Is It Racist, Xenophobic, and Imperialist to Criticize Islam? by Danusha Goska.

“You may not criticize Islam. You do not speak Arabic. You don’t come from a Muslim society. You are a white supremacist, imperialist xenophobe and you don’t like foreign, brown people.” So Islam’s apologists insist.

Brooklyn activist Linda Sarsour epitomizes this strategy for suppressing critique of Islam. … Sarsour knows that Americans feel guilty and sad about slavery and Jim Crow, and that they tiptoe to avoid any racist comment. She knows that Americans fear being called “racist.” A parasite of unearned pity, Sarsour lifts the mantle of protection cast over speech about African Americans, and worms her way beneath it. …

There are several problems with Islam-apologist dogma that any criticism of Islam is motivated by white supremacy and xenophobic hatred of foreign, brown people, and their insistence that criticism of Islam is linked to hate crimes against Muslims.

The most obvious problem: America and the West host millions of foreign, brown Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucians. There is no real threat of “Hindu-phobia,” “Buddhist-phobia,” or “Confucian-phobia.” Rather, Hindu guru Deepak Chopra, Buddhist reincarnate Dalai Lama, and Confucius-inspired Tiger Moms are beloved. Mahatma Gandhi has achieved virtual saint status …

Clearly, Islam is different from Hindusim, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Clearly, the problem is not the foreign-ness or brown-ness of Muslims. There is a villain, an antagonist, a bad guy here, and that bad guy is not a white supremacist.

Former and current Muslims, many of them foreign and brown, have produced a library of critiques of Islam that agree in every respect with non-Muslim critiques of Islam. …

hat-tip Stephen Neil