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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, Reuters interviewed about two dozen people, who described how Muslims in New Delhi have been congregating in enclaves away from the nation’s Hindu majority, seeking safety in numbers following the deadly 2020 riots and an increase in anti-Muslim hate speech, meanwhile in the UK, in an open letter, a cohort of elected Labour politicians have called for their own party leader Sir Keir Starmer to impose “an immediate and complete suspension of arms sales to Israel”, and in the US, indie video game publisher Mad Mushroom has announced that cofounder “Asmongold” will be stepping away from the company following an anti-Muslim rant this week which led to him being temporarily banned on Twitch. Our recommended read of the day is by Samriddhi Sakunia for Al Jazeera on how the state of Himachal Pradesh has seen a a steep rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes over the past several months after Hindu nationalist groups began holding demonstrations and demanding the demolition of Islamic buildings and storefronts in the state capital of Shimla. This and more below:
India
Muslims ‘in constant fear’ amid hate campaign in India’s Himachal Pradesh | Recommended Read
Farhan Khan says he still feels a chill down his spine when he recalls the day an anti-Muslim rally was held in his sleepy town in northern India’s Himachal Pradesh state. On September 17, the 26-year-old tailor opened his shop in Solan as usual at about 11:30am when two men wearing saffron clothes approached him. One of them recorded the encounter on his mobile phone. “They pointed the camera at my face, hurling abuses and demanding to know why I had opened my shop. Then, another group of men joined them and they all turned violent,” Farhan told Al Jazeera. He said he was then “dragged by the crowd” to help identify more Muslim-owned shops in the area. “I identified five or six shops and urged them to close,” he said. The scenic state of Himachal Pradesh, a popular destination for Indian tourists escaping the brutal summer and autumn heat of northern India, has been on edge for more than a month after far-right Hindu groups demanded the demolition of a mosque in the state capital, Shimla. That demand soon morphed into a larger anti-Muslim campaign aimed at instituting an economic boycott against them and even included calls to drive Muslims out of the state. The campaign against the Sanjauli mosque soon turned into broader anti-Muslim protests across Himachal Pradesh, a state where only 2 percent of the population is Muslim and where religious hatred on such a scale has not previously been seen, unlike several other north Indian states. read the complete article
In Modi's Delhi, Indian Muslims segregate to seek security
In February 2020, Nasreen and her husband Tofik were living in Shiv Vihar, an upcoming neighbourhood in northeast New Delhi. But that month, riots erupted targeting Muslims like them and Tofik was pushed by a mob from the second floor of the building where they lived, according to a police report he filed days later from hospital. He survived, but has a permanent limp and was only able to return to work selling clothes on the street after spending nearly 3 years recuperating. Soon after the riots the couple moved to Loni, a more remote area with poorer infrastructure and job prospects - but with a sizable Muslim population. "I will not go back to that area. I feel safer among Muslims," Tofik, who like his wife goes by one name, told Reuters. Reuters interviewed about two dozen people, who described how Muslims in the Indian capital have been congregating in enclaves away from the nation's Hindu majority, seeking safety in numbers following the deadly 2020 riot and an increase in anti-Muslim hate speech. Details about this phenomenon, which has led a major Muslim neighbourhood in Delhi to effectively run out of space, have not previously been reported. read the complete article
India’s Muslims Still Bear the Brunt of Hindutva Chauvinism
Despite this year’s election setback, Narendra Modi’s Hindu-chauvinist government still holds power in India. The journalism of Neha Dixit has shone a light on the human impact of Hindutva bigotry and authoritarianism, especially for India’s Muslims. read the complete article
United Kingdom
More than 100 Muslim Labour councillors demand Keir Starmer immediately halts arms sales to Israel
LBC can reveal that 114 Muslim Labour councillors have written to the Prime Minister calling for an immediate arms embargo to Israel. In an open letter, the cohort of elected Labour politicians call for their own party leader Sir Keir Starmer to impose "an immediate and complete suspension of arms sales to Israel". Coordinated by the Labour Muslim Network, the letter says "we must not be complicit in these clear violations of international humanitarian law". "It is our moral obligation to act now." read the complete article
‘It felt as though something was burning inside me, that I myself was on fire. But Allah gave us courage’
Since 2009, the Al Falah Institute has been a vital community hub and education centre for Muslim women. It hosts regular maths and English classes, Qur’an study sessions, cooking workshops and self-defence classes. It also has an Arabic calligraphy club and offers refugee support. Founder Mariam Tariq started the initiative by running evening sessions for children and women in her home. Slowly, interest grew and a group formed with the shared intention of securing a permanent base for women to gather, share and learn. In the early hours of 26 September, vandals attacked and set fire to Al Falah, causing significant damage to the building and facilities. “I received a call from our neighbour at 10pm,” said Tariq. “At that point, the attackers had only vandalised. The police said they were busy, and that they would come in the morning. “The vandals returned later at around 2am and started a fire. Before, I thought maybe it was random. But as more time passes, it does feel like a hate crime.” Alongside the melted light fixtures, the shredded sheets, blackened ceilings and battered door frame, the attackers stacked and set fire to several copies of the Qur’an. Despite Tariq’s suspicions, police didn’t record the incident as a hate crime, and the investigation into the arson report was eventually closed. Despite the destruction caused, the institute proceeded with its activities as normal. According to Tariq, they did not cancel a single class or session. “The women of Al Falah are very brave. They said we are even happy to sit in the garden, but we are not stopping. No one can stop us. This is our deen [faith].” read the complete article
United States
Is This One of America’s First Mosques? | American Muslims: A History Revealed
