In the month of December 1999, 300 Italian nationals embraced Islam. Dr. Hassan Giulio Soravia, the Muslim Italian Orientalist, who is also professor of Islamic Studies at the Bologna University in Italy, said that the Muslim population in Italy has reached 1.5 million, yet the Italian Government does not as yet recognize Islam as one of the country's religions.

In an interview, Dr. Soravia said: "The reason why the Italian Government does not as yet recognize Islam in the country, is attributed to the lack of consensus among Italy's Muslims as to who would represent them in government circles." He said the government would also like to know who among the Muslim leaders in the country would enter into an agreement with the Italian Government for its recognition of Islam in accordance with Italy's Constitutional demands.

Dr. Soravia also agreed that there is a dark force that is running the media in the West and directs it toward adopting a distorted picture of Islam, adding that this has made the ordinary Italian ignorant of the true nature of Islam. He said this is because their knowledge of Islam is based on whatever they see in the electronic media or read in the print media, which, of course, is contrary to the reality.

Among the most important problems facing the Muslim minority in Italy, Dr. Soravia mentioned lack of qualified da'wah activists who were familiar with the Western mentality. He said for this reason it is essential that Islamic organizations in the Muslim world must prepare da'wah activists of a higher caliber, particularly those in European countries.

Dr. Soravia suggested that Muslim countries should offer scholarships to Muslim minorities, so that they can study Shari'ah and other religous studies at universities. He said after the same quarter that granted him the scholarship in the first place should sponser him as a da'wah activist and send him to the country to which he belongs. He said that way the activist would be able to counter any propaganda that is unleaded against Islam in the West.

He said Al-Azhar Al-Shareef and the Vatican have formed a committee to look into the possibility of holding a Muslim-Christian dialogue, and added that dialogue is one of Islam's methods of calling people to it, as enjoined by Allah in His Holy Book.

The Muslim Italian Orientalist said the motive behind the Vatican's desire for such a dialogue is so that it can understand correct Islam, and to defend it against any distortion that are bandied about it from time to time.

Dr. Soravia said it has been possible to observe a good number (300 to be precise) of Italians embracing Islam during 1999, one of them a wealthy Italian who paid for the distribution of 5,000 copies of translations of the Holy Qur'an.