Muslims In Italy Research Articles

Training of Imams, Murshidat and Muslim Religious Leaders: Experiences and Open Questions—An Overview of Italy

Muslims in Italy are an increasingly large and relevant part of the social fabric, although their social condition is still characterized by a “precarious” status. This is explained by a relationship with State institutions that is not yet fully defined in formal terms and by resistance to legitimizing their presence in the public space. In addition, international events have led to the spread of a securitarian political rhetoric and to the intensification of “control” devices on the organized forms and public manifestations of Muslim religiosity. One issue that has concerned political interlocutors has been the training of “imams”. This paper presents the Italian case of training “on” and “of” Islam, analyzing it as a contested field, albeit in a not open and hostile form, between the different social and institutional actors, that is Italian universities, Islamic organizations and transnational Islam and Islam “of the States”. It then analyzes the approach that has been developed and experimented by an Italian State university for the training of imams and murshidat, in collaboration with Italian Islamic organizations and some universities in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries, and it also discusses how it fits in as a possible innovative model among the various “assemblages” that have emerged in Europe in recent years.

Multiple existential threats and attitudes towards Muslims in Finland and Italy during the COVID‐19 pandemic

AbstractWe are currently living in a time of several existential threats: the global pandemic COVID‐19, climate change, and the ‘refugee crisis’ caused by violent conflicts and humanitarian catastrophes in Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. These threats do not only affect our well‐being but also our sense of control and security, as well as identities and worldviews having also intergroup consequences. In this study, we investigated the links between perceived existential threats (i.e. COVID‐19, climate change, and refugee crisis in 2015 that multiplied Muslim population in Europe), national and religious identities, and attitudes towards Muslims (i.e. Muslim refugees, Muslim minority, and Muslim converts) among Christian national majority group members in Finland and Italy in 2020. The results were analysed with multigroup structural equation modelling, and they demonstrated some key differences between how threats perceived from climate change and the refugee crisis in 2015 are translated into the reactions towards Muslims. While threats associated with the refugee crisis were detrimental to outgroup attitudes, climate change threats elicited more positive attitudes towards the outgroups studied. Our preliminary analyses suggested that COVID‐19, in turn, seems to elicit feelings of worldview defence through higher levels of national identification with no negative attitudinal ramifications. While Abrahamic identity as a believer was directly associated with more positive attitudes towards Muslims in Italy, it did not account for the link between existential threats and outgroup attitudes. The results are discussed in light of how different threats increase or decrease intergroup harmony.

The Legal Treatment of Muslims in Italy in the Age of Fear and Insecurity

AbstractAlthough diverging influences have always characterized the relation between religion and democracy, in Italy, tensions arising from these divergences are especially exacerbated by the country’s current religious diversity and plurality, and they are magnified when combined with chronic emergencies such as immigration and international terrorism. These critical factors complicate the application of freedom of religion and the supreme principle of secularism (principio supremo di laicità), which are essential parts of the Italian legal system. This article analyzes these aspects of the law by considering the relation between Islamic communities and the state. In particular, the article focuses on both endogenous influences (Italy’s traditional system of state-church relationship) and exogenous influences (immigration and international terrorism). These factors muddle the interpretation of constitutional rights, including the right of Muslims and Islamic groups to be equal and equally free before the law.

The activism of young muslims in Italy: Citizens ‘crossing borders’ in search of recognition

The article investigates how young Muslims born and/or raised in Italy perform ‘acts of citizenship’ combining religious belief and civic engagement. We present the results of 40 in-depth interviews carried out with young Muslims active in two associations: Giovani Musulmani d’Italia and Islamic Relief. The aim is to explore how the tactics of visibility, the strategies of recognition ‘from below’ and the forms of transnational mobilisation of Western Muslim activists may trigger processes to ‘denationalize’ the meaning of citizenship, challenging original autochthony as the primordial ‘right’ of belonging. Furthermore, in the Italian model of imperfect secularism, young Muslims’ acts of citizenship can shed light on the limits of the fictitious principle of public ‘neutrality’ as tolerance and the need to redefine the public sphere as a common and heterogeneous space affirming cultural pluralism and the right to difference as integral elements of the foundation of civil society.

