A center-right Italian newspaper has reported that the leader of Italy’s largest Muslim Brotherhood organization will read a lecture on Islamic thinking to Italian primary school students. According to the report:
Tomorrow the citizens and children of Modena’s primary schools will be able to meet with some exponents of the local Muslim community. But controversy has already flared up over the protagonists of the event. The initiative is called “Open Mosques” and is sponsored by the commune which, on this occasion, has distributed a note that explains what it is all about. At the mosques of the city, the children will attend a series of lessons on Muslim cultural and religions tradition. The lessons will also be attended by UCOII (Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy) Chairman Mohammed Nour Dachan. He is a controversial person who has often made himself known through ambiguous, if not outright extremist, statements. Among other things, for example, Dachan deemed it fit to comment on the reciprocity mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI with these words: “If only the Muslims were treated in the countries that refer to God as Christians are treated in the Islamic countries.” In particular, he is blamed with assuming an unacceptable stand at the Islamic Panel at the Interior Ministry, when, unlike the other members, he refused to sign the Charter of Values. Now that Justice Minister Giuliano Amato has suspended this body for being too divided among different cultural trends, Dachan continues his activity as imam and leader in many cities of Italy. Frequently he is invited to talk about an Islam few Muslims agree with. In Modena he will read a lecture on Islamic thinking to the children of the primary schools.
A post from December 2007 reported that Italian authorities had planned to prosecute Dachan and another UCOII leader on charges of inciting racial hatred in connection for various remarks made comparing Israeli to Nazi Germany and accusing it of “ethnic cleansing.” Another post discussed Mr. Dachan’s sophistry in connection with charges of support for terrorism. The UCOII is probably a member of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the EU-level Muslim Brotherhood organization, although it is not listed as the FIOE contact organization in Italy.
(Source: OSC Translated Text “Italy: Row Brewing Over Modena” ‘Open Mosques’ Initiative Unattributed report: “Islamists of the Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy Invited to Schools; Protest Against Lessons of Fanaticism” Il Giornale (Internet Version-WWW) Sunday, April 20, 2008)