Italy’s ‘city of solidarity’ hosts Eid Al-Fitr events

ROME: The Muslim community in the northern Italian city of Turin has invited citizens to attend open air prayer and celebration events for Eid Al-Fitr.

The events are being organized in sport centers and city parks on Sunday as well as Monday.

Catholic Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia and Mayor Stefano Lo Russo are expected to attend the prayer at the Dora Park, the largest of the scheduled events, which in 2019, drew almost 3,000 people.

“All Muslim friends here in Turin were submitted in the holy month of Ramadan to the obedience of faith towards God and consolidated fraternal bonds in their community. We are also grateful to them also for the lots of generous gestures they all did towards the needy in our city,” Nosiglia said in a message to the Muslim community.

The archbishop added: “God has saved us all from the pandemic and now calls us all to do whatever we can to help those who are in hardship.”

He urged “the common responsibility in teaching the new generations the culture of mutual respect, in the understanding of great divine grace that makes all human beings brothers.”

On the occasion of Laylat Al-Qadr, the mayor and prefect of Turin organized an event to thank the Islamic communities at the Mole Antonelliana, an 18th century tower considered one of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Representatives of 20 Islamic centers attended the event in the city, where about 50,000 Muslims live.

“We all must promote interreligious dialogue to reaffirm the values ​​of peace, coexistence, integration and solidarity,” said President of the Municipal Council Maria Grazia Grippo.

“Turin is historically a city of solidarity and the Italian state recognizes the specificities of local communities in compliance with the laws and the constitution,” said Turin Prefect Raffaele Ruberto, who stressed the importance of interaction between cultures as a “basis for new values ​​of harmonic coexistence.”