Salwan Momika: A Global Symbol of Injustice

Quran burnings: a Nordic speciality of the far-right

As shown by the INTERSECT (Intersecting Flows of Islamophobia) research project, Quran burnings in the Nordic countries had been ongoing since 2018 when Salwan Momika entered the scene in 2023. Before his arrival, it was Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish ethnonationalist and Islamophobic political party Stram Kurs, together with Stop Islamization of Norway (SIAN), who dominated this media circus.

Quran burnings were developed by Paludan after his failed attempt at a political career in Denmark, and he later exported this practice to Sweden. While Sweden had removed its blasphemy laws already back in the 1970s, the removal of blasphemy laws in Norway (2015) and Denmark (2017) made using Quran burnings as a political ritual against immigration possible also in these countries. In Norway, the first public Quran burning took place in 2019, four years after it became legal. Given the massive international critique of Quran burnings in Denmark and Sweden in 2023, Denmark re-introduced a version of the blasphemy law in 2023, making it illegal to burn the Quran in public.

In Sweden, Momika was granted permission for four Quran burnings, all carried out with police protection, but in the aftermath of this, a case was filed against him for hate speech. He was shot dead the night before the verdict against him was to be publicly announced, but since one cannot be convicted posthumously, the charges against him were dropped. However, from the verdict against Momika's friend and co-burner Salwan Najem, we can see how the Stockholm District Court distinguishes between legitimate religious criticism protected by freedom of speech and "hate speech against a group". Here, the court clearly states that Quran burnings are permitted under Swedish law, but that this does not give the green light to make hateful statements, such as claiming that mosques are used for child rape, as Momika said in Arabic while burning the Quran in the summer of 2023. The Social Democrats, who during the debate in 2023 wanted to follow Denmark's lead and introduce a ban on desecration of holy scriptures, abandoned this idea after the murder.

To the surprise of many, less than two weeks after the verdict was made public, the case was elevated to the highest levels of international politics when US Vice President J.D. Vance used it as an example of Europe´s alleged retreat from free speech in his controversial Munich speech.

Quran burnings: a public media ritual

Burning the Quran is not necessarily problematic from an Islamic theological perspective as it can be done to dispose of worn-out and outdated copies. The crucial point is intention, or niyya in Arabic. In public Quran burnings, the intention is criticism of Islam and general opposition to Muslim immigration to Europe. This type of Quran burning can be understood as a media ritual in that it needs to be communicated to a broader public to serve its intended function. Without an audience—participants in the ritual, news consumers, or active social media users—the ritual loses its value. The ideal outcome is to provoke a violent reaction from Muslims, which is then filmed and shared on social media to serve as "proof" that Muslims, in their impassioned objection to Quran burnings, are against freedom of speech, and inherently violent. Therefore, Quran burnings are often performed with the addition of deeply offensive behaviors, such as urinating on the Quran, or wrapping it in bacon. To "maximize" the perceived effect, locations such as mosques or specific countries' embassies are often chosen.

Salwan Momika and Global Islamophobia

Salwan Momika was a different kind of Quran burner in the sense that he was not a white nationalist like Paludan or members of SIAN. He was an Assyrian Iraqi with a Catholic background who became an atheist. He saw himself as a defender of religious minorities in the Middle East, particularly Christians and Yazidis, who were the victims of extreme violence and ethnic cleansing by the Islamic State. He also participated in a Christian militia in northern Iraq before later receiving temporary residency in Sweden.

Momika became a global media phenomenon with a large following on X and TikTok. He publicly supported the Sweden Democrats and Alternative for Germany (AfD), and his anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim stance connected him to other anti-Muslim nationalists around the world, including the English Defence League. On X he frequently expressed his support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the struggle to “protect Hindus from Islam”. While Momika’s X-account was closed in India at the request of the Indian government (probably to avoid communal unrest) prior to his death, this has not prevented massive support for Momika on Indian social media. On accounts that show strong Hindu nationalist commitment, we see support for the so-called “Ex-Muslim Sameer” and others who mediate Quran burnings. In some of these videos, images of Salwan Momika are part of the visual effects.

Momika was also a strong supporter of the Benjamin Netanyahu government in Israel, being particularly active after the 7 October terrorist attacks, often posting pictures of himself with the Israeli flag. This may explain the celebration of Momika’s death on some Gaza activists’ X accounts.

Furthermore, on X, his numerous gross anti-Muslim cartoons (among other things, likening imams to apes) were shared thousands of times across the globe. He was thus an actor in a global co-writing of hatred against Islam and Muslims. In many ways, he is a prime example of global islamophobia, which transcends questions of “whiteness” and white nationalism, connecting a variety of anti-Muslim nationalisms and racisms across the globe.

The geopolitical context of Momika’s rise to fame

Additionally, we must see Momika's surprising fame and impact in the Nordic region in light of two other political contexts. The first concerns the political context in the Middle East. Momika was an actor in his homeland and communicated with an Iraqi- but also a broader Middle Eastern audience. Criticism of him was particularly strong in Iraq, which had significant bilateral consequences for the relationship between Sweden and Iraq. For example, the controversy led to a storming by a mob of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad in July 2023. Iraq also expelled the Swedish ambassador over one of Momika’s planned Quran burning in Stockholm.

Secondly,  the geopolitical conditions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to Swedish aspiration for NATO membership, represents an important backdrop to explain Momika's fame and impact in the Nordic region. When Paludan burned a Quran outside the Turkish embassy in January 2023, followed by Momika's several Quran burnings in the summer of 2023, it attracted significant international attention. Particularly, Turkey's President Erdogan wanted to prevent Swedish NATO membership because of this. He also demanded that Sweden introduces a ban on Quran burnings. Momika's media circus thus had major political consequences.

A Global Symbol of Injustice

The news of Salwan Momika’s murder was met with both celebration and outcry on social media. On the one hand, Muslim online commentators, particularly in Sweden but also in the Middle East, India and Indonesia, see his death as a victory, while others believe he got what he deserved. On the other hand, the far-right considers him a martyr for the legitimate criticism of Islam and freedom of speech. In these circles, Momika is now celebrated across Europe, North America, and India.

A fruitful way to understand Momika is as a global symbol of injustice. For some Muslim online commentators, he serves as a symbol of racism and discrimination against Muslims. For the far-right, he is a freedom icon against Islamic oppression and global Islamic expansionism. Salwan Momika has become a figure in a global theater where various actors on social media honor him or honor his death. Paradoxically, the same person thus functions as an important symbol of injustice for two opposite political positions.

Not surprisingly, the murder has triggered a wave of new Quran burnings by anti-Muslim nationalists and people who see themselves as free speech activists. For example, in the time following the murder, Paludan carried out a series of new Quran burnings outside embassies in Copenhagen, all live-streamed on X. Members of AfD in Germany, who are not allowed to burn the Quran in memory of Momika due to German legal prohibition, asked Elon Musk for help. On social media, Quran burnings are now being spread to honour Momika, which involves the globalization of the phenomenon to new contexts. While not calling for legal prohibition of Quran burnings, I argue that these ritualized media events are not to be seen as a litmus test for freedom of expression as many free speech advocates seem to assert. Rather, they should be seen as a political tool in anti-Muslim and anti-immigration activism across the world.

This is a longer version of an op-ed published in Norwegian in Aftenposten.