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Italian Ambassador in Riyadh Converts to Islam
RIYADH, Nov. 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Torquato Cardeilli, has converted to Islam, the Italian embassy here announced Sunday, news agencies reported.
Following a close reading of the Holy Qur'an and study of Islamic culture, Cardeilli embraced Islam to become the first ambassador to convert to Islam in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, according to an office which handles conversions to Islam.
Sheikh Nouh bin Nasser's office said the Italian ambassador converted to Islam on Nov. 15, the day before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
"He came to the office and read the two testimonies [necessary to declare faith: 'I proclaim that there is no God but Allah, and I proclaim that Mohammad is His Prophet and Messenger'] and then prayed with us," Nasser told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
During his 34-year diplomatic career, Arabic-speaking Cardeilli, a graduate in linguistics and Oriental civilization, has been posted to several Arab countries and took up his current post in Riyadh in November 2000.
Cardeilli, 59, a father of two, was not available for comment as he left Riyadh for Rome on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia has in the past few years witnessed the conversion of more than 50,000 foreigners to Islam, the Saudi daily newspaper
Oqaz reported.
According to Nouh, an average of three to four people convert to Islam at his office every day, and the number rises to five during Ramadan. Twenty similar offices operate in Riyadh and many more in other cities.
The Italian ambassador's conversion to Islam comes at a time when the Muslim community in Italy is coming under an apparent campaign of severe persecution.
The latest in a series of allegedly discriminatory acts against Muslims in Italy came on Friday, Oct. 19, when the Northern Alliance Party in Milan organized a demonstration calling for the expulsion of Muslims from Italy, restricting their movement and closing down their mosques.
Italy has about a half-million Muslims, who make up no more than one percent of the country's total population of 58 million.
The majority of the 4,000 mosques in the country lack many of the aspects of a proper Islamic place of worship.
The inauguration of the Islamic Center in Rome in 1973 was an important step in the way of enhancing the cross-cultural dialogue between Italians and Muslims. The founding in 1999 of the Islamic-Italian Council was a further step.
However, the main problem facing the Islamic community in Italy remains that the Italian government still does not recognize Islam as an official religion.
In September, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sparked outrage across the Muslim and Arab world with offensive remarks over the West's "superiority" over Islam.
Berlusconi insisted his comments were misinterpreted by a hostile left-wing Italian press and has since outlined his "deep respect for Islam" as "a great religion."
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