Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Belgium recognized the Islamic religion in 1974, but the first mosque built by Muslims preceded that years, and the construction of the first mosque dates back to the sixties, which witnessed the arrival of large numbers of immigrant workers, especially from Morocco and Turkey, and they came to contribute to rebuilding what was destroyed by World War II. And in statements to the "Europe and the Arabs" website The most prominent Islamic preacher in Belgium, Nur al-Din al-Taweel, says, “The Belgian priest, Frans Veracher, helped us in the late sixties of the last century in building the first mosque in Belgium, and a large part of my family participated in its construction, including my father, may God have mercy on him, and my uncles.”
Sheikh Noureddine adds, "The first mosque appeared in Hoboken" of the city of Antwerp "at the end of the sixties. The priest Frans Verachert of the Church of St. Joseph in the county of Mauritiusburg was behind this initiative. Moroccan guest workers lived in Hoboken, often employed by Metallurgy. The priest carried out a charitable activity for Moroccan migrant workers with a range of activities such as mediation in housing, distribution of furniture and clothes, summoning doctors, etc. But the priest was also of the opinion that "there is a danger that they will lose their Islamic religion, in which they place many values, if they cannot from practicing their religion.” To meet the religious need of the local Muslim community, the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Vorselaar donate a plot of land from their garden to build an Islamic center. With the help of Bouworde, the Muslim community laid the foundation stone for the first mosque in Hoboken
Hundreds of thousands of Moroccans currently live in Belgium, and the first generation of them, who arrived at the end of the fifties and early sixties, brought in women and children from the country of origin, and there have been successive generations of them, and they have become an active part in the fabric of Belgian society. Federal or local parliaments, doctors, lawyers, journalists and others, as they constitute the largest part in the public mosque of the executive body that looks after the affairs of Muslim communities in Belgium