The landmark first-of-its-kind study says this effort has been almost entirely community funded with only minimal government involvement.

According to the report, this shows how much commitment and dedication the Muslim community has put into establishing Islam in this country.

However, the report also warns that mosques cannot survive just on the goodwill of volunteers and now need to professionalize and invest as much in human resources as they have done in physical resources.

Ayaan Institute director Jahangir Mohamed said: “Mosques have been central to Muslim life in Britain for over a century. Far more than places of worship, they serve as vital community institutions. They are also spaces for education, social support, charity and community mobilization…

The study analyses 1,799 registered charity mosques — representing 65.5% of the estimated 1,844 mosques across the UK — and offers critical insights into their role, structure, and challenges.

The research highlights the resilience of Britain’s Muslim community while identifying key areas for improvement to strengthen the mosque sector. One of the report’s most significant contributions is its dismantling of pervasive myths about mosques in Britain.

Far-right narratives and media portrayals have often suggested an exaggerated presence of mosques, fueling fears of a “takeover” of British society. The Ayaan Institute’s data paints a starkly different picture: mosques constitute just 4% of all places of worship in the UK, compared to 89.5% for churches. With Muslims making up 5.5% of the UK population, the report argues that mosques are, if anything, underrepresented relative to the community they serve.

Download the full report HERE.

Source: 5Pillars

A new report released on August 6 warned of an alarming surge in hate incidents across Canada since the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hate crimes spiking by as much as 1,800% in some regions.

The report, titled “Documenting the ‘Palestine Exception’” and authored by Nadia Hasan of York University’s Islamophobia Research Hub, outlines what it calls a “sharp and dangerous” rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism (APR) and anti-Arab racism (AAR) over the past 21 months.

“In the aftermath of Oct. 2023, Canada saw a rise in anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism that affects many areas of life and work for Canadians,” Hasan said during a news conference in Ottawa.

The report also calls on all levels of government in Canada to officially recognize May 15 as Nakba Day. Palestinians mark the day after Israel declared independence in 1948 as the beginning of the destruction of their homeland.

“Provincial governments should develop curriculum, train staff and educate students on Palestinian culture, identity and history, including the history of the Nakba,” the report said.

It also wants all levels of government to “recognize and adopt” a definition of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) “as a distinct and detrimental form of racism that operates at multiple levels of state and society.”

Nadia Hasan said recognizing both Nakba Day and an official definition for APR would set Canada apart from other countries.

“These are important things for Canada to take very seriously,” Hasan said. “I think it would be a first and an important step for Canada to lead on.”

Based on consultations with 16 Canadian organizations, public data and media reports, the report revealed that Toronto Police Services saw a 1,600% year-over-year increase in anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic hate crimes between Oct. 7 and Nov. 20, 2023.

According to Statistics Canada, a 94% spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes and a 52% rise in hate crimes against Arabs and West Asians were recorded in 2023.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) reported a 1,300% increase in Islamophobia cases in the month after Oct. 7, rising to 1,800% over the year.

The Muslim Legal Support Centre (MLSC) documented 474 human rights complaints between October 2023 and March 2024, including 345 cases of individuals who lost jobs or were placed on leave due to support for Palestine. The Legal Centre for Palestine reported a 600% increase in APR cases over eight months.

Noting that the report captures only a fraction of what communities are facing, Hasan said: “The information included in this report is based on interviews with these organizations, data that some of these organizations provided, publicly available data, as well as media reports from Oct. 2023 to Nov. 2024.”

Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, warned that the findings demand urgent action.

“We see it in the censorship and silencing of Canadians who defend Palestinian human rights with real consequences on their livelihoods and on their futures,” she said.

Stressing that such incidents continue to occur daily across Canada and urging that they be confronted, she said: “Old tropes that surged after 9/11 are back, amplified by the far right and others, and used again to dehumanize our communities, especially Palestinian-Muslim and Arab-Canadians.”

Download the full report HERE.

Source: Anadolu Agency

For years, the story of American Muslims has often been told as a community positioned, if not apart, then adjacent to the American religious story.

But data released by the Pew Research Centre this month turns that narrative inside out.

In the largest survey of its kind, Pew’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) offers a sweeping portrait of religious life in America — and reveals a surprising symmetry.

It finds that Muslim Americans are not just keeping the faith, they’re also leading in classrooms and lecture halls across the country.

