This book outlines the legal status of Muslims in Italy. In particular, it highlights that, when it comes to Islam, the Italian legal system exacerbates the dilemma of contemporary constitutional democracies, increasingly caught between the principle of equality and the right to have rights, which implies the respect of diversity. It provides readers with a deep understanding of how domestic and external socio-political factors may muddle the interpretation of Italy’s constitutional provisions, starting with those relating to state secularism and religious freedom. It is argued that today, as never before, these provisions are torn between the principle of equality and the right to be different. This situation has been exacerbated by incessant states of emergency, from immigration to religion-inspired terrorism, in light of which the presence of Islam in the peninsula has been highly politicized. Italy’s experience on the legal status of Muslims provides an interesting case study and, as such, a valuable source of empirical information for a functioning and pluralistic constitutional democracy, especially when dealing with conditions of fear and insecurity. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics, and policy-makers working in the areas of law and religion, constitutional law, comparative law, and human rights.
Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Religious Matrices of Constitutional Democracies Introduction Vicarius Dei The Janus-Faced Secularizing Imago Dei Secularizing the Law From Tolerance to Freedom And Islam? Theological and Secular Transformations The Emergence of the Muslim Question Towards the Religionization of Nation-States 2 Majority and Minority Religions in Italy Introduction Historical and Political Backgrounds Belief, Behaviour, and Belonging in Italy The Hallmarks of Cultural-Religious Disputes The Majority and Minorities Bilateralism Method Bilateral Legislations for Minorities The Supreme Principle Secularism Under the Other Paradigm Secularism and Neo-Pluralism 3 Sharia, Islam, and Muslims in the Peninsula Introduction Islamic Sources of Law: A Relative Immutability A Living Book A Living Book in Constitutional Democracies Mutual Interference Muslims in Europe and the Three Bs Islam in the Peninsula The Italian Sword of Islam The Islams The Pictures of Italian Islam 4 Constitutional Democracy and Islam in Italy Introduction Mapping Islam in Italy Legal Forms of Islam in Italy Places of Worship Burial Practices and Cemeteries Financing Islam Italian Prisons and Islam Symbols of Islam Education Muslim Workers 5 Muslims in Italy and States of Emergency Introduction Accommodating Muslim Personal Law Pragmatic Approaches Administrative Bilateralism Dante’s Limbo and the Hell of Italian Bureaucracy Muslims as Unpredictable Realities Violent Interpretations Preventing Religion-Inspired Violent Radicalization Security, Securitization, and Deradicalization Symbols of Constitutional Democracies Conclusion Index
Francesco Alicino is Full Professor of Public Law and Religion at the University of LUM, Italy, where he also teaches constitutional law, law of the third sector, and immigration law.
