Islam and Mohammed Losing Favor
I was interested to come across this article today which says that Muslims in Bangladesh are avoiding naming their children Islam and Mohammed because of growing Islamophobia around the world. Apparently it is becoming so bad that the education board in Dhaka is reporting a growing number of young people requesting to change their name on certificates. According to the Weekly Darpon:
Propaganda both in Europe and the United States that brands Muslims as Taliban terrorists is at the root of this trend. All Muslims are under special observation and many of them have been arrested. The Muslim community has been greatly affected by this. Bangladeshi nationals fear that these two traditional names will ultimately disappear from Muslim names.
Considering recent reports that Mohammed is now in the top 20 British names could it be that the name will begin a steady decline in the UK too? Or will it continue to rise as a way for Mulsim parents to make a statement in their adoptive country?
No Tags
I sympathize with these people. I have heard of people with Muslim names facing a lot of hassle at immigrations and customs when they travel to and from the US. Branding one entire population as terrorists is hardly the solution to protecting the country from terrorist attacks.
Assigning characteristics to entire nations, no matter how positive or negative,
is hardly unusual behaviour. Perhaps it would be interesting to look at how subsequent generations of Germans have fared since WW2 or Irish Catholics and the association with terrorism. Does anyone know of any research into it?