Islam in Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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, Middle Eastern Arabs and Kurds. Some estimate the number of Italian converts to be around 30,000.
As a result, the issue of Islam in contemporary Italy is inextricably linked with immigration, and more specifically illegal immigration. Weekly reports of boatloads of illegal immigrants or clandestini dominate news programmes. While it is unclear how many of these illegal immigrants are Muslim, it is known that at least 40% of all immigrants to enter Italy today are Muslim.
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. 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 homogenous Italo-Catholic environment.
The number of Muslims in Italy today probably surpasses the one-million mark, though only 30,000 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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The past
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, much of Southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia were occupied by Muslims. While it is not clear to what extent these native Muslims adopted Catholicism in the early Middle Ages, several beautiful mosques built by the invaders were converted into Catholic Churches following the Islamic withdrawal from Italy in the 1100s.
The Islamic influence on Italian culture today from nine centuries ago may not be immediately evident, but it is present. For example, a number of Italian words are derived from Arabic (such as caffè, coffee). To some degree, existing prejudices about Islam in Italy can be traced to the fact that the last time islam had a significant impact on the country was in war.
The present
Official Italian statistics point out that legal number of Muslims in Italy are a little over 500 000. However, because of illegal migrants the number of Muslims in Italy has swelled to 800 000--under 2% of the total Italian population--the declining birthrate of native Italians, along with high Muslim birthrates could cause the Muslim population to increase, but there has been a dramatic decrease of illegal migrants over the last few years.
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. A small but vocal group 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 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.
