A man stands over a flag of Sweden during a demonstration in Quetta on July 7, 2023, as they protest against the burning of the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque that outraged Muslims around the world.
BANARAS KHAN / AFP
The man who told young Muslims democracy is a "great sin" is reportedly connected to an Islamist group banned in many countries.
The scrapping of the term ‘Islamophobia’ is one thing. But a lecture recently delivered to Swedish students suggests that the country’s political class has a lot more to do in what it describes as its fight against Islamist infiltration.
A man who calls himself Yosef Ahmad on social media has recently shared footage of himself telling young Muslims in Sweden that democracy is incompatible with their religion, because it gives politicians the mandate to decide what is ‘halal’ (allowed) and ‘haram’ (forbidden) instead of Allah.
Reports say Ahmad is connected to Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organisation banned in multiple countries, including in the UK and Germany. It has even been banned in several Muslim countries.
According to the Doku Foundation, which examines the Islamist environment in Sweden, Hizb ut-Tahrir “advocates that Muslims best protect themselves and their children by studying Islam, as an ideology in stark contrast to secular democracy, in order to avoid becoming receptive to other ideas and thereby counteract assimilation.”
Ahmad’s reported association with the group would, then, explain his views. In one video, which has received a mass of attention on social media, he told students
[Democracy] is an idea that is a sharp contradiction to Islam and the most fundamental parts of Islam. It is haram to call for democracy and it is haram to believe in democracy.
He also described democracy as a “great sin.”
Responding to these comments, Swedish teacher Simone Svensson said it was “utterly terrifying that this radicalised anti-democratic Islamist is allowed to spread his poison.”
Reports say Ahmad has previously insisted that “Islam will prevail. Islam will spread. Islam will be preserved.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
