By: Hani Dawah
Executive Committee Member of the Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World (IPDC)
There are moments in political life that force us to confront uncomfortable truths. In Texas, a congressional candidate chose to promote her campaign not with ideas, but with flames, burning a copy of the Qur’an with a flamethrower while declaring: “I will end Islam in Texas, so help me God.”
This was not simply offensive theater. It was an assault on the very principles that Western democracies claim to cherish: freedom of religion, equality, and pluralism. Islamophobia has crossed a dangerous threshold. It is no longer just a private prejudice, it has become a public weapon wielded for political gain. And if we allow such hatred to define our politics, we risk hollowing out the very foundation of democracy itself.
Earlier this year, masked vandals defaced a mosque in Austin, Texas, spray-painting Stars of David and hateful slurs across its walls. Their goal was clear: to intimidate, isolate, and silence a community.
What followed, however, was far more powerful. Members of the Jewish and Christian communities joined hands with their Muslim neighbors, scrubbing graffiti, standing guard, and speaking out. In a city divided by politics, faith brought people together.
This was not an isolated incident. Across Western nations, Islamophobia is rising, and fast. In Germany, the civil-society network CLAIM documented 3,080 anti-Muslim incidents in 2024, up from 1,926 in 2023, a roughly 60% increase.
In the UK, the anti-hate charity Tell MAMA reported a 73% surge in Islamophobic assaults in 2024, reaching record-high cases. These are not just numbers – they represent shattered windows, fearful children, and communities forced to live on edge.
In late August 2025, the Spanish town of Jumilla in Murcia offered another stark reminder: Islamophobia extends beyond protest chants to institutional control.
Its local council, led by the conservative Popular Party with tacit support from the far-right Vox, passed a regulation banning cultural, religious, and social gatherings in public sports facilities – spaces where Muslim communities traditionally celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
The move was condemned as “institutionalized Islamophobia” by human rights bodies, the Spanish Bishops, and the UN. Madrid swiftly ordered the ban repealed.
The United States has not been immune either. Just last week, an Islamic centre in California was defaced with Stars of David and anti-Muslim slurs a violent message of exclusion.
Even more troubling are the rising patterns: Muslim advocacy organizations logged a record 8,658 complaints in 2024, the highest number since civil rights tracking began in the 1990s. Workplace discrimination was the top category, showing that Islamophobia is not limited to the margins but embedded in daily professional life.
How deeply has prejudice been normalized in a society that prides itself on equality and freedom?
Islamophobia in the West is not simply a matter of personal bias or fringe hatred. It is structural, systemic, and disturbingly normalized.
It roots itself in colonial histories, gains momentum from inflammatory political rhetoric, and thrives on media narratives that flatten 1.9 billion Muslims into a monolithic “other.” The consequences are deadly serious: mosques torched, women attacked for wearing hijabs, families surveilled, communities marginalized.
The problem even infects academic institutions. A 2024 report – Countering Islamophobia in Academia – funded by the Aziz Foundation and University of Bradford, found that Muslim students and staff frequently feel unwelcome and fear professional repercussions for expressing their identities or opinions.
From 30 in-depth interviews, researchers uncovered systemic distrust in reporting mechanisms and institutional policies, creating silence, pressure, and isolation.
Yet, despite these hurdles, resilience persisted students continued to contribute and aspire.
Still, amid these challenges, Muslim communities across Europe and North America have not retreated. They have opened their doors, hosted interfaith events, launched public campaigns to correct misconceptions, and continually educated society.
Their message remains strong: We are here. We contribute. We belong.
Meanwhile, a new generation of Muslim leaders, politicians, journalists, and academics is reshaping public discourse from within. They disrupt the narrative of “otherness,” illuminating the rich diversity of Muslim thought, culture, ethnicity, and interpretation. They are not simply reactive, they are redefining the narrative.
But here is the truth: Muslim communities cannot—and should not bear this burden alone. Islamophobia is not a “Muslim problem.” It is a societal crisis that tests the moral and civic foundations of Western democracies. Combating it is a collective responsibility.
Governments must do more than issue statements. They must bolster anti-discrimination laws, invest in intercultural education, and ensure counterterrorism policies do not unjustly target Muslim populations.
Educational institutions must actively champion religious literacy and inclusion. The media must go beyond sensationalism and give Muslim voices and lived experiences full representation, because representation matters.
Social media platforms, too, must be held accountable for systems that incentivize outrage over nuance, fueling intolerance and misinformation.
We live in a time when democracy itself feels fragile, undermined by extremism, conspiracy, and social fragmentation. But hope survives in moments when communities reject fear and affirm shared humanity.
In that resolute image of a mosque being cleaned by neighbors, the very people its attackers tried to alienate, lies a powerful symbol of democracy in action.
The West cherishes ideals, freedom, equality, pluralism. But those ideals ring hollow when they exclude some of us.
Protecting Muslim communities is not an act of charity; it is the safeguarding of democracy itself.
The vandals in Austin, the candidate in Texas, the town council in Spain, they all sought to divide us. Yet the unified response across continents reminds us: we will not be divided.
That is how democracy is truly tested, and ultimately preserved.
