Belgium Quran Academy Celebrates 25th Anniversary
The director of the Academy, Ibrahim Letoush said that the academy, founded in 1989, is considered to be one of the most important institutions in the teaching of the Quran not only in Belgium but also on the European level.
“It is a great day for me because my 17-year old son Anas today has become an Hafiz (one who memorizes the whole Quran)” he said.
The ceremony in particular honoured Mustfa Al Diwani from Morocco who is engaged in teaching the Quran since 1975 earlier in France and now in the Academy in Ghent.
Up to 15 young boys and girls who are now huffaz (memorized the whole Quran) were also awarded prizes including a trip for pilgrimage to Mecca. The youngest one is 15 years old. Another two hundred are now learning the Quran at the Academy.
Letoush said they were all born and brought up in Belgium and can now become Imams or scholars. He noted that it is very difficult to find Imams and scholars who were raised in Belgium and understand the Belgian and European context.
“But what we saw here today is that it is possible to train and educate Imams who are born and brought up in Belgium,” he said.
Letoush stressed that “all of them are going at the same time to Belgian schools and are doing good in their studies. They are combining the two studies and the two disciplines,” he said.
“Most of our young Muslims who take the extreme path know hardly anything about the Quran. If you ask them how much of the Quran you memorized, they will say perhaps a few surahs (chapters) and their understanding of the Quran is not correct,” he said.
“We have to invest in our generation. The only way is to teach the correct understanding of the Quran,” he added. There are about 25,000 Muslims mainly from Morocco living in Ghent. An estimated 600,000 Muslims live all over Belgium.
Source: Muslim Village
