There was an intensification of Islamophobia and animosity against Muslims in many parts of the world during the period from May 2014 to April 2015, said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)'s annual report on Islamophobia on Thursday. The period in question was a hard one, especially on Muslim minorities in non-Muslim majority countries, said the report. What aggravated matters more was the world's portraiture of ISIL as a legitimate advocate of Islam and its tenets which of course was absolutely wrong, said the report. It reviewed the roots of the problem of Islamophobia including the freedom to assault Islam in the west as a form of free speech. It said the western media during the period in question carried enormous media attacks on matters Islamic such as the wearing of the hijab. Furthermore, the report noted some positive approaches toward Islamophobia in the west by condemning harsh rhetoric from the far right groups bent on hating Muslims. It urged international cooperation to curb Islamophobia and to stand behind the universal principles of peaceful coexistence and tolerance.
