R034 - Freedom of expression, violence and reciprocity

CORSERA – 2015

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Dear Doctor de Bortoli:

The latest issues of the Corriere report editorials that call for mutual respect and not to offend one’s neighbor (the Muslims). I quote Baroness Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, “We must not fall into the trap that extremists and terrorists are setting for us”, “We must resist those who would like to make religion a cause of division. The best response to extremism is to create a united international front based on universal standards of freedom of belief and religion. The European Union will not look away. It is a laudable campaign that should be echoed by such an attitude on the part of the Islamic World Order. For information purposes only, I also enclose an example of how the Koran can be used to foment hatred and violence or respect and coexistence (attached for information purposes).

I would like to suggest Western politicians and rulers the most appropriate actions to ask Islamic countries that feel offended to apply in their societies the same respect they demand of us. As chance would have it, the major violence happens on Friday when the mosques leave. Violence attracts more violence to the point of self-destruction and poverty, not for nothing in the last twenty years have three hundred million Arabs produced only 171 international patents; Korea alone 16328; enormous amounts of imported technology but little is produced locally.

The fine-sounding declarations must be followed by incisive actions in the field of education both in the West and, above all, in the Arab world. In this regard, the Ambrosian Centre for Religious Documentation invited European politicians to monitor educational material in Arab countries so that incitement to violence would make room for mutual respect.

Let’s the hope that these reflections brought to the public may inspire what are the most appropriate means for dialogue and coexistence in the globalized world, a theme anticipated by Cardinal Martini in his letter “Noi e l’Islam”  published in 1990  ahead of the globalization and the Internet revolution.

Giuseppe Samir Eid

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The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.

R036 - A gesture of courage

CORSERA – 24/7/2016

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My Muslim friends draw their faith from the Koran, from their sermons, from their personal effort and the environment in which they live. The “jihadist” terrorists also draw on the same sources, Koranic preaching and incitements to live the “true Islam”. Therefore, the courageous gestures that I feel I can ask of all Muslims, is a condemnation expressed with greater firmness especially by civil society, religious movements and the vast world of mosques.

In my opinion, terrorism can be defeated through the support of the majority of Muslims who love peace and who condemn terrorism. Only in this way you can start a process of rooting out radical Islamic sentiments, where hatreds and resentments towards an enemy and colonizing west are fueled.

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R046 - Mosques, minarets, centres for religious worship

Corriere – 10/09 – 2016

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ISLAM PAPER VALUES

Dear Dr. Goffredo Buccini:

I fully agree with the article in today’s Corriere on Friday, February 19, 2016. Allow me to add some comments that you, if you agree, could elaborate in the correct way.

1- It is right to allow the construction of unique prayer rooms for all Islamic currents. Not an exclusive for a specific current.

2 – Islam and Muslims are not the same thing: the practice in Morocco is not similar to that of Lebanon (Syria! ) nor to that of the Gulf countries, Pakistan and Asian countries. To demand a single representation for all Muslims seems to me difficult and even counterproductive. Promoting those who accept our constitutional rules and checking for digressions.

3 – The only representation for all means to allow the strongest current, the Muslim Brotherhood, to condition women and men who do not adhere to suffer discrimination that they would have liked to avoid coming to Italy.

4 – The financing of the worship center should exclude that coming from countries that have rejected the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The person who finances has the power over the management and the line of conduct. If the land is granted free of charge by a municipality, it would be appropriate for one of its representatives to sit on the management board.

(altro…)

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R051 - Dialogue with Islam

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This is an issue that is often discussed. I would not like to create a confessional state; I would rather talk about dialogue with citizens without differentiating religious adherence.  The dangers of wanting to identify “one Islam” representing a million Muslims are obvious and have already been pointed out in the Corriere.

  1. Why create ghettos for Muslims and thus discriminate against non-Muslims?
  2. Why want to create an Islamic institution? Does the secular state renounce its prerogatives towards its citizens?
  3. Many Muslims have chosen Italy for its non-discriminatory laws and its way of life: why disappoint them by recreating a social model from which they fled?
  4. With what logic would the state or the municipalities want to finance centres of worship for Muslims with the money of all citizens? At least that the centre remains the property of the institution with the right of control in management.
  5. Muslims don’t mean Arabic: why not favour the management of Italian centres? Monitor foreign preachers?

I ask you instead a question to which I cannot give an answer:

20 or 30 years ago, the European citizen did not know of the existence of Islam, if not vaguely. In the last thirty years, Islam (Muslims and, in their wake, in various centres) has been established in Europe, helped in this by certain of our political forces for reasons that I do not know.

Some local voices have warned against the contrast of cultures that could arise from the arrival of millions of people with customs and traditions clearly in conflict with European legislation, not least, Cardinal Martini in 1990, Us and Islam.

Giuseppe Samir Eid

Free web translation from the original in Italian

The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.