In October 1997 the Runnymede Trust report on Islamophobia attracted wide attention from political circles and the media. Muslim groups have long been calling attention to what they see as ingrained anti-Muslim prejudice in Western society.
In their eyes, the term is equivalent to anti-Semitism, and signifies several problems: firstly, cultural animosity from Western society to the distinctives of Islam, secondly practical discrimination in the socio-economic sphere and above all in perceived media stereotyping.
In 1995 the Muslim monthly Q-News convened a meeting of major Muslim groups on the theme 'Muslims Against Racism', and the advert for this blamed Islamophobia for the marginalisation of Muslims in the anti-racist movement.
