March 15: International Day to Combat Islamophobia

本日は"International Day to Combat Islamophobia"（イスラム恐怖症と闘う国際デー）です。2022年、国連によって、世界各地で根強く残る、イスラームという理由だけで生じる嫌悪、差別、偏見の撲滅を目指して制定されました。

Recently, I learned that March 15 was designated as International Day to Combat Islamophobia by United Nations in 2022. What prompted them to create a special day for Islam? In this essay, I will describe the background of the designation of the day.

The date of the observance, March 15, was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings, two consecutive mass shootings that occurred in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 and killed 51 people. They were carried out by an anti-Muslim gunman.

In fact, many Muslims still often face hatred, discrimination and prejudice all over the world due to their faith, which has frequently been associated with militant extremist groups.

It might be natural that many people tend to think that Islam is a religion with violence and danger because the mass media occasionally cover terrorist actions carried out by Islamic extremists and the oppression of freedom in many Muslim nations sensationally. The tragedy of the September 11 attacks in 2001 has intensified animosity and suspicion against Islam across the world.

However, Islam is fundamentally a religion of peace, tolerance and pluralism, which I learned in some lectures on the history and culture of Islam at university. Most Muslims are sincere people. Only a few people resort to arms and violence in the cause of Islam.

Considering that there are still many people who have prejudice against Islam, we should have a special day to rethink the issue of Islamophobia. It can be a good opportunity to raise public awareness about Muslims suffering disadvantages from society and to alleviate their bias against the religion. Promoting education on Islamic culture can also be the key to improving people's understanding of Muslims.

私は歴史学を専攻しており、専門はドイツ近代史ですが、所属していた大学にイスラームの講座もあり、イスラームに関する講義も履修しました。そのおかげで、イスラームは実は平和で寛容な宗教なのだということを知りました。イスラームについて知ることがイスラームに対する嫌悪、差別、偏見の撲滅につながります。異文化に対する嫌悪、差別、偏見の撲滅が平和な世界構築への礎となるのではないでしょうか。