Forty-four percent hold college degrees, with more than a quarter having postgraduate credentials, far ahead of both Christians and the unaffiliated. And yet, their spiritual lives remain vibrant, with young Muslims praying, gathering, and believing as deeply as generations before them.

Six in ten American Muslims say religion plays a significant role in their lives, the nationwide study found. Among the American Christians, the number is 55 percent.

Source: TRT Global

Released on June 9, the Pew report, titled The Global Religious Landscape, is the second major demographic analysis of its kind, following an earlier 2010 edition. Using over 2,700 data sources—including national censuses, demographic surveys, and population registers—the study examines religious affiliation, age distribution, fertility, and mortality rates across 201 countries, covering over 100,000 individuals.

According to Conrad Hackett, Pew’s senior demographer, the report aims to better understand the future of global religious populations by analyzing key demographic traits such as age, fertility, and education. “We look at the demographic characteristics of these groups because they directly affect future population sizes,” Hackett explained.

The report focuses on six major religious groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and the religiously unaffiliated. It also includes a category labeled “others,” which encompasses followers of folk religions, Wicca, Zoroastrianism, and other smaller faiths. One of the most striking findings is that the Muslim population grew by 347 million over the past decade—more than all other religions combined. This dramatic increase is primarily attributed to natural population growth, especially in regions with high fertility rates.

“Muslims are having more children than Muslims are dying,” said Hackett. Importantly, conversion or religious switching played only a minor role in the growth of Islam. Most Muslims are born into the faith and remain within it throughout their lives.

Muslims are heavily concentrated in regions with high population growth, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa, where they make up 33% and 94.2% of the population, respectively. The Asia-Pacific region, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, saw the most significant growth, with a 16.2% increase.

In contrast, while Christianity continues to be the world’s largest religion—accounting for 29% of the global population—its share has decreased from 31% in 2010. This decline is most evident in Europe and North America, where the Christian population shrank by 8.8% and 10.8%, respectively. In the United States, the proportion of Christians dropped from 78.3% to 64% during the decade. Several other Western nations, including France, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay, have also seen their Christian populations fall below 50%.

The decline of Christianity is due to several factors: low fertility rates, aging populations, and, most notably, increasing religious disaffiliation. In regions like Europe, Christianity now accounts for just 22.3% of the population. Conversely, sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates are much higher, is now home to one-third of the world’s Christians.

The number of religiously unaffiliated people—those who identify with no particular religion—has also surged. The “nones” are now the third-largest group worldwide, making up 24% of the global population. While they have lower fertility rates and an aging population, their growth is largely fueled by religious switching. The study found that for every one adult raised without religion who later adopts one, about 3.2 people leave their faith of origin, mostly Christianity.

“This trend is particularly strong in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, where people raised Christian are increasingly identifying as non-religious,” the report notes. In North America, for example, the nones grew by 13 percentage points, reaching 30.2% of the population. In Europe, they now make up 25.3% of the population. The Asia-Pacific region is home to the largest population of nones, and notably, 67% of them live in China

The Buddhist population has seen a decline of 19 million people—the only major religious group to shrink in absolute numbers. This decrease is linked to low fertility and religious disaffiliation, especially in East Asia. However, Pew notes that many who practice Buddhist rituals may not formally identify as Buddhist, complicating the measurement.

Hindus, the world’s fourth-largest religious group, represent 14.9% of the global population. The majority about 95%live in India. The Hindu population has seen strong growth in some regions, including a 62% increase in the Middle East-North Africa region, mainly due to migration. In North America, the Hindu population grew by 55%.

The Jewish population, though small in size, grew by about 6%, increasing from 14 million to 15 million between 2010 and 2020. Jews now make up 0.2% of the global population, with 45.9% living in Israel, the highest proportion in any single country. In the U.S., Jews make up about 2% of the population, a figure that includes both religious and cultural Jews

Migration is another important factor in changing religious demographics. In the Gulf countries (such as the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia), which host large numbers of foreign workers, migration has led to increases in the non-Muslim population, particularly among Christians and Hindus.

This comprehensive demographic study is part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation. The project seeks to understand how religion is evolving and shaping global societies through rigorous demographic studies, surveys, and analyses of religious restrictions and freedoms.

