Cabinet wants to tackle “wrong money” to mosques | Interior

This further shapes an intention from the coalition agreement. The government wants a ban on financing from non-free countries for social and religious organizations. “These are countries that do not have freedom of religion, freedom of expression or freedom of association,” said Minister Koolmees (Social Affairs).

Whether the intention can also be turned into action is still unclear. Koolmees first wants advice from the Council of State “in view of the complexity of such measures.”

Ordinary quarrel

A special interrogation committee of MPs is currently investigating unwanted money flows to mosques. The interrogation of Imam Salam from the Utrecht alFitrah mosque led to an ordinary quarrel, where the clergyman showed no respect for the representation of the people and gave no answers to a number of questions asked.

It is feared in parliament that Gulf states try to spread extremist Islamic ideas in the Netherlands through substantial donations. The committee conducts interrogations and carries out its own research to come up with proposals to tackle these money flows and influences.

Great effort

The fact that two-and-a-half years after he took office, Great Tit himself does not come up with a plan to tackle the cash flows, indicates that the government has great difficulty in implementing the wishes of the coalition agreement.

This is partly due to constitutional freedoms with regard to association and religion. For example, The Hague has long been a thorn in the eye that mosques can offer Koran lessons to children, without the government being able to monitor whether they are taking place in accordance with Dutch legislation. A Koran lesson is not officially an education and therefore falls outside the competence of the Education Inspectorate.

Koran lesson

In this week’s Chamber hearings, it became clear that children at the alFitrah mosque were given no fewer than fourteen hours of Koran lessons, where they were told, among other things, that celebrating Sinterklaas and Christmas was not good.

These celebrations would, after all, be Christian and therefore taboo. The House also has concerns about what children are taught about homosexuality, polygamy and marriage. Lessons found from Saudi Arabia did not promise much good.

The mayor of Utrecht Van Zanen once explored whether the Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate could be sent to the mosque, but this proved impossible. He advised the committee to come up with a proposal to set up a service that could still watch the Koran lessons.

Tackle drivers

So far, the government has gone no further than tackling administrators in mosques that do not abide by rules. There is also a law in the pipeline with which there should be more transparency regarding foreign financing.

According to Koolmees, this is “a first step” towards understanding the nature and size of money flows. Tackling it is a second and advice is now being sought from the Council of State.

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