Imam: Discrimination against Muslims has risen

Fear and suspicion of Muslims have increased in the European Union since the September 11 attacks, and deserve as much attention as anti-Semitism, a British imam told an international conference on racial and religious intolerance.

Speaking at the conference of the 55-country Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, being held in Cordoba, Spain, Abduljalil Sajid said: “Islamophobia has replaced anti-Semitism as the new sharp end of racist issues in the world, wherever you go.”

After the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001, the EU asked its then 15 member countries to compile reports on what effect the attacks had had on their Muslim communities.

The conclusion was that “hatred against Muslims and crimes against Muslims increased tremendously”, Sajid said.

The imam criticised the draft final statement being prepared at the two-day conference for not explicitly using the term Islamophobia, and said Europe has no choice but to face the reality that millions of its people are now Muslims.

“Muslims are not going anywhere. They are going to stay,” Sajid said.

Despite this, EU countries have no established system to monitor or record crimes against Muslims, he said.

Barbara John, a member of the German Senate, disagreed that intolerance towards Muslims has replaced anti-Semitism as the gravest threat to a religious community, but said fear of Muslims does “continue the evil concept” of denigrating people because of their faith.

A delegate representing the Organisation of the Islamic Conference said Islamophobia has historic roots but was clearly fuelled by the September 11 attacks blamed on al-Qaida.

“We are very worried,” said Saad Eddine Taib, adding that September 11 was a crime under Islam.

“For Muslims, 9/11 was a dark day in their history,” he said.