Brussels : The great mosque will be managed by local actors

The Belgian government announced on Friday that Saudi Arabia is not the official manager of the great mosque of Brussels anymore, reports Belga. The step was taken to implement a recommendation submitted by the parliamentary inquiry committee on terrorist attacks, intending to «put an end to the interference of foreign states in the teaching of Islam in Belgium», said the same source.

A one-year period was given to plan the new structure, to which the Muslim Executive of Belgium and the local community there will contribute to. The two sides will manage the Great Mosque and train Imams too.

In fact, Belgium leased the Grand Mosque to Riyadh in 1969, allowing the Saudi-backed imams to preach Muslim immigrants in return of cheaper oil, reports Reuters. Raising concerns regarding the wave of radicalism in the country, Belgium believes that «these imams might be growing seeds of radical Islam among the Muslim community». One of the imams of the Grand mosque had «been deprived of his residence permit in Belgium last year for being linked to a Salafist movement».