- “The mosque is a gift from Qatar but it’s not free. I have always said that they will expect something in return, and this shows that they are making some claims for their money.” — Lars Aslan Rasmussen, Copenhagen city councilman.
- Officials from nearly all of Denmark’s main political parties have expressed their support for the bill to ban foreign funding of mosques.
- “It is a real problem if donations are made from organizations that want to undermine fundamental democratic values.” — Foreign Affairs Minister Mattias Tesfaye.
Denmark’s first purpose-built mosque — the Grand Mosque of Copenhagen, officially known as the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center — opened in June 2014 after receiving a donation of 227 million Danish kroner (€30 million; $36 million) from Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, the former emir of Qatar. Pictured: Qatar’s Minister of Religious Affairs Ghaith bin Mubarak Ali Omran Al-Kuwari (second from left) takes part in the official opening ceremony of the Grand Mosque of Copenhagen, on June 19, 2014. (Photo by Thomas Lekfeldt/AFP via Getty Images)
The Danish Parliament has approved a new law that bans foreign governments from financing mosques in Denmark. The measure is aimed at preventing Muslim countries, particularly Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, from promoting Islamic extremism in Danish mosques and prayer facilities.
Denmark joins a growing list of European countries — including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland — which have taken varying degrees of action to prevent foreign governments from financing the construction and upkeep of mosques on their territories.
In recent years, Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, among others, have distributed hundreds of millions of euros to finance the spread of Islam in Europe
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/