Press Release
The Belgian Government is pressing for the imposition of a European Islam while others are accepting it willingly!
(Translated)

Yesterday the Belgian Minister of Justice, Koen Geens, urged one of the Islamic organizations to make more efforts in order to call for a European Islam. The minister raised the subject after some of the individuals within that organization expressed their opposition to that idea. Although the idea of ​​a European Islam is not new, in fact it is very old, and it is one of the ideas promoted by Western governments in order to assimilate the Muslims in Western societies, whereas the voices of the political advocates have further increased, accompanied by much rigor and repression.

The government plan is aimed at the development of Islam in line with Western culture, and this is what the Minister Geens is openly calling for. The government has sought in this matter through the fight against extremism programs funded by them, but after the news that three of the members participating in the those programs, and they are Rashid Benzini, Ismail Samidi and Michael Breifut who left their work after they received threatening letters, and the government has exercised a lot of pressure on the organization mentioned above in order to play a key role in this area.

The Head of CD & Fi party who is also a member of the Minister Geens’s party said in the New Year celebrations that the Muslim community must seek to develop a European Islam. As for Yamila Idrissi, member of the Sp.A party has repeated her previous rhetoric for years, and this means that the idea of ​​developing a European Islam has become a European demand and an idea accepted by politicians and decision-makers in Belgium, basically, the call for this idea has become a top priority of the political spectrum.

It has become clear that the pressure exerted by the government on the Muslim community it is to shape it up according to its vision and its view, therefore, the government in recent years began to impose numerous restrictions on Muslims with the purpose of making them submit, such as preventing Muslim women from wearing the head scarf (khimar) in educational institutions, to prevent wearing the face veil (niqab), halal slaughter and the like.

The question that arises is why does the state intervene in the affairs of the Muslim community and is seeking to develop a European Islam for it, while it claims it is impartial with respect to the different religions in the society, and also claims to be working to ensure freedom of the adherents of these religions, and that they can follow their religions as they please? Do Muslims have the right to enjoy freedom of religion like the others? The most important and surprising thing is that the Belgian government wants to impose its vision on Muslims on how they should understand their religion, and how should the education be like in Islamic schools, and what are the matters that can be discussed in the mosques?!

We will not discuss how their anti-Islamic policies and actions taken against Muslims to force them not only to abide by the law, but to embrace Western values ​​and freedoms and its glorification, and of course, abandon the Islamic values ​​and ideals!

Therefore, it is incumbent on the Muslim community not to remain silent, but they must speak with one unified voice, and to send a clear message to some of the sons of the Muslim community who are receiving material support from the government and they in return are providing initiatives for the so-called development of Islam, and they claim that the European Islam has become an urgent necessity. One of the imams of the mosques named Ibrahim Litos stated that the so-called European Islam is "the only correct version" - such a call has no basis in Islam and such people do not represent the Muslim community.

Instead of addressing the problems faced by people around the world and the causes of these problems, which is the corruption of the capitalist system, these handful individuals carry out their conspiracies with the West, and work to keep the capitalist West dominant over the Muslims. We say to those who have accepted the so-called European Islam: they will only attain humiliation and shame if they continued in this betrayal.

And we remind you of the words of Al-Farouk Omar bin al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him: "We are people Allah made victorious with Islam, and whenever we seek victory in other than Islam, Allah humiliates us."

Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir
in The Netherlands