The French term “Islamophobie” first appeared in print in a 1910 book entitled La Politique Musalmane dans l’Afrique Occidentale Francoise. In that book, the author criticized the anti-Muslim views of France’s colonial administrators working in former Muslim-majority colonies such as Benin, The Gambia, and Senegal in western Africa. “Islamophobie” was also used in a biography on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that was completed in 1916 by another Frenchman named Alphonse Etienne Dinet. The author dedicated his book to the brave Muslim soldiers in the French army who died in battle during World War I.

XREF: Contrasts with the common assumption that 'Islamophobia' is a 1990s coinage.

XREF: Challenges the modern framing of Islamophobia as a recent coinage; connects to broader origin histories of contested terms. QUESTION: Why did the term lie dormant for decades before its modern prominence, and how did its initial usage differ from current meaning?

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 484