Belgium Approves 18 Female Islamic Theologians for Mosque Leadership Roles

According to La Dernière Heure, De Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws, who report the information, the 18 new theologians, as well as the 4 additional advisers for the EMB, will represent 780,000 euros gross per year, and will be borne by the FPS Justice, which pays the salaries of all the Ministers of Worship, recognized in Belgium.

Regarding the profiles, the candidates must hold a higher education diploma or a Master’s degree demonstrating their knowledge of the Islamic religion. Candidates who have obtained a degree in Religious Sciences at a foreign university will also be eligible. However, they will have to know Dutch or French, specifies the Muslim Post.

As for the role that these women will play, the President of the EMB reassures that they will not fulfill the function of an imam. "The idea would rather be to organize one or two conferences per week in the mosque, for women," says Mehmet Ustun, who says he has noticed that few women attend mosques due to the lack of infrastructure dedicated to them.

For Nadia Fadil, professor at Kuleuven, specialist in contemporary Islam, this proposal echoes the aspirations of Muslim women: "There is already a movement of feminization of mosques," she notes, adding that "women who have studied in Morocco, professors of Islamic religion who give lectures or courses, are seen as references". For her part, Nadia Fadil points out that "the will of the EMB is to institutionalize these roles, in the image of what already exists in Morocco, with the "morchidat".

For the Executive, hiring 18 women also symbolizes the desire to spread an Islam more in line with Belgian society. "We are convinced that the values of Islam and Western values do not oppose each other," said Mehmet Ustun, who assures that the call for applications will be launched by the end of the year.