The Muslim Executive of Belgium (EMB) wants to establish a training seminar for Imams, said Salah Echallaoui, president of the representative body of the Islamic cult and the Muslim community in Belgium, on the 9th of September to Le Soir, a daily newspaper. «At the moment, we are forced to take imams from abroad because we do not have them here. Our seminar will be used to train these foreign imams who arrive in Belgium, to provide continuous training to recognized imams and to offer initial training to those who would like to become imams in the future,» says the president of the EMB. The seminar will assume a role that does not belong to the «Institute for the Promotion of Formations on Islam». As was pointed out by the Council of State to the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, it is not up to public institutions to train imams in the name of non-interference in politics in religious affairs. The EMB will have to create an Islamic theology faculty in the future, possibly inter-university and ideally bilingual. «The day when the faculty will exist, there will be no need for a seminar,» says Salah Echallaoui. He adds: «I want to be clear : we are not trying to torpedo the work in progress at all. We are asking for this faculty.» However, the organization of this training seminar will require funding. «That's why we want to work with all the partners : the federal government and the communities,» concludes the president of the EMB.
