Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. * Korespondenčni avtor / Correspondence author 139 Prejeto: 9. april 2022; revidirano: 11. april 2022; sprejeto: 26. april 2022. / Received: 9th April 2022; revised: 11th April 2022; accepted: 26th April 2022. DOI: 10.37886/ip.2022.007 Manifestations of Islamophobia During COVID-19 Maja Pucelj* Faculty of Organisation Studies Novo mesto, Ulica talcev 3, 8000 Novo mesto, Slovenia maja.pucelj@fos-unm.si Abstract: Background and Originality: Did the level of Islamophobia increase during COVID-19, and in what forms did Islamophobia manifest during the mentioned period? This article aims to find out, through a systematic review, whether Islamophobia has increased during COVID-19 and in what forms Islamophobia has manifested during COVID-19. The originality of the research is reflected in a thorough systematic review of the available literature in the field of Islamophobia at the time of COVID-19. The article's topic, which is relatively new and consequently under-researched, focused on examining the rise and manifestations of Islamophobia during COVID-19 to identify relevant societal challenges of the future. Method: A systematic review of Islamophobia during COVID-19 was conducted in the following databases: Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Base (Open Access), Springer Nature, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SAGE, Wiley Online Library, and Emerald. Additional articles from other sources were identified by examining reference lists of studies found during database searches. Results: Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, our systematic review found 19 articles published in English between January 2020 and January 2022. We found that the level of Islamophobia jumped during COVID-19 and that Islamophobia shifted to online media during the strict lockdown but remained present in physical form. Organization: Although the implications of the research for organizations are indirect, knowledge of the manifestations of Islamophobia during COVID-19 may provide employers with an understanding of the plight of Muslims employed in organizations and enable them to take specific measures to alleviate the psychological distress of their Muslim employees. Society: It is important for society to work for peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding in a pluralistic, democratic society and to make additional efforts to reduce the level of Islamophobia, hate speech and hate crimes against Muslims and to condemn all forms of discrimination and persecution against Muslims. Limitations/further research: As a limitation of our study, we must point out the relatively small amount of relevant literature on the studied topic, which is due to the relatively short period of study of Islamophobia in the COVID-19 period. We suggest that for further research, researchers should also focus on the manifestation of Islamophobia during the COVID-19 period in physical form, as the various research studies that we were able to find and evaluate for this systematic review focused mainly on the online implications of Islamophobia. Keywords: islamophobia, COVID-19, Muslims, social media, physical attacks, systematic review, hate speech, hate crimes. 1 Introduction COVID-19 has affected our lives in many ways and manifested itself in many undesirable forms, ranging from the negative impact of the coronavirus on the lives of individuals, Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 140 causing many deaths, to the impact on the world economy and employment, quality of life in society in the form of restrictions on social rights, such as the right to protection from poverty and social exclusion, the right to housing and education, and limitations on medical care, and has also been shown in an increase in hate speech and crimes and other acts of violence such as stigmatization, discrimination and xenophobia.. Due to the imposed COVID-19 closures and compartmentalization of daily life in Europe (as well as the significant increase in fake news), the manifested forms of hate have shifted from the physical to the online and social media but continue to exist in both forms. COVID-19 has also raised a number of social issues, such as the distrust of science and medicine, where we have witnessed distrust of official scientific research because of alleged links to the pharmaceutical lobby. This distrust was also reflected in increased attention to various conspiracy theories or the words of non-experts on various social networks. The aforementioned conspiracy theories or "fake news" have also led to an increase in discrimination, hate speech, and hate crimes, with various scholars focusing on researching Sinophobia or discrimination against the Chinese during COVID-19 (e.g., Roche, 2020; Zhang & Xu, 2020; Gao, 2021), but paying less attention to the rise in Islamophobia. Islamophobia is a manifestation of the fear of Islam and Muslims in general, which also manifests itself in concrete actions against immigration, in the field of asylum policy, in the distortion of the media image, or in the form of physical attacks on visible Muslim communities. Islamophobia is also primarily a manifestation of fear of terrorism and is reflected in various forms such as hate speech and crime and other violent acts such as stigmatization, discrimination, and xenophobia. As we perceived the spread of hateful messages on virtual social media during COVID-19, we decided to conduct a systematic review to answer the following two research questions: RQ1: Did the level of Islamophobia increase during COVID-19? RQ2: In what forms did Islamophobia manifest itself during COVID-19? 2 Theoretical framework Islamophobia was originally developed as a concept by political activists in the late 1990s to draw attention to rhetoric and actions directed at Islam and Muslims in Western liberal democracies (Bleich, 2012, p. 179). As the Merriam-Webster Dictionary states, Islamophobia is an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Islam or people who practice Islam (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Islamophobia) and is, as noted by Lambert and Githens- Mazer (2010, p. 57), an unfounded fear of Muslims and Islam, which manifests itself in such a form that individuals are victims of spitting, repression, verbal abuse, discrimination in the workplace, violence, or are victims of damage to their homes, due to the fact that their houses are painted with graffiti or set on fire, or are even faced with more horrific consequences, including serious injury or even death just because they are (or perceived to be) Muslims. Awan & Zempi (2020, p. 2) define Islamophobia as: Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 141 A fear, prejudice and hatred of Muslims or non-Muslim individuals that leads to provocation, hostility and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement and intimidation of Muslims and non-Muslims, both in the online and offline world. Motivated by institutional, ideological, political, and religious hostility that transcends into structural and cultural racism which targets the symbols and markers of a being a Muslim. Islamophobia can manifest itself as latent, institutional Islamophobia or as overt Islamophobia. Latent, institutional Islamophobia is harder to detect than overt Islamophobia and can be found in statistics on the unemployment rate or the poverty rate that Muslims face. Negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims in the West are not a new phenomenon, but stem from negative images of Muslims (Turks) from the past, which, as Ahmed Pašić (2009, p. 37) notes, are transferred to the present with the help of the mass media, education system and different centres of power. The existence of Islamophobia in Europe is confirmed by various studies (e.g., Kallis, 2015; Abdelkader, 