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Magdi Cristiano Allam (Arabic: مجدي علام Maǧdī ʿAllām; born April 22, 1952) is an Egyptian-born Italian journalist, noted for his criticism of Islamic fundamentalism and his articles on the relations between Western culture and the Islamic world. Allam converted from Islam to Roman Catholicism during the Vatican's 2008 Easter vigil service presided over by Pope Benedict XVI.

Biography

Allam was born and raised in Egypt to Muslim parents. His mother sent him off to a Catholic boarding school in Egypt, where he began studying Western culture and civilization. For thirty years he lived in Egypt. After growing up in Egypt, he moved to Italy and enrolled in La Sapienza University of Rome. By his own admission, he has never been a practicing Muslim - he never prayed five times a day nor fasted during Ramadan.

Allam holds a degree in sociology from La Sapienza. After working at several Italian publications (including the national daily newspaper La Repubblica), Allam joined the Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading newspaper, in 2003 as deputy director of the newspaper (vice-director ad personam). Today he is one of Italy's most famous and controversial journalists.

In his autobiography Vincere la paura (Conquering Fear), Allam acknowledges thinking about conversion to Christianity on moving to Italy so as to fit in better. However, he remained known as a non-practicing Muslim until age 55, when he converted to Roman Catholocism. Allam is married to a Catholic and has a young son from her and two adult children from a previous marriage.

Opinion and stances

Prior to his conversion to Catholicism, Allam was considered Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator, despite never actually having been a practicing Muslim himself. He has a long history of speaking out against Islamic extremism. Allam's articles and books deal mostly with the Middle Eastern and Islamic world and its relations with the West. As the deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam has infuriated many Muslims with his denunciations of multiculturalism. He has lashed out at what he calls "the Islamization of society." Reacting to a controversial suggestion by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams that Muslims in Britain should be allowed to have their own courts in matters of family law, Allam wrote that

By leaning on the 'politically correct' and by allowing Muslims to have their own courts, a mixture is installed that can unbalance the country and overthrow constitutional order.

He claims that multiculturalism is dangerous and has written against "submitting ourselves to different ideologies and faiths." Allam also supports a ban on building Mosques. Allam told the Il Giornale newspaper that his criticism of Palestinian terrorism prompted the Italian government to provide him with a sizable security detail in 2003, after Hamas allegedly singled him out for elimination. After receiving the alleged death threats, he voiced strong support of Israel, claiming that the "origin of the ideology of hatred, violence and death is the discrimination against Israel."

Allam was involved in a public feud with leading Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan. Allam also refused to welcome the open letter of the 138 Muslim leaders from various sects and from 43 countries who in October 2007, issued a 29-page public letter — entitled A Common Word Between Us and You, — to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging peace and dialogue.

Books and awards

In 2007, Allam published the provocatively-titled Viva Israele (Long Live Israel: From the Ideology of Death to the Civilization of Life, My Story). In this book, Allam claims "to explain how after having shared the hatred against Israel during Nasser’s era in the Fifties and Sixties, I have found out that hatred easily comes to include all Jews, then all Christians, then all liberal and secular Muslims, and at the end all Muslims who do not want to submit to Islamic radicals’ will."

In 2006 he published Io Amo L'Italia. Ma Gli Italiani La Amano? ("I love Italy. But do the Italians love her?") and in 2005 he published his autobiography Vincere la paura. La mia vita contro il terrorismo islamico e l'incoscienza dell'Occidente (Conquering Fear: My life against Muslim terrorism and Western unconsciousness). In addition, he wrote Saddam: Storia Segreta Di Un Dittatore (2003), Bin Laden in Italia : Viaggio Nell'islam Radicale(2002), and Islam, Italia : Chi Sono E Cosa Pensano I Musulmani Che Vivono Tra Noi (2001).

