Rome’s Grand Mosque’s Islamic Cultural Center has boycotted a meeting being organized by several “radical” mosques from northern Italy.
The move is being supported by many Moroccan immigrants in the country: “I welcome the decision…moderate Muslims are now, more than ever before, showing their determination not to comprise with extremists,” said centre-right MP for the ruling People of Freedom party, Souad Sbai.
Sbai also praised the director of Rome’s Grand Mosque, Abdellah Redouane, saying that “he is ranked among the principal figures representing moderate Islam.”
Sbai criticized the meeting of radical, conservative mosques for failing to invite a single woman – citing this an example that the meeting was “organized by extremists.”
Several notable Muslim and immigrant groups in Italy are boycotting the meeting, including Italy’s Association of Muslim Intellectuals, and the country’s Association of Moroccans. Mustafa Mansouri of the Association of Moroccans said: “These people and the Italian public need to understand that the so-called imams of these prayer halls cannot represent the Muslim community, given that only a minority attends.”
