Is there an Islamophobic Literary Tradition? Islamophobia in Literature 1- up to AD 1300

Abstract

Islamophobia is in vogue and is a hot topic of discussion both in academia and outside. Islamophobia appears in the daily life in various forms like, public humiliations, physical attacks, throwing abusive words etc. On the other hand, both in media and literature Muslim names and characters are misrepresented and quite often presented as dangerous beings. Some believe that this wide spread of Islamophobia is a recent phenomenon especially triggered by terror attacks of Sep 11. However, a historic analysis will expose Islamophobia of early centuries and can find that it was never less fierce than the surge of Islamophobia we find in current media and literature. This paper is attempting to find a tradition of Islamophobia beginning with 7th century Arabic and Greek writings distorting Islam and its prophet to English plays of 14th century