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ISPU provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well- informed dialogue and decision-making.
Countering and Dismantling Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Discrimination
Effectively Address Islamophobia in your Field
Our comprehensive guide for individuals and organizations has a dual purpose. First, to deepen an understanding of what Islamophobia actually is and how it operates. Second, to provide practical, field-specific strategies that people across sectors can use to dismantle it within their own spheres of influence.
Islamophobia Spikes in 2026 Election Cycle
Research shows that Islamophobia intensifies during election seasons, when anti-Muslim rhetoric is deliberately used as a tool to advance specific policies or candidates. And, Saher Selod writes in ISPU’s Substack, as current political rhetoric targeting Muslims increases with campaigning for the midterm elections, Republicans in states like Texas and Oklahoma are in active attack mode against their Muslims constituents. Photo of Ken Paxton by Gage Skidmore
Abdul El-Sayed’s nomination sits at the intersection of two important trends the data bear out: American Muslims are becoming more visible, organized, and engaged in American political life, even as public endorsement of anti-Muslim stereotypes is rising. In a new Substack, Tuqa Nusairat writes about the escalating anti-Muslim rhetoric after El-Sayed’s primary win in Michigan—and how Muslims may respond.
American Muslim Poll 2025
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Our strategy of equipping leaders multiplies our impact as the data lives on in the work of those who catalyze change.
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to inform stories about Muslim communities in the United States.
Our Impact
I remember the first time I learned ISPU’s facts and data about American Muslims and anti-Muslim discrimination, and the impact it had on my own understanding of the ways that anti-Muslim bigotry shows up in our country. It completely shifted my paradigm of what it means to love my Muslim neighbors from one of charity to mutual solidarity. It helped me to see the role that I have to play from where I’m situated, understanding that my own sense of freedom and dignity is tied to that of my Muslim neighbors.
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Misinformation & Bias
Addressing misconceptions and providing factual data about American Muslim communities.
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Understanding and articulating the diverse needs of American Muslim families.
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COUNTERING AND DISMANTLING ISLAMOPHOBIA
ISPU Scholars
Altaf Husain serves as an Associate Professor and chair of the Community, Administration and Policy Practice concentration in the Howard University School of Social Work, in Washington DC.
Abdulkader Sinno is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He received his PhD from UCLA in 2002, was a CISAC
Amal Killawi is a clinical social worker, researcher, and community educator. She serves as a research fellow with the Family & Youth Institute and scholar with the Institute
Muniba Saleem, PhD, is an Associate Professor in media psychology at the University of California Santa Barbara’s Department of Communication, and a Faculty Associate at the Institute for
Dr. Sana Malik is an Assistant Professor at the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare and an expert in disparities research. She has served as a consultant
Dr. Karam Dana joined ISPU in December 2011 as a Fellow. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington Bothell, where he is the principal investigator
Ihsan Bagby is an associate professor in the department of Islamic Studies at the University of Kentucky whose research focuses on Muslims in America. In 2001, he published
Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the critically acclaimed How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America (Penguin), which won an American
Hamada Hamid Altalib is a Senior Fellow and former Director for the Center for Global Health at ISPU. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Departments of
Rebecca Karam is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. She received her BA in sociology from University of Michigan-Dearborn. Rebecca
Nancy A. Khalil completed her PhD in Anthropology at Harvard University and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale’s Center on Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration. Her research
Laila Alawa is the Founder and CEO of The Tempest, the global tech and media company changing the narrative of diverse millennial women in the world. Previously, Laila
Faiqa Mahmood is a researcher at the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), whose efforts have been instrumental on the Reimagining Muslim Spaces (RMS) study. Ms. Mahmood
Rania Awaad, MD, is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine where she is the chief of the Diversity Section, director of
Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, global media commentator and author of the book SCAPEGOATS: How Islamophobia Helps Our Enemies & Threatens Our Freedoms which President
Dr. Ayaz Hyder is an Associate Professor in the College of Public Health and Core Faculty in the Translational Data Analytics Institute at The Ohio State University. Dr.
What Can You Do?
What Can You Do?
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ISPU enables changemakers across sectors with effective, implementable resources
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Conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in partnership with Stanford’s Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab, this qualitative study
