Dr Sabrina Lei concluded that Tawasul, an arabic word which means 'seeking closeness', is trying to reach all people irrespective of relgion or race. (File photo courtesy: en.mirajnews.com)
Doha: Dr Sabrina Lei, a revert to Islam, announced that her new work, the translation of the Holy Quran into the Italian language, will be launched soon and that she hopes it would fill the ever-growing need to introduce Islam and its message of peace, in a better way to the European community. Translated from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s 1930 classical English version of the Holy Quran, the book, which spans over 1,000 pages, completed after almost five years of work.
Dr Lei, the director of Tawasul Europe Centre for Dialogue and Research, a Rome-based think tank of academics, intellectuals and cultural activists, was talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue, at the Sheraton Doha.
“Holy Quran has already been translated into Italian and it has its importance. However, to reach a wider circle of readers, especially to non-Muslims, I thought of rendering Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English version to my language,” Dr Lei said.
She added that this kind of approach is the need of the hour as the Muslim society in Europe is being targeted by the right wing political parties who propagate misunderstandings about Islam that create Islamophobia.
Dr Lei said that many social scientists have observed that Muslim population in Italy will reach 10 percent by 2050. Getting citizenship for Muslims is still a big problem. Four percent or 2.5 million of the Italian population are Muslims. They come mainly from Morocco, Tunisia and Pakistan and has integrated into the Italian society. The majority of them are young and they are second or third generation. Unfortunately, they are not getting any religious education. They are Muslims mainly because of their parent’s cultural background.
Italy is also experiencing the pitfalls of Islamophobia which was not serious five years ago. Though the young Muslim generation feels themselves deeply Italian, the lack of religious education poses a problem before them. Politically Italy is secular, but majority of the population is Catholic, Dr Lei said.
Inspite of the fact that Islamophobia is growing, Dr Lei said interfaith programmes by Vatican, especially under the leadership of Pope Francis to welcome all religious people especially refugees from Muslim countries, is a positive note.
Italian Constitution is fully democratic and pluralistic in its spirit, however, there is a growing realisation among many jurists and public intellectuals in Italy that it approaches the question of religious freedom in a categorised way. The Article 8 of the Constitution stipulating special accord with non-Catholic religions for the effective implementation of their religious rights, by proposing agreement to be signed with a collective, single body, representing each religion.
However, due to different cultural, legal, organisational and even historic reasons, accord between Italian state and Islam has not yet been signed, in spite of the fact that Muslims now form the largest religious group in Italy after Roman Catholics.
Explaining her organisation's activities, Dr Lei said: Tawasul Europe focuses on building bridges between the Islamic world and the West by organising interfaith dialogue and sharing the peaceful message of Islam. It also cooperates with Layola University’s John Felice Centre in Rome, by organising an Interfaith Week every year.
Tawasul's inspiration comes from the universal message of Islam. It supports the community outreaching and interfaith programmes of the Grand Mosque of Rome. Tawasul also cooperates with the Municipality of Rome in its interfaith roundtable and other cross-cultural programmes.
Dr Sabrina Lei concluded that Tawasul, an arabic word which means 'seeking closeness', is trying to reach all people irrespective of relgion or race. It is also active in the field of publication with high-quality books and monographs on Islam, Arab-Muslim culture and Islam’s relationship with the West and Christianity.
Around 50 titles including three in English are already published and all the books are available in the National Library of Italy. Dr Lei herself has penned or translated ten books.
