Early uses of ‘islamophobie’ meant Muslim liberals’ fear of Islam, not hatred of Muslims.

Evidence

The earliest traces of Islamophobia date back to the inception of Islam among the ruling elites of Mecca, the Quraysh. They became aggressive towards Muslims and began to mock, insult, and later begin to fight the earliest Muslims. They regarded Muhammad as a crazed man. … Dahou Ezzerhouni has cited several other uses in French as early as 1910, and from 1912 to 1918. These early uses of the term did not, according to Christopher Allen, have the same meaning as in contemporary usage, as they described a fear of Islam by liberal Muslims and Muslim feminists, rather than a fear or dislike/hatred of Muslims by non-Muslims. — Wikipedia contributors, Islamophobia, 29

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that the term’s referent flipped: the original fear was held by Muslims, not by non-Muslims about them.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what did Quellien’s 1910 doctoral thesis actually define, and how much of today’s sense was already there?
• SHARE: Send to anyone who studies empire or colonial bureaucracy — the term’s first academic definition comes from a French colonial administrator.