Rabat – During the holy month of Ramadan, a group of 67 Moroccan imams and women preachers, called “morchidats,” are officiating at mosques and Islamic places of worship in Belgium.
The group arrived Thursday evening in Brussels, according to Morocco’s state-owned news agency Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).
Earlier this month, it was announced that Moroccan Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs would send 400 imams and morchidates to European countries, including France and Italy.
This is not the first time Morocco has assigned imams to officiate at European mosques. Last Ramadan, 70 imams and morchidates held conferences in various Spanish mosques.
The trip was designed to spread the morals and precepts of Islam as a religion that “bans violence and extremism, as encouraged by Morocco” to members of the Moroccan community in Spain, according to Federation of the Union of Mosques president Abdelaziz El Moudden.
Morocco’s vision of a tolerant Islam and fight against extremism is enacted through the program of imam training in the Institute Mohamed VI located in Rabat.
In July 2015, Morocco announced the creation of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the African Ulema intended to “unify and coordinate the efforts of Ulema Muslims in Morocco and other African states in order to promote the values of a tolerant Islam.”
