This time I want to say no. In fact, I say stop to these constant commands addressed at the second most important religion in this country. The Muslin community has been reduced to silence following what is a real and proper political-media attack. This is anything but dialogue and debate. I refer here to the most recent idea expressed by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini who when in Abu Dhabi, following the example of the local sheik, asked for greater control over all mosques in Italy and for the Koran to be preached in Italian during the Friday sermon.”
I am against Fini’s proposal, first of all for the tone used in this statement, which unfortunately had little of a constructive political proposal and a great deal that was irrevocably a command. A proposal that presupposes above all a false and dangerous element, the result of unfounded prejudice that is now spreading among ordinary people. People believe that sermons and preaching in Italian mosques contain references and incitement to hatred and perhaps also pre-recruiting for terrorism of Islamic origin.
Should this assumption be true, I would expect the state to appeal not to Muslims but rather to its security forces requested: 1) all sermons to be translated from Arabic, and 2) to question and eventually arrest all Imams presumed to support terrorism. However, since all the mosques in Italy, especially since 2001, are (luckily) well-supervised by security forces, and a large majority of the Imams and managers of mosques have a established an ongoing dialogue with local authorities, Fini’s statement seems frankly superficial and the result of misunderstood intentions. At this point the real tragedy that lies behind such a request is the extremely annoying assumption regards to the bad faith of Imams and the almost certain ambiguity of those who today manage Muslim placed of worship.
The assumption in fact is that sermons in Arabic hide ambiguous words or even support for violent ideologies. Prejudice has gone even further to the extent of comparing mosques to dangerous places, to the point that when the opening of a new mosque is announced it now seems totally legitimate to ask for a referendum and organise pig fairs. At these conditions, how can one still speak of freedom of worship in Italy? Do Muslims still have the right to pray freely as sanctioned by the constitution? Is Arabic still an authorised language in our country or should it be banned? These questions are obviously provocations, but one should bear in mind that even now in most Italian mosques sermons are already translated into Italian for a large number of Muslim believers who do not speak Arabic, both of Italian origin and coming from Senegal, Ghana, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries with a Muslim majority.
I wish to invite the President of the Chamber of Deputies, who has often shown interest in civil coexistence and respect for religious and ethnic minorities, to ask all political parties for a period of reflection and at least for a moment leave in peace a minority that currently contributes just like all other citizens to the country’s development and asks only for the basic right to freedom of worship. Instead of providing warnings and implementing false alarmism, it would be best to establish a direct dialogue with citizens following the Islamic faith and reinstate with greater seriousness the Pisanu-Amato project involving the Council for Italian Islam. Having a dialogue with the Muslims of Italy, instead of judging them a priori would provide an excellent signal above all for the new generations of Italian Islam, who already speak Dante’s language in Mosques and read the Koran translated into Italian, but are still awaiting Italian citizenship for themselves and for their faith.
Khalid Chaouki, journalist, a member of the Council for Italian Islam and editor of Minareti.it
Translated by Francesca Simmons