“First an agreement between the State and Islam, and then lessons in the Koran in schools”. A week after the proposal with which the “FareFuturo” Foundation split the political world and the Church on the pros and cons, Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini set the conditions for allowing for Muslim religious instruction in Public Schools.
What is your proposal for the Islam lessons?
“Immigrant integration requires solidarity and legality, without neglecting our own identity and history. There need to be rules and principles for becoming a good Italian, before becoming a good Muslim. It is essential that an Italian Islam be constituted before bringing the Koran into the public schools, otherwise lessons in Islam will truly become a fast-track, a shortcut, as Bagnasco has said. It is the function of the school system to give the children of immigrants born in Italy a framework for making good citizens of them in the course of their studies. At this point the children have a right to a deeper understanding of their families’ Muslim roots. So it is school education in its entirety that can be the antidote to the radicalization of Islam. But before allowing the Koran in classrooms it is necessary to know who will be teaching it”.
Do you foresee a board of Koran teachers?
“There already is one with the Church. On the basis of the agreement any priest that teaches school religion must be authorised by an ecclesiastical authority. That way we are guaranteed that the rules are respected, that is that students receive messages that the Church has approved. In order to introduce lessons in the Islamic religion, we have to have the same guarantee from Islam; there has to be an agreement analogous to the one between the State and the Vatican. Without that we cannot distinguish between preachers of a rigid doctrine and the champions of a dialogue-oriented Islam favourable to integration, equality and moderation. We must, therefore, depart from Italian education to arrive at Muslim education”.
Within a sure legal framework could lessons in Islam help integration?
“The Italian constitution ensures freedom of religion. The point here is citizenship; if the child of a non-citizen born in Italy is ready to become a good Italian citizen, he/she cannot be denied the right to a deeper understanding of the Islamic faith. Education in being an Italian citizen precedes that in the Islamic religion. The lessons in Islam proposed by Fini, Urso and others have to be understood in the context of accelerating an agreement with Islam that has been stalled for 20 years. The Commission for non-Catholic faiths has been trying in the parliament. In order to be recognized in Italy as carriers of a message that can be taught to Muslims, some general principles of our legal code need to be satisfied, for example, the Wahabi doctrine on the submission of women and the possibility for a man to have more than one wife. But Islamic organizations present in Italy do not acknowledge each other’s legitimacy to represent the correct meaning of the Muslim religion”.
Why is there an agreement with the Church but not with Islam?
“The Catholics have a Pope and a hierarchy that establishes the Church’s exact doctrine; in Islam any preacher can establish the correct way to apply the Koran without any hierarchy denying it. The State hasn’t got the power today to attribute an exclusive legitimacy that differentiates between the extremists of the mosque of Viale Jenner in Milan from the tolerant European reformism of the Imam of Rome. This is not only a bureaucratic and institutional obstacle but a political one as well. It is the structure of Islamic preaching that is preventing agreement with the State. When there is one the lines will be established”.
And in the meantime?
“The model to follow is the Concordat signed by Craxi with the Holy See a quarter-century ago. The formation of a good Muslim is a religious question, we are concerned with citizenship. The government rejects exaggerated views that negate this possibility. A good Italian can be a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim but must, nevertheless, share the values and principles of national law. Education is the key to achieving this goal. Anyone born in Italy of Moroccan or Philippine parents becomes an Italian by means of an educational process in Italian schools, by studying the language, and through civic education”.