"Wrong to ban Islamic places of worship"
Elena Zuppini
Verona. At the entrance mint tea, offered in a welcoming, air sounds Arabs clergyman in the audience mixed with Islamic headgear. It had all the ingredients of "atmosphere" on Monday evening at the theater Estimate Citadel Square for an evening of discussion and dialogue, that the group "The 2facce-young Muslims and Christians on a journey ', in collaboration with the associations' The Desert flourish "and" Monastery of the common good "and the Islamic Council of Verona. But above all there was much substance.
Beginning in the speakers' table, where sat Hamza Roberto Piccardo, Liguria, who converted to Islam in 1975 and one of the founders Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy (UCOII), and father Paul Dall'Oglio, a Jesuit, prior of the monastery of Mar Musa Syria, where he landed in August 2006 a group of young Veronese, who are the same looking, with their peers faithful to Islam, even in their hometown to build an atmosphere of harmony between Muslims and Christians who have breathed in the monastic community in the desert. That's because last night was the third public meeting of the association, but over the years has been acted out the dialogue with reciprocal visits to places of worship and moments.
The meeting was opened with the passionate story of the pilgrimage Piccardo in Mecca, which took place in late November, after the first 22 years. An obligation for the faithful Muslim, to meet at least once in their life, if their means allow, as it represents the fifth pillar of Islam. Even at Mar Musa, a monastery nestled among the rocks on the desert hills north of Damascus, many pilgrims come each day, Muslims and Christians, "all drawn from the same voltage of Abraham to God," said Father Dall'Oglio.
But soon the theme of the evening, the pilgrimage in fact, has given way to the issue of religious freedom of Muslims in Italy. "Do not be denied the right guaranteed worldwide to have a place to pray for the mere quibbles bureaucratic, "said Picard. "Sometimes I'll see you deny the opening of a mosque or to impose the closure because the place is a few meters lower than those established by law, or perhaps because the carpets are not fireproof: I assure you, nobody in the mosques do not smoke! Give us time, "he continued," we are a community socially and politically weak, no one comes to visit during the election campaign to garner votes ... We ask only a little 'understanding'.
Piccardo told of a Muslim community that it is closing more and more dangerous in itself. "80% of the books that I sell as a publisher," he said, "are bought by Muslims to explain, through the gift of them, who we are. Not with the intention to convert, this does not concern us because God does what he wants, but let us know beyond what the media write and the fears that afflict politicians. After 2000, this effort to communicate with the outside world has failed: I notice the big drop in sales that I had. The community is collapsing on itself, because it believed to protect. "
"You can win elections tickling the lowest instincts of the people (provided then you can steer)," Dall'Oglio father spoke, "but you may also want to build communities on the common good and this gives by far the best results. What is certain is that fear of Islam produces an Islam that is scary. "
The Jesuit did not even spare "some local Catholic spiritual leaders, who first launched politically correct messages, then recommended not to grant the prayer rooms for Muslims, because we must stop them. In this way there is nothing that ghetto: the elite retreat, and what remains is the most fragile part of the Muslim population, the most dangerous because the most willing to give in to anger. And the reasons there are a lot of anger here in Italy and elsewhere in the world. Only a mosque in the light of the sun produces harmony and prosperity. "
Source: Arena - 24/02/2010
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