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Islam is a minorityreligion in Italy.Muslim presence in Italy dates back to the 9th century, whenSicily came under control of theAghlabid Dynasty. There was a large Muslim presence in Italy from 827 (the first occupation ofMazara)[2] until the 12th century. TheNorman conquest of Sicily led to a gradual decline of Islam, due to the conversions and emigration of Muslims toward Northern Africa. A small Muslim community however survived at least until 1300 (theMuslim settlement of Lucera). By the 1900s, with the Italian colonisation ofLibya,Somalia,Eritrea andAlbania, a new wave of Muslim migrants, mainly from these countries, entered Italy and remained the most dominant Muslim groups until the end of the 20th century, and often Islamic prayers were conducted in either Arabic, Amharic, Somali or Albanian.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
In more recent years, there has been migration from Pakistan, theBalkans (mainly Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bangladesh, India, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia.[10]
Islam is not formally recognised by the Italian state. The official recognition of a religion different fromCatholicism on behalf of theItalian Government is in fact to be approved by thePresident of the Republic under request of theItalian Minister of the Interior, following a signed agreement between the proposing religious community and the government. Such recognition does not merely depend on the number of followers of a given religion, and it requires congruence between the proposing religion principles and theConstitution.[11] Official recognition gives an organised religion a chance to benefit from a national "religion tax", known as theEight per thousand. Other religions, including Judaism and smaller groups, such as theAssemblies of God,The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and theSeventh-day Adventists, already enjoy the official recognition in the form of signed agreements with the Italian government. In late 2004, Italian minister,Giuseppe Pisanu set out in an attempt to create a unified leadership among the Muslim community. In 2005, the Consulta per l'Islam Italiano was created. This council is composed of 16 members of the Muslim population that are elected by the Ministry of Interiors. The goal of this council was for the Muslim community to have frequent and harmonious dialogues with the Italian government. The Consulta does not have any real power to make binding decisions. It exists as a platform for the Muslim community.[12] Strong disagreement between Council members slows its work.[13][14]
The Italian island ofPantelleria (which lies between the western tip ofSicily and North Africa) was conquered by theUmayyads in 700. The Arabs had earlier raidedRoman Sicily in 652, 667 and 720 A.D.;Syracuse in the eastern end of the island was occupied for the first time temporarily in 708, but a planned invasion in 740 failed due to a rebellion of theBerbers of theMaghreb that lasted until 771 and civil wars in Ifriqiya lasting until 799.
Arab attacks on the island ofSardinia were less significant than those on Sicily and eventually failed to achieve the island's conquest, although they induced its separation from the Roman Empire, giving birth to a long period of Sardinian independence, the era of theJudicates.
According to some sources, the conquest was spurred byEuphemius, aByzantine commander who feared punishment by EmperorMichael II for a sexual indiscretion. After a short-lived conquest of Syracuse, he was proclaimed emperor but was compelled by loyal forces to flee to the court ofZiyadat Allah inIfriqiya. The latter agreed to conquer Sicily, with the promise to leave it to Euphemius in exchange for a yearly tribute. To end the constant mutinies of his army, theAghlabid magistrate ofIfriqiya sentArabian,Berber, andAndalusian rebels to conquer Sicily in 827, 830 and 875, led by, among others,Asad ibn al-Furat.Palermo fell to them in 831, followed byMessina in 843,Syracuse in 878. In 902, the Ifriqiyan magistrate himself led an army against the island, seizingTaormina in 902.Reggio Calabria on the mainland fell in 918, and in 964Rometta, the last remaining Byzantine toehold on Sicily.
Under the Muslims, agriculture in Sicily prospered and became export oriented. Arts and crafts flourished in the cities.[citation needed] Palermo, the Muslim capital of the island, had 300,000 inhabitants at that time, more than all the cities of Germany combined. The local population conquered by the Muslims were Romanized Catholic Sicilians in Western Sicily and partially Greek speaking Christians, mainly in the eastern half of the island, but there were also a significant number of Jews.[15] These conquered people were affordedfreedom of religion under the Muslims asdhimmis. Thedhimmi were also required to pay thejizya, or poll tax, and thekharaj or land tax, but were exempt from the tax that Muslims had to pay (Zakaat). The payment of the Jizya is payment for state services and protection against foreign and internal aggression as non-Muslims did not pay the Zakaat tax. The conquered population could instead pay the Zakaat tax by converting to Islam. Large numbers of native Sicilians converted to Islam. However, even after 100 years of Islamic rule, numerous Greek-speaking Christian communities prospered, especially in north-eastern Sicily, as dhimmis. This was largely a result of the Jizya system which allowed co-existence. This co-existence with the conquered population fell apart after the reconquest of Sicily, particularly following the death of KingWilliam II of Sicily in 1189. By the mid-11th century, Muslims made up the majority of the population of Sicily.