Https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1201

This paper studies Muslim marriages and divorces in Islamic centers in Italy, which are influenced by religion, and conducted outside the scope of Italian laws. The paper is basically empirical research, based on interviews with imāms in various Islamic centers, Muslim women and men who have chosen to refer to Islamic centers for their marriage or divorce, and family counselors following different cases. It investigates the motivations behind these practices by analyzing the fieldwork data, and demonstrates the related socio-legal consequences, specifically in relation to the role of Islamic centers and imāms in these marriages and divorces. The current state of religious rights for Muslims in Italy, and the lack of knowledge about the circumstances and reasons for these practices at national level are taken into consideration.

Home prayer, unattended funerals and social responsibility: Muslims in Italy and the coronavirus outbreak (March-May 2020)

Sadly, in 2020 Italy was one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus (by 26 February 2021 2020: 2,868,435 infected; 96,974 dead). All religious communities in Italy had to respond quickly and clearly to a common and invisible threat, while providing guidance and support to their local congregations and complying with government provisions in order to curb the spread of the virus. From 9 March to 2 May 2020, Italy’s approximately 2.9 million Muslims, like all other residents, had to abide by the country’s strict stay-at-home orders, refraining from going out except for emergencies and to buy food. In the present article, I will make use of selected texts published on the official websites of the Unione delle Comunità e Organizzazioni Islamiche in Italia (UCOII – Union of Islamic congregations and organizations in Italy – اتحاد الهيئات والجاليات الإسلامية في إيطاليا ) and of the As sociazione Islamica Italiana degli Imam e delle Guide Religiose (Italian Islamic Association of Imams and Religious Guides; الجمعية الإسلامية الإيطالية للأئمة والمرشدين ) to deter mine and discuss: 1) which practices of the Italian Islamic community were most affected by the epidemic, and 2) how Italian Muslims carried out various symbolic and social initiatives to demonstrate their active participation in the common fight against the spread of the virus.

The Difficulties of Italian Muslim Political Mobilization: Anti-Muslim Sentiment and Internal Fragmentation

This paper focuses on the political participation and mobilization of Muslims in Italy, an understudied topic. A few existing studies outline that Italian Muslim involvement in the political process has been quite low on both the local and national levels. However, along with the notable recent growth of the Muslim population in Italy, a certain evolution of political mobilization has occurred as well. This paper will analyze how Italian Muslim political participation, both through non-electoral and electoral channels, has evolved through time. It will question what are the key issues and challenges for participation; and to what extent homeland politics and foreign policy events have affected political mobilization. It will argue that even though some limited evolution of political mobilization has occurred in recent year, the Italian Muslim political participation and impact both remain rather limited due to the strong anti-Muslim sentiment in Italy, as well as due to internal fragmentation of Muslim communities.

Islamic Friday Sermon in Italy: Leaders, Adaptations, and Perspectives

The focus of this article is to spotlight the ritual frame of the canonical Friday prayer that is organized weekly around midday in places of Islamic worship in Italy. I verify how the Muslim communities in Italy, as a “cognitive minority”, use different strategies related to the performance of the Friday prayer ritual, and I analyze its continuous reframing. During the preliminary investigation I selected seventeen places of worship located in major cities and provincial towns located in the North, Central and South of Italy including Sicily. I have only considered spaces run by Sunni Arabs because they are the majority of Muslims in Italy. In these places I performed the participant observation from October 2016 to July 2017 collecting empirical data and more than a hundred sermons that I analyzed later. I also relied on interviews with preachers and people in charge of these places.

