Dr. Francesco Zannini is Professor of Contemporary Islam and Islamic Law at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome. Former Member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Ministry of Home Affairs entrusted with writing the “Chart of Values for Integration and Citizenship”, he was also Professor of Islamic Studies at National Major Seminary in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the American University in Cairo and Yale University. He is editor of the magazine Encounter – Documents for Muslim-Christian Understanding and author of numerous essays and articles on the history of Islam and interfaith dialogue.