From Sicily, the Muslims launched raids on the mainland and devastatedCalabria. In 835 and again in 837, the Duke ofNaples was fighting against the Duke ofBenevento and appealed to the Sicilian Muslims for help. In 840Taranto andBari fell to the Muslims, and in 841Brindisi.[16] Muslim attacks onRome failed in 843, 846 and 849. In 847 Taranto, Bari and Brindisi declared themselves emirates independent from the Aghlabids. For decades the Muslims ruled the Mediterranean and attacked the Italian coastal towns. Muslims occupiedRagusa in Sicily between 868 and 870.
Only after thefall of Malta in 870 did theoccidental Christians succeed in setting up an army capable of fighting the Muslims. Over the next two decades, most of the territory held by Muslims on the mainland was liberated from Muslim rule. The Franco-Roman emperorLouis II reconquered Brindisi in 869, Bari in 871 and beat the Arabs at Salerno in 872.[17][18][19] The Byzantines retook Taranto in 880.[20] In 882 the Muslims had founded at the mouth ofGarigliano between Naples and Rome a new base further in the north, which was in league withGaeta, and had attackedCampania as well as Sabinia inLazio. In 915,Pope John X organised a vast alliance of southern powers, including Gaeta and Naples, the Lombard princes and the Byzantines. The subsequentBattle of the Garigliano was successful, and all Saracens were captured and executed, ending any presence of Arabs in Lazio or Campania permanently.[21] A hundred years later, the Byzantines called the Sicilian Muslims to ask for support against a campaign of German emperorOtto II. They beat Otto at thebattle of Stilo in 982 and for the next 40 years largely succeeded in preventinghis successors from entering southern Italy.
In 1002 a Venetian fleet defeated Muslims besieging Bari. After the Aghlabids were defeated in Ifriqiya as well, Sicily fell in the 10th century to theirFatimid successors, but claimed independence after fights betweenSunni andShia Muslims under theKalbids.
After they had conquered theVisigoth Kingdom in Spain (729–765), the Arabs and Berbers fromSeptimania andNarbonne carried out raids into northern Italy, and in 793 again launched an offensive into northwestern Italy (Nicaea 813, 859 and 880). In 888, Andalusian Muslims set up a new base inFraxinet nearFréjus in FrenchProvence, from where they started raids along the coast and in inner France.
In 915, after theBattle of Garigliano, the Muslims lost their base in southern Lazio. In 926 KingHugh of Italy called the Muslims to fight against his northern Italian rivals. In 934 and 935Genoa andLa Spezia were attacked, followed by Nicaea in 942. In Piedmont the Muslims got as far asAsti andNovi, and also moved northwards along theRhône valley and the western flank of theAlps.[citation needed] After defeatingBurgundian troops[citation needed], in 942–964 they conqueredSavoy and occupied a part of Switzerland (952–960)[citation needed]. To fight the Arabs, EmperorBerengar I, Hugh's rival, called the Hungarians, who in their turn devastated northern Italy. As a result of the Muslim defeat at theBattle of Tourtour, Fraxinet was lost and razed by the Christians in 972. Thirty years later, in 1002, Genoa was invaded, and in 1004 Pisa.[citation needed]
Pisa and Genoa joined forces to end Muslim rule overCorsica (Islamic 810/850-930/1020) andSardinia. InSardinia in 1015 the fleet of the Andalusianlord of Dénia come from Spain, settled a temporary military camp as a logistic base to control the Tyrrhenian Sea and Italian peninsula, but in 1016 the fleet was forced to leave its base due to the military intervention of maritime republics ofGenoa andPisa.
