An Italian school’s decision to exempt Muslim children from studying Dante because the mediaeval poet placed Mohammed in hell in The Divine Comedy has sparked a backlash and a debate over cancel culture.
Politicians from both the Left and Right said that Dante was a pillar of Italian literature and that it was unacceptable for children to be exempted from studying his writing because of their faith.
The row broke out after a secondary school in Treviso in the north of the country reportedly allowed two Muslim children, aged around 14, to not attend classes in which The Divine Comedy was being studied.
Written at the start of the 14th century, it is an allegorical poem that revolves around a man’s journey to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, aided by two guides, Virgil and Beatrice.
In the epic work, Dante places the Prophet Mohammed and his cousin Ali in Hell, where they are tortured by sword-wielding demons.
“How is Mohammed mangled! Before me walks Ali weeping, from the chin his face cleft to the forelock,” Dante wrote.
The exemption was criticised by MPs from across the political spectrum.
‘Shameful case of cultural cancellation’
Simona Malpezzi, a senator with the centre-Left opposition Democratic Party, said it was “deeply wrong” to deprive any pupils of the chance to acquire the “deep knowledge of Italian culture that studying Dante brings. Knowing Dante does not take anything away from children’s religious faith and adds a great deal to their knowledge of Italian culture”.
Federico Mollicone, an MP from Brothers of Italy, the party led by prime minister Giorgia Meloni, said: “This is just the latest shameful case of cultural cancellation. An exemption like this not only undermines our national identity but deprives new generations of formative scholastic study.”
Carlo Pasquetto, a member of the centre-Left Azione party, said it was “madness” to view Dante as being offensive to Muslims.
“Dante is the father of humanism, of Italy, of Europe. To decide not to teach him in the name of a false conception of tolerance will create enormous problems of integration in society. This is not tolerance, nor integration, it is the suicide of the West which instead of celebrating plurality is cancelling its own identity.” Dante should be taught to all children in Italy, he said, “regardless of the colour of their skin or the religion of their parents”.
“True integration should not be about exempting Muslim children when you talk about Mohammed but to get them involved so that they can explain their own culture and their own points of view on the narrative.”
Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and the head of the Right-wing League party, said on social media platform X that the exemption was “shameful and unacceptable”.
“Those who don’t want to adapt to our culture, traditions and values can quietly go back to where they came from. Dante is the father of the Italian language and a genius who champions our country on the world stage,” he wrote.
Mario Conte, the mayor of Treviso, also criticised the school’s decision. “I would prefer that they cut down on kids looking at TikTok and social media rather than Dante. Less mobile phones, more Divine Comedy.”