ROME,
June 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Members of the
growing and relatively sizable Muslim community in Italy lament being
marginalized, oppressed and treated with suspicion.
"The
problem is this monoculture of the Catholic church, which sees others
as heretics, as non-people," Abdel Hamid Shaari, the Libyan-born
head of the Viale Jenner mosque and cultural institute in Milan, told
Reuters Monday, June 21.
Shaari,
who has lived in Italy for nearly 40 years, said Italian Muslims are
law-abiding and not trouble-makers.
"We
have no problem with Italian laws, we respect them. We do not demand
the right to marry four wives or the right to have Fridays off
work," he said.
Yahya
Sergio Pallavicini, son of a converted Muslim and vice president of
the Italian Islamic Community in Milan, said Italy must reach out to
the other openly.
"Italy
must open itself to understand what it is to be Italian — that you
can be a Muslim Italian, a Jewish Italian," he said.
"Islam
does not have to be exotic, linked to immigration or terrorism."
Paolo
Branca, author of several books on Islam and a professor at Milan’s
Catholic University, agreed.
"Italy
has always been very homogenous from a cultural point of view. Other
countries had strong Jewish or Protestant cultures, Italy did
not," he told Reuters.
"[But]
Italy is not a racist country, and it is not a country carrying the
burden of a colonial history. These should be points to our advantage,
but they are not," he said.
Italy
is home to an estimated one million officially registered Muslims,
making Islam the country’s second, and fastest growing, religion.
Many other Muslims live and work illegally in Italy.
But
Islam is the least represented of the monotheistic faiths in Rome’s
corridors of power, Reuters said.
Unlike
Judaism, Buddhism and some Protestant denominations, Islam is not
officially recognized by the state.
This
means most Muslim structures — from schools to mosques — miss out
on tax benefits and state contributions reserved for recognized
faiths.
Add
to that, only some 50,000 Muslims have the right to vote and there are
no national politicians who are known to be Muslims.
