Belgian Alarm over Spread of Saudi-Backed Wahhabism

Local Editor

Belgium's terror monitoring center expressed concerns about the spread of Saudi- and Gulf-backed Wahhabism in the country, according to an official report published in local media Wednesday.

The OCAM national crisis center said the austere Sunni doctrine of Wahhabism preached in an increasing number of Belgian mosques was getting financial support from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, according to the report quoted in Flemish-language daily De Standaard.

Belgium had been on high alert since three suicide bombers attacked Zaventem Airport and the Brussels metro system in March 2016, killing 32 people.

"We believe that a growing number of mosques and Islamic centers in Belgium, like the rest of Europe, are under the influence of Wahhabism, the Salafist missionary apparatus," the center said.

"We also note that the imams of these mosques are regularly being 'salafized' or are already 'salafized'," it added.

Saudi Arabia is the cradle of Wahhabism, which had been accused of inspiring extremist ideologies across the Muslim world.

The Belgian official report said Saudi authorities had set up a "generous" bursary scheme for Muslim students from other countries.

"They are strongly encouraged to become imams in their Belgian mosques or be active in proselytizing in Belgium or more widely in French-speaking or Dutch-speaking areas," it said, as cited by De Standaard daily.

"The Saudi authorities and the Wahhabist establishment have clearly settled on this method to reinforce the influence of the doctrine and practice of Wahhabism in Muslim communities in Europe," it said.

Belgium has a long-running problem with radicalization, producing what officials said is the highest number of militants going to fight in Syria and Iraq in proportion to its population of any EU country.

Police arrested 11 people in house raids in Brussels on Wednesday in connection with insurgents returning from Syria, prosecutors said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team