The Historical Roots and the Causes of Contemporary Islamophobia

In the last two decades, Islamophobia has been known as (fear or abhorring Islam and consequently abhorring all Muslims). This phenomenon has different aspects, such as; historical, cultural, social and political. A comprehensive understanding of it needs a multi-faceted look. Using a descriptive-analytic method and collecting data from various library sources (the historical roots and the causes of contemporary Islamophobia) are analyzed. The important historical roots include: Crusades in the Middle Ages, the Ottoman conquest and also European nation`s colonial in the 18th and 19th century AD, clarifying the causes and backgrounds of this phenomenon. There are many factors in the formation Islamophobia; not having sufficient awareness and ignorance of Islam are of the most important ones. Another major cause is the rooted fear of Islam in the west. Using various sources, in addition to these two causes, there are eleven more alternative causes mentioned at the end of the paper.