Islamophobia runs on a continuum from complacency to active hatred.

Evidence

Looking closely at Islamophobia as it appears in the contemporary novel is not simply about elucidating instances of bigotry or violence, important as they are. The question is more about global citizenship, as envisaged directly in some of the novels. It is to do with complacency and common sense as much as with active hatred and prejudice because all four occupy a continuum and cannot in the end be conveniently separated. Islamophobia seeps in through the cracks of daily life, through hints and rumors, newsfeeds and tweets, in journalists’ articles and politicians’ utterances. Because such statements have become more overt in their hostility to Islam in the past twenty or so years, they provide the background noise to much of contemporary life. Behind them lie the real injustices, whether the steady stream of anti-Muslim violent rhetoric and actions in Britain, the United States, and Europe or the running sores of Kashmir and Israel/Palestine in world affairs. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 517

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides the definitional point that Islamophobia shades into ‘complacency and common sense,’ not just overt bigotry — crucial vocabulary for grading where a novel sits on the continuum.
• XREF: This continuum claim maps directly onto the contest-vs-quietly-reinforce spectrum the reader wants to apply to Hamid and Naqvi, where the ‘quiet’ reinforcement happens precisely through complacency and common sense.