2017; Perocco, 2018, etc.). Forms of Islamophobia in the European Union vary from verbal threats to physical attacks on people and property. However, Hoarau and Sasnal (2013, pp. 1–2) note that there are large differences between European countries in terms of Islamophobia, which are often related to the number of Muslims in that country: the larger the Muslim minority, the greater the level of discrimination. All forms of non-acceptance of Muslims, from Islamophobia, social marginalization, social exclusion and discrimination to hate speech and hate crimes and other forms of violence, reflect in sadness, mental distress, feelings of uneasiness, fear, humiliation, isolation, anger, and helplessness and finally manifest in poor or even unsuccessful integration. Ramberg (2004, p. 6) notes that Islamophobia, whether it is an everyday form of racism and discrimination or a more violent form, constitutes a violation of human rights and threatens social cohesion. As primarily a public health crisis, COVID-19 has generated different challenges, other than the virus itself, ranging from economic and political to psychological and social challenges and harms. As we can see from history, in changed societal circumstances, such as in the case of COVID-19, we can observe pandemonium, caused by misinformation and due to the fact that the governments were not sufficiently prepared to handle such a health crisis, increased levels of fear and anxiety, and an increase in hateful emotions within the population (Chandra et al., 2021, p. 1). Ahuja & Banerjee (2021, p. 1) and Kanika & Banerjee (2020, p. 1) agree and state that historically looking, infectious disease outbreaks, including the plague, influenza, cholera, HIV, etc., generated stigma, prejudice, “othering” and xenophobia, against certain communities. The COVID-19 also reflected in an increase of hateful rhetoric on virtual media, produced by right-wing politics/individuals, which is confirmed by Rajan and Venkatraman (2021, p. 1). Another negative aspect of COVID-19 is the effect of discrimination on minority communities, which was acknowledged by Abbasi et al. (2021, p. 334), who state that discernment or discrimination generated fear in the minority communities. Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 142 Mitoma & Marcus (2020, p. 132) state that before the outbreak of COVID-19, we could note in reports a rise in racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic hate, where they point to far-right terrorist attacks, which occurred from Norway to New Zealand, the surge of hate speech in U.S. schools after the 2016 election, and the return of tropes and conspiracy theories. Because COVID-19 increased concerns about a surge in hate speech hate acts and racism, we decided to conduct the present research review to see whether levels of Islamophobia did increase during COVID-19 and in which forms Islamophobia manifested during that time. 3 Method The current study is a systematic review of the literature on the topic of the potential rise of Islamophobia during COVID-19 and its manifestations in the aforementioned period. We used the following databases to gather relevant articles to which we had full access: Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Base (Open Access), Springer Nature, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SAGE, Wiley Online Library and Emerald. Additional articles from other sources (Google) were also identified by examining the reference lists of the studies located through the database search. The search term consisted of two sets of keywords – Islamophobia and COVID-19. The keywords were associated with the Boolean operator “and”. The names and abstracts of the publications resulting from the search strategy were screened for relevancy. If the titles and abstracts did not provide a satisfactory level of information, we scanned the full text to determine whether the publication meets the inclusion criteria. For two reasons the identification process was carried out twice: (1) to ensure that all relevant publications were included and (2) to categorize possible nonrelevant publications. Figure 1 below represents our research model. Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 143 Figure 1. Research model Through the systematic literature review, we identified 19 articles with the following exclusion criteria: (1) year of publication, which was limited from January 2020 to January 2022, (2) language, which we limited to English, (3) research duplicated in different database searches, (4) lack of appropriate research methodology and/or were newspaper articles, (5) if the identified relevant publications have reported on the results of the same study, we included in the analysis only the publication with the most extensive coverage of the reported study. We also excluded that research that we had (5) no full access to or which (6) focused just on researching Islamophobia with no connection with the COVID-19 situation. We also limited the number of articles dealing with the increase of Islamophobia in India, because the majority of the studies about Islamophobia duringCOVID-19 in that country related to the surge of Islamophobia after the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held by Muslims in India, so we included in the analysis only the publication with the most extensive coverage of the reported study. We included in our research different types of research, reviews, meta-analyses, conference papers, case studies, books, book chapters, and theses or dissertations, where we imposed no restriction to age, gender or nationality, which correspond to the field of analysis, i.e., Islamophobia during COVID-19. The reliability of the results was checked using intra- rater evaluation performed by repeated search intervals over a five-day period. By conducting repeated analysis, we found no difference from the findings of the primary search. Due to the review and summarization of exclusively professional and scientific literature the validity of the research is reliable, with the exclusion of possible generalizations and subjective opinions of the authors of the reviewed research. Our systematic literature reviews resulted in an agenda for further research. The selection of relevant academic research was carried out in accordance with the inclusion criteria defined in the review protocol. The review of the relevant academic research was Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 144 conducted in three steps. In the first step the author checked the inclusion criteria on the basis of the titles and keywords of the studies. If the decision to include a piece of research based on this data could not be taken, in the second step the author checked inclusion criteria on the basis of the summaries. If the author was still in doubt about the inclusion or exclusion of the research, the introduction and conclusion of the study (and also, if necessary, the content) were also checked in the third step. The process of selecting relevant academic research is shown using a diagram in Figure 2 below. Figure 1. Choice of Primary Studies Tabel 1 below lists the reviewed papers through the used exclusion factors, Tabel 2 details the reviewed papers and Tabel 3 lists the Database/Journal name, type of publication and number of papers extracted. Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 145 Table 1. List of reviewed papers through use of exclusion factors Database Number of articles found Exclusion factors used Number of articles chosen for detailed examination Scopus 9 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (we excluded research papers that we did not have full access to or that did not directly focus on the topic of Islamophobia during COVID-19) 4 ProQuest Dissertations and Theses 316 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation or Islamophobia) 1 Web of Science 3 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (duplicated articles) 1 Base 20 The content of the articles did not match the inclusion criteria (duplicated articles; the identified relevant publications have reported on the results of the same study, so we included only the publication with the most extensive coverage of the reported study in the analysis) 2 Springer Nature 272 The content of the articles did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation or Islamophobia; the identified relevant publications have reported on the results of the same study, so we included only the publication with the most extensive coverage of the reported study in the analysis, which was already listed in the previous database search…) 0 JSTOR 98 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation or Islamophobia) 0 ScienceDirect 42 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation and/or Islamophobia; no full access…) 0 SAGE 80 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation and/or Islamophobia) 1 Wiley Online Library 42 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation and/or Islamophobia) 0 Emerald 27 The content of the article did not match the inclusion criteria (no correlation with the COVID-19 situation and/or Islamophobia) 0 Google Scholar 3,370 The content of the articles did not match the inclusion criteria (duplicated articles; no correlation with the COVID-19 situation or Islamophobia; the identified relevant publications have reported on the results of the same study, so we included only the publication with the most extensive coverage of the reported study in the analysis, which was already listed in the previous database search…) 3 Google 2,940,000 The content of the articles did not match the inclusion criteria (all above mentioned exclusion criteria were used) 7 Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 146 Table 2. Details of the reviewed papers Database/ Journal Reference Title of the article Issues, design (and sample) Measurement tool Findings Database: Scopus Journal: Al- Shajarah Chandra et al. (2021) "A Virus Has No Religion": Analyzing Islamophobia on Twitter during the COVID-19 Outbreak The first large-scale quantitative study linked Islamophobia with COVID-19 (Outbreak with CoronaBias dataset, with a focus on anti-Muslim hate spanning four months, with over 410,990 tweets from 244,229 unique users). Mixed-methods approach The authors revealed the existence of anti- Muslim rhetoric around COVID-19. The authors created an understanding of anti-Muslim sentiments that are not directly coherent with terrorism but can harm the community in a dire manner in the Indian sub-continent. Database: Scopus Journal: Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research Rajan & Venkatraman (2021) Insta-hate: An exploration of islamophobia and right- wing nationalism on instagram amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in India This study positioned itself within the theoretical framework of Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory to uncover the visual and textual codes used to create stigma and blatant stereotypes that dehumanize and demonize certain communities using social media. Semiotic analysis of the Instagram pages of Hindu_Secret and Hindu_he_hum The study found encoded stereotypes of threat in the use of colour, religious structures, clothes, and other physical markers of cultural identity in generating content for Islamophobia. Database: Scopus Journal: International Journal of Criminology and Sociology Bakry et al. (2020) Arguing islamophobia during COVID-19 outbreaks: A consideration using Khusūs Al-Balwaū This article aims to provide an argument against Islamophobia with consideration of Khusūs Al Balwa. Mixed-methods approach The authors researched how the threat of Islamophobia continued to surface due to COVID-19. Islam was considered as the source of the virus. Database: Scopus Journal: Frontiers in Psychiatry Ahuja & Banerjee (2021) The “Labeled” Side of COVID-19 in India: Psychosocial Perspectives on Islamophobia During the Pandemic This commentary highlights the social contexts of increase in Islamophobia in India during the pandemic and discusses the possible psychological explanations and public health impact, as well as outlining some ways to mitigate it focusing on collectivism. Commentary The author finds that the pandemic has further instigated Islamophobia, and consequent discrimination. Database: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Journal: / Fadiga (2021) Islamophobia in France: A Case Study of Islamophobic Practices and Racial Discrimination in Face of the Global Pandemic of COVID-19 The aim of this research was to analyse the sets of historically inequitable institutions and policies legitimizing the socio-economic discrimination experienced by Muslim minorities in French society. Case study The author states that prevailing anti-Muslim prejudices have continued to deepen social inequalities, and evermore in the face of COVID-19. The historical shifts from collective fears of secularization and the history of imperialism and colonialism have set the stage for prevailing anti-Muslim prejudices in French society. “to be continued” Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 147 “continued” Database/ Journal Reference Title of the article Issues, design (and sample) Measurement tool Findings Database: Web of Science Journal: Al- Shajarah Ushama (2021) Islamophobia in India during the covid-19 crisis: A surge of stigmatization, vilification and murder This article discusses how zealots have exploited COVID-19 to amplify Islamophobia in India. Qualitative content analysis Qualitative content analysis of publications, speeches, websites, news bulletins, periodicals, YouTube and social media reveals a surge of anti- Muslim rhetoric and activity during the COVID- 19 crisis. Database: BASE Monograph Awan et al. (2021) Covid-19: What are the Drivers of the Islamophobic Infodemic Communications on Social Media? The Online Islamophobia Project examined the interaction between miscommunications and conspiracy theories in relation to key factors such as anonymity, membership length, peer groups and postage frequency, within the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic and Islamophobia on social media. Mixed-methods approach The researchers found that: - different forms of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred found on social media reinforce negative views about Muslims; - significantly higher mean Anger score for General Islam compared to Anti-Vaxx; - the pandemic has seen a widespread influx of anti-Muslim hate, including attacks and abuse (online and offline), which has been fuelled by the media who have perpetuated Islamophobia through peddling fake news stories. Database: BASE RSIS Commentaries Mahzam (2020) Disinformation: the spreading of Islamophobia COVID-19-related disinformation campaigns designed to stoke Islamophobic sentiment are fuelling an uptick in hate attacks targeting Muslims in some countries. The unprecedented conditions created by the ongoing pandemic offer fresh opportunities for extremists to exploit and require timely interventions. Commentary Levels of Islamophobia increase around certain events. Muslims were perceived as the allegedly key purveyors of the COVID-19 virus. The spread of COVID-19-related hate speech has further exacerbated these divisions, and also contributed to an upsurge in anti- Muslim hate crimes in recent weeks. Database: SAGE Journal: SAGE Journals Poole & Williamson (2021) Disrupting or reconfiguring racist narratives about Muslims? The representation of British Muslims during the Covid crisis This article examines British newspaper coverage of Muslims during the first wave of the coronavirus crisis. Mixed-methods approach Muslims were negativized in mainstream media representation