Herald Tribune (Thursday May 11 2000)

Recognition Can Wait As Islamic Group Split

By Irene Peroni (ITALY DAILY STAFF)

Recognition of Islam as an official religion by Italian authorities suffered yet another setback on Wednesday after mutual accusations led to an apparently irremediable split-up within two of the country's leading Muslim associations.

In spite of being Italy's second largest and fastest-growing religious community after Catholics - there are about 400,000 legal immigrants who are Muslims; an unspecified but significant number of illegal immigrants, and around 50,000 Italian converts to Islam - Muslims have yet to strike a deal with the state like those obtained by seven other faiths. Last December, the state recognized Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses.

The first draft of a possible accord between Italy's Muslims and the state was submitted in 1992 by the Union of the Organized Islamic Communities in Italy or Ucoii. But governments have refrained from endorsing that or subsequent approvals, citing disagreements between various Islamic organizations as well as the difficulty of finding a single representative to serve as an interlocutor in official dealings as the main factors that slow down the process.

On April 15 of this year, an Italian Islamic Council was created to settle rivalries and coordinate the effort to reach an intesa or accord.

But only one month later, the Italian Islamic Religious Community, known by the initials CRI, has stepped forward to dissent. On Wednesday the CRI held a press conference in Rome at which it claimed to have been refused membership by the Council, which it accused of being "excessively dependent on Saudi Arabia" and "close to fundamentalist Islamic groups."

"The Islamic Council in Italy doesn't safeguard the religious interests of Italian Muslims, nor does it provide sufficient guarantees of being in conformity to the country's laws", said Wahid Pallavicini, the chairman of the CRI, which claims to count the majority of the 50,000 Italians converted to Islam among its membership. The CRI is now seeking to be allowed its own separate negotiations by the government.

Hamza Piccardo, the head of Ucoii, rejected the charges and rebuffed that the CRI was "a syncretic New Age sect." Ucoii represented the congregations of more than 120 mosques around the country, he said, and had a right to a stronger role on the board of the Islamic Council.

"Up to now all initiatives have been unilateral," said Anna Nardini, the secretary of a special government commission for the accords with other denominations. "Both the Islamic Council of Italy and CRI still have to apply for legal recognition from the Interior Ministry. Once they do that, the negotiations will kick off."

Through the "intesa", Muslims aim at obtaining rights similar to those already granted to the other recognized faiths, including official recognition of schools and marriages - though polygamy forbidden by Italian law, is out of the question - and accommodation of their particular food, prayer and other cultural requirements at work, in hospitals and in prisons.

Tax advantages are also crucial in the quest for recognition. Italian citizens can choose to channel 0.8 percent of their income tax to the faithbased organizations of their choice, provided they are officially approved.

Muslims residing in Italy come primarily from North Africa, with almost a third from Morocco and 11 percent from Tunisia. Another 16 percent are ethnic Albanians, while 7.5 percent are from Senegal.