"India is a gorgeous place," shared Sabina Basha through a March 3, 2020, message, "except that it has caught this disease of Islamophobia. We have existed together for a 1000 years and then, wham." The Indian college student's note, dubbing Islamophobia a "disease," came at a time when a novel virus of pandemic proportions gripped India and the world at large.

XREF: This connects to broader patterns of scapegoating minorities during public health crises, a recurring historical phenomenon.

Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamopho…, loc. 456