{"id":8156,"date":"2017-02-08T16:51:32","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T16:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=8156"},"modified":"2017-02-08T16:51:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T16:51:32","slug":"italy-islam-doesnt-officially-exist-heres-muslims-must-accept-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2017\/02\/08\/italy-islam-doesnt-officially-exist-heres-muslims-must-accept-change\/","title":{"rendered":"In Italy, Islam doesn\u2019t officially exist. Here\u2019s what Muslims must accept to change that."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/worldviews\/files\/2017\/02\/GettyImages-616046268-1024x683.jpg&amp;w=1484\" width=\"306\" height=\"204\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>MILAN \u2014 At least 1.4 million Muslims are living in Italy, making Islam the country\u2019s de facto second-largest religion. But as far as Italian authorities are concerned, Islam doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Christianity and Judaism, Islam isn\u2019t formally recognized in Italy. This means that mosques cannot receive public funds, Islamic weddings have no legal value and Muslim workers aren\u2019t entitled to take days off for religious holidays.<\/p>\n<p>Now that lack of recognition may change \u2014 but not without a cost.<\/p>\n<div id=\"fsdXlI1gCJHzaq\" class=\"moat-trackable pb-f-theme-normal pb-2 pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-page-newsletter-inLine\" data-chain-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-id=\"page\/newsletter-inLine\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-inline-unit codedNewsletter\">\n<div class=\"signup-module row\">\n<div class=\"title-container col-xs-8\">\n<p class=\"headline\">Today&#8217;s WorldView<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagline\">What&#8217;s most important from where the world meets Washington<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagline\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sign-up col-xs-4\">This month, Italy\u2019s Interior Ministry and the country\u2019s nine major Islamic associations signed an unprecedented agreement. Muslim organizations agreed to create a registry of their imams and to require them to preach in Italian. In return, the government vowed to \u201cfacilitate the path\u201d toward the official recognition of Islam in Italy.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.interno.gov.it\/sites\/default\/files\/patto_nazionale_per_un_islam_italiano.pdf\">National Pact for an Italian Islam<\/a>\u201d has been hailed as a first step toward the normalization of Islam in Italy. But it has also been criticized for creating a double standard: no other religious group has been asked by authorities to hold sermons in Italian. The Roman Catholic Church regularly offers masses in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.romamultietnica.it\/america-latina\/centri-cristiani-latinoamericani.html\">foreign<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chiesadimilano.it\/chisiamo\/struttura-persone\/2.1293\/ufficio-per-la-pastorale-dei-migranti\/messe-in-lingua-straniera\">languages<\/a> to cater to an international audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a document that Muslims had to sign in order to prove we\u2019re good citizens and not bad people,\u201d said Yahya Pallavicini, a Milan-based Muslim scholar, in an interview with the conservative magazine <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tempi.it\/patto-nazionale-islam-ministro-minniti-vizi-metodo#.WJnpDLbhCqA\">Tempi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Islam doesn\u2019t enjoy much popularity in Italy. According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewglobal.org\/2016\/07\/11\/negative-views-of-minorities-refugees-common-in-eu\/\">a recent Pew survey<\/a>, 69 percent of Italians report a negative opinion of Muslims, the highest proportion among the European countries polled. Local media also often conflates Islam as a whole with terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead to elections next year, the government is also treating the agreement as a security issue. In a statement to the news media, Interior Minister Marco Minniti presented the document as a safeguard \u201cagainst any form of violence and terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sumaya Abdel Qader, a Muslim sociologist in Milan who is a member of the city council, called the agreement \u201ca positive step,\u201d during a telephone interview. \u201cIt&#8217;s very important that there\u2019s a dialogue between the government and Muslim institutions,\u201d she said. But she noted that some of the requirements \u201chave made some Muslims feel like they\u2019re being treated unequally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She argued that it is \u201cunfair\u201d that a specific faith be singled out and required to hold sermons in Italian \u2014 but recognized the reality of widespread distrust of Muslims. \u201cI understand we\u2019re living in a unique historical context, so we\u2019ll have to accept this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Abdel Qader also claims it is unusual that a religious group was asked to sign a \u201cpreliminary pact\u201d as a requirement to start negotiations for an official recognition. The Italian Constitution formally grants freedom of religion for all, but reserves a special position for the Catholic Church and requires other faiths to sign a specific treaty \u2014 called an \u201cintesa,\u201d or \u201cunderstanding\u201d \u2014 to fully operate. Muslim associations have been applying for an intesa\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.coreis.it\/l'intesa\">since 2000<\/a>, but still haven\u2019t received one.<\/p>\n<p>But Izzedin Elzir, an imam in Florence and the president of the UCOII, the country\u2019s largest Muslim association, believes that the benefits of the agreement outweigh the downside. \u201cMost of the things we vowed to do, we are already doing,\u201d he said in a telephone interview. \u201cWe&#8217;re already encouraging imams to preach in Italian. And, if their Italian is not fluent, we are already providing interpreters. If having this written down in a document is making non-Muslim Italians feel a bit safer, I don\u2019t see anything wrong with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; MILAN \u2014 At least 1.4 million Muslims are living in Italy, making Islam the country\u2019s de facto second-largest religion. But as far as Italian authorities are concerned, Islam doesn\u2019t exist. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, Islam isn\u2019t formally recognized in Italy. This means that mosques cannot receive public funds, Islamic weddings have no legal value [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Italy, Islam doesn\u2019t officially exist. 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