British conspiracy fears rested on reifying Islam as a self-motivating agent

Evidence

The stereotype of the inherently intolerant, aggressive jihadi that informed British concerns for a potentially India-wide Wahhabi conspiracy rested on a reified understanding of Islam that pictured the religion as a self-motivating agent. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 174

Categorization

• DEFINE: The key mechanism here is ‘reification’ — picturing a complex religion as a singular self-motivating agent — which is the exact analytical pivot the reader cares about.
• XREF: This reification-of-Islam move parallels the reader’s project of dissecting the frightened subject; also connects to Said’s Orientalism concept of a monolithic Islam.