Among the millions of immigrants arriving in the United States at the turn of the 20th century were thousands of Muslims from Lebanon, then part of Greater Syria. In this film, host Aymann Ismail tells the story of two of these people, a woman named Mary Juma and her husband Hassen who homesteaded in North Dakota in the early 1900s. Traveling across the Midwest, Aymann explores how the community that Mary and Hassen founded constructed one of the first purpose-built mosques in the country, keeping their traditions alive while creating a new identity on the American frontier. read the complete article
Mad Mushroom cofounder Asmongold to 'step away' from company after anti-Muslim remarks
Streamer-affiliated publisher Mad Mushroom has announced that cofounder "Asmongold" (real name: "Zack," last name withheld) will be stepping away from the company following an anti-Muslim rant this week that led to him being temporarily banned on streaming platform Twitch. The company shared the news in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter). "As an indie game publisher, we exist to empower developers from all cultures and backgrounds to share their stories and passions through their art," it wrote. "The viewpoints shared by Asmongold on Monday are antithetical to our mission. Zack will be stepping away from his leadership role in Mad Mushroom to work on himself and hold himself accountable." The comments in question concerned the fate of Palestinian people in Gaza who are dying by the thousands as Israel expands its invasion in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas in 2023. Some human rights organizations have described the invasion as a genocide. In response to a viewer question about the invasion, Asmongold stated that he "did not care" if Gazans were being "genocided," claiming that Islamic Sharia Law itself is a foundation for genocide. read the complete article
How DEI Initiatives on Islamophobia Fall Short
As a visibly Muslim woman and tenured law professor, I’ve faced my share of discrimination. However, nothing prepared me for the chilling reality I encountered at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. While I was serving as co-chair of the DNC’s Interfaith Council and on the executive committee of the DNC’s Women’s Caucus, I became a victim of a violent assault at the convention. This attack laid bare the pervasive nature of Islamophobia in our society, but what followed was even more disturbing. The complete institutional failure following my assault—manifested in the Democratic Party’s silence, my academic institutions’ indifference, the legal system’s impotence and the overall lack of support for a victim of political violence—revealed a disturbing truth: Even in spaces that champion diversity and inclusion, Muslim voices remain expendable. As I stood in the bustling convention hall at the United Center in Chicago, holding a cloth banner that read “Stop Arming Israel,” I never imagined that my act of peaceful protest would end in violence. Yet, within moments, three white men wielding campaign signs with wooden planks inside repeatedly struck me on the head. The physical pain was immediate, but the emotional aftermath—a concussion, trauma and a profound sense of betrayal—would linger far longer. While some organizations swiftly issued statements condemning the attack as political violence and demanding justice, the universities I am affiliated with remained silent. This institutional indifference underscores a larger problem: The disconnect between well-intentioned diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the lived realities of Muslim faculty and staff, particularly those who are visibly Muslim, Black, Latino/a or from other minority groups. read the complete article
International
Elon Musk, UK far right, and Islamophobia: Why Humza Yousaf is sounding the alarm
“It happens because of years of anti-Muslim, anti-migrant hatred.” It’s been several months since Humza Yousaf stepped down in May 2024. Now, the Scottish former First Minister, who in 2023 became the first Muslim leader of a western democracy, is sounding the alarm. In one of the longest interviews he’s given since resigning, Yousaf warns of rising Islamophobia in UK politics, the far right threat, and he delves into his online feud with Elon Musk. So we sat down in his family home in Dundee, Scotland to talk about it. read the complete article
Zara Chowdhary on Coming of Age During Anti-Muslim Violence in India and the U.S.
Zara Chowdhary’s The Lucky Ones is a devastating, timely memoir about survival, reclamation and what it means to exist on the margins of society and within your own familial unit. Zara speaks to us, raw and unfiltered, about growing up as a young muslim girl in Ahmedabad, India, in the aftermath of a train being burned. The incident, declared an “act of terrorism” by Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s then-chief minister, instigates anti-muslim sentiments, rouses Hindu mobs into rushing through Gujarat’s streets, villages, and towns, “looting, raping, and burning alive the state’s Muslim citizens.” A lockdown follows, Muslims are pushed into areas that slowly turn into ghettos, and the fear of a mob grows as days slow down for Zara and her family, and many others like them. While young Zara battles the confines of muslimhood, fast-approaching womanhood, and familial expectations alongside the fear of becoming another number, another body in the ongoing genocide, Chowdhary deftly expands the scope of the narrative by weaving other stories, of women raped, families destroyed, and also, lives sacrificed to save others. In between, we are acquainted with Punjabi verses, Zara’s grandfather’s love for sufism, her grandmother’s pride in Garba, young Zara’s refuge in Sanskrit, and these diffuse moments of horror. read the complete article
Australia
Reflecting on 10 Years of Impact with the Islamophobia Register Australia
Join us in reflecting on a decade of community, support, and impactful advocacy at the 10th Anniversary of the Islamophobia Register Australia. Founded as a Facebook page by the inspirational Mariam Veiszadeh, the Register has grown into Australia’s leading organisation for tracking and tackling Islamophobia. With the invaluable contributions of Dr Derya Iner, who joined Mariam to lead and produce the highly-regarded academic reports, we continue to make significant contributions in the sector. This milestone event will be a heartfelt reflection on our collective journey, showcasing the significant strides we’ve made in combating Islamophobia. We will hear from notable community leaders and advocates who have been pivotal in driving positive change. Their stories and insights will highlight the progress we’ve achieved and the ongoing efforts needed to build a more inclusive society. read the complete article