Courses Taught (selection)
- Post-Radicalism: 21st Century Islamic Fundamentalist Thought (FSU Jena, 2018)
- Arabic Language I (FSU Jena, 2018 and Univ. of Parma, Italy, 2017-2018)
- Modern and Contemporary Islamic Thought (Grad. Students, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA)
- Islam in Contemporary Western Europe (Grad. students, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA)
- Methodology for the Study of Religion (PhD Candidates, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA)
- History of Islam (Pontifical Univ. of St. Thomas, Milan, Italy)
- History of Christian-Muslim Relations (Pontifical Univ. of St. Thomas, Milan, Italy).
- Introduction to Islam (The Catholic Univ., Milan and Pontifical Univ. of St. Thomas, Milan, Italy)
- Arabic Language Intermediate/advanced (The Catholic Univ. Milan, Italy and Center for Social Studies, Cremona, Italy)
Conferences and Public Events organized
- December 15, 2012: Rethinking Asylum in the 21st Century (www.rethinking-asylum.net) In collaboration with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Participants: Matthew Gibney (Oxford Centre for Refugee Studies), Anna Rowlands (King’s College, London), Juergen Humburg (UNHCR), Daniela di Capua (SPRAR Italy National Director) and myself.
- April 10, 2010, International Conference: Ecumenical Perspectives of the Dialogue with Islam, in partnership with the Milan Catholic University, and the Scuola di Formazione Teologica (National Theological Formation Institute). Participants: Prof. Radko Popov (University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria), Rev. Nicolas Mumejian (Duke University, USA), Prof. Paolo Branca (Milan Catholic University), Prof. Paolo Nicelli (PIME, Milan) and myself.
- April 21, 2007, International Conference: Western Islam, "New" Muslims Between Tradition and Modernity, in partnership with the Milan Catholic University and the Provincial Commission for Inter-Religious Dialogue. Participants: Prof. Gamāl al-Bannā (Cairo University), Prof. Wā’il Fārūq (American University in Cairo), Prof. Senad Bajramovic (University of Zagreb), Prof. Paolo Branca (Milan Catholic University), Prof. Stefano Allievi (University of Padua) and myself.
- 2005 and 2006, Series of Lectures: Islam and Christianity: Mutual Knowledge For a Deeper Dialogue, promoted by the Provincial Commission for Inter-Religious Dialogue. Participants: Prof. Paolo Branca (Milan Catholic University). Prof. Francesco Zannini (P.I.S.A.I., Rome), Prof. Ida Zilio-Grandi (University of Genoa), Prof. Angelo Scarabel (University of Venice) and myself.
Main Lectures (selection among more than150 lectures given)
- March 13, 2018, Sassari, Italy. Casa Circondariale G. Bacchiddu (Maximum Security Prison) in collaboration with the Univ. of Sassari, Faculty of Law. Public Lecture: The current situation of Muslims in Italian prisons: Dangers of Radicalization. In Italian.
- March 5, 2018, Bologna, Italy, European Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, my lecture: Muslim Leaders’ Training and Muslim Inmates in Italy and the USA. Any possible Comparison? In English.
- May 30, 2017, Jena, Germany, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, International Conference, Reformation and Global Reconciliation. My lecture: Radical Muslim Views of Reformed Christianity, a new perspective for Muslim-Christian Relations. In English.
- May 10, 2017, Pisa, Italy, University of Pisa, Dept. of Political Science, Public Lecture. Pensiero Islamico Radicale, la Figura di Sayyid Qutb (Radical Islamic Thought, the Figure of Sayyid Qutb).
- March 26, 2017, Milan, Italy. MUDEC - Bookpride. Public Lecture in one of Italy’s most important bookfairs. Radicalismo e Martirio nell’Islam moderno (Radicalism and Martyrdom in Modern Islam), With Prof. Paolo Branca.
- July 24, 2016, Hong Kong, Ming Hua College / Chinese University Hong Kong, International Conference "Faith in China". My Lecture: Chinese Muslim Communities in the Image of the Western Press. In English.
- January 25, 2016, Cairo Montenotte, Italy, The State Correction Officers National School, Public Lecture, School Plenary Session: The current situation of Muslims in Italian prisons compared to the one of other European Countries and the USA: The Dangers of Radicalization.
- September 21, 2015, Univ. of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. CMR1900 Project: Editing a book Chapter in Christian-Muslim Relations in the 21st Century. The highest Academic Standards.