In 2006, Allam was a co-winner, with three other journalists, of the $1 million Dan David prize, named for an Israeli entrepreneur. Allam was cited for "his ceaseless work in fostering understanding and tolerance between cultures."

On May 4, 2007, Allam was presented with the American Jewish Committee's Mass Media Award at its 101st Annual Meeting. His acceptance speech can be read and listened to here.

The unauthorized email controversy

On January 16, 2007, in an article entitled Poligamia, la moglie che accusa il capo Ucoii (literally: "Polygamy, the wife who accuses UCOII's leader") on Corriere della Sera, Magdi Allam published an e-mail — obtained from a third party — sent to Hamza Roberto Piccardo, spokesman of the Unione delle Comunità ed Organizzazioni Islamiche in Italia, by Piccardo's recently divorced wife, without asking for the authorization of either ex-spouse. In spite of the uproar that followed, RCS Quotidiani S.p.A, the publisher of Corriere della Sera, chose to keep the article online until the "Garante per la protezione dei dati personali" (Guarantor for the protection of personal data) ordered RCS to take it down on May 24, 2007.

Bibliography

• Template:It icon Diario dall'Islam (A diary from Islam), Mondadori, 2002, ISBN 88-04-50478-1
• Template:It icon Bin Laden in Italia. Viaggio nell'Islam Radicale (Bin Laden in Italy. A journey through radical Islam), Mondadori, 2002, ISBN 88-04-51416-7
• Template:It icon Jihad in Italia. Viaggio nell'Islam Radicale (Jihad in Italy. A journey through radical Islam), Mondadori, 2002, ISBN 88-04-52421-9
• Template:It icon Saddam. Storia Segreta di un Dittatore (Saddam. A dictator's secret history), Mondadori, 2002, ISBN 88-04-52756-0
• Template:It icon Kamikaze made in Europe, Mondadori, 2004, ISBN 88-04-54449-X
• Template:It icon Vincere la paura (Conquering Fear), Mondandori, 2005, ISBN 88-04-55605-6
• Template:It icon Io amo l'Italia. Ma gli italiani la amano? (I love Italy. But do the Italians love her?), Mondadori, 2006, ISBN 88-04-55655-2
• Template:It icon Viva Israele, Mondadori, 2007, ISBN 978-88-04-56777-6

Notes

1. At his baptism he chose Cristiano to be his middle name (see "Buona Pasqua a tutti: ricevere il Battesimo dal Papa nel Giorno della Risurrezione è il dono più grande della vita!" (in Italian). Personal Website of Magdi Allam. Retrieved 2008-03-23.)
2. ^ "Pope baptizes prominent Muslim editor". Associated Press. 2008-03-22. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. ^ Allam, Magdi (2008-02-26). "Magdi Allam denounces the pitfalls of multiculturalism". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
4. Moschee-mania, serve uno stop ("Mosque-mania needs stopped"), Corriere della Sera, September 29th, 2005
5. Cite error: The named reference CNN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ Perelli, Daniele Castellani (2007-12-18). "The debate continues: a new book on Tariq Ramadan". Reset Dialogues on Civilization. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
7. ^ "Magdi Allam Accepts Mass Media Award". israelenews.com. 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
8. Official announcement for the 2006 Laureates
9. See the links to reactions about Magdi Allam's article collected in Dalla parte di Lia 7 on the blog Gattostanco on January 20, 2007 and for instance Luca Conti's Pubblicare email private e l'etica del giornalismo on Pandemia, January 16, 2007
10. See the Sentence of the Guarantor and its announcement in the Guarantor's Newsletter N. 293 dated July 26, 2007

External links

• Template:It icon Magdi Allam's page on the Corriere della Sera's website
• Dialogue To Win Peace by Renato Farina (Traces magazine. June 2004)

• 1952 births
• Living people
• Converts from Islam to Christianity
• Former Muslims
• Italian Catholics
• Italian journalists
• Muslim converts to Catholicism
• People from Cairo