There prayer of Friday Brahim Baya which was held in the corridors of the Palazzo Nuovo, headquarters of theUniversity of Turin currently occupied, blew up the controversyso much so that the Minister of University and Research also intervened Anna Maria Bernini.
The controversy over Islamic prayer at the University of Turin
Controversy arose around the moment of prayer held by the spokesperson of the Taiba Mosque Brahim Baya Friday 17 May in the corridors of the Palazzo Nuovo in Turin, home of the university now occupied due to protests against the war in the Middle East. Invited by Muslim students in agreement with the occupiers, Baya’s speech was filmed in a video, published on YouTube with the title “What does Palestine teach us?”, which went around the web.
Above all, some of the statements made by the spokesperson of the Turin mosque during the moment of prayer at the university are what caused discussion. Among many things (the video lasts 32 minutes), Brahim Baya said that the Palestinian people “resisted in the face of this murderous fury, this genocidal fury, emerging from the worst barbarism in history which takes no humanity, no rights into consideration human”.
During his speech, Baya also talked about jihad “understood as an effort to defend one’s rights”. And again: “the jihad we see in Palestine it is an effort to defend true peace.”
The intervention of Minister Bernini
After the video spread on social media, the intervention of Minister Anna Maria Bernini arrived. The head of University and Research contacted the rector of the University of Turin by telephone Stefano Geuna, who specified that, as reported by ‘Il Corriere della Sera’, “the event occurred in a situation of occupation by students, who have been preventing access to teachers and university staff for days”. According to the rector, the incident is “under the full responsibility of the occupants”. The minister and the rector “shared a feeling of full condemnation regarding what happened”.
In the meantime, since another moment of prayer has been announced, this time at Polytechnic of Turinfor Friday 24 May, the minister and the rector Stefano Paolo Corgnati they “immediately sent a request to the prefect and police commissioner of Turin for a warning from carrying out functions and activities at the university premises against any religious authorities involved”. The rector and the minister also reiterated “strongly the principles of independence and secularism of university institutions”.
The words of the rabbi
Strong criticism from the Jewish world for what happened at the University of Turin. “I note that in Turin we have a new one mosquein this case also abusive and located within a secular state institution, in which prayer is taken advantage of to praise violence in the name of peace”, he said Ariel Finzichief rabbi of Turin, as reported by ‘La Stampa’.
Finzi, who defined the suspension of relations with Israeli universities ordered by the Academic Senate of the Turin university as “shameful”, added: “I also note that the University of Turin, after having taken a political position against culture (giving in to the pressure to boycott Israeli universities), today claims that the office was occupied. Forgetting to have allowed their occupation.”
The response of the spokesperson of the Taiba Mosque
Brahim Baya, who is part of the Turin coordination for Gaza, replied: “The moment of prayer was dedicated only to Muslim people. And, also thinking back to what has happened and is happening to Gaza, I say it clearly: I am against the killing of any civilian person. I am always against violence,” he explained, as reported by ‘Il Corriere della Sera’.
On May 24, Baya was called by the police headquarters “and the head of the cabinet presented me with a warning to carry out this demonstration, indicating me as the organizer. I explained that I am not, having been called to officiate at the prayer. This is why I refused to sign it.”
“It is scandalous that the police headquarters prohibited a prayer,” Baya continued. “I don’t want a mosque in the university – she pointed out -, but a secular space, a room of silence like in the airport or in the hospital to be able to pray without standing at the back of the stairs like I did as a student”.
Given what happened, Brahim Baya has decided to cancel the Friday prayers in the occupied classrooms of the Polytechnic of Turin scheduled for May 24th.
