The analysis of otherization of İslam and rising İslamofobia in Europe

The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of the concepts of Islamic and Islamophobia in the European society from the 8th century and to reveal the subjectivity, relativity, variability and fictionality of the mentioned concepts. In this context, it has been tried to clarify the way in which the variables underlying the contextual change of Islamophobia and perception of Islam in European society are determined by the deconstruction method. The study also aimed to make a unique contribution to the academic literature by making a non-European critical perspective on the concepts of Islamic perception and Islamophobia in European society. Islam has been a significant that has been discussed by European scholars for more than thirteen centuries. In this long historical process, Islam has been constructed in different forms as an "other" in the collective understanding of European society. In the medieval European society, Islam is perceived as a religion and civilization in two different ways. While Islam as a religion has been totally rejected, Islam, as a civilization, has been tried to be curious, respected and imitated. In modern European society after the Enlightenment, Islam has been transformed into an other that has to be civilized by Europe, which envisions itself as universal and superior civilization. Through the globalization and neoliberalism that took place during the period from the 1970s to the present day, Islam has converted to an other who has to be democratized and kept under control by the European society, due to its so called predisposition of terrorism and fanaticism. When the historical process is carefully taken into account, it can be mentioned that in Europe there is an Islamophobia which changes according to the conditions of the times, but continues its existence. When this process is deconstructed, it is seen that ruling elites who control the production mechanism of knowledge and discourse in European society have created an Islamic fiction in their own interests and that they use this fictional Islam in the Islamic societies to establish or to legitimize their hegemony. In other words, this production of information and discourse is not about what Islam is really about, but rather about how it should be in the interests of the ruling elite in Europe. Keywords: Islam, Europe, Information, Discourse, Hegemony, Islamofobia.