ISLAM is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

Islamist political party. It aims at the establishment of an

Islamic state An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

in Belgium and the replacement of the current and historically existing legal system in Belgium ( civil law) with

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

. The party claims to "wait" for Belgium to "inevitably become an Islamic state".

History

The party's founder is Redouane Ahrouch, who helped establish one of the first

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

mosques A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, i ...

in Brussels in the early 1990s. He was first active in the Noor party, which had limited success in the parliamentary elections of 1999 (0.15%) and 2003 (0.14%), before continuing his political work more successfully under the new name 'Islam'. The party was founded with the intention of participating in the 2012 local elections. Lists were submitted in the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

and

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

. In Anderlecht and Molenbeek, one seat was won with just over 4% of the votes. In Brussels, party chairman Abdelhay Bakkali Tahiri narrowly mised being elected with 2.9% of the votes. Both seats were lost in the 2018 local elections. In 2014, the party ran lists in the federal and regional elections in Brussels and Liege. They obtained a total of 13,719 votes, or 0.2% of the vote. In the 2018 local elections, the party obtained 1.8% of the vote in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and 1.6% in the City of Brussels. In Anderlecht, the party's list had been discarded, preventing Redouane Ahrouch from standing for re-election. As a result, the party no longer has any local councillors. The party has been condemned for some of its ideology by Belgian politicians, including

Olivier Maingain Olivier D. A. Gh. Maingain (born 3 August 1958) is a Belgian francophone politician and former president of DéFI. Biography After graduating as Master of Laws he qualified as a lawyer in 1982. In 1983 he became president of the FDF Youth. He wa ...

Theo Francken Theo Francken (born 7 February 1978) is a Belgian politician who has been a member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2010. He is a member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a conservative Flemish nationalist party. Francken was made ...

and

Zuhal Demir Zuhal Demir (born 2 March 1980 in Genk) is a Belgian lawyer and politician affiliated to the N-VA. Demir was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010. She is currently the Flemish minister for Justice and Enforceme ...

Ideology

The leaders of the party claim to "fight for the rights of all Muslims. According to Ricardo Gutiérrez, a journalist specializing in religious beliefs, "this party is relatively close to, or in line with, the Iranian Shiites." In the 2012 Belgian municipal elections, the party focused its program on three specific demands in the field of education: the distribution of halal meals in canteens, the authorization of the wearing of headscarves in schools and the granting of confessional days off. Subsequently, the demands were extended to other areas, advocating for a healthy economy, a revaluation of work (in particular through a reduction in working hours), a change in the organization of schools (a four-day week. with Friday as a day off and an extension of basic education which would begin a year earlier and take a year off at secondary school) and a decentralised Europe of 750 provinces. The party also advocates for

gender segregation Sex segregation, sex separation, gender segregation or gender separation is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their biological sex. Sex segregation can refer simply to the physical and spatial separation by sex w ...

on public transportation.

References

{{Belgian_political_parties 2012 establishments in Belgium Conservative parties in Belgium Far-right politics in Belgium Islamic political parties Islamic fundamentalism Political parties established in 2012 Political parties in Belgium Social conservative parties Shia Islamic political parties