Is Belgium a good place for a Muslim to reside?

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Salaam,

I have some interest in moving to a European nation where there is the greatest tolerance for Muslims, and where I can work as an entrepreneur. I currently live in America and I am an American citizen. I am sick and tired of the hate for Muslims here in America and I cannot stand the intolerance anymore (ex. My name is Mohammed, and thus I am frequently bombarded with “terrorist” jokes).

I want to live in peace and tranquility where people are tolerant and not racist based on race or religion. Europe seems to be a better place. Is Belgium a good place for Muslims to reside and start a business? There are many Muslims in this board from Belgium, so can anybody give me some input? From what I’ve seen, Muslims are the second largest religion after Christianity in Belgium. Do you think it is a better place to stay in than America?

If you know of better European nations where I can live peacefully, please let me know. All suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. I just want to leave as soon as possible.

Thank you.
 
You might wanna private message 'steve'. He's a brother on the forum....I think he is from Belgium.
Peace
 
why does it have to be in europe? why not a muslim country?
 
why does it have to be in europe? why not a muslim country?
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Because I did live in a Muslim country before and the "Muslims" there disgrace me. Also, more economic opportunities are available in Europe.

Thanks.
 
QuranStudy said:
Salaam,

I have some interest in moving to a European nation where there is the greatest tolerance for Muslims, and where I can work as an entrepreneur. I currently live in America and I am an American citizen. I am sick and tired of the hate for Muslims here in America and I cannot stand the intolerance anymore (ex. My name is Mohammed, and thus I am frequently bombarded with “terrorist” jokes).

I want to live in peace and tranquility where people are tolerant and not racist based on race or religion. Europe seems to be a better place. Is Belgium a good place for Muslims to reside and start a business? There are many Muslims in this board from Belgium, so can anybody give me some input? From what I’ve seen, Muslims are the second largest religion after Christianity in Belgium. Do you think it is a better place to stay in than America?

If you know of better European nations where I can live peacefully, please let me know. All suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. I just want to leave as soon as possible.

Thank you.
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:sl:
From what I've heard, it's really bad for Muslims in European countries, except the UK. Worse than America.
:w:
 
QuranStudy said:
I thought the UK and America was the worst for Muslims.
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:sl:
A sister who had visited places in Europe told me that whilst they may seem like they are good for Muslims, they are actually rather racist. The UK is probably the best place to go, but then again I would only class it as European because of it's geographical location.
:w:
 
QuranStudy said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3768327.stm
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:sl:
There are probably much worse things in the rest of Europe, remember the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons in Denmark?

Anyways as for england and living in here as a muslim, its okay. To be honest i never personally had any problems here, not untill 9/11. After that, everything got a bit weird and suddenly people would act all funny around me and yea you get the odd verbal agro but despite that i still think england is proabably the best country for muslims compared to the rest of europe.

I've been to:

France
Germany
Sweden
Finland

and i've got close family and friends who are citizens of:

Holland
Switzerland
Denmark
Belgium

but are now living in england and trust me, england is heaven for muslims compared to these nations, including the ones i visited. Most of these countries are very xenophobic and racist (with the expection of sweden). Despite their claims of being very tolerant, in particlar Holland which has always claimed this lie (and this is long BEFORE the murder of theo van gogh and all that saga with ayan hersi ali), its almost impossiable for muslim and non white citzens in general, regardless of religion, to move up and progess in these socities. You can spend 20 years in their country, learn the language, go through in the education system (like my uncle), have your kids born and raised in the country and still find yourself living in the ghetto slums, in the poorest districts of the country. You cant get into top positions in jobs, if any decent jobs at all, because of the districts you live in your kids cant go to better schools (as in france) and as a muslim, expect yourself to find getting a job difficult especially if you wear hijab or have a long beard or have a muslim/african/arab/turkish name. And you can forget about even trying to get mosques open or islamic schools as regulation on muslims is tight. Although you do find masjids in them countries, you might only get a very small amount and planning regulations etc.. are made very difficult, especially since 9/11, war in afghanistan, iraq, madrid bombings, 7/7.

alhamdualiah the situitaion in england is a million times better, so i dont think us muslims over in the u.k should get worked up, because relaity is, our brothers and sisters in the rest of europe, who are more then us in number, are finding life much harder over there as muslims.
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:w:
 
