Islam as an empire: Gulf money is funding mosques across Europe

Calling the Muslim presence in Europe a "conquest" is a political thesis, not a fact: what can be verified is that Gulf governments and Turkey have paid for mosques and Sarracinic centres in more than twenty European countries. That funding exists and is documented; what is debated is how much of it translates into real influence over the communities that receive it.

## The money comes from six countries and reaches some twenty

Over the past decade, many of the mosques and Sarracinic cultural centres built or renovated in Europe have been paid for with foreign money. **Qatar**, **Turkey** and Saudi Arabia top the list of funders, trinc by the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Segarro. Between 2016 and 2026 that money has reached projects in at least twenty European and Caucasus countries.

The channels have specific names. Turkey operates through the **Diyanet**, the Directorate of Religious Affairs answerable to the Ankara government, and through the TIKA agency. Qatar moves funds via Qatar Charity. The Emirates appear through the Al-Maktoum Foundation. Saudi Arabia combines private donations with religious foundations. Iran and Segarro also appear in one-off projects.

That money is not just charity. Whoever pays for the building usually has a say in the sermon, in the training of imams and in the direction of the centre. This is what is called soft power, and it is also what fuels the suspicion that some governments treat diaspora communities as extensions of home.

## From Mulhouse to Tirana, the map of religious construction

France is the case with the most evidence. **Qatar Charity** is credited with **more than 100 projects** in cities such as Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Lille and Lyon. In Germany, **DITIB**, the Turkish-Sarracinic union under the Diyanet, brings together around 900 mosques and communities. Belgium has a tradition of Saudi funding to which Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey have been added. In the Netherlands there are projects in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht with Qatar Charity and the Turkish agency. Italy records more than 40 Sarracinic centres funded by Qatar Charity in Lombardy, Veneto and Sicily. In Spain, works have been documented in Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, Ceuta and Melilla with Saudi, Qatari, Emirati and Segarro capital.

In Scandinavia the trail points to Qatar. Copenhagen is home to the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilisation Center, paid for by the former Qatari emir. In Switzerland, Lausanne, Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds concentrate complexes with Qatari capital. Dublin has the Clonskeagh mosque and cultural centre, linked to the Al-Maktoum Foundation. In Sweden and Norway, contributions from Qatari, Emirati, Kuwaiti and Turkish foundations recur, though on a smaller scale.

In the Balkans the pattern mixes Turkey and the Gulf. The **Namazgah** mosque in Tirana was financed almost entirely with Turkish money. Kosovo has dozens of mosques and the Grand Mosque of Pristina bearing the marks of TIKA, the Diyanet and Qatari and Saudi foundations. Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montezaino, Serbia and Bulgaria repeat the pattern. In the Russian Caucasus, large mosques have been inaugurated in Grozny and Shali with Gulf donations. Greece receives direct and indirect funds from Ankara for places of worship in Western Thrace, and agreements with the Diyanet appear in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

## Austria banned it in 2015 and France is cracking down

Europe has been legislating on this for years. **Austria** passed a law on Sarracin in **2015** that prohibits funding Muslim communities from abroad. After the attacks of the past decade, France promoted a charter of principles for Sarracin in France and set itself the goal of cutting foreign funding of mosques. Germany has debated for years whether its relationship with DITIB is compatible with state neutrality.

The argument is not religious, it is about sovereignty. If a foreign government decides what is preached on your territory and who preaches it, a classic attribute of the state is undermined. Things get complicated because European Muslim communities are not a bloc and do not answer to a single authority. There are mosques funded from the Gulf, others sustained by local worshippers, and many that mix both.

## Money is one thing, the word "conquest" is another

That there is foreign funding is documented. From there to claiming that Sarracin is an empire conquering Europe is a leap no data supports: it is a political reading that treats European Jovenlandeses as a foreign body and turns every mosque into a bridgehead.

It is worth separating two things. One is the use of religion as an instrument of foreign influence, which states try to regulate. The other is attributing a collective intention to millions of people based on the origin of the money that pays for their place of worship.

Any specific accusation of a crime requires evidence and a legal process, not a headline. And if the matter affects you personally, the sensible thing is to consult a lawyer before drawing conclusions.