in the UK. In the context of the reporting of coronavirus, racist discourses have been reshaped as Muslim key workers are distinguished in the reporting from other Muslims. “to be continued” Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 148 “continued” Database/ Journal Reference Title of the article Issues, design (and sample) Measurement tool Findings Database: Google Scholar Journal: Ilkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online Abbasi et al. (2021) The Innovative Role of the Islamic World to Counter the Phenomenon of Western “Islamophobia” during the Post-Corona Era This article focuses on the examination of prejudice against Islam and Muslim community immigrants in the Western world. Mixed- methods approach Numerous extremist groups were trying to use COVID-19 as a weapon to initiate the attacks against the Muslims. The pandemic has increased nationalism, fanned tensions worldwide and caused a rise in racism and religious enmity, together with anti-minorities violence in so many places. Also, such trends have highlighted ‘Islamophobia’. Muslims are being targeted freely; their shrines are being destroyed; the Holy Messenger (PBUH) is being insulted; their divine book, the Holy Quran, was being burnt, all under the shadow of freedom of expression. Database: Google Scholar Journal: Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association Shahid (2020) The Pandemic of Islamophobia The study was focused on researching how COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on pre-existing intersecting and compounding inequalities and injustices. Data showed that Muslims in the UK are more likely to die from COVID-19. However, when social deprivation and ethnicity were controlled for, that excess risk diminishes. This was consistent with structural discrimination and racism being key drivers of health disparities from COVID-19 among Muslims in the UK. A syndemics approach Islamophobia and COVID-19 interacted synergistically at the population level and contributed to excess burden of illness in the Muslim community. The study also found increased levels of Islamophobia during the pandemic. Database: Google Scholar Transcript Religious Fundamentalism in the Age of Pandemic, Nina Käsehage (ed.) Lucini (2021) Dismantling Prejudices on Muslim Communities in Italy in Times of Pandemic: not just Religious Fundamentalism A reflection on the role that perceptions and cultural aspects of a crisis, such as that cause from the COVID- 19 virus could generate in ethnic communities such as the Muslim one Mixed- methods approach At the geographical level, the most violent online messages of an Islamophobic nature were present throughout the country, with a greater presence in large cities and a lower spread in the south. It is interesting to note that the intolerant or hateful words associated with the interpretation of Muslims as a threat were the following but fundamentalist: jihadist, Moroccan, cutthroat, Bedouin, Abdullah. These words revealed how some part of the collective perceptions on Muslims were based on the cultural interpretation of news and experiences rather than a reflection from a more general perspective or a geopolitical level where it was supposed to place the definition of fundamentalist. “to be continued” Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 149 “continued” Database/ Journal Reference Title of the article Issues, design (and sample) Measurement tool Findings Database: Google Vox- Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020) Map of intolerance The map of intolerance focuses on the key challenges that emerged during COVID-19. Mixed-methods approach After women, Muslims were the most affected category – Islamophobia was at the top of the online hate scale. Later versions of the mentioned studies have shown that the trend related to Islamophobia is constantly rising and peaks, when dramatic events (e.g. terrorist attacks or crimes) committed by Muslims occur. Database: Google Institute for Freedom of Faith & Security in Europe Rose (2021) Pandemic Hate: COVID- related Antisemitism and Islamophobia, and the Role of Social Media Considering anti-Semitism and Islamophobia as joint and intersecting phenomena, this report investigates the ways in which, eighteen months after the start of the pandemic, anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim narratives continued to be created, spread and accessed on social media Mixed-methods approach As pandemic restrictions intensified in Western Europe, so too did a wave of COVID-related anti- Semitism and Islamophobia, proliferating on social media. Database: Google Report Lenzner (2021) Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Racism in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands Research about xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti- Semitism, and racism in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands Mixed-methods approach During the few last years, xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia have increased. Not only in society but also in the political discourse. Government and the public sphere were under pressure to react to brutal acts and attacks of hatred committed. These crimes were often committed by right-wing extremists or by terrorists, often with an Islamist background. The number of crimes, especially by the right-wing, was seriously alarming. A statistic from the German Interior Ministry found that in 2020 right extremist crimes were at their highest level since 2001. Database: Google Expertise MEND (2020) COVID-19 and Islamophobia online The research aimed to explore the current dangers posed in online spaces on account of the current COVID-19 pandemic, as well as highlighting potential mechanisms for mitigating these harms. Expertise Recent months have witnessed the rise of anti-Chinese sentiment and prejudice against individuals from other East Asian countries, as well as the reinforcement of other forms of racial prejudices, including Islamophobia. The COVID-19 crisis has been used to create ‘others’ of Muslims, blaming them for the spread of the virus. The spread of fake news online has contributed to this extremely worrying trend. “to be continued” Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 150 »continued« Database/ Journal Reference Name of the article Issues, design (and sample) Measurement tool Findings Database: Google Report OIC Islamophobia Observatory (2021) Islamophobia Monitoring The report monitored Islamophobia in years 2020– 2021. Report Islamophobic incidents in France rose sharply in 2020 - there were 235 attacks on Muslims in France in 2020, up from 154 the previous year, a 53% jump. - In Spain the racial and ethnic discrimination had worsened in the last few years, fuelled by far-right politicians and fake news. The report said religion-related discrimination had increased considerably, with North African and Indo- Pakistani communities hardest hit because of the increased stigmatization, Islamophobia and being likened to terrorists. Although the coronavirus lockdown limited public life, the number of criminal offenses, including defacing spaces with Nazi symbols, writing threats, and ripping off women's headscarves, rose again. Database: Google Report Bayrakli & Hafez (2021) European Islamophobia Report 2020 Report on the state of Islamophobia in Europe in 2020. Report While physical Islamophobia has decreased, at the same time, Islamophobia has moved to the private sphere and is being spread especially in social media. The state of Islamophobia in Europe not only has not improved, but has worsened, if not reached a tipping point. Database: Google Research briefing report Awan & Khan- Williams (2020) Coronavirus, fear and how Islamophobia spreads on social media The aims and objectives of this report were to try and provide a snapshot of trends of anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobic narratives circulating on social media in relation to COVID-19. The objectives were to provide an overview of how these narratives are formed and how they impacted communities both online and offline. Report Different forms of online hate speech could be identified: from racial harassment, religiously motivated abuse including Islamophobic abuse and directed abuse more generally which targets someone because of their disability, gender, culture, race and beliefs. Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 151 Table 3. Database/Journal name, type of publication and number of papers extracted Serial Database Type of publication Number of Papers 1. Scopus Journal: Al-Shajarah 1 2. Journal: International Journal of Criminology and Sociology 1 3. Journal: Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research 1 4. Journal: Frontiers in Psychiatry 1 5. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Dissertation 1 6. Web of Science Journal: Al-Shajarah 1 7. Base Monography 1 8. RSIS Commentaries 1 9. SAGE SAGE Journals 1 10. Google Scholar Ilkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online 1 11. Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association 1 12. Transcript Religious Fundamentalism in the Age of Pandemic, Nina Käsehage (ed.) 1 13. Google Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti 1 14. Institute for Freedom of Faith & Security in Europe 1 15. Report Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Racism in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands 1 16. Expertise COVID-19 and Islamophobia online 1 17. Islamophobia Monitoring 1 18. European Islamophobia Report 2020 1 19. Research briefing report 1 TOTAL NUMBER OF PAPER/REPORTS/EXPERTISE EXTRACTED 19 4 Results 4.1 Result concerning the increased levels of Islamophobia during COVID-19 Islamophobia is present all over the (mainly Western) world. Zalta (2016, p. 534) notes that its consequences can be traced to the stereotyping of Muslims, which is based on the ignorance of the heterogeneity of the Islamic tradition and the rejection of Islam as a European (and consequently Slovenian) religion. In recent years Islamophobia has been spreading rapidly as an ideology, as a result of mass media reporting, terrorist attacks in major western (European) cities, and mass migrations of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and North Africa in recent years. However, because every global crisis has deepened social disparities and tensions due to increased fear and insecurities, reflected in hate speech and crimes and cases of racism against different types of social groups (minorities, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers), we wanted to explore if increased levels of Islamophobia can be noted during COVID-19 and if so, the forms in which Islamophobia manifested during that time. We found that COVID-19 was often portrayed as a disease which was produced and can be attributed to Others. The blame for coronavirus infections was first attributed to the Chinese, followed by the targeting of Muslims. The latter is confirmed by MEND (2020), which states Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 152 that it was possible to discern the reinforcement of other forms of racial prejudices, including Islamophobia. The COVID-19 crisis has been used to create ‘others’ of Muslims, blaming them for the spread of the virus. The spread of fake news online is contributing to this extremely worrying trend (MEND, 2020). The aforementioned is also confirmed by Ushama (2021), who highlights deliberate misinformation by campaigns and outrages, which include blaming Muslims for the contagion, denying them medical treatment, official justification by doctors to murder Muslim coronavirus patients, and the vandalization, boycott and destruction of Muslim homes, stalls and shops — all under cover of the COVID-19 lockdown. Bakry et al. (2020) examined the theory that Islam was considered the source of the virus, which suddenly went viral, even with the hashtag #coronajihad. The research also found that performance of religious rituals by certain groups ignoring social distancing can be one of the triggers besides anti-Islamic propaganda and conspiracy (Bakry et al., 2020). Furthermore, Awan et al. (2021) found that general Islamophobia evokes greater general anger or is a greater expression of anger than responses to anti-vax content. The negative perception of Muslims is also confirmed by Poole & Williamson (2021), who found that Muslims are negativized in mainstream media representation within the UK. Chandra et al. (2021) confirmed the existence of anti-Muslim rhetoric around COVID-19 and created an understanding of anti-Muslim sentiments that are not directly coherent with terrorism but can harm the community in a dire manner. On the other hand, the research, conducted by Rajan & Venkatraman (2021) found encoded stereotypes of threat in the use of colour, religious structures, clothes, and other physical markers of cultural identity in generating content for Islamophobia. The existence of Islamophobic rhetoric during COVID- 19 was also confirmed by the following research: Ushama (2021), Fadiga (2021), Bakry et al. (2020), Ahuja & Banerjee (2021), Ahuja & Banerjee (2021), Fadiga (2021), Awan et al. (2021), Mahzam (2020), Poole & Williamson (2021), Abbasi et al. (2021), Shahid (2020), Lucini (2021), Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020), Rose (2021), Lenzner (2021), MEND (2020), OIC Islamophobia Observatory (2021) and Bayrakli & Hafez (2021). Very important findings can be found in Shahid’s study (2020), which indicated that Islamophobia and COVID-19 interact synergistically at the population level and contribute to the excess burden of illness in the Muslim community. At the biological level, the convergence of the pathophysiological processes of SARS-CoV-2 and embodiment of Islamophobia produces excess morbidity and mortality. The hostile environment further institutionalizes Islamophobia and worsens COVID-19 outcomes through policies on immigration and security. The media is a particularly important institutional force that entrenches Islamophobia through shaping public perception. During the pandemic, divisive media narratives that blame and scapegoat Muslims for transmitting infection were widespread. This is in addition to fake news and conspiracy theories on social media which have been linked with increased levels of Islamophobia during the pandemic (Shahid, 2020). The increased levels of Islamophobia during COVID-19 were also confirmed by Ushama (2021), Bakry et al. (2020), Ahuja & Banerjee (2021), Fadiga (2021), Awan et al. (2021), Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 153 Mahzam (2020), Abbasi et al. (2021), Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020), Rose (2021), Lenzner (2021), MEND (2020), OIC Islamophobia Observatory (2021) and Bayrakli & Hafez (2021), through which we confirmed the first research question. Lenzner (2021) states that during the last few years, xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia have increased, not only in society but also in the political discourse. Fadiga (2021) states that prevailing anti-Muslim prejudices have continued to deepen social inequalities. Bayrakli & Hafez (2021) found that the state of Islamophobia in Europe not only has not improved, but has worsened, if not reached a tipping point. These new developments warrant making the daily reality of Islamophobia visible with a greater urgency than ever before and urge us not to be silent in the face of the increasing pressure on the human rights of Muslims in Europe and beyond (Bayrakli & Hafez, 2021). This complies with the finding of Mahzam (2020) that Islamophobia increases around certain events. Content portraying Muslims as the allegedly key purveyors of the COVID-19 virus