- May 22, 2015, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network Annual Meeting: my lecture: Training Muslims Religious Leaders in 21st Century Italy. The FIDR project (In English).
- April 13, 2015, University of London, London, UK. International Conference, BRAIS Annual Conference. Islam and Democracy: Muslim Voices Amongst Us, with the Hon. Amédée Turner, (In English).
- December 8, 2014, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA. Public Lecture: Islam and Integration in Italy (in English).
- November 6, 2014, LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy, International Conference "Imams in the West". The FIDR, New Religious Presences in Italy Program, With Prof. Paolo Branca (The Catholic Univ. Milan) and Imam Yahya S. Y. Pallavicini (COREIS Italy). In English.
- May 4, 2014, Piacenza, Italy, Muslim Cultural Centre, International Conference: Muslimū Ūrūbā: Hiwār, Tu‘āysh wa Salām (Muslims of Europe, Dialogue, Coexistence and Peace). My lecture, Al-Islām fī Ūrūbā aw al-Islām al-Ūrūbī? (Islam in Europe or European Islam?). In Arabic.
- April 10, 2014, Ripon College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK. International Conference: Contemporary Methods of Christian-Muslim Understanding, my lecture: Islam and Democracy as a Method of Inter-religious Understanding, with the Hon. Amédée Turner, QC. (in English).
- April 2, 2014, Salahuddin University, Erbil, Iraq. International Conference: Islam and Modernity. Al-Islam wa ’d-Dimuqratiya: aswat al-Muslimin fi ’l-Gharb. (Islam and Democracy, Voices of Muslims in the West) in Arabic.
- October 3, 2013, University of Padua, Padua, Italy, Interfaith Dialogue and Peace. Public Conference organized by the US Dept. of State (the US Consulate in Milan). With Imam M. Bashar Arafat (CECF, Notre Dame of Maryland University), Prof. Stefano Allievi and Prof. Adone Brandalise (University of Padua). In English and Italian.
- April 30, 2013. Bologna, Italy, Confederazione Islamica Italiana (Italian National Islamic Federation), National Conference. La diversità nell’islam e il Dialogo Interreligioso (Diversity in Islam and Interreligious Dialogue), with I.U. Yahya S. Y. Pallavicini, Hon. Khalid Chaouki and S.I. Taher Tujkani (European Council of Ulamā), in Italian and Arabic.
- December 15, 2012, Piacenza, Italy, International Conference Rethinking Asylum in the 21st Century, Theory and Practice. My Lecture: The World is on the Move: Migration as the Human Face of Globalization. In English.
- June 27, 2012, Florence, Italy, Istituto Superiore di Scienze Umane, European Doctoral Programme. Understanding Contemporary Societies: Change, Diversity, Social Movements and Religions. My Lecture: Islam in Europe. In English.
- March 27, 2012, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA, Public Lecture. Islam and Democracy in the 21st Century. (youtube.com/watch?v=8sDSRK-Bnfs), in English.
- March 25, 2012, London, ON, Canada. University of Western Ontario / Huron University College. International Conference: "Islam and Democracy, Potentials and Possibilities". My lecture, with the Hon. Amédée Turner. Voices of Muslims amongst Us, Official presentation of the Research "Muslim Grassroots Discuss Democracy". In English.
- January 28, 2012, Pisa, Italy, Scuola Superiore Universitaria di S. Anna, International Conference: Giornate di Diritto Islamico (the Days of Islamic Law). Primavera Araba, inverno Musulmano? Le recenti Rivolte in Nord Africa e Medio Oriente sotto la lente del pensiero islamico moderno. (Arab Spring, Muslim Winter? The recent revolts in North Africa in the mirror of Modern Islamic Thought). In Italian and French.
- September 23, 2011, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, CESPEC Summer School, Alba Campus, Alba, Cuneo. Religious Freedom, a Comparison among Different Cultural Perspectives. with Prof. Bjorn Krondorfer (St. Mary’s College of Maryland). My Lecture: Mosques and Islamic Centers in the USA and Europe: the Physical Representation of a New Muslim Identity. (In English).
- September 21, 2011, Cuneo, Italy, Public Lecture. Cosa succede sull’altra sponda del Mediterraneo? Religioni, democrazia e trasformazioni nel mondo arabo-mediterraneo (What is going on on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea? Religions, Democracy and Major Changes in the Arab-Mediterranean World), With Prof. G.L. Parolin (American University in Cairo). In Italian.
