BRUSSELS, December 6 (IslamOnline.net) - Activists of the Muslim community in Belgium seek to get the community’s youths to practice sporting activities in a bid to help them get away from any moral deviations, commit themselves to religious rituals and encourage them to achieve success in their schools.

“I found that encouraging the youths of the Muslim community to practice sports is the best and most successful method to correct their behavior and develop their mental skills,” Abdel Khaleq Al-Samady, a sports trainer of a group of Muslim youths in the Belgian FIC club, told IslamOnline.net Friday, December 5.

“I’ve been training a group of Muslim youths to rural races since 1998. I brought most of them from streets, where they suffered serious psychological and social crises. After some years of training, they have achieved positive results. Currently, they are morally, religiously and educationally better,” Al-Samady, who was a renowned international racer five years ago, added.

The Muslim activist reiterated that Islam urges Muslims to give good care to physical education, pointing out to the saying of the prophet’s companion Omar Bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him: “Teach your children swimming, marksmanship and horse-riding.”

“Adherence of Muslim parents in Belgium and other western states to such good traditions will, undoubtedly, help them bring up their children in a better way,” Al-Samady added.

“Arabs are the best racers, as they have broken world records and achieved great international fame. They are religiously and morally committed and are careful about their religion. This helps us in our mission to direct Muslim youths towards practicing sports, as they are greatly influenced by renowned sportsmen,” Al-Samady, who prepares to set up Ibn Batouta Sporting Club in Belgium, went on.

“There are other prominent Muslim racers. They are greatly committed to their religion and its values and instructions. They are usually good examples for others, particularly that they have proved to Muslim youths in the west that the way of success does not necessarily contradict with religion, as some say,” he reiterated.

The former international racer expects that four of those Muslim youths he currently trains will be able to make good results in the field of athletics.

It is worth noting that a number of activists of Muslim community in Belgium have during the past few years formed several football teams, chief among which are Atlas team that takes part in the Belgian Championship for amateurs and the “Moroccan Star” that plays in the third division.

The number of Muslims in Belgium amounts to 400,000, represented before the state bodies by the Islamic Executive Council, nominated in 2001 by the Muslim minority and gained an official recognition by the Belgian king and government.

There are hundreds of mosques in major Belgian cities. There are also hundreds of cultural and social societies and institutions in the circles of mostly Moroccan and Turkish Muslims.

Several political activists, of Muslim origin, have managed to sit in the Federal Parliament and provincial parliaments as well as municipalities. The recent government has included the first Muslim minister, Anisa Timsmani, of Moroccan origin, who had to resign under the pressures of Belgian press and media.