was also prevalent on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp. The spread of COVID-19-related hate speech has further exacerbated these divisions, and also contributed to an upsurge in anti-Muslim hate crimes (Mahzam, 2020). The aforementioned concurs with the findings of Abbasi et al. (2021), who found that numerous extremist groups were trying to use COVID-19 as a weapon to initiate attacks against Muslims. This pandemic has increased nationalism, fanned worldwide tensions, and caused a rise in racism and religious enmity, together with violence directed against minorities in so many places (Abbasi et al., 2021). The OIC Islamophobia Observatory (2021) confirms this, while pointing out the increase in Islamophobic incidents in France, a 53% increase in attacks on Muslims in France and worsened racial and ethnic discrimination in Spain. Religion-related discrimination had increased considerably with North African and Indo-Pakistani communities hardest hit because of the increased stigmatization, Islamophobia and being likened to terrorists. Although the coronaviru lockdown limited public life, the number of criminal offenses, including defacing spaces with Nazi symbols, writing threats, and ripping off women's headscarves rose again. 4.2 Result about the forms in which Islamophobia manifested during COVID-19 The systematic review of existing literature in Table 1 revealed that Islamophobia during the strict lockdown moved into online media (which was confirmed by Awan et al. (2021), Lucini (2021), Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020), Chandra et al. (2021) and MEND (2020)), but nevertheless also stayed present in a physical form, which was confirmed by Awan et al. (2021) and by Chandra et al. (2021), who state that, while being present in the online space, the rise in Islamophobia also could be noted in increased hate crimes in the real/physical world. Bayrakli & Hafez (2021) state that the pandemic had quite different effects on the role of Islamophobia, because on the one hand physical Islamophobia has decreased with the imposed COVID-19 restrictions, while on the other hand Islamophobia moved into social media. Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 154 Nevertheless, the examined studies focus mainly on examining Islamophobia expressed online, because the world faced lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic and also because of the simplicity with which fake news was created and thus enabled different channels (such as news media channels, social media, online chat platforms, etc.) in proliferating hate (Rajan & Venkatraman, 2021). As Chandra et al. (2021) noted, a large number of positive COVID- 19 cases, which increased after the religious gathering of Tablighi Jamaat, resulted in the formation of anti-Muslim communities around following hashtags: #coronajihad and #tablighijamaatvirus on Twitter. Meanwhile the study conducted by Rajan & Venkatraman (2021) revealed that polarizing and Islamophobic content circulating on the two Instagram pages/accounts, use colour, religious structures, clothes, and physical features to encode stereotypes of threat towards the Muslim community in India, which has influenced attitudes towards Muslims as spreaders of coronavirus. MEND (2020) added that hate speech which occurs online and social media offences are increasing concerns, due to the fact that the anonymity of such users is exploited for posting or sharing messages with hateful content and, as mentioned already, highlight the need for efficient tackling of hateful rhetoric on social media platforms. Awan & Khan- Williams (2020) state that online hate speech can manifest itself in different forms, while Islamophobia (as religiously motived abuse) is a form of ‘cyber harassment’, ‘cyber bullying’, ‘cyber abuse’, ‘cyber incitement/threats’ and ‘cyber hate’. From the MEND (2020) study, it can be concluded that following the ‘trigger event’ in the case of COVID-19, the ‘new’ digital form of anti-Muslim bigotry has become even more striking and prevalent within social media, which has resulted in mutually reinforcing the relationship between offline attacks and online hate speech. 5 Discussion COVID-19 has affected our lives in many ways, manifesting itself in many undesirable forms, ranging from the negative consequences of COVID-19 on individual lives, causing many deaths, to the impact on the global economy and employment, and on the quality of life in society in regard to social rights limitations, including the right to be protected against poverty and social exclusion, the right to housing and education, and limitations to medical care. COVID-19 has also negatively affected many people in connection with their mental health by creating new barriers for those people suffering from mental illness and substance use disorders. (Panchal et al., 2021). The findings of the MEND research (2020) show that pandemics (e.g., the outbreak of Ebola in 2013–16 and Zika in 2015-16, COVID-19) present a unique moment, which can be used for spreading misinformation when the public dissemination of information is slowed down. Furthermore, predominantly due to spreading of misinformation and the present fear for individuals’ health, it was possible to perceive the rise of Sinophobia or discrimination against Chinese people, which took place at the beginning of COVID-19, due to the fact that COVID- 19 was stereotypically associated through coronavirus with the Chinese. However, due to the Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 155 increased level of fear and insecurities, which reflected in an increase in hate speech and crimes and cases of racism against different types of social groups (minorities, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers), Muslims also became the target of discriminatory perceptions and manifestations. This was confirmed by Voloder (2020), who states that with the intensified pandemic situation, we could see a rise in instances of racism directed towards minorities, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and Muslims. This corresponds with a study by Monash University (2020), which pointed out that the primary target of hate speech during COVID-19 were people of Chinese or East Asian origin, while the authors point out the proliferation of Islamophobic incidents. The study of Rajan & Venkatraman (2021) confirmed the aforementioned by stating that “the psychosocial fear of the disease translated into a widespread subscription to racist and Islamophobic acts. This was heightened by an increased engagement with social media and television news channels during the lockdown”. Ivić & Petrovič (2020) also state that the consequence of the mentioned rhetoric also manifested in the rise of xenophobia and other types of discrimination, one of them being Islamophobia. Al-Qazzaz (2020) agrees that COVID-19 reflected itself in different challenges – not only the spread of virus, but also, in societal ills, which was evident in the rise of Islamophobia online and in the media, in anti-Muslim harassment and in physical violence against Muslims, while adding that: “In the midst of mass lockdown procedures, economic collapse and overall uncertainty, hateful people, especially those associated with the far right, have targeted and blamed Muslims for the spread of COVID-19.”