Islamophobia and Free Speech

Tackling prejudice, hatred, and discrimination is both laudable and necessary. However, in Britain and elsewhere, this noble cause has spawned a much less worthy corollary – the assumption that no criticism of Muslims or Islam should be tolerated. This has resulted in false accusations of ‘Islamophobia’, excessive fear of being denounced as an Islamophobe, and censorship of lawful expression which all free societies should unflinchingly defend. In this trailblazing book the history of the debate about the faith, the essentials of its mainstream interpretation, the principal dissenting Muslim perspectives, recent British proposals about how to address anti-Muslim prejudice, plus relevant legal and human rights frameworks, are expertly examined. Some proposals are also offered about how the chilling of legitimate debate in this field might be remedied.