I don’t think you can altogether blame people for their hostility to Islam, in view of the numerous horrific crimes committed in the name  of the Prophet, and incidents like the following: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/release-asia-bibi-pakistan-blasphemy-laws. Not her release, of course, but the terrible situation indicated by her original death sentence for ‘blasphemy’, and the popular reaction in Pakistan against the brave judges who have lifted it. (They must now live in fear of their lives.) In view of this kind of thing – which may  be over-emphasized by an Islamophobic press (I don’t know), and can certainly be matched in the history of Christianity, though surely not today? – we can hardly wonder that Islam has a negative and indeed scary reputation outside its own culture, and that its claims to be ‘a religion of peace’ sound somewhat hollow.

In which connexion it was heartening to read of this generous response by the American Muslim community to the recent synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, PA: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/29/us/iyw-muslim-crowdfunding-for-synagogue-victims-trnd/index.html. Maybe that’s not unusual. If so we should be told about it. More stories like this one would do a power of good for Muslims everywhere.

I was also, incidentally, heartened by the rejection by so many American Jews of both Trump’s and Netanyahu’s offers of support after the shooting; on the grounds, I guess, that the latters’ own positions and attitudes are likely to have contributed significantly to the ‘white hate’ that fuels both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the USA.