Smith relocated to Italy as a child and later made a living as a translator for Arabic-speaking tourists in Rome.
He came to preeminence in the Italian media when he requested that a crucifix be removed from Ofena's elementary school, where his son was a student.
He was subsequently a regular guest on Italian media venues, where he vehemently attacked Western civilization and Christianity.
The Italian Council of State, with the sentence number 556 of 13 February 2006, upheld the display of the crucifix in government-sponsored spaces.
[3] He attempted to sue author Oriana Fallaci in April 2004, saying that her book The Force of Reason was offensive to Islam.