The racist attack outside Stockholm’s Grand Mosque on Sunday has renewed concerns about rising Islamophobia across the West, highlighting a pattern of Quran desecration incidents and the broader political climate that has enabled them, writes 5Pillars Arab correspondent Kamal Al Shami:
A serious racist incident took place on Sunday afternoon in the vicinity of Stockholm Grand Mosque. A copy of the Holy Quran was found chained to the railing leading up to the mosque, bearing clear traces of six bullet holes.
The Quran also had a sticker attached reading a sinister threatening message: “Thank you for the visit, but now it’s time to go home.”
Written in both Arabic and Swedish, the criminal behind the offensive act clearly wanted everyone to know his intention. He wanted it to be obvious. The discovery shocked worshippers and local residents, especially given that the community has been targeted before by far-right racists and Islamophobes.
Mosque representatives described the incident as a direct attack on religious freedom and personal safety. In a statement, the mosque’s management confirmed that “a copy of the Quran bearing six bullet holes was chained to the railings of the stairs near the mosque.
“This incident comes at a time when anti-Muslim provocations and hate crimes have been on the rise in Sweden, alongside an increasingly racist and polarized social climate,” said Mahmoud Al-Khalafi, Director of the Centre.
“These developments raise serious concerns about the safety of religious communities and the respect for freedom of religion.”
Swedish police have treated the act as a hate crime, while Muslim organisations have called for stronger protections and clearer political condemnation.
The attack does not stand in isolation. Over the past several years, Sweden has repeatedly become a stage for high profile acts of Quran desecration, often carried out under the protection of free speech laws. These actions have drawn international outrage and placed Muslim communities under increased pressure at home.
In 2022, far right provocations led by Danish Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan led to violent unrest in numerous cities, demonstrating how symbolic attacks can escalate into broader social conflict.
Sweden has also hosted well known Islamophobic personalities whose actions and rhetoric have normalized hostility toward Muslims.
Rasmus Paludan, founder of the Danish anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, repeatedly burned copies of the Quran during demonstrations. A Swedish court later sentenced him to four months in jail for two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group,” stating that his remarks against Muslims “cannot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.” His protests triggered riots and were widely seen as emboldening extremist sentiment.
Another case involved Salwan Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, who carried out a series of anti Islam protests in 2023, including burning the Quran outside Stockholm Central Mosque. These acts sparked unrest in several Muslim majority countries and led to diplomatic tensions, including protests at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.
Momika was later shot dead in a flat in Södertälje near Stockholm, according to Swedish prosecutors. Swedish police had given permission for the demonstrations in accordance with free speech laws, a decision that remains deeply controversial.
Across Scandinavia, Islamophobia has been rising alongside the electoral success of right wing parties and tougher rhetoric on immigration and national identity. A trend which is also occurring across much of Europe. Far-right forces, once targeted Jews as a scapegoat for the continents political woes. Now, clearly, it is the Muslims who are to blame.
Europe is not the only hotbed for anti-Islam protests. America has seen an alarming increase in Quran desecrations and attacks on the Muslim community.
Jake Lang, a Republican candidate for the US Senate, attempted to burn a copy of the Quran during an anti-Islam march in the Muslim-American hub of Dearborn, Michigan, back in November but failed to carry out the hateful act after local Muslims seized his copy.
Lang had what appears to be a canister of lighter fluid in his hand as he threw Islam’s holy book to the ground during the rally, prompting a counter-protester to reach down and grab it before it was set alight.
Out of spite, Lang then travelled to Texas, to engage in a similar anti-Islam protests where he filmed himself desecrating the Quran with a pigs head outside the EPIC mosque in Plano, Texas on 13 December.
Lang, a self-described Christian nationalist, is part of a rising number of extreme pro-Israel activists who obsessively push deeply hateful Islamophobic messages and warn of the “threat of Islam” and an Islamic invasion of the West.
The Quran is beloved by all Muslims and far-right activists target it for that reason, however, one common denominator that connects all these hate preachers is not just their hate of Islam – it is their love of Israel and likely support from pro-Israel actors that links them.
People are starting to wake up to this fact but not nearly fast enough. Instead, hatred and harassment of Muslims is growing alarmingly fast and the dangers to Muslim safety feel very real. That days of Muslims being harmed or even killed in the Middle East only are over. Now no matter where Muslims live, there is a very real possibility of attack.
Muslims in the West must remain vigilant. As the famous saying goes: “First they burn the book, then they burn the man.”
Source: 5pillarsuk.com
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