Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
A royal decree was issued approving the new Belgian Islamic Council as an official representative of Muslims in Belgium and authorizing it to organize elections in order to expand this council. Department of Muslim Affairs in Belgium
Asma Ochan, the first woman to hold a leadership position in the body that handles the affairs of the Muslim community, said that the Belgian Islamic Council; It is a council for Muslims by Muslims. And she added in a post on her social media, "The time has come to write our own story, indicating that the time has come for the new generations to express themselves. She expressed her thanks for the positive attitudes that emerged after announcing the formation of the new council." She is also grateful for all the support, constructive comments, and criticism as well. It is very understandable that change brings certain feelings, but we are convinced that together we can build a common story."
Reactions followed the decision to form the new Islamic Council, and the Islamic preacher Noureddine Al-Taweel said that the Islamic Council does not represent culture.
Academic Ibrahim Laitos said in a post on Facebook, "Full support for the newly established Islamic Council. Now to the final renewal that has been expected for years. Full confidence in the new young and efficient team, in addition to the professional development of the various files in Belgium." Adding, "I am glad to hear that many Muslims applaud and support this initiative.
Some local individuals and organizations should not stop us from giving this council its chance. Because making everyone happy will never happen, but this initiative is promising and reassuring anyway. He noted that unions of mosques and Islamic organizations, which include more than 120 organizations, support the new Islamic Council and move towards real renewal in 2024. We will fully support that.
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 he is from the French-speaking Walloon part, called Michael Privot, and also two Moroccans with Belgian citizenship, one of whom is from Flanders, Mimoun Akshouh, and the other is a resident of Brussels, called Taha Zaki
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
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.