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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Bihar who removed the veil of a woman at a graduation ceremony, is facing widespread condemnation across the country, meanwhile in Belgium, the Ghent Mosques Association (VGM) announced that it will appeal to Belgium’s Council of State to seek the annulment of the reinstated headscarf ban in provincial education in East Flanders, and in the United Kingdom, to combat the spread of Islamophobia in Britain, a father and his young son have been baking cupcakes and delivering them to regional mosques in a project founder Dan Harris has called the “Cake not Hate” campaign. Our recommended read of the day is by Omar Suleiman for Religion News Service on how the far-right response to a Muslim man’s heroism in the Bondi Beach attack shows how Islamophobia depends on distortion and dehumanization. This and more below:
United States
When Muslims save lives, the Islamophobia machine looks the other way | Recommended Read
On Sunday (Dec. 14) in Sydney, when gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, it was Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old Syrian-born Muslim and Australian immigrant, who ran toward danger. He tackled and disarmed one of the attackers, likely saving countless lives, and was lauded by Australian leaders and global onlookers as a hero. Almost immediately, parts of the far-right internet went to work erasing that reality. Influencers and commentators fond of Islamophobic narratives began insisting, without evidence, that Ahmed must be a Christian. Laura Loomer, one of MAGA’s boundary guardians, wrote on X: “Credible reports suggest the man is actually a Lebanese or Coptic Christian. Don’t fall for the propaganda.” These influencers could not tolerate the simple fact that a Muslim man risked his life to protect Jewish lives. It was too inconvenient for their worldview. On the same day, two students were shot at Brown University. As speculation swirled online, some voices expressed open hope that the shooter would turn out to be Muslim. They needed the tragedy to fit their narrative; proving that he was shouting “Allahu Akbar” would allow them to spin it their way. Yet Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, one of the two students who were killed, was a Muslim himself. The fact received little attention from those who had been so eager to assign blame. This is the dangerous core of Islamophobia today: The prejudice is so entrenched that reality must bend around it. Heroes must be stripped of their Muslim identity. Victims must be reframed as perpetrators. Truth becomes secondary to usefulness. read the complete article
India
Uproar in India over Bihar chief minister pulling down Muslim woman’s hijab
A video showing a top minister pulling down the hijab of a Muslim woman during a government event has caused widespread outrage and condemnation across India. Nitish Kumar, chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar, was seen removing the veil of the woman when she was being handed an appointment letter as doctor of alternative medicine at a ceremony in the capital Patna on Monday. Kumar, 74, has been Bihar’s chief minister for most of the past two decades. He is a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP and its allies have long campaigned against the use of hijab by Muslim women. In 2022, the then-BJP government in the southern state of Karnataka banned hijab in classrooms, triggering a huge protest by the Muslim community. Later that year, a two-judge Supreme Court bench delivered a split verdict in the case, which meant the debate and politics over hijab continued in the country of 200 million Muslims. Several Hindu groups have demanded a nationwide ban on hijab. Nearly 18 percent of Bihar’s 127 million residents are Muslim. read the complete article
From film festivals to campuses: How India is silencing pro-Palestine voices
An international film festival has become the latest battleground in what critics describe as a systematic effort by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to suppress solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting denied permission for the screening of 19 films scheduled at the ongoing International Film Festival of Kerala, including several acclaimed movies on Palestine, including Palestine 36, co-produced by TRT, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, and All That’s Left of You. Authorities in the southwestern province of Kerala, however, defied the decision of the central government and have decided to proceed with screenings. The central government did not cite any reason for its attempt to stop the screening of the films exploring Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. Achin Vanaik, author and political analyst based in New Delhi, tells TRT World that the denial reflects the “systematic and behind-the-scenes determination” of Modi’s BJP party to suppress public expressions of support for Palestine. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Cake not hate: the father and son combating the far right with sweet treats
For most people, weekends are a time for a lie-in, doing errands and catching up with family and friends. But Josh, who is autistic and non-verbal, and Dan have spent the past couple of months baking and delivering cakes to mosques and other places of worship across the UK. Posting their visits on social media, the goal is simple — to counter racism with sweet treats. “What has really struck me is how wrong the far-right narrative has been around mosques,” says Dan. “When I’ve gone in, people have been bending over backwards to accommodate and make sure Josh is happy.” The idea for their project, Cake not Hate, came in October when worshippers at a local mosque in Peterborough were abused by an intruder during fajr prayers. A man was charged at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated harassment. Disturbed that the incident had taken place so close to his home, Dan decided to do something to show that the local Muslim community is accepted and valued by the majority of people in the town. Josh has always loved cooking as a way of communicating, so they settled on using food as a way to bring people together. “We wanted to go into the mosque and show them that these guys don’t represent the great British public,” says Dan. “I’m not a religious person,” says Dan. “But I took a lot of comfort in how the Muslim community views Josh very purely. I contrasted that with the hate that we got from the far right and there was a really stark dichotomy between the two sides.” read the complete article
Belgium
Muslim association to challenge Belgium's headscarf ban
The Ghent Mosques Association (VGM) announced Thursday that it will appeal to Belgium's Council of State to seek the annulment of the reinstated headscarf ban in provincial education in East Flanders, arguing that procedural requirements were not properly followed, Belga news agency reported. In a statement, the umbrella organization representing 23 mosques in Ghent said the participation decree was not duly complied with and cited testimonies from teachers who, it said, chose to remain anonymous for fear of sanctions. The association described what it called a social climate in which Muslim women are "structurally prevented" from freely and dignifiedly expressing their identity. It added that statements made in the debate over the ban reflect a "disturbing shift in the boundaries of democratic debate." read the complete article