Anti-Muslim racism in Germany has reached a deeply alarming level, with a new civil society report documenting more than 4,000 incidents in 2025 and warning that Muslims are facing hostility across public life, schools, religious spaces and everyday social interactions.
The figures are disturbing, but they are not merely numbers on a page. Behind every incident is a person, a family, a wound and a memory. This was the message delivered in Berlin by Said Etris Hashemi, a survivor of the 2020 Hanau attack, where a right-wing extremist murdered nine people with immigrant backgrounds. Hashemi narrowly survived the attack. His younger brother was among those killed.
Speaking at the presentation of the new report on anti-Muslim incidents, Hashemi said: “The numbers are not just statistics. Behind every number is a face; behind every incident is a story.”
For Muslims in Germany, those words carry a heavy meaning. Anti-Muslim racism is not an abstract political debate. It is lived through insults in the street, discrimination in institutions, attacks on mosques, violence against families and the fear that children may grow up believing they do not fully belong.
The Memory of Hanau Still Haunts Muslim Communities
On February 19, 2020, Germany witnessed one of the most painful racist attacks in its recent history. A right-wing extremist attacked people in Hanau, near Frankfurt, killing nine people with immigrant backgrounds at two locations. Among the dead was the younger brother of Said Etris Hashemi.
Hashemi, the son of Afghan refugees, is now a member of the February 19 Hanau Initiative, which works to preserve the memory of those murdered and warn society against racism, xenophobia and dehumanisation.
He said the Hanau murders showed where exclusion, racist stereotypes and dehumanisation can lead.
This is a critical point. Hatred rarely begins with violence. It often begins with language, suspicion, public demonisation and the normalisation of treating a community as a threat. When Muslims are constantly portrayed as outsiders, extremists begin to believe that their hatred has social permission.
Islam teaches that human life is sacred and that injustice must not be normalised. The Qur’an reminds mankind that Allah honoured the children of Adam. This honour is not limited by ethnicity, passport, language, background or social class. When any group is stripped of dignity through racism and hostility, society is moving away from justice and toward corruption.
More Than 4,000 Anti-Muslim Incidents Recorded
The new Civil Society Assessment of Anti-Muslim Racism, published annually by the Coalition Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hostility, known as CLAIM, recorded 4,096 anti-Muslim incidents across Germany in 2025.
This marks a sharp increase from the previous year, when 3,080 incidents were documented.
The report shows that anti-Muslim racism is not restricted to one city, one political moment or one type of incident. It appears in many forms, from verbal abuse and discrimination to physical attacks, property damage, arson and attacks on places of worship.
More than 60 percent of all documented cases were verbal attacks, with 2,379 incidents recorded. There were also 840 cases of discrimination and 680 other harmful incidents, including physical assaults and damage to property.
The report also documented two homicides, 214 cases of bodily injury, four cases of aggravated assault or attempted murder, and five cases of arson.
These numbers should not be treated as normal. A society cannot speak seriously about democracy, rights and social cohesion while thousands of Muslims are being targeted because of their faith, names, appearance, background or perceived identity.
Mosques and Religious Spaces Under Attack
The report also recorded 61 attacks on mosques, out of a total of 64 attacks on religious institutions. These included bomb threats against mosque communities, hostile flyers posted outside mosques and a swastika painted outside a university prayer room.
Attacks on mosques are not merely attacks on buildings. For Muslims, the mosque is a place of prayer, Qur’an, family, community, learning and mercy. When mosques are threatened, Muslim families receive a wider message: even your place of worship is not safe.
This has a serious psychological effect. Parents begin to ask whether it is safe to take their children to Islamic classes. Worshippers think twice before attending prayers. Community events are viewed through a security lens. A place that should provide calm and spiritual strength becomes surrounded by anxiety.
Islam does not ask Muslims to abandon worship because of hostility. But it does require communities to take protection, organisation and vigilance seriously. Preserving the mosque is part of preserving communal faith, especially in societies where Muslims are a minority.
Anti-Muslim Racism Is Not a Marginal Problem
Rima Hanano, one of CLAIM’s executive directors, warned that Muslims are often portrayed primarily as perpetrators, rather than as victims of exclusion and violence.
