The New Crusades Islamophobia and the Global War on Muslims

"A poignant, powerful look at the twenty-first century and the crusades against Muslims created in the wake of the facile global war on terror. Khaled Beydoun's prose evokes James Baldwin and Edward Said, as does his moral imperative. The New Crusades is an intellectually rigorous history of global affairs, but it is also a series of moving narratives about what it is like to be human, Muslim, and betrayed."—Sarah Kendzior, author of The View from Flyover Country

" The New Crusades is an intellectual and creative tour de force. With political clarity and writerly aplomb, Beydoun offers a brilliant examination of the global war on Islam. Drawing on a stunning range of disciplines, traditions, and contexts, this text offers the most nuanced and subtle treatment on the subject to date. Beydoun has the mind of a scholar, the soul of a freedom fighter, and the pen of a poet."—Marc Lamont Hill, coauthor of Seen and Unseen: Technology, Social Media, and the Fight for Racial Justice

"In The New Crusades, Beydoun provides a trenchant analysis connecting the American war on terror with Islamophobia as a global phenomenon. Though compelling cases studies and real human vignettes, Beydoun harmonizes his breadth of legal expertise with his rich personal insights and experience, piecing together a foundational text on the faces of global Islamophobia plaguing Muslims near and far. This book is a must-read for Muslims all over the world, but even more so for non-Muslims."—Imam Dr. Omar Suleiman, Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research

"Beydoun in The New Crusades offers a grand narrative of global Islamophobia. In contrast to most studies, it is informed not only by existing scholarship but also by his on-site experiences and interviews, which enhance the authority of the narrative and make for an accessible and compelling read for scholars, students, and the general public."—John L. Esposito, Professor and Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University

"With The New Crusades, Beydoun formally announces himself as a leading intellectual on a global stage. By dissecting the anatomy of Islamophobia in my home country, France—which stands as the vanguard of anti-Muslim bigotry—Beydoun connects siloed national cases to an intricate network of global Islamophobias. In this vein, The New Crusades trailblazes vivid academic ground and makes the book nothing short of a triumph. With it, Beydoun courageously places himself in the thick of a global struggle as a Muslim, as a scholar, and most importantly as a thinker who writes beyond borders."—Rokhaya Diallo, journalist, writer, director

" The New Crusades comprehensively covers how Beijing uses America's war on terror to justify its genocide of Uyghurs. It brilliantly describes China's war on Islam. The book delves into the inhumane practices carried out in concentration camps where Uyghurs are subjected to indoctrination, torture, and sexual abuse and it exposes modern slavery. It also examines the hypocrisy of some of the powers that be, standing alongside Ukrainians rightfully, but silent on China's active genocide of Uyghurs."—Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director, Campaign for Uyghurs

"After theorizing Islamophobia in the American context, Beydoun now turns a global lens on Islamophobia, showing us how the US wars on terror licensed and amplified 'new crusades' in countries around the world. In this rich and moving account, Beydoun deftly weaves together social science, law, and compelling narratives to reveal how Islamophobia shapes the lives of Muslims the world over."—Shirin Sinnar, Professor of Law and John A. Wilson Faculty Scholar, Stanford Law School

"This work is a comprehensive tour de force of a present two decades in the making, from New York to New Zealand, Delhi to the Kenyan coast, where seeing Islam and Muslims as the problem, security and civilizational, is as much an inescapable mood as a pervasive policy. The New Crusades is a book for the present and those interested in learning about its making, through the author's analysis of law, culture, and policy but most of all through all the intimate narratives of individual human beings."—Jonathan A. C. Brown, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

"Beydoun delivers a missing analysis of the global war on terror, revealing how Islamophobic tropes and stereotypes have fueled a global crusade against Muslim populations across the world. From India to China and beyond, Beydoun unveils—through legal and human accounts—how Islamophobia ranks among the greatest challenges of our time. With The New Crusades, Beydoun has affirmed himself as a leading intellectual on reckoning with Islamophobia in the world."—CJ Werleman, journalist

"In The New Crusades, Beydoun brilliantly connects distinct dimensions of the industry of Islamophobia and how right-wing leaders are weaponizing hate, fear, and prejudice. Across the globe, Beydoun pieces together critical steps to confront and take down global Islamophobia."—Rula Jebreal, award-winning journalist, novelist, and screenwriter

"Beydoun has given us a vivid and poignant book on a subject of crucial importance, surveying movements and policies of hate directed against hapless Muslims throughout the world, centering the intimate stories of its victims. The New Crusades is essential reading for all who care about basic human rights and the global impact of Islamophobia eroding religious freedom for Muslim minorities in nations around the world."—Juan Cole, Director of Arab and Muslim American Studies, University of Michigan

"The New Crusades is an intersectional milestone. It lucidly illustrates how converging systems of subordination, power, and violence related to Islamophobia are experienced across the globe."— Kimberlé Crenshaw, from the foreword

"A profound wake-up call."―Publishers Weekly

"Insightful and disturbing."―Library Journal

The first book to examine global Islamophobia from a legal and ground-up perspective, from renowned public intellectual Khaled A. Beydoun.

Islamophobia has spiraled into a global menace, and democratic and authoritarian regimes alike have deployed it as a strategy to persecute their Muslim populations. With this book, Khaled A. Beydoun details how the American War on Terror has facilitated and intensified the network of anti-Muslim campaigns unfolding across the world. The New Crusades is the first book of its kind, offering a critical and intimate examination of global Islamophobia and its manifestations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and regions beyond and in between.

Through trenchant analysis and direct testimony from Muslims on the ground, Beydoun interrogates how Islamophobia acts as a unifying global thread of state and social bigotry, instigating both liberal and right-wing hate-mongering. Whether imposed by way of hijab bans in France, state-sponsored hate speech and violence in India, or the network of concentration camps in China, Islamophobia unravels into distinct systems of demonization and oppression across the post-9/11 geopolitical landscape. Lucid and poignant, The New Crusades reveals that Islamophobia is not only a worldwide phenomenon—it stands as one of the world's last bastions of acceptable hate.