The spokesperson for the Belgian Muslim League, Farid El Machaoud said that mosques in Belgium don’t have enough space for all those who come for Friday prayers. “The Muslim population continues to grow and more and more youth go to the mosque,” says El Machaoud. In addition, he added that in big cities, there is significant shortage of adequate space – including the cities of Hasselt, Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, Liege, Charleroi, and Doronik. The imam’s popularity also plays a role in this, where popular imam’s draw larger crowds, and less popular imam’s leave empty space in prayer areas.
