Twenty-five years after the 11 September 2001 attacks, researchers and equality officials say their legacy still shapes how some Muslims in Belgium are perceived and treated.
Scholars who study Islam in Europe, including Nadia Fadil of KU Leuven, Abdellali Hajjat of Paris Nanterre University and Elsa Mescoli of the University of Liège, say 9/11 was not the sole cause of this shift, but a clear starting point.
Subsequent attacks in Madrid in 2004, London in 2005, Paris in 2015 and Brussels in 2016 reinforced a trend in public debate linking Islam more closely with radicalisation and security.
'Securitisation'
In academic literature, this is often described as “securitisation”, a concept developed in particular by political scientists Barry Buzan and Ole Waever. It refers to a process in which a social or religious issue is increasingly treated as a security risk rather than as a cultural or religious matter.
Researchers say this does not mean Western societies have become uniformly hostile towards Muslims. Rather, it reflects a lasting change in how some politicians, media outlets and members of the public interpret issues related to Islam.
After 2001, debates about Islam were no longer tied only to immigration and integration. They also became increasingly linked to counter-terrorism, radicalisation and extremism.
Belgium was no exception. The Paris attacks in November 2015, followed by the Brussels attacks in March 2016, had a profound impact on public debate and sped up the adoption of new security measures.
Insults, harassment, rejection, dismissals ...
Belgium’s inter-federal equality body, Unia, says the effect was visible in the cases brought to it. Between 2010 and 2014, reports linked to the climate created by attacks or by anti-terror measures were almost non-existent.
That changed sharply after 2015 and 2016. Unia opened 16 such cases in 2015, 44 in 2016 and 47 in 2017, before the trend gradually eased from 2018 onwards, in the absence of any further large-scale attack on Belgian soil.
Behind those figures are concrete cases. Unia reports people being insulted as “dirty terrorist” in the street or at work, Muslim employees facing harassment, job applicants rejected because a beard was deemed suspicious, and dismissals based on conflating religious practice with radicalisation.
The institution also cites refusals or withdrawals of security clearance, bank account closures, people being flagged for suspected radicalisation, and house searches in cases where those concerned were later cleared.
The other faces of discrimination
Unia says these files capture only part of the picture. They cover only incidents reported to the institution by people who wanted support, but they still point to a climate that took hold in the years after the attacks and had real consequences for some Muslim citizens, or those perceived to be Muslim.
Twenty-five years after 9/11, discrimination has not disappeared. It has instead taken different forms.
In 2025, Unia received 2,502 reports linked to so-called racial criteria, a figure that has been rising steadily since 2022. It opened 757 case files, or more than two a day.
Employment accounted for the largest share, at 26% of cases, followed by life in society at 22% and access to goods and services at 18%. The most commonly reported situations included discrimination in recruitment, harassment at work and refusals to rent housing.
Belgian findings mirror European trends
The Belgian findings mirror wider European trends. In its 2024 survey 'Being Muslim in the EU,' based on responses from nearly 10,000 Muslims in 13 countries, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that 47% said they had experienced discrimination in the previous five years, up from 39% in the last survey in 2016.
The most commonly reported problems concerned employment, housing, education, public services and interactions with law enforcement.
The study also found that many people change their behaviour to avoid discrimination, by being less open about their religion, altering their appearance or turning down professional opportunities.
Research on media coverage shows that, after 9/11, issues related to Islam were more often framed through the lens of security, radicalisation or extremism. While the media are not the source of prejudice, they help shape how certain issues are perceived.
The impact of policies and public debate
Fadil and Hajjat have both argued in their respective fields that security policies and public debate have had a lasting influence on perceptions of Islam in Europe. At the same time, they stress that Muslims’ experiences remain varied and cannot be reduced to these issues alone.
Unia’s annual report also warns that statistics cannot capture the full extent of discrimination. The figures reflect only incidents reported to the institution, whereas many victims never file a complaint, making the data an indicator of trends rather than a complete picture.
A large share of the Muslims now living in Belgium were not yet born in 2001. Yet research suggests the consequences of that day still influence public debate, security policy and some perceptions of Islam.
The legacy of 11 September is therefore no longer limited to the memory of a historic attack. It now raises broader questions about how democratic societies balance the fight against terrorism with the protection of fundamental freedoms and equal treatment for all citizens, at a time when international crises and geopolitical tensions continue to reshape debate around Islam in Europe.