Ultimately, Pew’s latest research paints a complex picture of a changing global religious landscape—one where the Muslim population is growing rapidly, Christianity faces demographic and cultural challenges, and religious disaffiliation reshapes modern secular societies.

Source: Religion News Service (RNS)

Islamophobia in the United Kingdom has always been a looming threat for its vibrant Muslim community of approximately 4 million Brits, who make up 6% of the country’s population. However, incidents of Islamophobia in the UK have worsened to record levels over the last 14 years, due to the Israel-Gaza War between Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), according to Tell Mama UK, a monitoring group that records anti-Muslim incidents in the UK.

On February 7, 16 months after Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza—deemed by Amnesty International to potentially amount to war crimes and described by the UN’s top court as raising a plausible case of genocide—was still ongoing. This has raised concerns over the war’s impact on UK media, politics, and the rise in Islamophobia.

Attitudes toward minority groups like asylum seekers have also been combined with notions of Islamic doctrine being intrinsically linked to ‘radical Jihadism’ and violence. This has become a common narrative amongst white nationalist hate groups like the BNP and National Front, as well as the populist right-wing political party Reform UK. These efforts to legitimize Islamophobia serve to demonize and dehumanize British Muslims and even scapegoat Muslims over national issues like grooming and trafficking.

Reform UK is currently polling second in YouGov opinion polls, and critics argue that aspects of their rhetoric contribute to heightened tensions by disproportionately focusing on people of Pakistani descent in discussions about grooming gangs. This focus is especially troubling given that, according to ONS data, most perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are White British.

The 2024 riots and the rise in far-right rhetoric reveal that Islamophobia in the UK is no longer just a lingering prejudice—it is becoming a crisis of British democratic values. When a third of the public expresses sympathy with far-right unrest, and political parties that weaponize anti-Muslim sentiment surge in popularity, the message to British Muslims is unmistakable: they are being made to feel like outsiders in their own country.

Source: LSU Media

Almost 6,000 reports to Tell Mama were confirmed by the organization as anti-Muslim incidents, more than double the number two years ago, with men targeted more than women for the first time since the body was founded in 2012.

In its report, the organization said there had been a “surge in rhetoric that falsely portrays Muslims as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers” following the Israel-Gaza conflict and Southport murders.

A government spokesperson called the findings “extremely concerning” and said it would “seek to stamp out anti-Muslim hatred and racism wherever it occurs.”

A total of 6,313 cases of anti-Muslim hate were recorded by Tell Mama in 2024, a 43% increase from the previous year — with 5,837 of the reports verified by the group.

The organization, which describes itself as the leading agency monitoring anti-Muslim hate crime, said it had documented a steep rise in offline incidents, with 3,680 cases reported — a 72% increase from two years ago.

The majority of the in-person cases were abusive behavior, with Tell Mama also recording incidents of physical assault, discrimination, and vandalism. Most of the attacks took place in public areas such as streets and parks, with a minority occurring in the workplace.

For the first time since Tell Mama’s inception in 2012, more men than women were targeted by anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia, the organization said.

Tell Mama said that shift reflected “the deepening impact of harmful stereotypes that fuel societal divisions and reinforce false notions about Muslim identities.”

Anti-Muslim attacks surged in the UK following both the Southport murders last July and the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict in October 2023.

According to the report, more than half of the online incidents of Islamophobia last year took place after three girls were murdered at a dance class in Southport. The majority of these occurred on the social media platform X — formerly known as Twitter.

Following the murders, misinformation about the assailant’s identity proliferated online, fueling civil unrest that spread across the UK.

Axel Rudakubana, an 18-year-old born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents who had settled in Britain, is serving a minimum 52-year sentence for the murders.

Tell Mama said that there had been a “surge in rhetoric that falsely portrays Muslims as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers” since both the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the 2024 riots sparked by the Southport murders.

Iman Atta, the group’s director, called for coordinated action by the government and said: “As anti-Muslim hate continues to be felt by a greater number of British Muslims, both at a street and online level, our work and support for victims of anti-Muslim hate is needed now more than ever.”

The public must “stand together against hatred and extremism,” she said, and urged those in positions of influence to “consider how their language risks stereotyping communities and how it unduly influences discussions online and offline.”

In response to the findings, the government said that “attacks on and hatred against Muslim communities are completely unacceptable and have no place in our society.”