This imbalance matters. When Muslims are constantly presented through the lenses of suspicion, security and integration failure, their pain becomes invisible. Their victimhood is questioned. Their fear is minimised. Their experiences are treated as secondary.
Hanano warned that experiences of racism reinforce a feeling of not belonging and weaken trust in politics. She also described racism in its various forms, including Islamophobia, antisemitism and xenophobia, as being at an extremely high level.
This point is important. Anti-Muslim racism should not be analysed in isolation from the broader crisis of racism and far-right hostility in Europe. When hatred against one community is normalised, other forms of hatred are usually not far behind. A society that fails to protect one vulnerable group weakens the moral protection of all groups.
How the Report Was Compiled
CLAIM’s assessment drew from reports submitted by 38 counselling and documentation centres across 15 of Germany’s 16 federal states. It also analysed data on politically motivated crime, media reports and direct reports from those affected.
The report recorded incidents regardless of whether they met the legal threshold for criminal prosecution. This is important because many harmful acts may not lead to a conviction, yet still leave serious consequences on the victim.
For Muslim communities, this distinction matters. A woman abused because of her hijab, a child mocked because of a Muslim name, a mosque receiving threats, or a family facing intimidation may all experience fear, humiliation and exclusion, even if the legal system does not treat every case with the same seriousness.
The perspective of those affected was central to the report. This is essential because racism cannot be properly understood only through police files. It must also be understood through the lived reality of those who carry its consequences.
Muslim Children and the Next Generation
As part of his work, Hashemi visits schools and speaks with students about their experiences. He said anti-Muslim racism in Germany is not a marginal phenomenon, but a reality for many people.
Yet despite the seriousness of the crisis, he expressed hope in the younger generation. He said he sees students from different places and backgrounds growing up together, sharing the common goal of finishing school and building a future. In his view, this shared experience may allow the next generation to do better.
This is a powerful reminder. Muslim children in Germany should not inherit fear. They should inherit faith, confidence, dignity and a sense of purpose.
Hashemi also said that young people from immigrant families often see him as a role model: someone with a migrant background, someone who may have come from a disadvantaged neighbourhood, but who still managed to speak on major stages and sit at important tables where people with such backgrounds are not always expected to be present.
For Muslim youth, representation matters. It tells them that their story is not limited by racism, poverty, public prejudice or low expectations.
A Test of Justice and Moral Responsibility
The rise in anti-Muslim racism in Germany is not only a Muslim concern. It is a test of Germany’s moral and political seriousness.
If Muslims are attacked, insulted, discriminated against, threatened at mosques and made to feel they do not belong, then the issue is not only racism against Muslims. It is a failure of justice.
The Qur’an commands justice clearly. Muslims are taught not to respond to hatred with injustice, but also not to accept oppression silently. Communities must document incidents, support victims, strengthen institutions, educate young Muslims with confidence and work with fair-minded allies who reject racism in all its forms.
At the same time, German policymakers must move beyond symbolic concern. CLAIM has urged authorities to strengthen support and protection for those affected, improve investigation and prosecution of anti-Muslim hate crimes, and establish more counselling services.
Such measures are not optional. They are necessary if Muslim communities are to regain trust in public institutions.
Behind Every Number Is a Human Being
The most important message from the report is simple: the numbers are not just statistics.
Behind every case is a person who was insulted, threatened, attacked, excluded or made to feel unsafe. Behind every mosque threat is a community wondering whether prayer will remain secure. Behind every act of discrimination is a family forced to explain to their children why their name, faith or appearance was treated as a problem.
The memory of Hanau reminds Germany where hatred can lead when it is allowed to grow.
Anti-Muslim racism must be named clearly, confronted firmly and rejected publicly. Not after tragedy, not only when violence becomes unavoidable, and not only when reports are published.
For Muslims in Germany, the challenge is to remain firm upon faith, protect their communities, preserve dignity and refuse to disappear from public life.
For Germany, the test is whether it will treat Muslim safety as a national responsibility, or continue to let thousands of incidents pass as another annual statistic.
