BRUSSELS, February 24, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Striking a balance between positive integration and their Islamic identity, Belgian Muslims have proved their mettle and melted into Brussels' historical Atomium iron cubic, which metaphorically symbolizes multi-cultural Belgium with its nine breathtaking crystal atoms and their interconnecting metal spheres.

"Muslims are well-represented in the country," Bengalon Qaisi, deputy head of the Executive Council of Belgian Muslims, the official umbrella of Muslims in the country, told IslamOnline.net Friday, February 24.

"We are present at the country's different municipalities and local parliaments; we have two ministers of Moroccan origin in the federal government as well as a Turk in a local parliament, who all champion the pressing issues of the Muslim minority."

Qaisi said Belgium has placed all citizens on an equal footing irrespective of race or religion.

"We don't feel injustice; hence, deadly French-style riots are out of the question," he said.

Weeks of rioting in French high-immigration suburbs last October and November has left more than 6,000 cars burned, public and private property destroyed, tens of policemen injured and one civilian death.

Many voiced anger at racial discrimination, lack of educational and employment prospects, and police harassment despite being born in France.

Naziha Bin Turab, a Muslim activist, said Belgian Muslims do not live in ghettos.

"Second and third Muslim generations enjoy equal opportunities," she said. "We don't expect an uprising similar to that of France since younger generations live in posh Brussels and are not locked in ghettos or marginalized in remote suburbs like their peers in the French capital Paris."

Belgian Muslims are estimated at 450,000 – out of a 10-million-population – about half of them are from Moroccan origin, while 120,000 are from Turkish origin.

"Muslims are well-represented in the country," said Qaisi.

Political parties increasingly enlist large number of Muslim candidates for elections due to the make-or-break Muslim vote.

In the last local elections in 2004, 22 Muslims were fielded on the 88-candidate ticket of the Socialist Party.

A recent study conducted by the Brussels University showed that of the 491,000 people granted citizenship between 1984 and 2001, some 260,000 people were of Moroccan and Turkish origin, which raised Muslim stakes in recent elections.

Belgium immigration laws are more "integrationist" compared to other European countries.

Since the first immigration waves in the 1960s, Belgium laws have given equal opportunity in jobs opportunities.

Furthermore, Belgium was the first European country in 1974 to recognize Islam among other state religions in the country.

Since 1975, Muslim teachers have been working in government schools to teach Islam for Muslim children.

But the issue of hijab remains controversial in Belgium, though discrimination cases against hijab-clad women at workplace and educational institutions are relatively less compared to other European neighbors, according to Qaisi.

"Muslim members in local parliaments are expected to put forward draft laws that protect Muslim women's right to hijab," he said.

He added: "We live in a democratic country that respects all faiths unlike other [European] countries."

Turab, however, blamed some of the Belgian intelligentsia for forming an antagonistic attitude towards hijab-clad women.

"Islamophobia does exist, but we consider ourselves as part and parcel of this country and we have equal opportunity to get jobs regardless of our attire," she added.

France triggered the hijab controversy in Europe by adopting a bill in 2004 banning hijab in state schools, a move blasted as "discriminatory" by several international and French rights groups.

Shortly afterwards, other European countries, chiefly Germany, followed the French lead.