A spokesperson added: “We are absolutely determined to bridge divisions between communities and are working closely with community groups, charities, and public sector partners to tackle hatred in all its forms.”

Source: BBC

More than four in 10 British Muslim charities have had their banking services withdrawn, a new report from the Muslim Charities Forum (MCF) has revealed.

The report (The Landscape of Debanking Within Muslim Charities and Its Impact On Charitable Activities), released earlier this week, found that Muslim charities “are experiencing disproportionate financial exclusion, often linked to counter-terrorism and risk frameworks”.

It added that 68 percent of Muslim charities surveyed reported difficulties opening bank accounts, while 42 percent have experienced a “complete withdrawal of banking services”.

Four in 10 also reported challenges with transferring funds that delayed their ability to make payments.

One charity operating a hospital was unable to pay doctors and nurses for two months.

Another, operating in the Middle East, said delays in sending funds meant “local vendors would come to our field offices demanding payment at gunpoint, putting the lives of our workers at risk”.

Muslims donate more than any other faith group in Britain, the report found.

But Muslim charities disproportionately fall victim to so-called “de-risking” and “de-banking”, having funds frozen or banking services closed.

Structural Islamophobia

“For over two decades, Muslim-led charities have struggled with de-risking,” Abdulsami Arjumand, MCF’s policy and advocacy lead, told Middle East Eye. “Yet despite the critical nature of his issue, it has not received the attention it deserves.”

He added: “We urgently need fairer and more transparent banking practices, stronger protections for charities and their resources, and greater accountability from financial institutions to ensure charities are not unfairly penalized.”

Charities are forced to defend themselves without being told why their transactions were blocked or accounts closed.

The report says that “structural Islamophobia” leads to Muslim charities being unfairly targeted by banks without any evidence of wrongdoing, and recommends that bank staff undergo anti-racism training.

Over the past decade there have been many reported cases of Muslim-led charities being targeted.

In 2019 Middle East Eye revealed that the World Uyghur Congress, which raises awareness about the terrible plight of Chinese Muslims, was having bank transfers blocked after being blacklisted on the basis of Chinese disinformation that it was a terror group.

In another case the Finsbury Park Mosque in London was stripped of its account after being falsely listed as a terrorist organization.

The new report comes after prominent politician Nigel Farage had his bank accounts closed without explanation in June 2023, the most widely publicized case.

Farage said at the time that without a bank account, “I won’t be able to exist or function”.

Source: Middle East Eye

The Charity Commission, the regulator of charities in England and Wales, issued the “official warning” after finding the trustees of Jewish charity, the Chabad Lubavitch Centre, had acted “outside the charity’s purposes” and “failed to safeguard its best interests and its reputation.”

The charity was found to have set up a fundraiser page in October 2023 to raise funds for a soldier of the IDF stationed in northern Israel.

The page, which was eventually removed in January 2024 following complaints by pro-Palestine activists, still managed to raise around £2,280. Of those monies, £937 was sent directly to an individual soldier.

According to the Charity Commission, the Chabad trustees were unable to account for how those funds were spent. The remaining funds were spent on “non-lethal military equipment” purchased by the trustees and sent to the same soldier in Israel.

The Director for Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission, Helen Earner, said: “It is not lawful, or acceptable, for a charity to raise funds to support a soldier of a foreign military. Our official warning requires the charity to set things right and is a clear message to other charities to stay true to their established purposes.”

In UK law, charities with appropriate purposes can raise funds to promote the efficiency of the UK armed forces. However, providing aid or military supplies to any foreign armed force is not a charitable purpose, and no charity can legally undertake such activity.

The Charity Commission listed the charity’s actual purposes as “to advance the orthodox Jewish religion, advance orthodox Jewish education, and to relieve poverty and sickness.”

The official warning imposes a number of requirements on the charity’s trustees to remedy the misconduct and/or mismanagement. Any failure by the charity to implement the requirements in the official warning may lead to further regulatory action.

In a statement, the Redbridge Palestine Solidarity Network (RPSN), a group made up of local residents who lobbied the authorities to act on this issue, welcomed the formal warning but admitted concerns still remain over the center.

“We welcome the formal warning issued to Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex for their unacceptable fundraising activities. However, we believe tougher action is necessary, as supporting efforts tied to an ongoing genocide is deeply troubling.

