in the UK.

I am not Muslim so I hope it's ok to
post but I wanted to add my voice to say that the Islamophobia on mumsnet is truly shocking and I think perhaps sadly reflects many people in Britains views.

I was appalled by the treatment of Zarah Sultana on GMB as the only person of colour in the room (and an elected MP) she was dismissed and othered shockingly.

So a poster starts a thread about Anti-Muslim abuse, in the Muslim Mumsnetters section, and the first two pages include "nope, you're over-reacting", "nah, not happening" and overt Islamophobia.

This is why people need to read board titles and why this board needs to not appear in active/trending, similar to how other boards are shielded from those.

As for not recognising Islamophobia, would you say that if it were abuse or discrimination based on the colour of a person's skin, or based on any other religions? I think, as people who experience Islamophobia and who are often involved in work trying to tackle it, we're probably pretty good at recognising it. If people don't understand why something is Islamophobic, perhaps they could ask us, rather than adding to people's hurt by preventing us from even being able to talk about it here, on a board that was intended to be a safer space for us..

Thank you. The support we're receiving from people means so much. This country is our home - for many of us it's the only home we've ever had - and it is so sad to see people express their hatred of us. But reading posts like yours helps me remember that there are people who still care.

Yes, it's exhausting.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but even on the Black Mumsnetters board we have the same problem. Some posters falling over themselves to tell poc that they are imagining racism, looking for it, or making too much of it ect. It is an issue, and like this board, it shows up in Active too, despite repeated requests to MNHQ for that not to be the case. We should be able to discuss these issues that are impacting our lives, without having to constantly defend ourselves, or provide examples to others, who have no real interest in what we are experiencing. There have been some outrageous posts, especially during the last few days. It is very sad.

That's awful. I'm sorry you're experiencing that.

I had a read of one of the threads the other day and was shocked. I’m sorry you have to go through this.

I should say that the posters who have been supportive on these threads towards Muslims, vastly outweigh those who show anti-muslim hatred.
It's the same in real life aswell, for every negative interaction, there are hundreds more positive ones. I almost had to stop myself saying thank you to the cashier for being friendly and treating me like a normal customer yesterday, she definitely would have thought I was a weirdo 😂 but I did actually feel a sense of relief. Perhaps the small minority are just more vocal on here and it's not reflective of wider society.

It’s like every scenario - whoever shouts the loudest.

There's another thread at the moment about the anti-Muslim feeling amongst the rioters and people are saying things like "sorry but I can't get over October 7th"

I don’t think that’s the issue. Of course people don’t have to agree with a certain religion. But they don’t need to INSULT the religion. Intentionally offend people of a certain religion. Especially when they have no knowledge and just read a few made up things on google. There is a difference.

Thank you.

i couldn't agree more OP. I found it really disturbing when I realised how racist and Islamophobic Mumsnet is. I work around a lot of lovely non Muslims and have nice non Muslim friends. It made me start questioning whether people in my life secretly look down on me like so many Mumsnetters obviously (and blatantly) do.

The thing that's funny is that they all see themselves as such "critical thinkers"; "I'm just asking questions" - "it's good to criticise all religions" - "this country is good because we're allowed to think about it". Yet it never occurs to them that they're so easily led in their "critical thinking" by the media- why else are they so virulent about how cruel halal meat is, while curiously silent on kosher meat (which is even less likely to be pre stunned)? Why do they go on and on about Muslim men as predators using one or two isolated incidents- this, the country that (if we are to centre "isolated incidents") created or protected Jimmy Saville; Prince Andrew; Huw Edwards? Why do they go on and on about sexism faced by Muslim women as though these boards demonstrate a feminist utopia for western women?

They've been taught to reserve a particular hatred for Muslims, and so they do, and they try to convince us they're more enlightened for doing so. What a joke.

I agree with you. It's down to all the neverending anti Muslim rhetoric in the press and on social media. They feel they know a lot about Muslims from what they've been bombarded with online. As I keep saying, many of the things they accuse Muslims of can be applied to many other cultures but they don't know this as the press only ever goes on about Muslims! They're completely ignorant to what else is going on in the world.
As you point out, we also have many of the same problems in our own British culture too.

@Yazzi couldn't agree more.
And somehow all those who love to point out faults in British Muslims conveniently forget all the positive contributions made by Muslims. For example the average British Muslim gives four times more in charity than their non-Muslim counterparts, yet you won't see them pointing that out.

I think it’s a case of the empty vessels making the most noise.
I’m not Muslim, but many of my students and friends are. I’ve travelled to lots of beautiful countries where the principal religion is Islam and been made to feel very welcome. It saddens me massively that there are idiots who are prepared to ‘other’ people purely because of the colour of their skin and religious faith. It enrages me that my friends and students have been made to feel unwelcome in the country of their birth.
Please know that the noisy ignorant minority don’t speak for me, or my family, or my friends.

Thank you @TheMousePipes

My DH is white. Became muslim quite young and has a beard. Thanks to the hipster beard most people don’t automatically assume he is muslim. As such people are freeer with their comments and don’t hold back their anti muslim sentiment around him. It’s horrible what some people think.

Honestly, I think just ignore them now. I feel like some (very small minority) of posters get a kick out of riling us up.

Let's take some comfort in knowing that the majority do not think this way instead.

It's horrendous!