A White Supremacist Stabbed A Muslim Man 15 Times Because of His Faith

National Media Is Ignoring It And American Muslims Are Seeing The Hate Escalate

On Monday afternoon, Sohail was working at a kiosk in the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City, Utah. Suddenly, 48-year-old Peter Michael Larsen approached him and asked Sohail if he was Muslim. Sohail confirmed that he was.

Larsen pulled out a knife and stabbed Sohail fifteen times.

Court documents confirm Larsen was “religiously motivated.” Police say he told them he targeted Sohail due to his religion—and that he had intended to kill him—indeed that he wanted to “kill all Muslims.” Larsen was arrested shortly after on charges of attempted murder and prohibited dangerous weapon conduct.

A man was stabbed fifteen times in an American shopping mall because he said yes when someone asked if he was Muslim. My mind echoed back to Wadea Al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old Palestinian child stabbed to death by his white supremacist landlord in 2023. This hate is connected, and if we do not act, it will continue to get worse. Let’s Address This.

Larson (left), a staunch Trump supporter and white supremacist who attacked Sohail (right) by stabbing him 15 times.

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My Response To The Anti-Muslim Hate Crime

This should be the top story on every national news broadcast. Instead—almost nothing. White supremacy terrorism continues to go ignored The silence from national media is as loud as it is predictable. That silence is not neutral. It is complicity.

A Snapshot of What American Muslims Experience Daily

I want to show you something painful—content warning ahead. What happened to Sohail in Utah is not separate from what lands in my inbox, my messages, and my comment sections every single day—often dozens or even hundreds of times a day. As you read these, ask yourself, is this sustainable for our society?

Robert Denby sent an unsolicited message reading: “I hope someone slashes your throat.”

Denby threatened me with exactly how Larsen attacked Sohail. Sadly, this is not the exception, but the norm that I and countless American Muslims experience daily.

Joel Kingera wrote: “You’re a f---ing piece of sh-t, Islamic motherf---er who is a piece of f---ing sh-t and I was sh-t on you… I was sh-tting your kids… And I would f---ing pissed down your throat when you’re on fire you f---ing piece of sh-t Islamic motherf---er.”

Norm Gibson wrote: “The less Muslims in the US the better.”

I responded: “Fewer. The grammatically correct word is fewer. If you’re going to be in my country the USA at least try to insult in coherent English. Otherwise you look incredibly dumb along with your bigotry.”

Christopher Fjeld sent me a private message: “You’re one dumb f--- little b---h I’d love to have my f---ing hands around your f---ing throat you piece of f---ing lying garbage. Islam is a f---ing cancer and must be eradicated. Muhammad is a f---ing punk piece of sh-t He is garbage and so are you Islam is f---ing garbage you f---ing c---.”

Chris Greenz sent me a photo of a bullet-riddled car windshield and wrote: “Stop spreading false information or I will have thousands report your page and get it shut down.”

An anonymous email arrived this week addressed to me, calling me a “race baiter who has no place in America,” using a vile racial slur, and closing with: “before we start cleaning house.”

And then there is the image—circulated widely in right-wing online spaces—reading “To All Muslims, Somalis, & Illegals in America” above an AI-generated American flag middle finger.

I share these not for sympathy, but because they are evidence. Evidence of what unchecked, politically sanctioned, media-amplified Islamophobia produces at the individual level—the same ideology that produced Peter Michael Larsen’s knife. And for those asking if I report these to the authorities, yes, as often as possible. But how do you report dozens of death threats a day? And to whom?

These are not isolated unhinged individuals. These are the predictable output of a political and media ecosystem that has spent years propagandizing Muslims as “the enemy.” This is not only unsustainable, it is inevitably dangerous and deadly.

This Did Not Come From Nowhere

Donald Trump launched his political career on the Muslim ban, falsely claimed Muslims celebrated 9/11, ranted unhinged that “Islam hates us,” then enacted multiple Muslim bans. MAGA Republicans have made “Shariah Law” the new red scare, ignoring the crumbling economy and rising poverty in the United States, to instead focus on passing “anti-shariah” laws. And meanwhile, too many politicians on the left remain cowardly silent, too afraid to speak up for Americans who are Muslim, even as they are violently targeted for their faith.

Peter Michael Larsen’s hate did not magically appear—it was grifted to him by politicians, pundits, and a click bait media ecosystem that profits off anti-Muslim hate. Fortunately, Sohail survived. But this should never have happened in the first place. He lived his life as a Muslim, as our Constitution protects. And a Trump supporter tried to kill him for it. Now, just imagine the outrage if the roles were reversed?

One thing is clear, we have work to do.

A Final Ask

Because the above messages—and the knife in that Utah mall—are designed to do one thing: divide us. To make Muslim Americans afraid to participate in public life. To make other Americans afraid of their Muslim neighbors. To manufacture the very conflict that right-wing politicians need to sustain their base and their power.

I refuse to give them that. And I am asking you to refuse it too.

Reject the culture wars being waged against your Muslim American neighbors. Reject the anti-Muslim hate being laundered through the legislative chambers.And call out the silence of politicians who cower when asked to stand up for Muslim Americans too.

I am not stopping. I will keep writing, I will keep documenting, I will keep speaking, and I will keep marching for justice. I will continue to show up—for Sohail, for every Muslim American who received a threat this week and did not have a platform to name it. I will continue to show up for the multiracial, multifaith coalition of Americans who believe that justice is not a resource to be rationed but a right to be extended to everyone.

But my friends, this work requires support. Independent media—free from billionaire ownership, free from corporate advertiser pressure, free from the political calculations that keep national outlets from covering Sohail’s stabbing as the top story it should be—runs on the people who believe in it.

If this matters to you, if this work has given you clarity, context, or the language to fight back against disinformation and hate—please become a free or paid subscriber to Let’s Address This.

Your support is how this fight continues.

And right now, it has never been more necessary.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.