For Islamophobes, there are few people more useful than Yasmine Mohammed. And it is a somewhat mutually beneficial relationship—at least for now. For ex-Muslims willing to ignore or even defend bigotry, the temptation to accept a lucrative home among a growing community of far-right grifters appears to be almost irresistible.
Yasmine’s story is compelling. A Canadian-Egyptian ex-Muslim and self-proclaimed feminist, she was raised in Canada in a household run by a domineering stepfather according to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam [1]. This story is reminiscent of children raised in cults, or fundamentalist Mormonism—years of abuse and indoctrination with little to no access to ordinary joys and the outside world, justified by the abusers as “the will of God.”
Past victimization at the hands of such people, however, is no justification for Yasmine’s current behaviour of downplaying and rationalizing hate crimes against Muslims [2] (essentially victim-blaming), declaring all of Islam “worse than Nazism” [3], defending Islamophobic racists like Tommy Robinson [4], downplaying Trump’s anti-Muslim ban [5], and attempting to dismiss and silence other ex-Muslims and minimize their lived experiences. Take podcaster, illustrator, and blogger Eiynah Mohammed-Smith, for example. Eiynah, who grew up in Saudi Arabia under a Wahhabi strain of Sharia, supported and promoted Yasmine before she achieved her current disrepute. After knowing one another for years, Yasmine publicly denigrated Eiynah as an “oppression touris[t]”, someone who only “dabbled in [oppression]” [6]. This last accusation seems particularly ironic and lacking in self-awareness, as here Yasmine is engaging in the “Oppression Olympics” that the far right loves to project onto the left.
The reason for this crybullying? Eiynah, a long-time critic of far-right Islamism, dared to also criticize the “Western” far right and its apologists—who Yasmine clearly sees as allies undeserving of any criticism, or, perhaps, potential sources of wealth and fame. Indeed, Yasmine immediately leveraged her baseless attacks on Eiynah to boost her profile and successfully land an appearance on Dave Rubin’s show. Anything for the grift, I guess.
HYPOCRISY BE DAMNED, THERE’S MONEY TO BE MADE!
It shouldn’t need to be said, but experiencing trauma is no excuse for bullying and silencing others. Nobody gets an authoritative monopoly on oppression or victimization. Negative experiences related to Islam—or legitimate criticisms of the religion—do not justify anti-Muslim bigotry. Moreover, advocating on behalf of victims of oppression and violence does not completely absolve Yasmine of criticism, especially when she serves as a stooge for the far right and helps them launder (through what seems like an authoritative “insider’s perspective”) their Islamophobic prejudice. Other examples of this particular grift include Candace Owens (an American woman of colour) declaring racism no longer exists in the US, or Milo Yiannopaulis (a gay man) being the grand marshal of a “straight pride” parade.
Yasmine’s latest endeavour is a speaking engagement at UBC hosted by the so-called “Free Speech Club,” a group best known for platforming anti-feminists, transphobes, fascists, and white supremacists like Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern. At this event, Yasmine will be selling and signing copies of her new book, which is titled (perhaps unsurprisingly) Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam.
Undoubtedly, at this event Yasmine will share the story of her childhood and early adulthood. Yasmine will not, however, present this story as an outlying example of extremism and abuse. That wouldn’t serve the far-right agenda at all. Rather, Yasmine will frame her story as if it is generalizable—representative of the experience of all women with Muslim backgrounds.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF ISLAMOPHOBIA
One of her key functions for the far right is to reinforce and justify the existing assumptions, stereotypes, and prejudices held against Muslims—one of which being that violence against women is inherent in Islam. Yasmine’s grift, knowingly or otherwise, plays into Western Orientalism and racist fears of “barbarian invaders” who want to “bring Sharia to the West.” From there, fear can be turned into anger, anger which can be directed not just at those with Muslim backgrounds, but also at “liberals” (which, to the far-right, refers to anyone to their left politically) who, according to Yasmine, “empower radical Islam.” Thus the very real existence of Islamophobia, which is on the rise in Canada [7] and across the West [8], can be dismissed as an alarmist fabrication used by “liberals” working for the benefit of “radical Islam” to silence legitimate criticism of religion.
It is crucial in spreading and solidifying Islamophobia that Islam, a religion with over a billion adherents, is seen as a monolith. To this end, Yasmine’s story must be presented as generalizable, the complexities of Muslim women’s lives [9] must be erased, and the rise of progressive and liberal ideas and interpretations of Islam in the West [10] must be ignored. No room can be left for any nuance, any complexity or differences among Muslims, or any deeper analysis which looks at, for example, the similarities between the Islamic far right and the Western far right [11], let alone any discussion of the direct links between Western imperialism and the recent rise of Islamic extremism [12].
AN EXPLANATION, BUT NOT AN EXCUSE
Yasmine’s vitriolic hatred of Islam—and willingness to ally herself with anyone who shares it—is undoubtedly a product of her traumatic life. While certainly not justifiable, it is at least understandable. However, in the era of President Trump, ever-increasing Islamophobia, Quebec’s ban on “religious symbols” (i.e., legalized religious discrimination targeting those who wear hijabs and turbans), and regular mass shootings by far-right terrorists, it’s hard to sympathize with any part of the far right’s agenda that involves further targeting Muslims and demonizing the political left—or with anyone who profits from and helps propagate this agenda, whether they’re simply a “useful idiot” or an intentional propagandist.
Yasmine Mohammed can apparently fill a book with what she has to say about how “Western liberals” empower radical Islam. Meanwhile, she ignores how people like her empower the Islamophobic far right which, in Canada, across the West, and in many other parts of the world, is clearly a much bigger threat to the rights, well-being, and even the lives of women and minorities of all kinds. Especially since sympathy for white supremacy is far greater in the West than sympathy for radical Islamic ideologies [13]. The only justifiable response to people like Yasmine, especially in the current socio-political climate, is to stand in solidarity with Muslims, ex-Muslims, and others who oppose bigotry—in all its forms—and oppose all of its proponents and apologists.
This is why, on September 12th, I will skip Yasmine’s embarrassing performance for the “Free Speech Club,” which ultimately represents the same forces that seek to oppress those like her. (How are women in Muslim-majority countries supposed to escape situations like yours if we ban all travel from those countries, Yasmine? And yet, I bet those sponsoring your grift salivate at the thought of importing Trump’s racist language and policies into Canada, and those attending your talks will come away more likely to support something like that.) Instead, I plan to attend the “Fighting Islamophobia Together” teach-in presented by UBC Students Against Bigotry. It’s only through the kind of community solidarity SAB seeks to build that we can defeat not only Islamophobia and white supremacy, but also the misogyny and homophobia that people like Yasmine claim to be fighting.
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