Scandinavia is witness to another serious attack on the Muslims' places of worship and gathering. Thursday the 25/12/2014, a mosque in Eskilstuna, Sweden was exposed to an arson attack, in the middle of the day. A window was broken by a thrown object, and a fire developed quickly. Five had to be transferred to the hospital, and Swedish police are investigating the case as "gross arson". The following day, a nearby mosque was the subject of vandalism, which brings us to a total of 12 attacks in 2014. It is still too early to say who is behind the violent arson attack, but several sources point towards it being fueled by racist and Islamophobic motives.
Regardless of the motives, the reactions regarding the attack have revealed a deep hatred towards Islam and Muslims among quite a few people in Scandinavia. In both Danish and Swedish papers, you could read comments on the social media, which encourage burning more mosques and even killing Muslims.

This is not new in Scandinavia, where there has been a leaning towards the right for a long time. In Denmark most election campaigns are about who can be harshest in their rhetoric towards Muslims, and according to opinion polls, the most hostile party of them is about to becoming the second largest in Denmark in the upcoming elections. In Sweden, who normally tries to portray themselves as tolerant, the xenophobic party "Sverigedemokraterne" became the third largest party in the latest elections, after a progress by over 100% since the election in 2010.

The development is not unique for Scandinavia, but is unfortunately in line with the general European development of mass hysteria and irrational hatred towards Islam and Muslims. We have seen similar attacks in Holland and lately we have seen large demonstrations in Germany, where thousands of people gathered to show their hatred to Islam, and the same tendency can be seen all over Europe.

Such an irrational and deep hatred does not come by itself, but has for a long time been driven by politicians and media, who exploit every chance to attack Islam and Muslims. They talk about terror and tightening the laws, while at the same time manipulating and creating panic portrayals, which leads to divided societies dominated by verbal and physical aggressions against the Muslim population. However even when these politically motivated aggressions lead to loss of life, or are direct murder attempts, they are "strangely enough" not characterized as terror.

In this connection, we have two general calls.

The first goes to our Muslim brothers and sisters: Hold fast to your Islam. Islam is perfect and does not need to be adapted. This sad development is a desperate attempt to suppress you through pressure and violence, by people who can no longer argue for their beliefs. Be proud and present Islam as it is, with a good tone, then you can dismantle many presumptions and misunderstandings.

The second goes to our non-Muslim neighbors, work colleagues and schoolmates: Do not let the politicized, manipulated and hateful portrayal be the basis for your understanding of Islam. Put prejudgments aside and talk to a Muslim. Islam has no problem with intellectual challenges, and everything can be discussed, as long as the discussion is factual and the tone is sober.

Junes Kock
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Scandinavia