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Islam in Italy

Islam in Italy was almost entirely absent since its unification, in 1861, to the 1970s when the first trickle of North African immigrants began arriving. These North Africans, mostly of Berber or Arab origin came principally from heavily Islamic Morocco and have been followed in more recent years by Tunisians, Albanians and to a lesser extent, Libyans, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Middle Eastern Arabs and Kurds. These foreigners brought with them their religion - Islam.

The issue of Islam in Italy today is therefore inextricably linked with immigration, and more specifically illegal immigration. Weekly reports of boatloads of hundreds of illegal immigrants or clandestini dominate news programmes. While it is unclear how many of these illegal immigrants are Muslim, it is known that overall - of all immigrants that enter Italy at least 40% are Muslim. Italy has not had great success in intercepting many of the thousands of immigrants who land on Italian beaches, mainly because of the sheer length of the Italian coastline - some 8,000 km in total. There is a perception among some that this constant wave of arrivals is placing the nation under siege, the foreign customs and practices of these people is alien to many who have lived their entire lives in an almost homogenous Italo-Catholic environment. As a result of immigration the number of Muslims in Italy today probably surpasses the one-million mark, yet only 30,000 or so Italian citizens are Muslim. This number includes few actual immigrants and probably consists entirely of Italian converts. This group of people is rather small, as they are dwarfed by the total population of 58 million.

The past

The current presence of a million or so Muslims on what is now Italian soil is not the first foray of Islam in Italy. Under the Islamic Empire, which emerged following the death of the Prophet Muhammad and especially in the 7th to 11th centuries much of Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia were occupied by Muslims. While it is not clear to what extent converting native inhabitants was successful in the early Middle Ages, several beautiful mosques built by the invaders were later converted to Catholic Churches following the Islamic withdrawal from Italy in the 1100s. The influence of the Islamic presence of nine centuries ago on Italian culture today may not be immediately evident but it is present. For example, a number of Italian words are derived from Arabic (such as cafe` or coffee). In part, because the last presence of Islam in Italy was due to military invasion, there is somewhat of a prejudice or sense of unease about Islam in general.

The present

As stated, currently Muslims number a million or so - just under 2% of the total Italian population. However, due to declining native Italian birthrates, high birthrates among Muslim women in Italy and increasing immigration of Muslims from other countries (mostly illegal) this proportion is set to rise dramatically over the next few generations and is expected to reach between 10-15% of the total population by the middle of the 21st century. The present small dimensions of the Muslim community in Italy have prevented Islam from having a great influence on public life so far, but the first stirrings of a more strident Islamic Italy are coming to the fore. Recent issues include the presence of crucifixes in Italian State school classrooms and hospital bedrooms. It must be said that a vocal few have attracted a great deal of media attention - these people support the removal of crucifixes from public places, particularly schools, hospitals and offices. Legally speaking, the crucifix must be displayed in all these state-run locations due to an archaic Mussolini-era law, but more pertinently it is a cultural symbol which embodies the religious faith of nominally 97% of the Italian population and according to most polls at least 80% of the chosen religion of the total population. While this is no reason to make crucifixes compulsory in state-run institutions, many Muslims state their opposition to removing crucifixes - as they do not find it offensive. It is common in Muslim-majority countries to find arrow-signs in hotel rooms indicating the direction of Mecca and is not made an issue of by non-Muslims.

See also


Last updated: 02-08-2005 02:41:42
Last updated: 02-25-2005 21:13:14