Islamophobia can also generate Islamophilia, an apologetic and generically affectionate relationship to Islam and Muslims. As I will show, Islamophilia itself can pose serious challenges to the effective incorporation of Muslims in American society. This is so for two reasons. First, advocates and opponents of Muslim inclusion often share underlying assumptions about Islam, citizenship, and national belonging, and a positive or negative spin on those assumptions does little to modify their political effects. Second, popular views of Muslims, and state policies related to Islam, are shaped by historical traumas that have been woven into narratives of national identity.

QUESTION: What specific shared assumptions about citizenship and national belonging do advocates and opponents both hold? Worth exploring the underlying ideology.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 661