A man carrying an axe, a can of petrol and Molotov cocktails was reportedly seen at the Shi'ite mosque in Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, shortly before 7pm local time.
The man then broke the windows of the mosque and threw the incendiary devices inside, the newspaper Le Soir said.
Police spokeswoman Marie Verbeck confirmed that the imam had died in the fire, but did not disclose his name or provide any further details.
"There is a lot of damage, apparently the entire mosque, or almost the entire mosque, burned down," she said.
Ms Verbeck said a person had been arrested and no one else was being sought in connection with the arson attack.
Le Soir reported that the 47-year-old imam died while trying to put out the blaze.
Abdel Adouzeyneb, an estate agent, said the imam left behind four children.
"He was a person who was loved by everybody... He was open, well integrated, smiling and happy," he said.
Within hours of the fire, several dozen people gathered at the ruins of the mosque.
Ismael Ben Mohammad, 40, said he felt "a sadness difficult to describe".
The area around the mosque, near Belgium's main international railway hub, has a large immigrant Muslim population.
Belgian interior minister Joelle Milquet said she was "very shocked by the events that have occurred" which she condemned "with firmness and indignation".
Fadila Laanan, a regional minister said on her Twitter account that she was "scandalised by this attack in my community against a mosque".
"A man is dead and that is despicable, nothing can excuse such an act," she added.
The last time an imam was targeted in Brussels was in 1989 when Saudi-born Abdullah Muhammad al Ahdal was shot dead.
He served as imam in the Grand Mosque of Brussels and was killed in March of that year by an armed man inside the mosque.
His killing was claimed by a small pro-Iranian group in Lebanon who accused him of being too moderate and of having rejected the death fatwa slapped on British writer Salman Rushdie.
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