Melbourne Muslim Father Attacked Near Mosque as Islamophobia Rises in Australia

A Muslim father in Melbourne says his winter jacket was all that stood between him and death after two men allegedly attacked him near his local mosque in Hampton Park.

Samir Raghbat, a 43-year-old father of three, was allegedly punched, kicked and struck with a knife-like object in a car park metres away from the mosque on 24 June 2026. He told ABC News that one of the men repeatedly asked him, “Are you Muslim?” before another allegedly instructed him to “kill him”.

Raghbat had been wearing an Islamic thobe under an oversized puffer jacket, a garment commonly worn by Muslim men when attending the mosque. He said the blade narrowly missed his body and pierced his jacket instead.

“God blessed me,” he said. “My jacket saved me.”

For Muslims in Australia, the incident is deeply alarming. A man was reportedly attacked near a mosque, while dressed for prayer, after being identified as Muslim. This is not only an assault on one individual. It is a warning sign about the climate of hatred being normalised around Muslim identity.

A Father Beaten Near His Mosque

According to Raghbat, the confrontation began after he approached a group of men who had left rubbish in the car park and asked them what they were doing. The situation quickly escalated.

He said he was attacked for “looking Muslim”.

A witness told ABC News that Raghbat tried to defend himself as best he could, but the attack continued. CCTV footage viewed by ABC reportedly showed two men punching and kicking him several times in the head and body before onlookers intervened and the attackers fled.

Raghbat said that at one point, he believed he was going to die.

“He shook my neck for three minutes. I screamed two, three times, ‘I can’t breathe’,” he said.

He was later admitted to Dandenong Hospital with facial bruising, a leg injury, a back injury and emotional distress. When he returned home from hospital, his injuries were so severe that his daughter did not recognise him.

“When my daughter saw me, she ran away and cried,” he said.

That detail should shake every decent person.

Behind every statistic on Islamophobia is a family. A child. A wife. A father. A community. A person who simply wants to pray, live safely and return home without being attacked for his faith.

“No-One Should Fear the Call to Prayer”

The Islamic Council of Victoria condemned the attack, describing it as violent and appalling.

“No-one should fear for their safety simply for answering the call to prayer,” ICV president Mohamed Mohideen said.

He added that the circumstances of the attack, involving a worshipper set upon as he came to pray, were deeply distressing for Muslim Victorians.

His words capture what makes this case so serious. A mosque should be a place of peace, worship and safety. It is where Muslims bow before Allah, learn the Qur’an, gather in Ramadan, support one another, comfort the grieving and teach children their religion.

When someone is attacked near a mosque for being visibly Muslim, the harm extends beyond the victim. It sends fear through the whole community.

Parents begin wondering whether it is safe to take their children to prayer. Elders worry about walking alone to the mosque. Worshippers become conscious of their clothes, their beards, their hijabs, their names and their Arabic greetings.

This is how Islamophobia works. It does not only injure bodies. It pressures Muslims to become less visible.

Online Hate Is Becoming Real-World Danger

Raghbat’s attack comes amid growing concern about anti-Muslim hostility in Australia.

Research from the Tackling Hate Lab, reported by ABC News, found that online anti-Muslim hate in Australia rose sharply after 7 October 2023 and increased further after the Bondi terrorist attack on 14 December 2025. Before October 2023, the research found anti-Muslim hate averaged 18.2 hateful posts per day. From 7 October 2023 to 22 March 2025, that figure rose to 121.3 posts per day, more than six times higher.

The spike after the Bondi attack was even more severe. In the following month, anti-Muslim hate reportedly rose from an average of 205.6 posts per day to approximately 1,917.9 posts per day. On the day of the attack itself, anti-Muslim hate reached 7,786 posts.

These numbers matter because online hatred does not stay online.

When Muslims are repeatedly described as threats, invaders, terrorists or outsiders, some people begin to treat Muslim bodies, mosques and families as legitimate targets. The algorithm feeds the prejudice. Influencers monetise the outrage. Political opportunists exploit the fear. Then ordinary Muslims pay the price in public spaces, schools, workplaces and streets.

This is why anti-Muslim hate speech must be taken seriously before it becomes violence.

Islamophobia Is Being Under-Reported

The Islamic Council of Victoria has also reported a major rise in anti-Muslim incidents.

According to figures cited by ABC News from the ICV’s 2026 report, documented cases reported to the council rose by 650% from 2021 to 2025. In 2025, from January to September alone, reported cases more than tripled, rising by 229%. The ICV also documented 13,145 online hate comments and posts across social media in the same year.

But even these numbers do not reflect the full scale of the problem.

Many Muslims do not report abuse because they fear they will not be believed. Others are emotionally exhausted. Some do not know where to report. Some worry that reporting will bring more attention, more harassment or no meaningful outcome.

Islamophobia Register Australia has also warned that under-reporting remains one of the biggest barriers to addressing anti-Muslim hate. Its executive director, Aishah Ali, said the register received an average of 2.53 cases per week before 7 October 2023. After that date, reports increased to an average of 18.97 cases per week, a level that has continued.

In total, the register had received 2,618 reports since 7 October 2023, which Ali said represented an almost 650% national increase from the previous year.

This is not a marginal issue. It is a national problem.

Australia Must Confront Anti-Muslim Racism Honestly

Australia often speaks proudly about multiculturalism, religious freedom and social harmony. But those words mean little if Muslim citizens and residents are afraid to walk to prayer.

The attack on Raghbat should force an honest national conversation.

Anti-Muslim racism is not only an overseas issue. It is not confined to Europe, America or online comment sections. It exists in Australian suburbs, Australian streets and Australian car parks.

The Office of the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, led by Aftab Malik, recently launched a national awareness campaign to address the issue. Malik told ABC News that incidents were becoming increasingly brazen, outlandish and violent.

That warning must be taken seriously.

Political leaders, media organisations, police forces, schools and social platforms need to recognise the connection between dehumanising language and physical harm. When Muslims are constantly framed as suspicious, foreign or dangerous, the result is not debate. The result is fear, exclusion and sometimes violence.

The Mosque Is Not a Threat

A man walking to the mosque is not a threat.

A thobe is not a provocation.

A Muslim father protecting his local community from rubbish in a car park should not have to fight for his life.

For Muslims, the mosque is a house of Allah. It is where believers stand shoulder to shoulder, rich and poor, young and old, migrant and Australian-born, all facing the same qiblah in submission to the same Lord.

To attack a person on his way to prayer is to attack the dignity of worship itself.

Raghbat said he now feels unsafe in the community and emotionally distressed that such an attack could happen in Australia. His pain should not be reduced to a passing news item.

It should be treated as a warning.

Faith, Safety and Dignity

Muslims in Australia should not be forced to hide their faith to feel safe. They should not have to remove Islamic clothing, avoid mosques, lower their voices when saying salam or explain their humanity after every global crisis involving Muslims.

They deserve safety because they are human beings. They deserve protection because they are members of society. They deserve dignity because Allah honoured the children of Adam.

The response must be clear: report Islamophobia, support victims, protect mosques, challenge anti-Muslim narratives and hold violent offenders accountable.

But the Muslim response must also remain rooted in faith.

Fear should not make Muslims abandon the houses of Allah. Hatred should not make them ashamed of Islam. Violence should not silence the truth that Muslim life, worship and dignity matter.

Samir Raghbat survived.

But his story should not be ignored.

It should remind Australia that Islamophobia is no longer only a matter of words. It is becoming a matter of safety, blood and survival.