AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs, announced before parliamentary representatives that the government will no longer use the term "Islamophobia." She described the concept as "problematic," because, according to her, "it focuses on individuals' irrational fears."
Stenergard emphasized that the Swedish government will also seek to replace the term with "anti-Muslim racism" or "anti-Muslim hatred" in international bodies, including the European Union and the United Nations. Discussions on this matter are set to continue during the third week of May in Brussels.
The decision has been welcomed by the right-wing Sweden Democrats party. Charlie Weimers, a member of the European Parliament for the party, said, "Islamists have exploited the term Islamophobia to advance their agenda and secure EU funding." He described the government's action as "finally scrapping a fabricated concept."
Faw Azzat, Secretary General of the Global Alliance for Peace and Justice (GAPF) in Sweden, also praised the decision, stating that the term Islamophobia was "coined by Islamists themselves to equate criticism of a religion with racism against people—a semantic trick dressed up as anti-racism."
This comes despite various reports indicating that Islamophobia not only exists in Sweden and Europe but is also following a worrying upward trend.
A 2025 academic study shows that deeply rooted Islamophobia exists within Swedish structures. Political and media narratives frequently frame Muslims as "undesirable others," and this situation has cast serious doubt on Sweden's commitment to inclusion and non-discrimination.
At the European level, the 2025 annual report of the Coalition to Counter Islamophobia in Europe (CCIE) reported the "normalization of hatred against Muslims," emphasizing that discriminatory discourses have gained greater influence in political, media, and institutional arenas. According to the report, 876 cases of Islamophobia were recorded in Europe in 2025, 85 percent of which were in France. Eighty percent of the victims were women, and in 41 percent of cases, discrimination was due to wearing the hijab.
Similar cases have been reported in Germany, Spain, Austria, and Belgium. Additionally, a report by the International Network Against Online Hate (INACH) indicates that migration and Islamophobia are among the dominant discourses in online hate content in Europe.
In summary, international bodies and members of the European Parliament have issued serious warnings about the normalization and institutionalization of Islamophobia and its transformation into a dominant trend in Europe, while security agencies have also confirmed the terrorist threat posed by far-right extremists on the one hand.
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