Qatar and the UAE reacted in very different ways to the protests and political upheavals that upset the Arab world in 2011-2013. Qatar favoured some of the uprisings, political parties and groups, for example the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt under Mohammed Morsi. By contrast, the UAE was the most vigorous counter-revolutionary state during this period. But what influence did state-sponsored religious authorities have on political attitudes towards the Arab Spring in the Arab Gulf states? In his lecture, Dr David Warren focuses on the public arguments and private networks of Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Abdullah Bin Bayyah, two of the most prominent Sunni Islamic scholars of this period.
David Warren's research project "For the Good of the Nation: The Contest among the Egyptian Revolution among the Sunni Ulama" was funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of the special programme Islam.