"Fight for Europe": How Saudi Arabia and Qatar compete to spread their religious influence within European Muslim communities
This literature review, prepared by Lalla Amina Drhimeur, seeks to understand how Saudi Arabia and Qatar are trying to shape the religious rhetoric within European Muslim communities. The paper argues that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have tried to extend their understanding of Islam beyond their borders in an attempt to legitimize their own regimes and establish their hegemony within Muslim communities in Europe. Besides, the establishment of religious movements, either in the land of Islam or in the west, is not merely a reaction to globalization and the insecurities it produced. These movements attempt to shape globalization processes and produce an alternative form of globalization that appeals to the threatened and educated young and the bourgeoisie.
This literature review was prepared in the scope of the ongoing EU-funded research for the PRIME Youth project conducted under the supervision of the Principal Investigator, Prof. Dr. Ayhan Kaya, and funded by the European Research Council with the Agreement Number 785934.