This Is How Sweden Targets Muslims Residing in the Country

Sweden aims to close more school doors led by the Muslim community in the country in an attempt to push “anti-Islamic rhetoric” and allegedly “stop privatization” in education.

During a press conference, Sweden’s Education Minister, Lina Axelsson Kihlblom, said that her government had introduced a bill to ban the establishment of independent religious schools.

The bill essentially prevents these schools from expanding by increasing the number of their students and from opening new branches.

The project was directed to all the religious schools, including Christian, Islamic, and Jewish establishments. Still, the project has so far targeted only Islamic schools, which has angered organizations, and researchers, claiming that the decision was not based on bad academic results or other educational defects but rather on hostile motives toward Islam in particular.

 

Anti-Islamic Political Motives

Although a large number of Islamic academic institutions are ranked among the best in the country, the Swedish government continues to close Islamic schools.

Earlier this year, Lina Axelsson Kihlblom, the minister of schooling, said during a presentation of three measures to rectify deviations in school systems that the Swedish government is working on an establishment halt for “denominational schools.”

According to the minister, schools in Sweden should be away from any religious influence. Thus, Lina Axelsson Kihlblom, the first transgender minister in the Swedish government, wants a total ban to ensure that “society takes back the democratic control over welfare.”

The proposal entails, among other things, “a new obligation for principals to inform guardians and students about denominational elements in the business. Students must also have actual opportunities to opt-out of such elements. They must then be allowed to engage in other activities. Furthermore, principals must pass ‘democratic conditions’ to lead a school,” according to CNE News.

For her part, the Social Democrats youth union chairman, Lisa Nabo, said in the same period that it is time to close independent religious schools, stressing that “the school should not be a place for religious schooling and encourage religious segregation. Neither Christian sects, imams, or shareholders should govern the school.”

However, the project has targeted only Islamic schools, which prompted many organizations and school leaders to object, stressing that there were no reasonable arguments for such a decision except “Islamophobic motives.”

 

Selective Discrimination

When first introduced by the parliament in Sweden, the bill claimed that all religious schools are concerned. However, this did not happen as other religious schools have not been closed except Muslim schools, which triggered an outcry from Muslim organizations who claimed the decision was based on pure political anti-Islamic motives.

Sead Busuladzic, a board member of the Nyan’s political party, told Anadolu Agency that the religious school closures were not because of education reasons but of the political anti-Muslim climate.

Busuladzic pointed out how the right-wing parties—in power now—have openly said they have nothing against Christian, Jewish, or other schools.

Politicians have normalized Islamophobia on many occasions and made life more difficult for minor communities.

According to him, right-wing extremists are targeting only Muslims and their schools to allegedly fight “radicalization” despite their purportedly general opposition to private education.

In previous elections, politicians have fed anti-Muslim feelings instead of focusing on issues such as the economy and high unemployment.

Research by The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) on May 3, 2021, concluded that many people living in Sweden have stereotypical and negative perceptions of Muslims and that these perceptions and ideas help hate crimes and discrimination to spread even more. Islamophobic hate crimes take many forms and are not limited to a particular type of place, time, or person.

Among the police reports examined in the study, threats and harassment represented the largest category of crime, followed by incitement to a group of residents, defamation, violent crime, and graffiti, in addition to incitement against the Muslim minority on social media and crimes of varying severity targeting mosques.

In April 2022, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) group, dared to burn a copy of the Quran in Sweden’s southern Linkoping city with threats to burn more.

The leader of the Party of Different Colors (Nyans), Mikail Yuksel, said to Anadolu Agency that burning the Quran is a hate crime and has no place in democracies.

Days later, hundreds of people, led by Nyans, demonstrated in Sweden’s capital to protest the burning of the Muslim holy book in the country.

 

‘Secret Information’

Mohamed Amin Kharraki, director of the independent Islamic school, Framstegsskolan, said that about 20 schools that classify themselves as Islamic or owned by Muslims have been closed.

“Three schools are still awaiting the results of lawsuits against the decision to close,” Kharraki told Anadolu Agency.

In May 2022, the Education Inspection Department in Sweden announced a future closure of the Framstegsskolan School, but it won an appeal, as the Administrative Court said that the decision was no longer valid.

Saimagarden’s preschool in the Akalla district of Stockholm, led by Framstegsskolan, was to close last August after claims by the Swedish domestic security service (SAPO) that children “were at risk of radicalization.”

However, the preschool is still open until receiving a final verdict. SAPO had not mentioned any specific accusations and did not give any explanations, reporting that these were “secret information.”

Kharraki said that “if a school is accused of putting children at risk of radicalization, with no actual proof or past incident, then it’s “very hard for you, as an accused party, to defend yourself because it’s nothing that has happened. It’s something that may happen.”

The school inspectorate has never visited Framstiege Skolan to document the alleged radicalization and even refused to review and question SAPO’s report.