Source: Reuters
By Alissa de Carbonnel, Stephen Kalin
BRUSSELS/RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has agreed to give up control of Belgium’s largest mosque in a sign that it is trying to shed its reputation as a global exporter of an ultra-conservative brand of Islam.
Belgium leased the Grand Mosque to Riyadh in 1969, giving Saudi-backed imams access to a growing Muslim immigrant community in return for cheaper oil for its industry.
But it now wants to cut Riyadh’s links with the mosque, near the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels, over concerns that what it preaches breeds radicalism.
Categories: Belgium, Europe, Middle East, Mosque, Saudi Arabia, The Muslim Times