‘Mosque Marriages’ and Nuptial Forms among Muslims in Italy

‘Mosque Marriages’ and Nuptial Forms among Muslims in Italy

Being Muslims in Italy: Between Recognition and Conflict

This study considers whether or not Italian Muslims are deemed a threat by Italian society. It attempts to verify the major lines of conflict in the relationship between Islam and Italian society, which is by tradition culturally connected to Catholicism. The study investigates different patterns of relationship between Catholic Italians and Muslim Italians in different Italian regions based on the national survey “La nuova religiosità in Italia” [New religiosity in Italy] (2007). By means of research data the authors detect regions with a high potential for conflict and regions where there is greater acceptance of Islam as well as better bases for societal cohesion and cooperation.

Religion and the city: A review on Muslim spatiality in Italian cities

This paper focuses on the spatial impacts and characteristics of the Muslim presence in Italy. The centrality of religion for many migrants has significant consequences on the morphology of the Italian cities. This is especially the case of Islam, which is now the second most important religion in Italy – and the prevalent religion among immigrants.After examining facts and figures about the Muslim presence in Italy, the paper focuses on two aspects of the Muslim urban presence. First, it analyses the residential patterns of Muslims, with reference to the case of Milan. The tendency towards a sprawled pattern is highlighted. The paper then analyses the four main ‘landmarks’ of the urban presence of Muslims in Italy: places of worship, halal butcheries, burial-places, and forms of public life. A discussion of the evolutionary prospects of Muslim spatiality in Italian cities over the next few decades follows these analyses.

Muslims in Italy: The Need for an ‘Intesa’ with the Italian State

Muslims in Italy are now a consistent, although not new, phenomenon in the social and political panorama of the country. Like other communities, they are in search of an agreement with the state that would allow them to live and prosper within a legal framework that guarantees rights and duties. Unfortunately, attempts at achieving such an agreement have come up against a wall of prejudice and fear from the Italian population, as well as a lack of courage and foresight on the part of Italian state institutions. The problems and difficulties associated with the struggle of Italian Muslims in reaching an intesa are outlined and analytically presented along with a discussion of how integration may lead to the type of pluralism and tolerance enshrined in the Italian constitution.

Les musulmans en Italie entre crise identitaire et réponses islamistes

Fin 2009, le nombre des musulmans presents en Italie a presque atteint le chiffre de 1,5 million qui, compare aux 50 000 du debut des annees 1980, montre a quel point la presence de l’islam en Italie est recente. A la difference d’autres pays ou les musulmans se sont installes depuis plusieurs generations et ou l’islam fait depuis longtemps partie integrante du tissu social national, l’Italie n’a que recemment decouvert que les musulmans etaient la pour rester et non pour partir le lendemain ...

The Long Path from Recognition to Representation of Muslims in Italy

The Muslim community in Italy does not benefit from official recognition, which could, among other things, provide it with access to state funding. Nor does its fragmented nature favour a process of aggregation leading to the formation of a single representative body delegated to dialogue with the institutions. The government initiative establishing the Council of Italian Islam (Consulta) sought to encourage an original course in this direction, but it seems that the body is unlikely to solve the problem. The solutions adopted in various European countries and the proposals put forward by experts suggest that legal recognition cannot sidestep the question of representation and therefore calls for a process of cultural mediation.

Islam Italiano: Prospects for Integration of Muslims in Italy's Religious Landscape

Despite daunting political and social challenges to the insertion of Islam in Italy's spiritual geography, there is much evidence to suggest that integration is already underway and will move slowly but steadily forward to realization. Factors that impede the efforts of Muslims to achieve integration in the Italian religious landscape include the diversity and divisions found within the Muslim community itself, deep-seated mistrust of Islam in Italian society, media coverage that tends to be biased and inaccurate, and ambivalence on the part of the Catholic Church hierarchy toward Islam and other religious minorities. Among the factors that portend eventual accommodation of Muslims in Italy are the relatively tolerant attitudes among Italians toward immigrants and religious minorities, the increasingly effective measures adopted by Muslims to promote their cause in the public arena, the role of second-generation Muslims in reconstructing Islamic identity for the Italian context, and examples from the history of religion that illustrate how religious minorities in other societies have been successfully integrated.