Qatar funds Europe’s mosques to support terrorism, gain influence in West

Doaa Emam

It is not possible to penetrate Europe except with a charitable mask or behind a religious curtain. The Qatari regime, known for its malice, is making strenuous efforts to achieve this on the ground by financing the construction of religious institutions and mosques as it seeks to control the Arab communities in non-Arabic speaking countries, presenting themselves as the guardians of religion by means of imams who implement Doha’s agenda.

Qatar’s poisons

The West paid attention to the poisons transmitted by Qatar from extremist ideas in the minds of modern Islam, and imposed strict measures on the Qatari money allocated to building mosques.

In April 2019, Shukurjon Zuhurov, then-speaker of Tajikistan’s Assembly of Representatives, revealed that Qatar had funded the construction of the largest mosque in the Central Asian region, estimated at about $100 million, as part of a package of projects implemented in Tajikistan with an estimated investment of $500 million.

A Netherlands House of Representatives committee also investigated undesirable foreign influence on its mosques in February 2020 and questioned the mayor of The Hague regarding illegal Qatari funding for the country’s As-Soennah Mosque.

The mosque administration refused to provide information, and the House of Representatives lodged an appeal before the court demanding that they appear before the parliament to be investigated on suspicion of spreading extremism in Dutch mosques and the phenomenon of foreign financing of Islam in the Netherlands.

Cover for terrorism

Qatar has been active in financing mosques in Western countries, including France, Switzerland and Sweden, penetrating these countries by investing in small projects in the suburbs, according to a report by the Gatestone Institute.

Gatestone pointed out that the Qatari regime donates to mosques in France as a cover for financing terrorism in the country, which has witnessed horrific terrorist attacks in recent years. The institute noted that Doha’s activity in France raises concerns for the stability of European democracies.

Doha has been the primary supporter of the Brotherhood and is also aligned with Iran, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban and other terrorists, Gatestone noted, stressing that funding mosques comes within Qatar’s plan to buy influence in the West.

‘Qatar Papers’

The book “Qatar Papers: How Doha Finances Islam in France and Europe” by French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot exposed Qatar’s funding of terrorism in Europe through the Qatar Foundation, which spreads its toxins under the guise of humanitarian aid and financing the construction of mosques, centers and institutions affiliated with the terrorist Brotherhood, according to the RTL Today website in Luxembourg. The book referred to the Qatar Foundation’s contribution of €2 million to a mosque in the city of Bonnevaux.

Spain also has not been spared the Qatari regime’s dubious moves, as Doha has sought to finance the construction of a mosque in the heart of Barcelona. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo published leaked information about Qatar seeking to buy the La Plaza Monumental bullfighting arena, which greatly annoyed the Spanish government. Spain objected to the establishment of the mosque, which would accommodate ​​40,000 worshipers, after a Qatari businessman submitted the project. Barcelona Mayor Xavier Trias rejected the idea of transforming La Monumental into a mosque, affirming that the arena is one of the city’s monuments and declaring at the same time that he would prefer to convert it into a cultural center rather than a mosque that Qatar can use to spread terrorism.

In this regard, Chesnot and Malbrunot obtained documents published in their book about how Doha funds Islam in France and Europe, including evidence of Qatar financing institutions and projects to build mosques linked to the Brotherhood network in Europe.

The French journalists highlighted that Qatar’s extensive funding of Islamic societies to spread the Brotherhood ideology is not only occurring in France, which is the main focus of the book, but also in Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the Balkan countries.

They unveiled 140 documents dealing with Qatar’s financing of dozens of mosques and Islamic societies for the Brotherhood in Europe, including six countries and many French cities.

“Qatar Papers” lists countless religious projects with political agendas on French soil with direct funding from the Qatar Foundation.

The authors broke down Qatar’s strategy of seeking to be part of the battle for religious influence in France and many European countries by supporting the extremist ideology promoted by the Brotherhood.