Magdi Allam

Explore about the Famous Politician Magdi Allam, who was born in Egypt on April 22, 1952. Analyze Magdi Allam’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Magdi Allam dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Magdi Allam?

Magdi Allam Biography

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

In 1972 he moved to Italy and enrolled in La Sapienza University of Rome. He graduated from La Sapienza with a degree in sociology and in 1986 became an Italian citizen.

Allam describes growing up in a vibrant and multicultural Cairo. He recounts vividly the “fragrances, sounds, colors and flavors of his beloved Aunt Adreya’s home” and remembers Cairo as a “colorful, pluralistic and tolerant city where girls wore miniskirts and boys sported Beatles haircuts.” He has positive memories of Egyptian society during his childhood years, characterizing it as having a “social fabric that embodied a genuine love of others and a simple life where emotion was more important than money.” However, an unpleasant incident occurred when he was detained and interrogated at age 15 by the Mukhabarat, or political police, on suspicion of espionage for Israel, because of his relationship with a Jewish girl. Allam’s sympathy for the plight of the girl and her family might have displeased the authorities. He claims the trauma of that interrogation accompanied him until Christmas Eve 1972 when he left Egypt to continue his studies in Italy.

During most of his journalistic career (roughly from 1978 to 2003), Allam worked at the center-left leaning and moderate La Repubblica. As he was often employed as a Middle East envoy, most of his articles were reportage more than commentaries, characterized by a neutral tone and argumentative style, and his personal views were rarely reported. His own stances were nevertheless made public via a forum on La Repubblica and in numerous interviews and appearances on talk shows.

Allam began his journalistic career at the communist newspaper Il Manifesto. In 1978, he moved to the center-left leaning Italian newspaper La Repubblica, where he worked as a commentator, mostly writing about issues faced by extra-communitarian immigrants in Italy, especially those originating from North-Africa, and supporting progressive policies on the immigration issue and on the compatibility of Islam and Western values. In 2003, following a radical shift in his views, Magdi Cristiano Allam joined the more conservative, Milan-based Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s oldest and largest daily newspaper, as vice-director ad personam.

Before converting to Christianity, Magdi Cristiano Allam was raised as a Muslim. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca, with his deeply religious mother in 1991. In his autobiography Vincere la paura (Conquering Fear), Cristiano Allam acknowledges thinking about conversion to Christianity on moving to Italy.

Italian writer Valerio Evangelisti has nicknamed him “Pinocchio d’Egitto” (Egyptian Pinocchio). In a review of Allam’s 2002 book on Saddam Hussein (“Saddam: Secret History of a Dictator”), he points to the absence of a real bibliography, and to the ridiculously-poor quality of the sources. He pokes fun at the fact that the only cited reference for the entire second chapter is an article from popular Italian tabloid Gente, titled “I slept with Saddam for thirty years”:

For most of his life he had been a strong albeit argumentative supporter of the Palestinian cause, going to rallies and writing favorably of the Palestinian rights to statehood. However, since 2002, Allam has voiced support of Israel, together with a strong condemnation of Palestinian terrorism. He claims that his criticism of Palestinian terrorism prompted Hamas to allegedly single him out for elimination. According to Italian and Egyptian secret services, Hamas and Egyptian terrorists Islamist groups has claimed responsibility for such a threat. Therefore, in 2003, the Italian government provided him with a sizable security detail.

Starting from the end of 2002, Allam gradually assumed virtually opposite opinions on most issues related to Islamic world and Middle-East. He accused Italy and the West of ignoring the dangers of an imminent “Islamization” of the society, and a possible Jihad in Europe.

In his writings since 2003, Allam has stated his denunciations of multiculturalism, lashing out at what he calls “the Islamization of society.” For example, reacting to a speech by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams which raised the suggestion that Muslims in Britain should be allowed to have their own courts in matters of family law, Allam wrote that

In 2005, Allam published an article calling for a ban on building mosques in Italy. In a piece accusing mosques of fostering hate, he claimed Italy is suffering from “mosque-mania” and justified the extreme measure of a government ban on building mosques.

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.

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.

On March 23, 2008, Magdi Cristiano Allam was offered the baptism during the Vatican’s 2008 Easter Vigil service in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Pope Benedict XVI, consequently Allam converted to Roman Catholicism, in a widely publicized and televised baptism ceremony (see #External links) as usual on every Easter Vigil service. In a 2,000-word letter to the editor of his newspaper, Paolo Mieli, Allam explained his motives for converting to Catholicism. He thanked his mother for sending him to Catholic schools, where he was able to “know Catholicism well and up close and the women and men who dedicated their life to serve God in the womb of the Church.” He pointed out that in his youth he had become familiar with Catholic writings (“Already then I read the Bible and the Gospels and I was especially fascinated by the human and divine figure of Jesus.”) He credited the Pope as the most influential person in his decision to convert, and, using Christian theological terminology, described his conversion as a mystical experience:

He joined politics in 2009, being elected as a Member of the European Parliament (in June 2009) with the center-right Christian-democrat Italian party UDC. He also founded a personal movement called “Io Amo L’Italia” (I love Italy). However, as a Member of the European Parliament he is still a member of the UDC delegation in the EP (EPP party group).

He also serves as a regional councillor in the Italian region of Basilicata after being elected in 2010 and a Member of the European Parliament for Italy since 2009.

On 25 March 2013, he publicly announced his abandonment of the Catholic Church to protest its “soft stance against Islam”. Allam said he would remain a Christian but that he didn’t “believe in the church anymore.”

The Union of Islamic Communities in Italy — which Allam has frequently criticized as an organization that incites violence — slighted his baptism as “his own decision”. The group’s spokesperson, Issedin El Zir, said:

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