The Legal Treatment of Muslim Minorities in Italy

Professor Pin has done yeoman service in bringing this revealing and promising story of Muslim religious culture and religious freedom in Italy to the attention of the English speaking world. His writing is deeply researched, refreshingly comparative, boldly proffered, and often wise beyond his youthful years. It is a privilege and pleasure to commend this important study. - John Witte, Jr., Emory University, USA Islam challenges both the secular and the Catholic tradition of Italy. This book designs a triangle, where the Italian Catholic background and secular legal system react to the Islamic presence through judicial accommodations and political negotiations fostering the contamination of models and identities. A key contribution to understand one of the most interesting patterns of integration in Europe. - Silvio Ferrari, University of Milan, Italy The countries of Europe have adapted in different ways to the collapse of their monolithic Christian inheritance and the rise of Muslim traditions, laws and practices. Professor Pin explores the extent to which Islam has become integrated into civil society and church-state relations in Italy. His study reveals the self-made difficulties which have arisen in consequence of insufficient attention being given to adapting existing structures, modelled on Vatican concordats, to the requirements of an unfamiliar faith which is neither fully accepted nor properly understood. This book is a thoughtful and profound analysis of the current dysfunctionality of Italy's governmental engagement with Islam, and a convincing plea for it to be revisited through a more honest, focussed and pragmatic dialogue. - Mark Hill QC, Cardiff University, UK Andrea Pina's book offers an encompassing account of the legal treatment of religious minorities in Italy. Interestingly enough, it shows that the Italian c