by Homer Bautdinov

In the near future the minarets of mosques may change the skyline of Italian cities. Nowadays Islam is remarkably active in Italy, as well as in many other countries of Western Europe. In Italy it is represented at two levels. On the one hand, there are native Italians who have become Muslims. According to the statistics there are over 10-15 thousand of them, but possibly as many as 30-50 thousand. The vast majority of Italian Muslims, however, are the immigrants from approximately thirty countries of Asia and Africa. Those who have Italian citizenship and residence or work permits number 560 thousand. The total number of Muslim immigrants may well be between 700 and 800 or even up to one million.

At the moment, Islam in Italy, as well as in France, is the second largest religion after Catholicism. As their number has significantly increased over the last fifteen years, the religious life of Italian Muslims has appeared in an organised way. First, there were communities; next, they opened meeting-houses and mosques; finally, they founded a number of Islamic cultural societies. According to recent statistics published in the Milan’s newspaper ‘Il Giornale’, there are 350 mosques and Muslim meeting-houses in Italy. Moreover, although only one third of the meeting-houses are called mosques, quite a few of them have a dome and a minaret.

Despite the fact that there are still many communities of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, in Italy some Islamic centres were designed for people of different origins, including native Italians. There are approximately 30 centres, the most well-known being in Milan and Rome, and in the south of the country, Naples and Palermo. In Milan there is an Institute of Islamic culture situated in the local mosques.

Another important Islamic centre is in Rome, where a splendid mosque, probably the largest in Western Europe, was built in 1995. It is under the jurisdiction of the Italian Institute of Islamic culture, which is related to the Embassies of some Muslim countries in the Italian capital.

Two years ago a significant advance took place: various Muslim communities were united, and at the same time the Islamic Council of Italy was established. A supreme task of this Council was to prepare an agreement with the state authorities, intended to spell out some major requirements of Italian Muslims. This was quite in accordance with Italian law, because the constitution of the Italian Republic guarantees religious freedom. Article number eight states: ‘All religious denominations are equally free under the law. Denominations that are different from Catholicism have the right to establish organisations according to their regulations, unless the denomination concerned conflicts with Italian law and order. Their relationship with the state is determined by law and based on an agreement with the organisations that represent their corresponding denominations.’

Amongst the requirements of Italian Muslims is the introduction of the study of the Koran in schools or, alternatively, the right to establish their own schools with equal rights with other institutions; permission for women to use photographs with their hair covered when they apply for IDs or other official documents; permission for Muslims to take a holiday during the period of Hadj; recognition of Friday as a non-working day for Muslims; an official right of Muslims to perform Mohammedan prayer during their work, and the recognition of weddings according to the Islamic rite.

NG-Religii, 4.12.2002