- May 5, 2011, Lugano, Switzerland. SUPSI, Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari / Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera italiana, Dipartimento Scienze Aziendali e Sociali, Centro di Documentazione e Ricerca sulle Migrazioni. With prof. Aldo Sofia and Elisa Pelizzari. The So called Arab Spring, what may Tunis and Cairo teach us? (In Italian)
- February 9, 2011, Milan, Italy. Public Lecture at the Catholic University. America Barbara e Infedele. L’America che ho visto di Sayyid Qutb e le origini dell’anti-americanismo islamista (Barbarian and Infidel America, Sayyid Qutb’s "America I have seen" and the origins of Muslim anti-Americanism). In Italian.
- December 13, 2010, Madrid, Spain, International Conference of Junior Researchers in Mediterranean and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (Comisión Jóvenes Investigadores ILC CCHS CSIC). Do Muslims Refuse Modernity? How European Islam May Help Moving Forward (In English and Spanish).
- December 7, 2010, Washington, DC, USA, The Catholic University of America, School of Theology and Religious Studies, The Hermeneutics of the Other and the "Reification" of Christian-Muslim Relations (In English).
- November 24, 2010, Granada, Spain, Ibadah, Reunion des Expertos sur el papel de las Universidades Occidentales sobre la imagen del Islam y de los Musulmanes en Europa (International Conference for Experts on the Role of Western Universities about the image of Islam and Muslims in Europe). Dawr al-Jāmi‘āt al-ġarbiyya fī taṭawwur al-Islām fī ūrūbbā: ta’wīl al-akhar (The Role of Western Universities in the Development of the Image of Islam in Europe: the Hermeneutics of the Other). In Arabic.
- July 25-31, 2010, Chianciano Terme (SI), Italy, SAE (National Secretariat for Ecumenical Activities) National Conference. Muslim-Christian, Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogues: obstacles and opportunities. (In Italian) With Prof. Bruno Segre and Prof. Adnane Mokrani (Graegoriana University, Rome). In Italian.
- April 10, 2010, Milan, Italy, International Conference "Ecumenical Approaches of the Dialogue with Islam". Islam, a Helping Hand for Ecumenical Dialogue (In English).
- June 26, 2009, Balliol College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK, International Conference Law and Religion in Contemporary Europe. Muslim Places of Worship in Europe and the U.S.A. (In English)
- May 6, 2009, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA, Public Lecture. Paul Whom the Christians Call Apostle (In English). With Prof. Kelton Cobb, Mahmoud Ayoub and Yahya M. Michot.
- February 25, 2009, Milan Catholic University, Milan, Italy,International Conference Religion in the Public Space. Hartford Seminary, from the Missionary to the Imam. (In Italian)
- November 18, 2008, Hartford, CT, USA, Connecticut Council for Religious Understanding,. Public Lecture: What a Billion Muslims Think. With Prof. Mahmoud Ayoub and Prof. Yahya M. Michot.
- October 31, 2008, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT. Public Lecture given in occasion of the visit to the Seminary of a delegation of Muslim Leaders from Indonesia and the Philippines. Hartford Seminary in a World of Difference.
- June 6, 2008, Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey, International Conference "Istanbul Seminars 2008". Hartford Seminary, Exploring Differences, Deepening Faith: from the Missionary to the Islamic Chaplain. Panel with Prof. Andrew March (Yale University) and Prof. Carlos Thiebaut (University Carlos III, Madrid, Spain). In English.
- April 22, 2008, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA. Public Lecture. Young, Italians, Muslims (during my lecture I showed a new video about young Muslims in Italy). In English.
- March 12, 2008, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA, lecture given in occasion of the visit of a group of religious leaders from Kosovo and Macedonia. Muslim-Christian Relations in Italy. (In English)
- February 28, 2008, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, USA,Public Lecture. Sayyid Qutb’s America I have seen, Mere Polemic or Something Deeper? (In English).
- May 14, 2007, Brescia, Italy, Islam e modernità (Islam and Modernity). I acted as translator of the lecture given by Prof. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd.
- April 21, 2007, Piacenza, Italy, International Conference "Western Islam: New Muslims between Tradition and Modernity". Organizer and Discussant of the afternoon session and the final discussion.
- March 4, 2007, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dhaka University, Dept. of World Religions, Christian-Muslim Dialogue in Europe (In English), with Dr. F. Francesco Rapacioli