The cultural and economical bloom in Sicily that had started under the Kalbids was interrupted by internecine fights, followed by invasions by the TunisianZirids (1027), Pisa (1030–1035), and the Romans (1027 onwards). Eastern Sicily (Messina, Syracuse and Taormina) was captured by the Byzantines in 1038–1042. In 1059Normans from southern Italy, led byRoger I, invaded the island. The Normans conquered Reggio in 1060 (conquered by the Romanin 1027). Messina fell to the Normans in 1061; an invasion by the AlgerianHammadids to preserve Islamic rule was thwarted in 1063 by the fleets of Genoa and Pisa. The loss of Palermo in 1072 and of Syracuse in 1088 could not be prevented.Noto and the last Muslim strongholds on Sicily fell in 1091. In 1090–91, the Normans also conquered Malta; Pantelleria fell in 1123.
A small Muslim population remained on Sicily under the Normans.[22][23]Roger II hosted at his court, among others, the famous geographerMuhammad al-Idrisi and the poet Muhammad ibn Zafar. At first, Muslims were tolerated by the Normans, but soon pressure from the Popes led to their increasing discrimination; most mosques were destroyed or made into churches.[citation needed] The first Sicilian Normans did not take part in the Crusades, but they undertook a number of invasions and raids in Ifriqiya, before they were defeated thereafter 1157 by theAlmohads.
This peaceful coexistence in Sicily finally ended with the death of KingWilliam II in 1189. The Muslim elite emigrated at that time. Their medical knowledge was preserved in theSchola Medica Salernitana; an Arabian-Roman-Norman synthesis in art and architecture survived asSicilian Romanesque. The remaining Muslims fled, for example toCaltagirone on Sicily, or hid out in the mountains and continued to resist against theHohenstaufen dynasty, who ruled the island from 1194 on. In the heartland of the island, the Muslims declaredIbn Abbad the last Emir of Sicily.
To end this upheaval, emperorFrederick II, himself a Crusader, instigated a policy to rid Sicily of the few remaining Muslims. This cleansing was done in small part under Papal influence but mostly to create a loyal force of troops which could not be influenced by non-Christian infiltrators. In 1224–1239 he deported every single Muslim from Sicily to an autonomous colony under strict military control (so that they could not infiltrate non-Muslim areas) inLucera in Apulia. Muslims were recruited however by Frederick in the army and constituted his faithful personal bodyguard, since they had no connection to his political rivals. In 1249, he ejected the Muslims from Malta as well. Lucera was returned to the Christians in 1300 at the instigation of the pope by KingCharles II of Naples. Muslims were forcefully converted, killed or expelled from Europe . However a Muslim community was still recorded in Apulia in 1336[24] and very recently in 2009, a genetic study revealed a small genetic Northwest African contribution among today's inhabitants near the region of Lucera.[25]
DuringSpanish rule of Sicily, and to escape theSpanish inquisition of the Moriscos (Muslims who had converted to Christianity) inthe Iberian peninsula, a few Moriscos migrated to Sicily. During this time there were several attempts to rid Sicily of its extensive formerly Muslim'Moor' population. The attacks were also directed against crypto-Muslim slaves and Sicilian renegades who refused to deny Islam during the 16th and the 17th centuries.[26] However, it is doubtful that the order was carried out in practice. The main reason that some former Muslims were able to remain in Sicily was that they were openly supported byThe Duke of Osuna, now officially installed as viceroy inPalermo, advocated to the Spanish monarch inMadrid for allowing the Moriscos to stay in Sicily.[27][28]
During this century, theOttoman Empire was expanding mightily in southeastern Europe. It completed the absorption of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 under SultanMehmet II by conquering Constantinople andGalata. It seized Genoa's last bastions in theBlack Sea in 1475 and Venice's Greek colony ofEuboea in 1479. Turkish troops invaded theFriuli region in northeastern Italy in 1479 and again in 1499–1503. The Apulian harbor town ofOtranto, located about 100 kilometers southeast of Brindisi, was seized in 1480 (Ottoman invasion of Otranto), but the Turks were routed there in 1481 by an alliance of several Italian city-states, Hungary and France led by the princeAlphonso II of Naples, when Mehmet died and a war for his succession broke out.Cem Sultan, pretender to the Ottoman throne, was defeated despite being supported by the pope; he fled with his family to the Kingdom of Naples, where his male descendants were bestowed with the title ofPrincipe de Sayd by the Pope in 1492. They lived in Naples until the 17th century and in Sicily until 1668 before relocating to Malta.
