Well, we don't know who *you* see being critical of Islam. We cannot quiz them, or otherwise dig into their positions. Moreover, your personal acquaintances are unlikely to be a representative sample. Which makes this anecdote, not data.
Nicely done, very rhetorical, but completely beside the point. You can't just wave the anecdote wand and disappear the argument. You're implying that the reverse is true (otherwise, I fail to discern the intent of your rebuttal -- I may just be slow, though) but you haven't done any work to show that it is. When I say 'criticism I see' I'm speaking of what's in the media, not my personal acquaintances. There's always a reason for distrust of Muslims given, and while I might disagree with that reason, or that reason may be entirely false, having a reason moves you into the realm of the rational and out of the realm of the irrational. It might mean you're a jerk, a bigot, uneducated, stupid, mean, wrong, or any number of other pejoratives, but having a reason means you're not in the grip of an irrational fear.
Islamophobic is a pejorative meant to shut down discussion under the guise of accusing someone of being irrational. Why are you choosing to defend it's use?
But, let us be frank - it isn't like Christianity and the dogmas of its various branches are somehow perfect, beyond reproach. Are the folks "criticizing" Islam giving a similar critical eye to Christianity? Probably not. Broadly, the ones critical of Islam often (usually?) claim to be pretty devout Christians themselves, very happy with the tenets and practices of their religion. That's an indication of cognitive bias, rather than rationality. Christianity, even if you don't agree with it, is the known and familiar to those in the Americas and Europe. Most are not actually terribly well acquainted with Islam, and people fear what they do not understand.
I think that someone giving a critical eye to mainstream Christianity vs mainstream Islam with an eye towards modern, liberal sensibilities wouldn't find Christianity above reproach, but would find it far more friendly than Islam. But I don't understand why this needs to be a contest of religions. There's nothing in Christianity that affect Islam, and vice versa, at least that I can see.
I've read large parts of the Koran. Islam has many lovely bits. But it has very large blocks that are generally incompatible with modern, liberal ideologies (I'm using liberal in the classic sense, here, as opposed to how it's used in US politics). The injunctions against apostates and blasphemy alone are strongly at odds. These and the treatment of women under Sharia law are the most often cited reasons for dislike, distrust, or fear of Muslims. That's not irrational, even if you disagree with it (which is perfectly valid).
To sum up, one doesn't need to be perfectly even handed and fair in the critique of all like things to have a valid reason to critique one thing. Not critiquing other things doesn't reduce the validity of the singular critique. It might make someone a hypocrite, but it doesn't alter the validity of their point (except that we generally don't like hypocrites).
For the record, I'm agnostic. I don't have a dog in the fight as far as a driving need to defend or devalue any particular religion.