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Islamophobia & Conspiracy Theories in a Global Pandemic

Zain Sardar
The Pen
Published in
9 min readNov 27, 2020

By Samir Seddougui

Over the last few years there has been a notable increase in Islamophobia, from physical attacks to online harassment. A number of events in recent years have also contributed to the rise in Islamophobia, such as the election of Trump and Brexit which emboldened bigotry and xenophobia. Islamophobia had already been increasing prior to these political events however, and as Dr. Narzanin Massoumi explains, ‘has been nearly 20 years in the making’, with the ‘War on Terror’ isolating Muslims as an existential threat to Western civilisation, ultimately creating the conditions for ‘widespread Islamophobia’ across Europe and North America. This period has also seen to a rise in the distrust of politicians and mainstream media outlets, with there being a clear growth in popularity of alternative news sources, often accessed through social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. This seems to have impacted the prevalence of conspiratorial thinking, which can often seem more appealing in stressful and uncertain times. The UK has never fully recovered from the 2008 financial crash, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated uncertainty in society.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a clear overlap between the rise in Islamophobia, and conspiratorial ideas, with a strain of Islamophobia existing on the fringes of a political discourse which highly promotes conspiratorial ideas. Firstly, that there are ‘Muslim No-Go Zones’ within the UK and Europe, where laws are ignored and alternate courts are used. Secondly, that there is an orchestrated plan to flood Western countries with immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries, and fundamentally alter the demographics of said country, which is known as ‘The Great Replacement’. This conspiracy theory was coined by Renaud Camus in his 2011 book of the same title, which gained popularity amongst white nationalist and far-right circles, especially during the 2015 refugee crisis. A 2018 YouGov poll found that of the respondents, 31% of Leave voters and 6% of Remain voters believed in a version of the great replacement theory. Another study also found that there has been a steady rise in the usage of the term ‘The Great Replacement’ between 2012 and 2019, with a spike in its usage immediately after the Christchurch attack. The steady increase of the term over the years highlights the normalisation of hostility towards Muslims in Europe and North America, arguably contributing to a rise in Islamophobic street attacks and the targeting of mosques.

Unsurprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a rise in Islamophobic conspiracy theories, with Muslims being blamed for everything — from being super spreaders, to defying lockdown rules and social distancing regulations. As the first lockdown began in March 2020, fake videos began to circulate on social media claiming to show Muslims breaching social distancing by attending secret mosques. These claims were all untrue, with the reality being that mosques were following government guidelines, with many setting up voluntary support initiatives throughout the pandemic. Another feature of the conspiracy that Muslims were flouting lockdown regulations is that the police forces were hesitant to respond to these regulation breaches out of the fear of appearing racist, which seems to contradict that data that Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) citizens were more likely to be fined under the Coronavirus legislation. This is consistent with more general trends and the disproportionate level of interactions BAME people have with the police in the UK, with this becoming particularly pronounced in light of the tragic killing of George Floyd which galvanised Black Lives Matter movements globally.

Another troubling moment for many British Muslims during the Covid-19 pandemic was the incompetent handling of local lockdown measures in the North of the country, just hours before Eid al-Adha. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the local lockdown restrictions on Twitter at around 9pm. The handling of this announcement was met with much confusion and frustration, with Qari Asim, the deputy chair of the government taskforce on anti-Muslim hatred, criticising Hancock’s announcement. The mayor of Burnley borough council, Wajid Khan, also stated that Hancock’s announcement left Muslims feeling ‘scapegoated and blamed’, thus contributing to online conspiracies that Muslims were disproportionately to blame for spreading Covid-19.

The Islamophobic Covid-19 conspiracies build on the pre-existing conspiracies of ‘No-Go Zones’ and the ‘Great Replacement’, as well as the weight of the UK counter-terrorism apparatus which has targeted Muslims from schools to airports. This has subsequently increased the perception that Muslims are a threat to British society, with this effectively othering Muslim communities.

If the first lockdown can be characterised by the rise in online Islamophobia and the increased engagement with conspiracy theories, the second lockdown has been characterised by the number of small businesses up and down the country bizarrely defying lockdown restrictions by claiming to stand under ‘common law’. Unlike the false claims of ‘underground mosques’ operating illegally, people really are defying lockdown regulations and emphatically making this clear on their social media platforms. A clear example is a gym owner in Liverpool who thought she could not be fined for breaching the restrictions because, as she put it, ‘I’m a living woman and we’re living under common law’. The gym owner was arrested, but this hasn’t stopped other business owners doing the same and keeping their business operational through what they believe to be a legal loophole — if they display a notice on their business referring to ‘article 61 of the Magna Carta 1215’ the Covid-19 legislation will not apply to them. The gym owner in Liverpool and the tattooist in Bristol have effectively engaged with a conspiracy theory centred around a medieval interpretation of the Magna Carta, which prior to the first lockdown, was typically engaged with to avoid paying parking fines and council tax.

The common law conspiracy has found new life in the age of coronavirus, with conspiracy theories penetrating into mainstream discourse at an alarming rate. This has led to concerns that coronavirus has brought together conspiracy theorists and the far-right, with conspiracy groups becoming more right wing, while far-right movements are becoming more conspiratorial. QAnon flags have been seen at anti-immigration protests in Dover recently and there are direct overlaps in attendance of anti-immigration rallies and anti-lockdown rallies. These conspiracy theorists are not just an existential threat, but a direct threat to society due to the risk of not social distancing and spreading the virus. It still seems to be a small minority of people who believe in this alternate reading of the UK legal system, but in uncertain times and with a government playing catch up on controlling the virus, this could be a troubling trend over the next few years.

The Covid-19 global pandemic has laid bare many inequalities in the UK and throughout the world more generally, with Islamophobia being no exception to this. Islamophobic conspiracy theories not only demonise Muslims, which leads to an increase in hostility, but they also serve to obfuscate and detract from the very real problem of Islamophobia in society and other forms of discrimination experienced by marginalised communities which contributes the suffering of minority communities in Britain.

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Zain Sardar
The Pen

Written by Zain Sardar

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