Selam aleykum
Sorry I didn't notice this tread before, as the sister suggseted, you should have just pm'd me :)
Ok Belgium lets see. Well first of all I think this is one of the best countrys in the world to live in simply for the following three reasons:
1. The best social system in the world, there's so many social securities that one has to try hard and really screw up and throw away money to get really poor. Social housing, unemployment wages and so on.
2. Medicational security. All medical treathment is reendorced up to 80% of the cost.
3. Free education. Educational system is mostly payed by the goverment. When enrolling in university for example, all you need to pay is an admission fee of like 500€ and pay for your books. If you compare that with other university's that's really a steal. And we're ranked third in the world for level of education, so the quality of the education is not affected by this.

However there are some troubles. For the moment there's a rightwinged party that's becomming quite popular. It strives mainly to devide Belgium into two seperate nations, the French and dutch speaking part. But the party is also popular for it's zero tolerance statements and has been accused for racism. last elections about 25% of the population voted for them, so there are some racial issues here. But in order to give that statistic some perspective here are the other voters: 25% voted for a christian party, 20% for a social party 20% a capatalistic party and remaining 10% devided over several smaller partys. All parties have made an agreement never to make a coalition with the racial party so since a goverment needs at least 51% of the votes that one party still has a long way to go to rise to power. On the other hand, this comes acros as if they ignore the issues that that one party brings up so in frustration some people vote for that party as a protest. There are problems with minority groups, and as long as teh goverment turns a blind eye, this racial party keeps growing. Oh voting is mandatory, so you have a very accurate represantation of public opinion.

As for Islamic tolerance, we have a hijab ban in public schools. So that's not good :( Mosques can't call azaan out loud, but I think that's standard in every western country. Oh and people aren't alowed to slaughter sheep at home :) But the goverment organises slaughters so muslims can slaughter at a slaughterhouse easily at eid. I think that's the only govermental involvement there is. Oh there's alsoe a muslim board, elected by muslims. They are organised by the goverment and meant to represent our needs, objectations, comlpaints to the goverment. But in my opinion this is just a pupet show, you know, throw a dog a bone.

On a more positive note, we haven't jumped on teh Bush-terrorism bandwagon. Belgium has always condemned Bush's wars. Sadly we are a just a small country with practicly no army so our objectations don't mean a lot.

In general I think the racism is nothing worrysome. I mean, you have this all over the world it's a human charesteristic. I don't think you'll find a single country that doesn't cope with racism. And Belgium is pretty pacifistic in nature. So apart from some stupid remarks now and then I don't think it's really that big of an issue here.

There's stll a lot more to say, but I do'nt want to make this post to long, so I just gave the basics, if you got any other question, just ask (oh and if I don't reply; it might be because I failed to check up on the tread, so don't be afraid to send me a message to point me towards new questions, ok ? ;) )
selam aleykum
 
Thank you brother Fishland and steve, I will seriously consider the UK and Belgium now.

Things are getting a bit scary here. My mother is forcing me to change my name (Mohammed). I am discouraged to attend a mosque. I try my best not to tell other I am Muslim. The discrimination is making life difficult.
 
:sl:

Fishman, you found my post :D Anyways thanks for posting up it up here.

QuranStudy said:
Thank you brother Fishland and steve, I will seriously consider the UK and Belgium now.

Things are getting a bit scary here. My mother is forcing me to change my name (Mohammed). I am discouraged to attend a mosque. I try my best not to tell other I am Muslim. The discrimination is making life difficult.
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Brother Quranstudy, you know, despite all of american's problems, american muslims are much better off socially and economically, compared to european muslims. I mean there are certain things which is would say the u.k has better advanatges then america. We have social security, free national healthservice (not the best compared to france, germany, scandanavia), plus unlike america, where many americans tend to be isolated and only know about america and little about the world, theres less of that sort of ignorance amongst the average european from the city (not to say that we dont have our ignoramouses).

it's a case of thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. Having spoken to various americans (including my 2nd cousin in maryland), i would say its not all bad. The political climate has probabaly made things more diffcult for you and u.k is no execption in that case.

rather then moving over the other side of the atlantic, have you considered moving up north to canada? I have some relatives in ottwa and canada seems to be very simalar in many respects to england/u.k, socially that is and canadians seem to be more tolerant, world concious and open then americans. And being an american citzen, i imagine emigrating to there would be less of a hassle comapred to the u.k and you might find it much more simalar to the american system of schooling, employment, healthcare.

