Stephen Schwartz complains that US Muslim organisations direct wild accusations of Islamophobia against people who are entirely blameless. Who are these persecuted innocents? Schwartz offers us an example:
“Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum has experienced more denunciation as an ‘Islamophobe’ than any other individual in the West. Yet Pipes has never once criticized the religion of Islam per se; he has never argued that the faith of Muhammad represents any problem, but has only censured its politicization and ideologization.”
Front Page Magazine, 28 April 2005
Anyone under the illusion that this represents an accurate summary of Pipes’ position would be advised to have look through the material on Daniel Pipes collected on our site.
Robert Spencer, however, takes issue with Schwartz for even accepting that Islamophobia exists:
“Does the labeling as ‘Islamophobic’ the practice of ‘attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world’ mean that it is Islamophobic to focus attention on the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet as motivations for terrorist activity?”