It risks becoming a national case Friday prayer organized in the corridors of New Palace last week. About thirty Islamic faithful, male and female students, the vast majority of whom are of foreign origin from Pakistan, Palestine, Turkey and Egypt, found themselves in the occupied premises of the University of Turin, transformed for a quarter of minutes in a hall of a mosque. “A sermon was recited in which Jihad was also praised in Italy”, reported some professors to the Ministry of the University and requesting the intervention of the head of the dicastery, Anna Maria Bernini.
Throughout its history, almost 60 years long, Palazzo Nuovo has welcomed initiatives and protests of all kinds, but what happened on Friday had never happened. On the fifth day of the university intifada, the occupation of «Free Palestine» to stop the invasion of Gaza, a moment dedicated to the faithful of Islam took place. In a building that remained almost completely empty due to the student march organized the same morning, the carpets and cloths for prayer were spread out filmed and then ended up on Youtube and social media with the title «What does Palestine teach us?».
In the report to the Mur, the professors denounce chand in the sermon, in Italian and Arabicwould be celebrated the “holy war” and, one suspects, the nightmare of proselytism as at the time of the ISIS war. «A jihad that we see in Palestine in its most important and obvious manifestation – we read in the email from the teachers concerned about the occupation of pro-Palestinians -. A jihad carried out by women, by men, by children, each with what they can contributes to this liberation struggle which began from the first moment the Zionists stepped on that Blessed land. Even before the Nakba whose memory we celebrate in these days…”.
There’s no point in being seen as someone who incites hatred, Brahim Bayaone of the managers of the very active Taiba mosque in via Chivasso. He was one of the spokespersons of the Islamic community of Turin, also protagonist of the many initiatives organized to promote dialogue and peace in the tragic years of the ISIS terrorist attacks. At the request of some students, engaged in the occupation, he transformed himself into a imam for a day. «By jihad we must understand the commitment that every good Muslim must strive to pursue in order to be a good human being attentive to the needs of people near and far. In my sermon, I urged the faithful to be on their best behavior. On Friday, we want to organize prayer at the Polytechnic».
Baya, one of the faces of the coordination, is accused of wanting to proselytize Turin for Gazaresponds clearly: «The moment of prayer was dedicated only to Muslim people. And, also thinking back to what has happened and is happening in Gaza, I say it clearly: I am against the killing of any civilian person. I am always against violence». So much so that it received some criticism from the angriest wing of the “Free Palestine” protest itself, as happened during the protests at the Book Fair.
