Typical.

Here we are again. 

Back in the 90s there was this sci-fi show on tv, I don't even recall what the plot was. It had to do with a society where people used holograms in combination with a drug to produce false reality experiences. On of the main characters had overused the drug and would get recurring hallucinations that where he saw a mosque, he was overwhelmed by the experience and had to lie sit down and pray, no matter where he was. 
One time the guy was taking part in some terror mission (there was some kind of war against an oppressive regime going on) and he saw the mosque and had to sit down and pray right there.

This scene made me feel like
> I wonder what it's like to have such a strong religious experience
it didn't make me believe in anything, but like Mulder in the X-files, it made me want to believe.

Everything in media presented in Islam negatively, as just terrorism and they used 9/11 to further that agenda. 

Fast forward to 2006 and I was walking on a tourist street in Stockholm when an imam with traditional clothing, turban and long beard, stepped out and got my attention, but he didn't say anything. He just held a card saying "Discover Islam" and there was the name of his mosque.

I just said "no thanks" and kept walking, but that one moment cleared away all negative concepts I had of Islam in an instant. The scene played up in my mind later during the day, how that guy with the beard was a perfect expression of peace, he wasn't trying to force anything on me, and by doing nothing at all he removed everything I thought I knew about Islam.

I thought nothing of this again, but the experience did change something fundamental inside me. Fast forward again and after 2015 a lot of muslims started coming here, I had already met a few at my workplace, including worked with a few teen girls from Syria and Lebanon. The main thing is that I never felt any hostility from them, unlike everyone else. Perfectly normal locals are often very hostile, and always have been, constant shit-talking and negativity. I never experienced anything like this with those from the Islamic world.

This was when things started being more intrusive. Women in hijab would physically lean against me when going on public transportation, intentionally "fall" backwards pressing their butt against me and so on. One time I was going for an appointment, checked the address online and went there. It was a regular apartment building. I saw a sign saying to take off my shoes, and there was a sign in arabic. Whatever, this had become common. I went inside and it was a mosque. Again a perfect image of peace, there was a guy silently praying on the middle of the mat.

I left again, called the place I was going to and found out I was 20 min away from the real location.

...