Authorisation withheld for Grand Mosque

The Belgian government has refused permission for the Grand Mosque of Brussels – for decades financed by Saudi Arabia – to be recognised and receive funding as a local faith community, after security services told federal justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne it had been infiltrated by ‘Moroccan spies’. “I cannot and will not accept that foreign regimes hijack Islam for ideological or political motives, try to call the shots here and prevent Muslims in our country from developing their own progressive Islam,” Van Quickenborne said.