It is a subject of debate whether Otranto was meant to be the base for further conquests. In any case, the Ottoman sultans had not given up their ambition to take over the Italian Peninsula and to finally install Islamic sovereignty after the conquest of Constantinople. After the conquests ofRagusa (Dubrovnik) and Hungary in 1526 and the defeat of the Turkish army atVienna in 1529, Turkish fleets again attacked southern Italy.Reggio was sacked in 1512 by the famous Turkish corsairKhayr al-Din, better known by the nickname of Barbarossa; in 1526 the Turks attacked Reggio again, but this time suffered a setback and were forced to turn their sights elsewhere. In 1538 they defeated the Venetian fleet. In 1539 Nice was raided by theBarbary pirates (Siege of Nice), but an attempted Turkish landing on Sicily failed, as did the attempted conquest of Pantelleria in 1553 and thesiege of Malta in 1565.
Next to Spain, the biggest contribution to the victory of the Christian "Holy League" in thebattle of Lepanto in 1571 was made by theRepublic of Venice, which between 1423 and 1718 fought eight costlywars against the Ottoman Empire. In 1594, the city of Reggio was again sacked byCığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha, a renegade who converted to Islam.
By the 19th century, Italy had finallyreunified the country and engaged in a process of colonialism. Italy would conquer territories likeAlbania,Libya,Somalia andEritrea; the majority of these colonies had predominantly Muslim population. This also resulted in a new wave of migration of the Muslim population to Italy, mainly from the Albanian Muslim communities due to proximity.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
In 1937,Benito Mussolini proclaimed himself as the Protector of Islam and held the ceremonialSword of Islam as an attempt to demonstrate his support for the Muslim population.[29] During theWorld War II, Italy recruited Muslim soldiers from their colonies in Somalia, Libya and Eritrea to fight against the British and American forces, as well as supporting various fascist groups, notably theAlbanian Fascist Militia and theCham Albanians, majority of them were Muslims.[30][31][32][33] Most of theseAlbanian Muslims were expelled by Greece after the WW2 ended, with some of them escaped to Italy instead of returning toCommunist Albania.[34]
| This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Islam in Italy" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 520,000 | — |
| 2009 | 1,200,000 | +130.8% |
| 2016 | 1,400,000 | +16.7% |
| 2022 | 1,500,000 | +7.1% |
| 1999 and 2009 estimates[35] 2016 census[36] 2022 census[37] | ||
According to a 2016 Pew Research Center projection and Brookings, there are 1,400,000 Muslims in Italy (2.3% of the Italian population), almost one third of Italy's foreign population (250.000 have acquired Italian citizenship).[38][39] The majority of Muslims in Italy areSunni, with aShi'ite minority. There are also a fewAhmadi Muslims in the country.[36] This diversity has induced a lack of organization throughout the Italian Muslim community. As a result, the community also lacks cohesive leadership.[40]
Despite undocumented immigrants representing a minority of the Muslims in Italy, considering that undocumented migrants and refugees predominantly come from Muslim countries, the issue of Islam in contemporary Italy has been linked by some political parties (particularly theLega Nord) with immigration, and more specificallyillegal immigration. Immigration has become a prominent political issue, as reports of boatloads of illegal immigrants (orclandestini) dominate news programmes, especially in the summertime. Police forces have not had great success in intercepting many of the thousands ofclandestini who land on Italian beaches, mainly because of a political unwillingness, partly fostered by the EU, to address the issue. However, the vast majority of theclandestini landing in Italy are only using the country as a gateway to other EU states, due to the fact that Italy offers fewer economic opportunities and social welfare services for them than Germany, France, or the United Kingdom.
While in medieval times, the Muslim population was almost totally concentrated in Insular Sicily and in the city ofLucera, inApulia, it is today more evenly distributed, with almost 60% of Muslims living in the North of Italy, 25% in the centre, and only 15% in the South. Muslims form a lower proportion of immigrants than in previous years, as the latest statistical reports by the Italian Ministry of Interior and Caritas indicate that the share of Muslims among new immigrants has declined from over 50% at the beginning of the 1990s (mainly Albanians and Moroccans) to less than 25% in the following decade, due to the massive arrivals from eastern Europe.
