Islam in Italy
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The history of Islam in Italy started in the 9th century: Sicily, Sardinia and some regions in Peninsular Italy have been part of the Muslim Ummah between 828 (Muslim conquest of Sicily) and 1300 (destruction of the last Islamic stronghold of Lucera in Puglia), Islam was almost entirely absent in Italy from the time of the country's unification in 1861 until the 1970s, when the first trickle of North African immigrants began arriving. These North Africans, mostly of Berber or Arab origin, came mainly from Morocco, though they have been followed in more recent years by Tunisians, Albanians and to a lesser extent, Libyans, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Somalis, Middle Eastern Arabs and Kurds.
The number of Muslims in Italy today probably surpasses the one-million mark, though only 60,000 or so Italian citizens are Muslim. They consist mostly of foreigners who have received Italian citizenship and native Italians who have converted to Islam; a famous Italian convert to Islam is Italy's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
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[edit] History
The current presence of a million or so Muslims in Italy is not the first foray of Islam into that country. Under the Islamic Empire, which emerged following the death of the Muslim prophet Muhammad and especially in the 7th to 11th centuries, small parts of peninsular southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia were occupied by Muslims.
[edit] Present situation
According to latest Italian official statistics, Muslims make up about 34% of the 2,400,000 foreign residents living in Italy as of January, 1, 2005.
To these 820.000 foreign residents of Muslim heritage legally residing in Italy , another 100,000-150.000 should be added, as Muslims represent, according to the widely accepted yearly estimates of Italian association Caritas, about 40% of Italy's illegal immigrants.
Despite illegal immigrants representing a minority of the Muslim presence in Italy, the issue of Islam in contemporary Italy has been linked by some political parties (particularly the 'Northern League' or 'Lega Lombarda') with immigration, and more specifically illegal immigration. Immigration has become a prominent political issue, as, especially in the summer, reports of boatloads of illegal immigrants or clandestini dominate news programmes.
Italy has not had great success in intercepting many of the thousands of clandestini who land on Italian beaches, mainly because of the sheer length of the Italian coastline: some 8,000 km in total. However, many of the "clandestini" land in Italy are only using Italy as a gateway to other EU nations, due to the fact Italy doesn't have as many economic opportunties for them as Germany or France and that there is a somewhat more hostile climate to their presence in a still devout Catholic Italy. To some Italians, there is a sense that this constant wave of arrivals has placed the nation under siege---the foreign customs and practices of these new immigrants is alien to many who have lived their entire lives in an almost homogeneous Italo-Catholic environment, and have no memory of the history of Muslim expansion into Italy.
The number of foreign Muslims who have been granted Italian nationality is estimated between 30,000 and 50,000, while Italian Muslims, that is converts of full Italian ancestry who previously belonged to the Catholic faith or had no religion, are estimated to be less than 10.000.
Therefore, in 2005 the number of Muslims living in Italy is estimated to be between 960,000 and 1,030,000,with an average estimate strikingly close to the million mark which Italian media have started to adopt while referring to the numbers of Muslims in Italy.
Muslims represent today 1.4% of Italy's population, a percentage much lower than that of other major EU countries, and still slightly lower than that recorded in Italy between the middle of the Ninth century and the end of the Thirteenth Century, before the removal of the last Muslim strongholds in Puglia in year 1300.
While in Medieval times the Muslim presence was almost totally concentrated in Insular (Sicily, Sardinia) and Southern (Calabria, Puglia) Italy, it is today more evenly distributed, with almost 55% of Muslims living in the North of Italy, 25% in the Centre, and only 20% in the South.
It should be remarked that despite the stereotype of a 'Muslim invasion', Muslims a lower portion of immigrants then in previous years, as the latest statistical reports of the Italian Ministry of Interior and of Caritas show that the share of Muslims among new immigrants has declined from over 50% at the beginning of the Nineties (mainly Albanians and Moroccans) to less than 25% in the following decade, with non-Muslim Countries like Romania, Moldavia, and Ukraine taking the lead of the latest "wave" of immigration.
The relatively small size of the local Muslim community means that Islam has yet to make a significant impact on public life, but there are signs that this is changing. Recent points of contention between native Italians and the Muslim immigrant population include the presence of crucifixes in Italian State school classrooms and hospital bedrooms. Adel Smith, a Muslim convert of Scottish ancestry, has attracted considerable media attention by demanding that crucifixes in public places (i.e., schools, hospitals, and government offices) be removed. They oppose a Mussolini-era law, which requires the display of the crucifix in government-sponsored spaces.
Perhaps more importantly, such action is perceived by some as an assault on a cultural symbol that embodies the nominal and practiced religious faith of 97 percent of the total population. While non-Christians may not see this as a reason to make crucifixes compulsory in state-run institutions, many Muslims have also stated their opposition to removing crucifixes because they do not find them offensive. They cite the fact that in many countries with a Muslim-majority, it is common to find arrow-signs in hotel rooms indicating the direction of Mecca, and that this is not made an issue by non-Muslims.
[edit] See also
- Islam by country
- Religion in Italy
- Christianity in Italy
- Jews in Italy
- Buddhism in Italy
- List of Italian politicians belonging to a religious minority
- Islamic dress controversy in Europe
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