Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The formation of the Belgian Interim Islamic Council was announced in Brussels, and it came in the form of an association that includes four personalities who are activists in the field of Islamic work. They will be led by Mrs. Asma Oshan, who was born in northern Belgium but of Turkish origin. With her is a Belgian academic who studied Arabic and Islamic philosophy and is from the French-speaking Walloon part, and also two Moroccans with Belgian citizenship, one from Flanders and the other from Brussels.
The association will prepare and prepare for the establishment of a new Islamic council in Belgium in an expanded manner, according to what the Ilamic preacher in Belgium, Sheikh Nur al-Din al-Taweel said. It used to take care of the affairs of Islamic communities in Belgium, including administrative affairs, appointing teachers of Islamic education, and others. Consult them, give them this task, and give them a budget from the state. For this reason, the association was established, which consists of four people. The aim of them is to expand this council and search for a way to represent Muslims. Regarding the extent of his knowledge of the members of the association or the temporary council, Al-Taweel said that he knows them well. Two of them are from the Flanders region. The president of the association, and she used to preside over the association of Muslim students studying in Belgian universities. She is an empowered academic, and we know her well. Or is the other person, Maymoun Akshouh, who is the head of the Federation of Mosques in the “Flemish or Dutch-speaking” region of Flanders. The federation includes 90 mosques, and he previously formed a committee of experts that worked For two years, he has been consulting with mosque federations in all regions of Belgium, and we have confidence in him to complete the process
Sheikh Noureddine noted that the main goal is to enable young people to manage Muslim affairs and avoid the mistakes of the past, which were focused on different ethnicities, but this discrimination will not exist in the future, but rather the search will be for the best, especially from young people, especially those who have awareness, language and knowledge of the law, and we are on our side We will support them and call on the Muslim community to unite the ranks and preserve this institution from external influences because in the past there was interference from foreign countries and we hope to see a strong institution, God willing, to serve Muslims and the Belgian community

  It is noteworthy that in December 2020 the debate broke out again in the Grand Mosque or the Islamic Center Mosque in Brussels, and in light of accusations against elements of the new administration of espionage in favor of Morocco. since last year
However, these statements angered the deputy head of the Executive Authority for Muslims, Salah Al-Shalawi, who is of Moroccan origin, and he submitted his resignation. According to local media, he denied the accusations, and confirmed that the authority's files are managed with the utmost transparency, without any external influence. Members of the Belgian legislative councils also discussed Turkey's influence on some mosques and Islamic associations in Belgium
Belgium recognized Islam among the official religions in the country in 1974, and these religions are recognized by the Ministry of Justice also under the Belgian constitution.
There are about one million Muslim citizens in Belgium, which has a population of 11 million and 400 thousand people. About 450,000 of the country's Muslims are of Moroccan descent and 300,000 are of Turkish origin.