Attempted arson on a mosque in Bochum that had been marked with a swastika, the door of a Muslim family in Saxony shot at by a right-wing extremist neighbor, a woman pushed onto train tracks in Berlin after being asked if she belonged to Hamas.

These are some of the record 1,926 anti-Muslim incidents registered in Germany last year (2023) by the Competence Network Islam- and Muslim-phobia (CLAIM), a network of NGOs monitoring Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. That marked a 114% rise on 2023, with incidents shooting up in particular after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel from Gaza.

Yet authorities are paying insufficient attention to this phenomenon, and even denying its existence, as mainstream parties take over policies of far-rht, anti-Islam parties that have surged in popularity, Rima Hanano told a Berlin news conference on June 24, to present the report.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), which states in its program that Islam does not belong to Germany, has jumped to second place in polls over the past year, prompting mainstream parties to talk tougher on migration.

“The streets, buses or mosques are no longer safe places for people who are Muslim or perceived as such,” said Hanano. “Anti-Muslim racism was never as socially acceptable as today and it comes from the middle of society.”

The incidents recorded, likely only a fraction of the total given a fear of coming forward and a lack of monitoring institutions, included 90 attacks on Islamic religious sites, cemeteries and other institutions, CLAIM wrote.

Most attacks on individuals consisted of verbal abuse and were aimed at women. There were also four attempted murders.

The Muslim population in Germany has been growing rapidly, especially since an influx of migrants in 2015-16, tallying 5.5 million in total or 6.6% of the overall population.

Islamophobic Incidents Soar

The CLAIM report tallies with a 140% increase in Islamophobic crimes last year recorded by the interior ministry, and a survey showing one in two Germans hold Islamophobic views.

Antisemitism also rose following Israel’s devastating military incursion into the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas-led Palestinian Islamist militants, according to the German government and NGOs.

In a country that is particularly sensitive about antisemitism due its responsibility for the Holocaust, German authorities have been more vocal denouncing that problem than anti-Muslim incidents.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck, in an emotive video, accused some Muslim community groups in Germany of being “too hesitant” in distancing themselves from Hamas or anti-Jewish hatred.

The government last year published its first ever independent report on Islamophobia by experts it commissioned, with a series of recommendations for tackling discrimination.

Family Minister Lisa Paus has said the recent rise in both anti-Muslim and antisemitic incidents was “dramatic” and the government was trying to do prevention work from an early age by funding civil society projects working on the issue.

CLAIM’s Hanano said, however, that insufficient action had been taken so far.

“Despite the fact … that we have been warning about this situation for years, it is still barely acknowledged,” she said. “What we really need is the political will to truly fight anti-Muslim racism.”

The Competence Network Islam- and Muslim-phobia (CLAIM) was founded as a network in Germany in October 2017. It aims to bundle and improve expertise on the topic of Islam- and Muslim-phobia/anti-Muslim racism and make it available to the fields of education, politics, administration, and civil society. Its goal is to reduce anti-Muslim racism in society.

Download CLAIM Report HERE (in German).

Source: Reuters

Research Goals

Commissioned by the German Islam Conference (Deutsche Islam Konferenz, DIK), the central forum of the federal government for dialogue with Muslims, “Muslim Life in Germany 2020” pursues several goals.

It allows scientists to gain access to reliable information about the everyday religious practice of Muslims and generate insights into aspects of integration, and the survey also facilitates the extrapolation of the number of Muslim faith members and analyses social structures.

The report will highlight similarities and differences between Muslims and members of other faith groups from the same countries of origin and German people without a migration background. A comparison with the 2008 results will illustrate the changes in Germany’s Muslim population in the past decade.

Diversity of Muslim Countries of Origin

The project team interviewed immigrants from various Muslim regions of origin and their descendants born in Germany. Around 4,600 men and women from Turkey, Southeast Europe, North Africa, and the Near and Middle East participated. About 600 German citizens without a migration background also answered to the interviewers as a comparison group. In contrast to the previous studies in 2008 and 2016 carried out by telephone, this time, computer-aided face-to-face interviews delivered the quantitative data.

In a multi-stage process, the researchers drew the samples nationwide from various residents’ registration offices and applied the onomastic method to track down people potentially belonging to the target group. If a preliminary interview confirmed the affiliation assumption, the person would be asked more questions.

Outcome: Focus on Muslim Welfare

Following previous research results and among other initiatives, the German Islam Conference has been dedicated to the topic of pastoral care in public institutions such as military pastoral care, hospital pastoral care, and prison pastoral care.

A series of working committee meetings and a specialist conference held in November 2016 clarified the course of action and resulted in the foundation of the Islamic Center of Excellence for Welfare (IKW). IKW is a not-for-profit association servicing Muslim welfare organizations and is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

More information on: Federal Office for Migration and Refugees