The Saudi origins of Belgium's Islamist threat

Analysts point to the inroads made in Belgium by the more conservative, orthodox brand of Islam espoused by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is the consequence of actual policy. In 1978, the Saudi-backed Great Mosque of Brussels opened its doors; the elegant building and land where it sat had been a gift by Belgium’s then-king to his Saudi counterpart a decade prior.

It became the seat of Islamic activity in Belgium. A 2007 leaked U.S. diplomatic cable, published by the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks, detailed how the Saudi Embassy in Brussels has continued to provide Korans to myriad mosques in the country and help pay for the upkeep of the structures. Saudi Arabia also invested in training the imams who would preach to a growing Muslim diaspora in European countries, including in Belgium.

Observers say the Salafist dogma of the Saudi-funded clerics active in many mosques in Belgium stood in contrast to the traditional beliefs of the mostly working-class Moroccan and Turkish immigrants who first arrived in the country in the 1960s and 1970s.

“The Moroccan community comes from mountainous regions and rift valleys, not the desert. They come from the Maliki school of Islam, and are a lot more tolerant and open than the Muslims from other regions like Saudi Arabia,” George Dallemagne, a Belgian politician, told the Independent last year. “However, many of them were re-Islamified by the Salafist clerics and teachers from the Great Mosque. Some Moroccans were even given scholarships to study in Medina, in Saudi Arabia.”

“Today, in Brussels, 95 percent of the courses offered on Islam for Muslims are operated by young preachers trained in Saudi Arabia,” Michael Privot, director of the Brussels-based European Network Against Racism, said in an interview with an Italian journalist. “There is a huge demand within Muslim communities to know about their religion, but most of the offer is filled by a very conservative Salafi type of Islam sponsored by Saudi Arabia. Other Muslim countries have been unable to offer grants to students on such a scale.”

But the wider legacy of Saudi policies has been increasingly noticed and criticized, particularly in Europe.

“Wahhabi mosques are financed all over the world by Saudi Arabia. In Germany, many dangerous Islamists come from these communities,” Sigmar Gabriel, a leading German politician, said in December. An unusually blunt memo, circulated around the same time, from Germany’s chief intelligence agency attacked the Saudis for the supposedly destabilizing role they play in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Earlier this month, the Dutch government voted to ban arms sales to Saudi Arabia, an act symbolic both of European frustration with the Saudis and anger at the kingdom’s continued, heavy-handed war effort in neighboring Yemen.

Keen to secure oil contracts, Belgium’s King Baudouin made an offer to Saudi King Faisal, who had visited Brussels in 1967: Belgium would set up a mosque in the capital, and hire Gulf-trained clerics.

At the time, Belgium was encouraging Moroccan and Turkish workers to come into the country as cheap labour. The deal between the two Kings would make the mosque their main place of worship.

Brussels already had the perfect place. An oriental pavilion designed by Belgian architect Ernest Van Humbeek had been built in the capital’s Cinquantenaire park in 1879, but was falling into disuse. The 1967 deal gave the Saudis a 99-year, rent-free lease. The pavilion was refashioned by the Saudis, opening in 1978 as the Great Mosque of Brussels, as well as the seat of the Islamic and Cultural Centre of Belgium (ICC).

Mr Dallemagne says the Salafist clerics have tried to undermine attempts by Moroccan immigrants to integrate into Belgium. “We like to think Saudi Arabia is an ally and friend, but the Saudis are always engaged in double-talk: they want an alliance with the West when it comes to fighting Shias in Iran, but nonetheless have a conquering ideology when it comes to their religion in the rest of the world,” he said.

Mr Dallemagne has sponsored many resolutions in the Belgian parliament aimed at loosening ties with Saudi Arabia, and reducing the Salafist influence in Belgium. “We can’t have a dialogue with countries that want to destabilise us,” he says. “The problem is that it is only recently that authorities are finally opening their eyes to this.”

PM begins speech, says King Salman always tells him that he was taught by an Indian teacher, indic'g depth of r ties

Minister Al Falih to PM: @Saudi_Aramco looks to India as its No. 1 target for investment

truthbetold wrote:CD,

The same saudis funded mosques in Hyderabad and Andhra pradesh. They gave huge amounts to MIM supported areas and mosques since 1970s and 1980s.  You have given repeated certificates to the attendees of these mosques and MIM as good muslims.  Are you revising your certifications? Or is this criticism not apply to you and YSR and Congress ? Is it only applicable to a business deal making modi?

confuzzled dude wrote:

truthbetold wrote:CD,

The same saudis funded mosques in Hyderabad and Andhra pradesh. They gave huge amounts to MIM supported areas and mosques since 1970s and 1980s.  You have given repeated certificates to the attendees of these mosques and MIM as good muslims.  Are you revising your certifications? Or is this criticism not apply to you and YSR and Congress ? Is it only applicable to a business deal making modi?

Was YSR the PM of India? Are you saying that less than 6 years of his administration was root of the issues while things were hunky dory under 17 years of TDP rule.

truthbetold wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

truthbetold wrote:CD,

The same saudis funded mosques in Hyderabad and Andhra pradesh. They gave huge amounts to MIM supported areas and mosques since 1970s and 1980s.  You have given repeated certificates to the attendees of these mosques and MIM as good muslims.  Are you revising your certifications? Or is this criticism not apply to you and YSR and Congress ? Is it only applicable to a business deal making modi?

Was YSR the PM of India? Are you saying that less than 6 years of his administration was root of the issues while things were hunky dory under 17 years of TDP rule.

CD,

Contrary to what you are saying, I am saying Modi was just following the tradition of Great YSR, your nemeis CBN, Indira Gandhi,  Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi etc.

truthbetold wrote:YSR went to charminar regularly and begged endlessly. All gandhis, except the real one, were pleading with deobandis and saudis all the time. Rest is optics and your spin.