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Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini

Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini

President Italy

Current Positions (2025)

  • Imam of al-Wahid central mosque in Milan. Vice President of COREIS, the Islamic Religious Community of Italy (www.coreis.it), a religious organisation awaiting legal recognition in Italy with a favourable opinion from the Ministry of the Interior and the Council of State.
  • Chairman of EULEMA, the European Muslim Scholars Council (Brussels, eulema.org). Since 2004 he has been invited to the High-Level Meeting and to debate on the implementation of Article 17 upon invitation of the European Union institutions (BEPA, Bureau of Policy Advisers; Presidency of the European Parliament and Commission).
  • Member of the Global Tolerance Alliance chaired by the Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence of the United Arab Emirates.
  • International Affairs Advisor to the General Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board (meaning “the revival of Muslim scholars,” one of the largest Sunni organisations in the Islamic world) in Indonesia.

Imam Yahya Pallavicini was Advisor for Italian Islam to the Minister of the Interior of the Italian Government from 2005 to 2018, and Ambassador to ICESCO, the Islamic Organisation for Education, Culture and Science (Rabat, 2014 - 2023).

He is a Member of the Assembly of the Great Mosque of Rome, Islamic Cultural Centre of Italy, since 2000. In 2015 he became a Member of the Board of Directors and responsible for interreligious dialogue during the Jubilee of Mercy.

International Collaborations and Institutional Recognitions

Representative of Islam in Europe and rapporteur among religious authorities for:

  • United Nations COP Climate Change Conference, COP 28 Dubai (2023) and COP 29 Baku (2024). EXPO 2015 Milan, EXPO 2017 Astana and EXPO 2021 Dubai
  • G20 Religion Forum in Italy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia (2020-2022)
  • IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union, Interfaith Dialogue. Marrakesh 2023, Rome 2025
  • OSCE Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and ODIHR, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025)
  • WEF World Economic Forum, Global Future Council on Faith in Action

In 2006 he met in Istanbul HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of the Hashemite Royal House of Jordan; he supported the Message of Amman and participated with the 138 Muslim international scholars in A Common Word initiative (www.acommonword.com), an important document for dialogue between Christians and Muslims. In 2008 and 2014 he participated in the Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Vatican. Since 2009, he has been included in the 500 most influential Muslims in the world, in the category of institutional representatives.

Since its establishment in Vienna in 2012, he has been collaborating with KAICIID, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (www.kaiciid.org). Since 2015, in collaboration with the United Nations and KAICIID, he has been involved in outlining the Religious leaders action plan for violence prevention in seminars organised in Fez, Treviso, New York and Vienna. Since 2021, he has been participating in the annual EPDF European Policy Dialogue Forum in Lisbon, Barcelona, Rotterdam.

Since 2018 Founding Member of the Executive Council of WMCC, the World Muslim Communities Council (Abu Dhabi, UAE). He regularly participates in the Forum for Peace in Muslim societies, established between 2014 and 2021 in the capital of the United Arab Emirates and promoted by Shaykh Abd Allah bin Bayyah.

In 2019 he was invited by the Council of Elders, chaired by the Great Imam Shaykh al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb, to participate in the ceremony presenting the Document on Human Fraternity at the presence of Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi. Since 2020, he has been a Member of the Global Tolerance Alliance. In 2023 he participated in the Abu Dhabi COP 28 Global Faith Leaders Summit on environment.

In 2018, the President of the Republic of Indonesia invited him among 50 international Muslim scholars to participate in the first conference on Wasatiyyah, the doctrine of Islamic virtuous moderation. Since 2019, he has been sharing the view of the main institutional organisation of Muslims in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama, which promotes the vision of the Bayt ar-Rahmah movement for Humanitarian Islam, Home of Divine Grace. In 2024 he was appointed special advisor for International Affairs to the General Chairman of the NU.

Academic Training and Engagement

He studied Islam and the Qur’an at Sapienza University in Rome with Professor Alessandro Bausani and at the Pontifical Institute of Islamic Studies with Father Maurice Borrmans; he studied Islamic Theology and Spirituality at Muhammad V University in Rabat with Professor Ahmad Tawfiq and at ISTAC in Kuala Lumpur with Rector Naquib al-Attas. He took courses in Islamic studies with Shaykh Muhammad Said Ramadan al-Buti in Paris and with Mufti Shaykh ‘Ali Jumu’a in Cairo.

  • Member of the Scientific Committee of EMUNA Italia at LUISS University in Rome
  • Lecturer on Islam at the NATO Defense College in Rome
  • Lecturer on Quran and Commentaries for the Master in the Religions of Abraham at Università Cattolica in Milan
  • Lecturer on Introduction to Islam for the Master in Science, Philosophy and Theology of Religions at the Faculty of Theology at Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano
  • Lecturer on Shari’ah, Islamic religious ethics: aims, interpretation and traditional adaptation for the Master in Interreligious and Intercultural Integration of the Department of Law at the University of Bari
  • Lecturer on The Islamic World and the Prevention of Radicalism for the Master in Economic Security, Geopolitics and Intelligence at SIOI, the Italian Society for International Organization, in Rome

Publications

In 2004, Il Saggiatore publishes L’Islam in Europa. Riflessioni di un imam italiano (Islam in Europe. Thoughts of an Italian imam) with prefaces written by the Minister of EU policies, Rocco Buttiglione, and President of the Union of Jewish Communities of Italy, Amos Luzzatto. The President of the Republic of Tunisia awarded the French edition of the book with the prize of the International Contest for Islamic Studies.

In 2007, BUR (Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli) publishes Dentro la Moschea (Inside the Mosque) that gathers the experiences and sermons of the first generation of Italian Muslims.

In 2009, a Catholic publishing house curated by the Order of Friars Minor in Padova, Messaggero, publishes Il Misericordioso. Allah e i Suoi Profeti (The Merciful. Allah and His Prophets).

In 2010, Editrice Morcelliana publishes La Sura di Maria (The Surah of Maria). Translation and commentary of Chapter XIX of the Quran.

In 2019, the Christian publishing house Paoline asked Imam Yahya Pallavicini to write the latest book in the Islam series on I cinque pilastri. Fondamenti del culto musulmano (The Five Pillars. Foundations of Islamic Worship).

In 2021, Mimesis Edizioni publishes Contemplare Allah. Regole sulla Via interiore di maestri musulmani (The contemplation of Allah. Teachings from Muslim Masters).

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