Recent points of contention between ethnic Italians and the Muslim immigrant population include the strong presence ofcrucifixes in public buildings, including school classrooms, government offices, and hospital wards.Adel Smith has attracted considerable media attention by demanding that crucifixes in public facilities be removed. TheItalian Council of State, in the Sentence No. 556, 13 February 2006, confirmed the display of the crucifix in government sponsored spaces. Smith was subsequently charged with defaming the Catholic religion in 2006.[41]
In November 2016, Minister of the InteriorAngelino Alfano reported that Italy had deported nine imams for inciting racial violence.[42]
In January 2017, community groups representing around 70% of the Muslim community in Italy signed a pact with the government to "reject all forms of violence and terrorism" and to hold prayers in mosques in the Italian language or at least to have them translated.[43]
The conversion of Italians toIslam has been rising since the year 2000.[44] According to theUnion of Islamic Communities in Italy (Ucoi), approximately 70,000 Italians have embraced Islam during this period.[45]
Currently, Moroccans form the largest Muslim population, while Albanians form the second largest Muslim community in Italy.[46] The Albanians are also the oldest living Muslim community in Italy as well, and have an official representative, the Union of Albanian Muslims in Italy (Unione degli Albanesi Musulmani in Italia).[46][47]
As of 2013, of the total 64,760 detainees in Italy, approximately 13,500 (20.8%) came from countries with Islamic majorities, mostly Morocco and Tunisia.[48]
There are a total of eight mosques in Italy. While Italy is home to the fourth largest Muslim population in Europe, the number of mosques is minute in comparison to France (which is home to over 2,200 mosques) and the United Kingdom (which is home to over 1,500 mosques).[49] The scarcity of mosques in Italy is caused predominantly by the fact that Italy does not officially recognize Islam as a religion.[49] Official state recognition would guarantee and protect places of worship, recognize religious holidays and allow access to public funding.
There have been a number of cases ofextraordinary rendition of Muslim activists, as well as attempts by a past government to close mosques.[50] Many mosque constructions are blocked by opposition of local residents.[50] In September 2008 theLega Nord political party was reported to have introduced a new bill which would have blocked the construction of new mosques in much of the country, arguing that Muslims can pray anywhere, and do not need a mosque. The construction of mosques had already been blocked inMilan.[51] The bill was not approved.
In 2007, the Moroccan imam at the mosque inPonte Felcino inPerugia was deported by the Italian government for extremist views.[52]
Deportation (expulsion) of foreign suspects have been the cornerstone of Italy's preventive counter-terrorism fight against suspected radicals.[53] Every deportee is prohibited from re-entering Italy and therefore the entire Schengen Area, for a period of five years. Italy is able to use this method as many radicalized Muslims are first-generation immigrants and therefore have not yet acquiredItalian citizenship. In Italy as elsewhere in Europe, prison inmates show signs of radicalization while incarcerated and in 2018, 41 individuals were deported upon release from prison.[53] Of the 147 deported by the Italian government in the 2015–2017 all were related tojihadism and 12 were imams.[54] From January 2015 to April 2018, 300 individuals were expulsed from Italian soil.[55] The vast majority of the deportees come from North Africa and a smaller group come fromthe Balkans.[54]
In the mid to late 2010s, a "homegrown" Islamist movement started to emerge in Italy with Islamists writing online content in Italian.[56] While radicalized individuals may get in contact with fellow extremists at mosques, indoctrination and planning of violence take place elsewhere.[56]
From 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2017, a total of eight imams were deported. The following twelve-month period, two were deported.[57]
In July 2016, the Moroccan imam at theAsonna center inNoventa Vicentina was deported for reportedly expressing extremist views and for posing a security threat. While most extremists are banned for 5 to 10 years, Muhammed Madad was banned from returning for 15 years.[58]
In March 2018, police carried out an anti-terrorist operation inFoggia against theAlDawa unauthorized prayer hall located near the railway station. Egyptian Abdel Rahman Mohy preached to children usingIslamic State propaganda.[56]
According to prison authorities in Italy, in October 2018 there were 66 Muslim detainees who either had been sentenced or were awaiting trial for terrorism offences.[59]
Although Muslim population in Italy is very small compared to its counterparts in France, Germany, Britain and Spain, anti-Islamic feeling in Italy runs high, which became clear following theSeptember 11 attacks and7 July 2005 London bombings.[60] Survey published in 2019 by thePew Research Center found that 55% of Italians had an unfavourable view of Muslims.[61] Much of the local Italian media correlates Islam to terrorism as a whole. This contributes to these unfavorable opinions.[62]
In recent years there have been some acts of violence against Islamic places of worship in Italy:
A minority of Italian Muslims belong to religious associations, the best known of which are:
In the year 827, Mazara was occupied by the Arabs, who made the city an important commercial harbour. That period was probably the most prosperous in the history of Mazara.
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