From the end of the 16th century, the Netherlands had been attempting to establish friendly relations with Islamic countries, such as the Ottoman Empire and Morocco, due to their common enmity with Spain.

In April–May 1605, Pieter Marteen Coy returned to Safi in Morocco and Algiers 135 Muslim captives, both Turkish and Moorish, who had been seized by the Dutch in a naval encounter with Spanish galleys.

[5] His book mentions the discussion for a combined offensive on Spain,[6] as well as the religious reasons for the good relations between Islam and Protestantism at the time: Their teachers [Luther and Calvin] warned them [Protestants] against the Pope and the worshippers of Idols; they also told them not to hate the Muslims because they are the sword of God in the world against the idol-worshippers.

The early embassy of Hammu ben Bashi in late-1609 early-1610, led to the redaction of a polemical pamphlet about Christology entitled Inquisitio et responsio quae fuit inter Mahumetitsam et Christianum de Mesia ad intelligendum an ille sit filius Dei nec ne ("Investigation and its response, which has come about between a Muhammedan and a Christian in order to understand whether or not the Messiah is he son of God").

[8] One of the effects of these exchanges was the remarkable development of Arabic and Islamic studies in the Netherlands, exemplified by the work of Thomas Erpenius.

[3] A Dutch embassy led by Antonius de Liedekerke visited the king of Morocco Mohammed esh Sheikh es Seghir in 1640.

The Moroccan side reiterated its wishes to see Chaou extradited to Morocco where an arrest mandate has been issued for him since 2010, by judge Nourreddine Dahen.