Islamophobia in Belgium and Islamophobia after COVID-19

Islamophobia means fear of Islam. Although Islamophobia has been on the rise in recent years, it is a concept that dates back to ancient times. As awareness of inequalities in the world increased during the Covid-19 period, the situation of Islamophobia was investigated. A study was conducted in Belgium, which is one of the countries where Islamophobia is seen in Europe. The aim of this study is to investigate Islamophobia in Belgium. The survey method was used in the study, and 183 Muslims and 70 non-Muslims participated in the survey. According to the results, the fear levels of Muslims about Islamophobia are similar according to age, gender, education level and marital status variables. Although the Islamophobia levels of non-Muslims are similar for age, gender, and marital status, results have been obtained that the increase in the level of education causes the level of Islamophobia to decrease. The results obtained in the study revealed that there is no statistical relationship between general fear and environmental effect towards Muslims and Islamophobia towards non-Muslims. These results are limited to the responses of 183 Muslim and 70 non-Muslim respondents