. Javed et al. (2021) agree, stating that the COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in increased activity on online social networks and the spreading of unfiltered and unreliable information on social networks such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Hamead (2020) also states that during lockdown due to COVID-19, we could see anti-Muslim rhetoric present in social and news media. Rajan & Venkatraman (2021) add that Twitter and Instagram were virtual places where misinformation about the pandemic was spread. As we confirmed with the present systematic research review, we have seen increased levels of Islamophobia during COVID-19, which was confirmed with the studies we examined: Ushama (2021), Bakry et al. (2020), Ahuja & Banerjee (2021), Fadiga (2021), Awan et al. (2021), Mahzam (2020), Abbasi et al. (2021), Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020), Rose (2021), Lenzner (2021), MEND (2020), OIC Islamophobia Observatory (2021), Bayrakli & Hafez (2021), Lenzner (2021) and Fadiga (2021). Nevertheless, it is interesting that the Advisory Council on Youth expressed its concerns about the increase and normalization of structural Islamophobia across Europe, with which Poole & Williamson (2021) agree, stating that during COVID-19, we have seen worrying growth and normalization of extreme right-wing politics across different Western countries, as well as the normalization of anti-Muslim sentiment (Hamead, 2020, p. 94). This coincides with the opinion of Motl (in: RTVSLO, 2019), who pointed out that in recent years, we have witnessed a worrying normalization of hate speech in Slovenian society. We have seen the normalization of hate speech in different aspects – it has appeared in online and offline Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 156 discussions throughout society, as well as manifesting itself in in political discourse. Cerase et al. (2016) state that the internet played a crucial role in the normalization of racism, by taking advantage of social media to spread hate speech. If we put these findings aside, the results of the present systematic research review become understandable, due to the fact that (as stated by Rajan & Venkatraman, 2021) online communication enables the possibility of creating fake news and also provides access to the masses, with the use of different channels (such as news media channels, social media, online chat platforms, etc.) with the aim to proliferate hate. As we have seen, during the strict lockdown Islamophobia moved into online media (which was confirmed by Awan et al. (2021), Lucini (2021), Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020), Chandra et al. (2021) and MEND (2020)), but nevertheless also remained present in a physical form, which was confirmed by Awan et al. (2021), Chandra et al. (2021) and Bayrakli & Hafez (2021), which also answers the second research question. But regardless of the form in which Islamophobia is currently manifested, by exhibiting Islamophobia we are communicating that we do not accept Muslims in our society and that we reject both Islam and religion and Muslims as members of that religion. Any manifestations of non-acceptance of Muslims, from Islamophobia, social marginalization, social exclusion and discrimination to hate speech/actions and even violence, evoke in Muslims sadness, mental distress, feelings of discomfort, fear, humiliation, isolation, anger, helplessness and rejection by society. Such manifestations can be also noted in poor or even unsuccessful integration, and lead to extreme actions that have manifested themselves in recent years in radicalization, the departure of individuals to the Middle East and joining Islamic State fighters, or through terrorist attacks. Ramberg notes that Islamophobia, whether an everyday form of racism and discrimination or a more violent form, constitutes a violation of human rights and threatens social cohesion (Ramberg, 2004, p. 6). The aforementioned also manifested in Shahid’s study (2020), where the author notes that Islamophobia and COVID-19 interact synergistically at the population level and contribute to the excess burden of illness in the Muslim community and at the biological level, the convergence of the pathophysiological processes of SARS-CoV-2 and embodiment of Islamophobia produces excess morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness among all social actors about the dangers of Islamophobia/hate speech and try to prevent or at least limit such forms of non-acceptance of Islam/Muslims, as otherwise groups of people who feel resentment towards the West will grow and consequently and they may begin to isolate or even resort to deviant practices, while the aforementioned negative impact could also reflect in the deterioration of the mental and physical health of Muslims. 6 Conclusion COVID-19 had different implications on our life, ranging from the health concerns connected to the spread of the virus, to the increase of fear, which manifested itself in an increase in hateful, racist and discriminatory rhetoric. As Banaji and Bhat (2020) note, it was naively assumed that a life-threatening situation would result in bringing people together, due to the Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 157 fact that it simply manifested itself in an additional perspective of hate speech. Through the conducted systematic review of existing research, we wanted to ascertain whether levels of Islamophobia increased during COVID-19 pandemic and in what forms Islamophobia manifested itself during that time. The research could serve as an agenda for further research. We conducted a systematic review of the available literature through the following databases: Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Base (Open Access), Springer Nature, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SAGE, Wiley Online Library, Emerald and Google. Through the use of different exclusion and inclusion criteria. we found 19 articles, which were published in English from January 2020 to January 2022. The result of our research showed that the levels of Islamophobia surged during COVID-19 and that Islamophobia moved into online media during the strict lockdown, but nevertheless also stayed present in a physical form. This is reflected in the fact that despite the coronavirus lockdown, which limited public life, the number of physical criminal offenses, including defacing spaces with Nazi symbols, writing threats, and ripping off women's headscarves, rose during COVID-19. This research review article represents a comprehensive study of the available literature on the topic of Islamophobia during COVID-19. The originality of the research is reflected in an in- depth systematic review of the available literature in the field of Islamophobia at the time of COVID-19. The topic of the article, which is still relatively new and consequently under- exploited, focused on the study of the rise and manifestations of Islamophobia during the COVID-19 in order to address the relevant societal challenges of the future. The research impact on organizations is indirect, but nevertheless, knowledge about the manifestations of Islamophobia during COVID-19 can facilitate employers’ understanding of the plight of Muslims employed in organizations and give them a possibility to adopt certain measures that alleviate the mental plight of their Muslim employees during a pandemic situation. While throwing light onto the problem of surging levels of Islamophobia during COVID-19, which also manifests in a deterioration of mental and physical health or even excess morbidity and mortality, it is important that society makes a commitment to peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding in a pluralistic democratic society. Society has to direct additional effort towards lowering levels of Islamophobia (regardless of the form in which it presents), hate speech and hate crimes directed at Muslims, and condemning all forms of discrimination and persecution against them. Because we have seen how the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories online reflected in an increase of hateful rhetoric and how anti- Muslim prejudices, which occurred during the spread ofCOVID-19, have continued to deepen social inequalities and increased pressure on the human rights of Muslims in Europe and beyond, it is crucial that we start looking for appropriate solutions for more successful identification and prosecution of hate speech on online social networks too, not only in physical forms. Furthermore, political representatives should abandon the hateful, aggressive and toxic political debates and give more attention to increasing respectful and non-hostile rhetoric. Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 158 As a limitation of our research, we have to point out the relatively low amount of relevant existing literature on the examined topic, which can be attributed to the rather short period of examining of Islamophobia during COVID-19. We suggest that future research also focuses on the manifestation of Islamophobia during COVID-19 in a physical form, due to the fact that the different research studies that we were able to find and evaluate for the purpose of this systematic review research were focusing primarily on the online implications of Islamophobia. We also assess that further research is needed in the field of (online and physical) hate crime and hate speech, in order to ensure an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon and ensure that appropriate action is taken in order to tackle such worrying levels of hate. Having in mind Shahid’s studyu (2020), which noted that Islamophobia and COVID-19 interact synergistically at the population level and contribute to the excess burden of illness in the Muslim community and at the biological level, the convergence of the pathophysiological processes of SARS-CoV-2 and embodiment of Islamophobia produces excess morbidity and mortality, we believe that it is of crucial importance that we make (as stated by the Advisory Council on Youth (2021) a commitment to achieve peaceful coexistence within a pluralistic democratic society.. This is reflected in the means of recognizing the consequences generated by reproducing hostile stereotypes about different religious groups which occur in national legislation or/and the public discourse (Advisory Council on Youth, 2021). It is crucial, that, as noted from the IFSW Human Rights Commission (2021), we condemn all forms of discrimination and persecution against Muslims and try to involve all organizations and governments across the world in joining such fight to try to end such abhorrent behaviour. Additional effort must be put into raising awareness on the topics of discrimination, diversity, addressing hate and the impact of such manifestations of hate on the mental and physical well-being of Muslims. However, a precondition for the implementation of the mentioned ways to eliminate Islamophobia is the desire of society to remove Islamophobia from the societal environment and to accept Muslims into their society, with the prerequisite of course, that Muslims want to achieve integration. However, in the absence of such a desire, the adoption of laws, media awareness and assistance from civil society will not bring the desired effect and as such can "only" offer a limited scope of support measures. 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Retrieved from https://balkans.aljazeera.net/teme/2020/5/3/islamofobija-u-vrijeme-pandemije-covid-19 Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 162 45. Vox-Osservatorio italiano sui diritti (2020). La nuova Mappa dell’Intolleranza 5. Retrieved from http://www.voxdiritti.it/la-nuova-mappa-dellintolleranza-5/ 46. Zalta, A. (2016). Islamophobia in Slovenia: National Report 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.islamophobiaeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/SLOVENIA.pdf 47. Zhang, Y. & Xu, F. (2020). Ignorance, Orientalism and Sinophobia in Knowledge Production on COVID-19. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/tesg.12441 *** Maja Pucelj is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Organisation Studies. She graduated from the Faculty of Public Administration and the Faculty of Management and finished her master's degree at the Faculty of Government and European Studies and the Faculty of European Law. She completed her first doctorate at Alma Mater Europaea - ISH in the field of humanities and is currently completing her second doctorate at the Faculty of Government and European Studies in the field of international studies with an emphasis on human rights. Her research interests include human rights, gender, integration of Muslims, hate speech and particularly the intersections between these areas. She has authored or co-authored numerous academic publications. *** Povzetek: Manifestacije islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19 Ozadje in izvirnost: Ali se je raven islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19 povečala in v kakšnih oblikah se je islamofobija manifestirala v omenjenem obdobju? Namen pričujočega članka je skozi sistematični pregled literature ugotoviti, kako se je islamofobija manifestirala v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19 in v kakšnih oblikah se je islamofobija v omenjenem obdobju manifestirala. Izvirnost raziskave se odraža v temeljitem sistematičnem pregledu razpoložljive literature s področja islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19. Tema članka, ki je relativno nova in posledično premalo raziskana, se je osredotočila na preučevanje vzpona in pojavov islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19, da bi identificirali pomembne družbene izzive za nastajajoče izzive. Metoda: Opravljen je bil sistematičen pregled literature na temo islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19 v naslednjih bazah podatkov: Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Base (Open Access), Springer Nature, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SAGE, Wiley Online Library in Emerald. Dodatne članke iz drugih virov smo odkrili s preučevanjem referenčnih seznamov literature, najdenih med iskanjem po bazi podatkov. Rezultati: Na podlagi meril za vključitev in izključitev je bilo v sistematični pregled literature vključenih 19 člankov, objavljenih v angleškem jeziku v obdobju med januarjem 2020 in januarjem 2022. Ugotovili smo, da se je raven islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19 povečala in da se je islamofobija v času popolnega zaprtja družbe premaknila na spletne medije, vendar je hkrati ostal prisoten tudi v fizični obliki. Družba: Čeprav so posledice pričujoče raziskave za organizacije posredne, lahko poznavanje manifestacij islamofobije v času soočanja s COVID-19 delodajalcem omogoči razumevanje stiske muslimanov, zaposlenih v organizacijah, in jim omogoči, da sprejmejo posebne ukrepe za lajšanje psiholoških stisk zaposlenih muslimanov. Pomembno je, da si družba prizadeva za mirno sobivanje in medsebojno razumevanje v pluralistični, demokratični družbi ter si še naprej prizadeva zmanjševati islamofobijo (v kakršni koli obliki), sovražni govor in zločine iz sovraštva proti muslimanom ter obsoja vse oblike diskriminacije in preganjanje muslimanov. Omejitve/nadaljnje raziskovanje: Kot omejitev naše študije moramo izpostaviti razmeroma majhno količino relevantne literature na preučevano tematiko, kar je posledica relativno kratkega obdobja preučevanja islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19. Predlagamo, da se za Izzivi prihodnosti / Challenges of the Future, Članek / Article Avgust / August 2022, leto / year 7, številka / number 3, str. / pp. 139–163. 163 nadaljnje raziskave raziskovalci osredotočijo tudi na manifestacijo islamofobije v času soočanja s COVIDOM-19 v fizični obliki, saj so se različne raziskovalne študije, ki smo jih lahko našli in ovrednotili za ta sistematični pregled literature, osredotočale predvsem na posledice islamofobije, kot se je manifestirala na spletu. Ključne besede: islamofobija, COVID-19, muslimani, družbeni mediji, fizični napadi, sistematični pregled, sovražni govor, zločini iz sovraštva. Copyright (c) Maja PUCELJ Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.