Islamophobic trope
Islamophobic tropes, also known as anti-Muslim 'tropes', are sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications, regarding Muslims as an ethnicity or Islam as a religion.
Since the 20th century, malicious allegations about Muslims have increasingly recurred as a motif in Islamophobic tropes, often taking the form of libels, stereotypes, or conspiracy theories. These tropes typically portray Muslims as violent, oppressive, or inherently extremist, with some also featuring the denial or trivialization of historical injustices against Muslim communities. These stereotypes have contributed to discrimination, hate crimes, and the systemic marginalization of Muslims throughout history.
During the colonial era, European powers advanced the stereotype of Muslims as inherently despotic and backward to legitimize imperial rule over Muslim-majority lands. These tropes often depicted Islam as incompatible with modernity and democracy, reinforcing policies of cultural suppression and economic exploitation.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, Islamophobic narratives evolved into modern conspiracy theories, particularly the notion that Muslims are attempting to "Islamize" the Western world or that they constitute a secret fifth column plotting against non-Muslim societies. The rise of Islamist extremist groups in recent decades has been used to justify broad generalizations about Muslims as inherently violent or sympathetic to terrorism. These tropes have fueled policies such as surveillance of Muslim communities, restrictions on religious practices, and outright bans on Muslim immigration in some countries.
Most contemporary Islamophobic tropes involve either the exaggeration of violence committed by Muslims or the denial or trivialization of violence against Muslims. Common examples include the claim that Muslims "play the victim" to manipulate public perception, or that Islam is uniquely responsible for terrorism while ignoring or downplaying violence committed by non-Muslims. In recent years, the denial or justification of human rights abuses against Muslims, such as the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar or the internment of Uyghurs in China, has been a key component of Islamophobic discourse.
Demography and migration tropes and conspiracy theories
White genocide conspiracy theory
The white genocide conspiracy theory term "Great Replacement" was created by a Frenchman called Renaud Camus in 2011 identifying immigration policies as the main issue affecting the shift in the demographics of France.Since the early 21st century, particularly following the European migrant crisis of 2015, the White genocide conspiracy theory has increasingly targeted Muslims. The theory falsely claims that Muslim immigration and higher birth rates are part of a coordinated effort to replace White populations in Europe and North America. This narrative is often fueled by far-right figures, who depict Muslim migrants as an existential threat to Western civilization, framing their presence as an "invasion" rather than natural demographic shifts caused by conflict, globalization, and labor migration.
Much of this rhetoric is rooted in fears about cultural and religious transformation, with Islam portrayed as inherently incompatible with Western values. Proponents of the conspiracy theory often link it to broader Islamophobic tropes, including the belief that Muslims refuse to assimilate and aim to impose Islamic law on non-Muslim societies.
Belief in the white genocide theory has been linked to acts of terrorism targeting Muslim communities. Notable incidents include the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, where the attacker explicitly cited the Great Replacement conspiracy theory in his manifesto before killing 51 worshippers. Other violent attacks motivated by similar ideology include the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting and the 2021 London, Ontario truck attack, both of which targeted Muslim families.
Versions that include non-Muslims
Variations of the trope have also been used against other groups including Jews and black South Africans. These versions of the conspiracy theory often also include Islamophobia or are used in attempts to justify policies biased against Muslim immigrants.In the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, Jews are often characterised as the masterminds while the immigrants are Muslims or another group. Some variations of the theory claim that Western political elites are deliberately enabling mass Muslim immigration to dilute national identities, a narrative echoed in slogans such as the "Great Replacement", popularized by figures like French writer Renaud Camus.
Migration politics in Australia and the United Kingdom
Immigration politics
Another variant of the white genocide story claimed that violent robberies of South African farmers were an attempt to commit genocide against South Africa's white minority. Some people who claim this version of the story are also intensely Islamophobic, such as Matthew Heimbach from the "Youth for Western Civilization" and right-wing Australian politician Peter Dutton. In 2018 Dutton tried to argue that white South Africans should be given asylum status in Australia, despite Dutton being in favour of Australia's extremely harsh treatment of other asylum seekers. The asylum seekers excluded and mistreated by Australia's harshest immigration politics were frequently Muslim, but generally referred to by political dog whistles referring to people coming by boat. Dutton personally argued against Palestinian asylum seekers being given assistance during the Gaza war, despite them already receiving generally unfavorable treatment. Dutton described previous Lebanese immigration as a "mistake"."Stop the boats"
The "stop the boats" dog whistle has spread from Australia to the United Kingdom. It is an Islamophobic trope in both countries. "Stop the boats" was used as an immigration policy slogan by the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom under Rishi Sunak's leadership. The slogan was later chanted by anti-Muslim mobs during the 2024 United Kingdom riots."Grooming gangs" controversy in the United Kingdom
Failures by British institutions in preventing, identifying and prosecuting the widespread cases of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation that mostly occurred between the 1990s and 2010s, where many of perpetrators were of Pakistani British origin, have been described as a grooming gangs scandal. Both far-right and liberal commentators have promoted the trope of "Muslim grooming gangs" in the United Kingdom, selectively amplifying cases involving Muslim perpetrators of Pakistani descent while downplaying or ignoring similar crimes committed by non-Muslims. The "Muslim grooming gangs" narrative capitalizes on other Islamophobic stereotypes, such as alleged violence and traditional misogyny of the Muslims.Demographic tropes in India
'Ghazwa-e-Hind' is a similar conspiracy theory which claims an alleged strategy by Indian Muslims to replace Hindus as the dominant religious demographic group in India by virtue of their fertility rates and polygamy, leading to overpopulation of Muslims in order to facilitate annexation of India by its hostile Muslim-majority neighbour.Greater Bangladesh is a similar conspiracy theory employed by Hindu nationalists in East and Northeast India, alleging a ploy by the Muslim majority Bangladesh to annex neighbouring non-Muslim majority Indian states by promoting illegal infiltration of Bengali Muslims into them, thereby changing the demographics in those areas, which in turn had led to anti-Bengali sentiment in Northeast India and ethnic conflicts.
Love jihad conspiracy theory
"Love jihad" is an Islamophobic Hindu nationalist conspiracy theory in India promoted by far-right Hindutva activists, alleging Muslim men feign love for Hindu women in order to make them convert to Islam and produce Muslim offspring, thereby skewing the demographics in favour of Islam.Occasionally the genders are reversed and Muslim women are accused of seducing Hindu men to convert to Islam, citing the historical examples of Kalapahad and Tansen. Using this as a reason, many state governments in India ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party has introduced laws banning interfaith marriage.
This sort of allegations have also been levelled against Muslims in Israel. In December 2010, a open letter issued by Lehava directed Jewish women not to marry Muslim men for the same reasons.