It is alarming they acted so openly, and despite raising concerns with local leaders like Jas Athwal and Wes Streeting, our warnings were not adequately addressed.”

Other Examples

This is not the first Jewish charity that has fundraised for the IDF.

Earlier in 2024, Middle East Eye reported that the Charity Commission had been urged to investigate the UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UK-AWIS), which was also asking for donations to support forces taking part in Operation Swords of Iron.

In a post on its Facebook page on November 17, UK-AWIS said: “Each generous donation allows us to better provide essentials for our frontline soldiers in Operation Swords of Iron.”

Since then, the website and social media content belonging to the British charity under scrutiny over its fundraising activities is “no longer accessible online.”

The number of people killed in Gaza is significantly higher than the figure reported by Gaza’s authorities, a peer-reviewed study by researchers from a leading health research university in the UK has found.

According to findings announced by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and published in The Lancet journal, there were an estimated 64,260 “traumatic injury deaths” in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza put the figure at 37,877 at the time.

This means the ministry has under-reported the death toll due to violence by approximately 41%, the researchers found.

As of October, the number of Gazans killed by violence was thought to exceed 70,000, the study said, based on the estimated underreporting rate.

The IDF has been widely accused of committing war crimes, and even genocide, by human rights organizations.

Israel says it must wipe out Hamas which poses an existential threat to the Jewish state.

Source: 5Pillars

There are over 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, making up 24% of the global population. Islam is the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity, which has 2.3 billion followers. Muslims are spread across almost every part of the world, and as many as 29% of Muslims live outside their home countries, with around 300 million living in non-Muslim nations, including India, according to a report.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, approximately 29% of Muslims reside outside their country of birth, with Muslim migration reflecting a global trend observed over the past three decades. The number of international migrants has increased by 83% in the last 30 years, far exceeding global population growth, which is estimated at around 47%.

The report states that 39.9 million Muslims lived outside their home countries in 1990, a number that has surged to 80.4 million by 2020. Saudi Arabia is the top destination for Muslim migrants, accounting for 13% of Muslim migrations, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 8%, and Turkey at 7%.

Other popular destinations for Muslim migrants include the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), Germany, and France, according to the report. The Pew Research Center study also found that Syria (10%), India (8%), and Afghanistan (7%) are the three major countries from which Muslims migrate to other nations.

The study also revealed a breakdown of the global Muslim population, consisting of 80-90% Sunni Muslims and 10-13% Shia Muslims, with Pakistan, India, Iraq, and Iran having significant Shia populations.

Notably, in contrast to Muslims, only 5% of Hindus migrate to other countries, while Christians are the top migrants in the world, with 72.7 million Christians migrating abroad in 1990, a figure that rose to 130.9 million by 2020. According to the report, the United States (27%), Germany (6%), and Russia (6%) are the top three destinations for Christian migrants.

Islam Poised to Become World’s Largest Religion

Meanwhile, a recent Pew Research Center report has revealed that the global Muslim population is expected to grow by up to 70% in the next 35 years and will surpass the 3 billion mark by the year 2060, making Islam the largest religion in the world, surpassing Christianity.

According to the Pew Research report on the world’s fastest-growing religions, Christianity is currently the world’s largest religion, accounting for 31% of the world’s 7.3 billion population, followed by Islam in second place and Hinduism in third.

Source: India.Com

The “European Islamophobia Report 2023”, which examined anti-Muslim sentiment in 28 European countries, revealed that Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza have contributed to a significant rise in Islamophobia across Western Europe.

Edited by Enes Bayrakli of the Turkish-German University in Istanbul and Farid Hafez of William & Mary University in the U.S., the report highlights how the Gaza conflict intensified Islamophobic rhetoric. It notes that pro-Palestinian solidarity has increasingly been framed as extremism, prompting protest bans and restrictive measures in countries such as Germany, France, and Denmark.

“No other political development has shaped the life of Muslims in 2023 as much as the war in Palestine,” the report said. “With the rising voices against the genocide in Gaza also coming from Muslims in European countries, the political response by various governments has put Muslims into an even more securitized position.”

Key highlights of the 2023 report include:

• Neglect of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia: Apart from Spain, no European government recognized this UN-designated day in 2023.
• Mainstream and far-right media, along with social media platforms, amplified anti-Muslim narratives, dehumanising Muslims and fostering disinformation.
• Hate crimes against Muslims increased significantly, especially in Norway, Spain and Greece.
• Legal and educational systems perpetuated biases against Muslims, with France and Denmark enforcing controversial policies targeting Muslim communities.