I would think very carefully though brother about this because its a big descion and whilst running far away might seem like a solution, it may end up to be a problem later on. Make sure, you throughly research any countries you are interested in going to (laws, the people, freedom to practise your faith etc...) and whether its the best place to have a family in the future. With the hijab ban in Belgium, you might want to think twice because if you have daughters, they wont be able to attend public schooling and that will be a major issue!

As for your name, i wouldnt change it. I know that their have been issues with employment and name. My 2nd cousin (who resides in maryland now), he was living in NY before and about 1 week after 9/11, he got sacked from his job. He worked for some major firm and everything had been great upto that point, but with his name being mohammed, well they sacked him. Anways, it was hard for him to get a job for about 6 months after 9/11, but alhmdualiah he later got another job in maryland, where he resides now.

At the end of the day, all rizq is from allah and changing your name to something european sounding like James, aint going to nesscarly mean you'll get a job, because if your still whats considered to be an ethnic minority, when you turn up to the interview, they'll see that, and if their prejidice enough to reject you on your name (which identifys your religion), then they're most likely capable of rejecting you on the grounds of race as well.

anyways take care bro.
 
:sl:

I don't know what to say exactly, it's good in Germany, in Finland... Not really. I don't know, the Arab countries are beautiful but really, they've dissapointed me with their government and many political acts so,... Hmm... But I like Turkey a lot and I think it's a great place though it seems to me that Arabs don't like Turkey.. (why?) Maybe there?

:w:
 
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I am not a Muslim, but I have been raised in Belgium and still spend half my time there, so if I may give some advice.

IMHO, Steve is right that social services are excellent in Belgium, as is the level of education. But you note you want to start an enterprise, and for that I am not sure Belgium is very suited. The government bureaucracy is horribly old-fashioned and slow. Taxes are considerably higher than in the US as well.

And to be quite honest, Belgium (especially Flanders) is probably one the most racist countries in Europe. I have seen frequent studies showing Belgians as a particularly racist and there is a very strong extreme-right Islamophobic party. While debate about Muslims is tamer in the Belgian press than in many other European countries, I do not think the average Belgian is particularly tolerant of Islam.

In all honesty, I agree with Fishman, the US and UK have a much more tolerant reputation than continental Europe. I think if you are disgusted with Islamophobia in the US you will not fair better here, at least in the US negative attituted about Islam are just based on political ideology. Over here most of the distrust is actullay rooted in the particularly high crime rate among Muslim youths.

Mind you, I don't want to sound too negative. Surely you can succeed in Belgium and generally it is a great place to live :). But since you are fleeing from anti-Islamic feelings, I just have to warn you that it is probably worse here than in the US. Perhaps Canada is a good alternative?
 
QuranStudy said:
Thank you brother Fishland and steve, I will seriously consider the UK and Belgium now.

Things are getting a bit scary here. My mother is forcing me to change my name (Mohammed). I am discouraged to attend a mosque. I try my best not to tell other I am Muslim. The discrimination is making life difficult.
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as a fellow american, i am sorry that things have come to this. not sure what part of the country you are in - i think the north east coast and the west coast are more tolerant than all the states in between.
i too have heard that canada is pretty civilized. there are a lot of muslims in toronto.
my impression is that there is a growing (quite ugly) backlash against muslims in much of europe - i think worse than u.s. and canada. i think UK makes more of an effort than the european mainland; i'm not sure if the peoople are any less racist tho.
best of luck to you.
 
salams
its really sad to here that you have to leave your country because of the way you are being treated, but i think nowadays all muslims around the world are being targeted with racist comments, im a british citizen and from my point of view i think a large majority of british people respect islam and are not racist towards muslims, except tony blair. Mashallh alot of non muslims have converted to islam. I would recommend england, but why dont you pray istikhar inshallah allah will guide you.
 

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