The difficult mosque: Securitisation and Islamophobia in the Finnish ‘Grand Mosque’ project and their impact on freedom of religion and equality for Finnish Muslims

Helsinki is currently one of the few European capitals without a purpose-built mosque, and throughout Europe, Muslims have faced numerous difficulties in constructing them. At the same time, Muslims and Islam are increasingly securitised and subjected to Islamophobic rhetoric. This article analyses a failed Finnish ‘Grand Mosque’ project in Helsinki in 2015–2017. During the project, the media and authorities expressed concerns about the foreign funding of the mosque, as well as the expected lack of cooperation between different Muslim communities in the project. An analysis of the project’s official material clearly shows that the authorities did not treat the ‘Grand Mosque’ project like other similar projects. This article argues that securitisation and Islamophobic narratives played a major role in the process and eventually led to its differential treatment, which had negative consequences from the perspective of equality and non-discrimination as well as religious freedom, not only for the applicants, but also for the wider Muslim community. Instead of imposing constraints on mosque construction projects, the authorities should take positive steps towards the realisation of religious freedom and (substantive) equality for Muslims.