The report also focused on Islamophobia in several European countries:

United Kingdom

Aristotle Kallis, a professor at Keele University, UK, said that the UK witnessed a significant increase in Islamophobia in 2023, with a 600% surge in reported cases following the Hamas attack on Israel in October.

Mainstream Islamophobia saw a surge with the government’s anti-radicalization program, Prevent, continuing to focus disproportionately on “Islamist extremism” despite evidence of more significant threats from far-right ideologies.

Muslims faced workplace discrimination, underrepresentation, and hostility. In education, there were issues with teacher recruitment, student discrimination, and the influence of Prevent on Muslim students. The justice system showed biases with higher Muslim incarceration rates.

Media portrayal often vilified Muslims, contributing to Islamophobia. The internet, especially post-conflict, saw a surge in anti-Muslim content, with platforms like X (formerly Twitter) under scrutiny for poor moderation.

Suella Braverman’s role as Home Secretary in 2023 is highlighted for promoting anti-Muslim sentiments through policy and rhetoric.

France

The report noted that in France, President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-Israel statements following the attacks in Gaza by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, have exacerbated institutional racism against Muslims.

Kawtar Najib, who authored the France section of the report, pointed out that the government’s ban on headscarves in schools has led to significant concern for Muslim students and their families. The move has been viewed as a sign of the institutionalization of anti-Muslim sentiment in France.

Najib referenced the police killing of Nahel Merzouk, 17, in June 2023, and the subsequent lack of an immediate arrest of the officer involved, which fueled protests and fears for the Muslim community.

Germany

Fabian Goldmann, a journalist focused on improving media coverage of Islam and immigration, said that the war in Israel and Palestine marked a significant escalation in violence, discrimination, and hostility towards Muslims in Germany in 2023, reaching unprecedented levels in recent history.

Police records showed a 140% increase in Islamophobic crimes, totaling 1,464 incidents, the highest since records began. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency noted a record 10,772 consultation requests.

Migration policies became more restrictive, mirroring demands previously associated with far-right politics, with the AfD gaining significant support in polls.

German media coverage of Islam was predominantly negative, focusing on themes of violence, crime, and cultural clash. Notable outlets like Bild and Die Welt were highlighted for their role in shaping anti-Muslim discourse.

The AfD remained a key producer of Islamophobia, with individuals like Ahmad Mansour and Susanne Schröter influencing public discourse.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, researcher Nadia Lahdili found that increasing anti-immigrant sentiment has directly contributed to rising Islamophobia.

There were 1,058 Islamophobic incidents reported in 2023, including 876 involving racial discrimination and 62 instances of anti-Muslim attacks.

Lahdili noted that Muslim women, particularly those wearing headscarves, face significant discrimination in the workplace, where they are often blocked from career advancement.

The report also discussed the political exploitation of Islamic dress by politicians during election campaigns, which has contributed to increasing institutional Islamophobia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hikmet Karcic from Sarajevo University highlighted the rise of radical anti-Muslim rhetoric in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly by Serbian nationalists.

It has led to tensions that mirror the situation in France and Switzerland, with hostile language used to weaken the multicultural fabric of Sarajevo.

The report noted that the closure of several mosques and the construction of hotels on land intended for mosques are part of efforts to erase the country’s cultural heritage and foster anti-Muslim sentiment.

Austria

Farid Hafez drew attention to Austria, where the United Arab Emirates has been implicated in funding anti-Muslim groups.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric surged after the outbreak of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and schools in Austria held workshops against radicalization, which, in some cases, propagated Islamophobic sentiments.

The report also highlighted how protests against the Gaza violence were suppressed by police, with Austria voting against a UN General Assembly resolution that urged a cease-fire.

To address these challenges, EIR 2023 calls for:

• Full recognition of Islamophobia as a systemic issue by European governments.
• Strengthened legal frameworks to combat discrimination and hate crimes.
• Increased efforts by civil society and international organizations to promote inclusivity and counter anti-Muslim narratives.
• Enhanced monitoring and accountability for media and social media platforms to prevent the spread of hate speech and disinformation.

Source: 5Pillars