Belgian Justice Minister Delays Muslim Council Recognition, Sparking Controversy

Established in June 2023 to replace the Executive of Muslims of Belgium, considered ineffective and not very transparent by the Belgian authorities, the Muslim Council of Belgium (CMB) had the heavy task of obtaining within two years a wide adherence of mosques, prison chaplains, religion teachers, etc. in order to become a representative body of the Muslim community. Its final recognition was therefore supposed to take place during this month of June 2025. But on June 20 last, the Minister of Justice, Annelies Verlinden, postponed this recognition by one year, on the grounds that the CMB is still not representative. A decision that has sparked a wave of comments and concerns about the future of the Muslim faith in Belgium.

"The decision of Minister Verlinden is incomprehensible. The CMB has done what was asked of it: it has been able to bring together around it 65% of the mosques, it has organized internal elections on May 31 to renew its board of directors. While the majority wishes to remove Islam in Belgium from any foreign interference, including that of the Muslim Brotherhood, it is depriving itself of a body that could have favored this. It is really paradoxical..." criticized the Flemish liberal Paul Van Tigchelt, former Minister of Justice and Open VLD opposition MP.

The Muslim community in Belgium is very diverse. Coming from several countries, with different theological and ideological currents, the Muslim communities do not interact with each other, preferring to maintain their autonomy. Hence the difficulty of federating the communities. Even the Belgian state is unable to give the exact number of mosques in the country. They are estimated at around 350, according to La Libre. Faced with this difficulty, the minister has shown "prudence" in deciding to postpone the recognition of the CMB by one year, assures her office, adding that the body "continues to carry out the missions of the representative body and thus ensures the continuity of the public service".

Michaël Privot, outgoing board member of the Muslim Council, also disapproves of this decision which "destabilizes the entire process, at the very moment when the Minister of the Interior is concerned about the interference of the Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium, to whom this situation could allow them to regain control over the Representative Body." The official stressed that "the large Turkish organizations (Diyânet and Milli Görüs) have boycotted the renewal process on the pretext that the CMB would be illegitimate. Although they have lost all their appeals to the Council of State, which has confirmed our legitimacy and the constitutionality of our establishment, they have persisted to the end in not interacting with us, preferring to seek the benevolent ear of the CD&V."