A recent press report from London said that members of the Islamic society of a university in the UK were upset over the demand of the British intelligence to supply them the database of the members of the society including their names, telephone numbers and addresses. The database, according to the intelligence agency, could also be shared by other agencies including those of the US. That means an added difficulty for any member of the society who seeks visa to visit the US. All this, because one person who once happened to be a member of that university's Islamic society was suspect in some case.

In the US, according to a report being published in this journal the stigma on Muslim Americans worsened in 2009. And if some of the recent incidents can be a pointer then it is not going to any better in the new year either. The FBI Domestic Investigation Operations Guidelines effectively sanction racial and religious profiling. Meanwhile, many US Muslims are concerned over the news that paid FBI informants, including ex-conmen, have been targeting impressionable Muslim Americans to incite and then entrap them. Such tactics are only going to make the life of an average American Muslim more difficult.

The Muslims in Europe have been facing even worse kind of discrimination. A study published by an NGO, the Open Society Institute, reveals that a level of religious discrimination directed towards Muslims is widespread in the EU countries and had increased in the past five years. "There are low levels of trust among young European born Muslim men, who experience the greatest amount of discrimination and unfair treatment at the hands of the police." the report said. Even Muslim pupils are not immune from such discrimination. "Some Muslim pupils continue to suffer from prejudice and low expectations from teachers," it said. "The position of Muslim women is even worse. They are discriminated against in the labor market if they wear the veil".

The OSI report concludes that Muslims in Europe suffer unfair treatment along with social and economic disadvantages. European Muslims have higher poverty rates; there is three times more unemployment among Muslims compared to other immigrant communities. There is also discrimination in housing against Muslims. A biased media which serves to portray a negative image of the Muslims has made the situation all the worse for Muslims.

Little do the people in the west realize that harassment of Muslims in the western countries serves as the most potent propaganda material for the militants in Muslim countries who cite it to strengthen their argument that the west is at war with Islam and the Muslims. This profiling and harassment of Muslim citizens in the US and the EU countries must stop. The Muslim countries should take up this matter on a collective basis, preferably from the platform of the OIC, with the western countries. The sooner the western countries give up such practices and their Islamophobia, the better it would be for them, and for the rest of the world.

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