«Islamophobia»… Hatred invades Europe

By: Hoor Sameh

At the beginning of April 2018, the mosque of “Al-Aqsa Mosque” in the German capital “Berlin” was attacked by unknown assailants, setting fire to it, smearing the windows of the mosque in color, and leaving writings over the paint.

Following the attack on the mosque, Al-Azhar Observatory monitored the number of attacks on mosques in Germany over 15 years from 2001 to 2016.

The Monitoring showed that the number of attacks, and they were 416 during the 15 years; the number of attacks in 2017 only 60 of the 950 attacks on Muslims during the same year.

During this year 2018, attacks on mosques and Islamic institutions spread, Unknown gunmen stoned Turkish mosque wall in Kassel, and In Mundan city, unidentified persons smashed the Turkish Islamic Society’s headquarters, stained the walls of a mosque in Leipzig with paints, and try to burn mosques throwing materials and burning some of its windows, as unknown people threw Molotov cocktails in the same time on Sunday night on a mosque in the capital Berlin, and another building of the German-Turkish Friendship association in the city of «Mashada» in North Rhine-Westphalia, west Of Germany.

German police said that Turkish mosque and a cultural club in Berlin, has been exposed to deliberately burning on Sunday, March 11th, 2018.

Al-Azhar Observatory condemned the violent acts against Muslims and their institutions and the destruction of their places of worship, and pointed out that political differences, sectarian or racial hostility must be removed from the places of worship.

Campaigns to harm Muslims

The events in Germany were not the first forms of Islamophobia in Europe.

A campaign was launched on social networking sites in Britain under the title “Muslim punishments”, and did not stop there, but rather punitive methods.

The campaign calls for harming any Muslim to his identity, and its publications include various forms of abuse, including verbal abuse, remove girls hijab, push burning water Muslims faces, beatings and torture with electric shocks, and burning or destruction mosques.

The campaign chose April 3 to do the punishment on a large scale and to make it offensive to Muslims.

The campaign presented a list of acts of violence against Muslims, with scores or motivational points increasing its yield, The more aggressive the attack, the more the proposals ranged from swearing for 10 points, remove Muslim woman hijab for 25 points, throwing burning water on Muslims faces for 50 points, 500 points for beating Muslims, and 1000 points for burning or bombing a mosque.

Dr. Abdalhaleem Mansour, head of comparative jurisprudence at the Faculty of Sharia and Law, Al-Azhar University, commented on the phenomenon of Islamophobia in Europe that would provoke strife among peoples, because the Islamic religion is a cause for peace and an origin for the idea of citizenship.

Mansour based on to Quran and the verse: “We have created you from male and female, and have made you peoples and tribes, that you may know that I will honor you with God. (Al-hujrat – verse: 13)”

Mansour stressed that al-Azhar is working on this aspect to consolidate the foundations of peace and citizenship in the world because the spread of terrorism and extremism is not linked to a particular beginning.

He pointed out that if everyone follow the history, all of them find that many of the massacres were held in the name of religion and had nothing to do with religion, Religion often to justify violence, extremism and terrorism.

Mansour points out that these campaigns do not affect Islam or its non-proliferation, but it affects the society that calls for such campaigns, affects its members, spreads violence within society, ignites fanaticism and the spread of terrorism. Muslims, or non-Muslims, in the operations against them in the name of religion.

Extremism generally kills societies and ignites strife that could destroy states.