Islamophobia becomes a global system: Six key areas identified in 2025
Islamophobia in 2025 evolved beyond individual acts of hostility into a global structure reinforced by government policies, security measures, mainstream media and digital platforms, according to Dr. Hatem Bazian, a University of California, Berkeley lecturer. In an opinion article written for Anadolu Agency, Bazian argues that tackling Islamophobia requires more than documenting incidents; it demands identifying and dismantling the structures that enable discrimination and violence against Muslims.
Dr. Hatem Bazian, founder of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, president of the Islamophobia Studies and Research Association and co-editor of the Islamophobia Studies Journal, examined the global state of Islamophobia in an opinion article published by Anadolu Agency.
According to Bazian, Islamophobia is no longer limited to individual hostility or discrimination against Muslims. Instead, it has developed into a multilayered system operating through public perceptions, government policies, media narratives, security practices and digital technologies.
He identified the defining feature of 2025 as the collapse of the distance between latent and manifest Islamophobia.
Latent Islamophobia, he explained, consists of deeply embedded stereotypes and assumptions portraying Islam as violent, backward and oppressive. These perceptions are reinforced through films, news coverage, political commentary and publications.
Manifest Islamophobia, meanwhile, occurs when these prejudices translate into concrete actions through legislation, surveillance, political rhetoric, discrimination and physical violence.
From hidden prejudice to immediate attacks
Bazian cited the December 14 Bondi Beach attack in Sydney, Australia, as an example of how quickly anti-Muslim hostility can escalate following a major incident.
He noted that a Muslim bystander intervened to disarm the attacker. Following the incident, which authorities identified as antisemitic terrorism, reported anti-Muslim incidents reportedly increased from one or two per day to approximately 18.
He also highlighted an incident in which pigs' heads were thrown into a Muslim cemetery.
According to Bazian, the developments demonstrate how deeply rooted anti-Muslim stereotypes can be activated almost immediately, without the need for evidence against the wider Muslim community.
Six interconnected areas of global Islamophobia
Bazian identified six interconnected areas through which Islamophobia operates internationally, arguing that they reinforce one another rather than functioning as separate phenomena.
1. Surveillance and securitisation
Bazian pointed to growing security measures targeting Muslim communities in the United States and other English-speaking countries.
He argued that policies presented as efforts to combat antisemitism have increasingly been used to restrict Muslim activism, particularly support for Palestinian rights.
He cited the detention of Palestinian activists, visa revocations, restrictions on demonstrations and political initiatives targeting the Muslim Brotherhood as examples of this trend.
2. State regulation of Islam
France, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland were among the European countries highlighted in Bazian's analysis.
He argued that governments are increasingly seeking to define what constitutes acceptable Islamic practice through legislation and administrative measures.
Examples included restrictions on Muslim institutions in France, pressure on mosques and Austria's headscarf ban for girls under the age of 14.
Bazian also referred to attacks against Muslim communities, including the killing of Aboubakar Cisse inside a mosque and the discovery of pigs' heads outside nine mosques in the Paris region on a single day.
3. Official Islam and Muslim-majority governments
Bazian argued that Islamophobia is not exclusive to Western countries.
He identified Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tajikistan as examples where governments use concepts such as extremism and political Islam to restrict dissent and regulate religious expression.
He cited the 14-year prison sentence imposed on Tunisian politician Rached Ghannouchi and Tajikistan's classification of the headscarf as a radical foreign influence.
According to Bazian, these governments adopt similar security and regulatory approaches while using the language of counter-extremism to justify restrictions on Muslim communities.
4. Genocide and mass violence
Bazian identified Gaza, China's Xinjiang region, Myanmar, Kashmir, Sudan and Lebanon as areas where Muslim populations face severe violence, persecution and displacement.
Regarding Gaza, he referred to the UN Commission of Inquiry's September findings that Israel's conduct constituted genocide. He also noted that Palestinian fatalities had exceeded 70,000 by December.
He further cited assessments concerning the Uyghur population in China and restrictions on the reconstruction of mosques in Myanmar.
Bazian argued that the most extreme consequences of Islamophobia emerge when Muslim populations are treated as expendable and international criticism and solidarity are suppressed.
5. Mainstream media and film
The role of mainstream media and cinema in reinforcing anti-Muslim stereotypes was another major area of concern.
Bazian referred to Britain's so-called grooming gangs narrative, which he said contributed to associating criminality with Muslim men as a group.
He also highlighted media coverage of lynchings in India, where passive language can obscure responsibility for violence.
Citing the Centre for Media Monitoring, Bazian noted that 92 per cent of Muslim women journalists surveyed described hostility within newsrooms as structural.
6. Social media and artificial intelligence
Bazian described social media and artificial intelligence as the fastest-growing areas of Islamophobia and major accelerators in the spread of anti-Muslim narratives.
He cited far-right activist Tommy Robinson's documentary Silenced, which reportedly reached 146.2 million views, as well as the spread of anti-Muslim content through digital networks.
In India, monitoring groups documented more than 60 hate campaigns during May and June alone, alongside AI-generated images portraying Muslims as threats.
Bazian also highlighted the circulation of fabricated content, including a false report in Croatia involving an alleged attack accompanied by the phrase “Allahu Akbar”, which police later established had been self-inflicted.
He warned that generative AI tools make it increasingly easy to manufacture misleading images and narratives that can fuel hostility against Muslim communities.
Four major trends to watch in 2026
Bazian identified four developments that he believes require particular attention in 2026.
The first is the growing convergence of anti-Muslim policies across different countries. He pointed to the international spread of initiatives targeting the Muslim Brotherhood as an example of governments adopting similar political and security approaches.
The second concerns the use of antisemitism-related frameworks in security and regulatory policies. Bazian cited restrictions involving the Palestinian keffiyeh in Germany, the Anti-Defamation League's criticism of the cultural symbol and developments in Australian universities.
The third is the increasing targeting of Muslim women's religious identity, particularly through restrictions on headscarves. He argued that Muslim women are frequently among the first targets of policies seeking to regulate visible expressions of Islamic identity.
The fourth is the failure of some governments to formally recognise and define Islamophobia. Referring to Britain, Bazian argued that the absence of an official definition, alongside funding decisions affecting the Tell MAMA organisation, reflects a wider problem in addressing anti-Muslim discrimination.
Tackling Islamophobia requires dismantling its structures
In his concluding remarks, Bazian called for a fundamental change in how Islamophobia is monitored and addressed.
He argued that documenting individual attacks and discrimination cases is no longer sufficient. Instead, researchers and policymakers must examine the political, legal, social and media structures that allow such incidents to occur.
According to Bazian, anti-Muslim prejudice is sustained by a wider social environment that portrays Muslims as suspicious, subject to constant surveillance and potentially undeserving of equal rights.
He stressed that effective action requires identifying the structures behind Islamophobia and dismantling the mechanisms that enable discrimination, persecution and violence.
This article is based on an opinion piece written for Anadolu Agency by Dr. Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, founder of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project and president of the Islamophobia Studies and Research Association. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Anadolu Agency's editorial policy.
