[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Over 300 UK Foreign Office staff told to consider resigning if they disagree with government's Gaza policy

Jimmy Dore: Here’s How Israel’s Massacres At Aid Sites Work!

Iran successfully tests missile with 2-ton warhead

Liberal Teachers Union Presidents Rally Behind LA Rioters

Ilhan Omars Daughter Applauds Anti-ICE Riots, Urges Death to Colonial Empire: U.S. and Israel One Oppressor

California Leaders Want United Nations Blue Helmets to Expel Federal Forces from the State

Tulsi Gabbard Warns of “Nuclear Holocaust” in Chilling 3-Minute Plea

LBMA Silver Short Position Now 2nd Largest In History

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Something BIG is happening right now in the Middle East, Israel ready to attack Iran

AMERICA ON FIRE: Riots & Chaos as Trump Quadruples ICE Raids!

THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE UNITED STATES (Emergency Banking Act)

In France, young women are starting to buy pet pigs to avoid being harassed by Muslim men

Elderly Veteran kills 3 Home Invaders

Number One Longevity Food

Inflation Highest In Democrat States, Lowest In Republican Deep South

TikToker admits to being paid $150 a day to protest Trump’s deportation policies in LA

A GREAT update on the Trump fraud case ($454.2 million judgment) at the appellate court.

Mexican Senate President Revives Territorial Claims Amid Los Angeles Civil Unrest

Rooftop Korean' issues chilling threat about LA's future 30 years after Rodney King riots

Bystanders jump in front of ICE vehicles with arrested migrants inside

Israeli companies struggling to find customers amid Gaza genocide:

Farmers are being pressured to sell their land to this. Not good!

Palantir EXPOSED: The New Deep State

Military Overview: Ukrainian Fronts Crumble Under Multi-Axis Assault

ICE prepares full assault on five Democrat cities as LA goes into lockdown amid immigration riots

Invisible Missile Triggers MILITARY PANIC! (This is the Russian Zircon)

Mass arrests as defiant immigration protesters ignore lockdown orders in LA

Visit California: It's America's Future

FBI Director Kash Patel sues MSNBC columnist Frank Figliuzzi


Religion
See other Religion Articles

Title: More US Hispanics drawn to Islam
Source: www.csmonitor.com
URL Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0928/p03s02-ussc.html?s=u2
Published: Sep 29, 2006
Author: By Amy Green
Post Date: 2006-09-29 15:18:35 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 335
Comments: 16


AT PRAYER: Melissa Matos, of the Council on American Islamic Relations, is one of a growing number of Hispanic Muslims. The population has grown 30 percent since 1999. CANDACE BARBOT/MIAMI HERALD/AP

ORLANDO, FLA. – With her hijab and dark complexion, Catherine Garcia doesn't look like an Orlando native or a Disney tourist. When people ask where she's from, often they are surprised that it's not the Middle East but Colombia. That's because Ms. Garcia, a bookstore clerk who immigrated to the US seven years ago, is Hispanic and Muslim. On this balmy afternoon at the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, she is at her mosque dressed in long sleeves and a long skirt in keeping with the Islamic belief in modesty. "When I was in my country I never fit in the society. Here in Islam I feel like I fit with everything they believe," she says.

Garcia is one of a growing number of Hispanics across the US who have found common ground in a faith and culture bearing surprising similarities to their own heritage. From professionals to students to homemakers, they are drawn to the Muslim faith through marriage, curiosity and a shared interest in issues such as immigration.

The population of Hispanic Muslims has increased 30 percent to some 200,000 since 1999, estimates Ali Khan, national director of the American Muslim Council in Chicago. Many attribute the trend to a growing interest in Islam since the 2001 terrorist attacks and also to a collision between two burgeoning minority groups. They note that Muslims ruled Spain centuries ago, leaving an imprint on Spanish food, music, and language.

"Many Hispanics ... who are becoming Muslim, would say they are embracing their heritage, a heritage that was denied to them in a sense," says Ihsan Bagby, professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky.

The trend has spawned Latino Islamic organizations such as the Latino American Dawah Organization, established in 1997 by Hispanic converts in New York City. Today the organization is nationwide.

The growth in the Hispanic Muslim population is especially prevalent in New York, Florida, California, and Texas, where Hispanic communities are largest. In Orlando, the area's largest mosque, which serves some 700 worshipers each week, is located in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. A few years ago it was rare to hear Spanish spoken at the mosque, says Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida.

Today there is a growing demand for books in Spanish, including the Koran, and requests for appearances on Spanish-language radio stations, Mr. Musri says. The mosque offers a Spanish-language education program in Islam for women on Saturdays. "I could easily see in the next few years a mosque that will have Spanish services and a Hispanic imam who will be leading the service," he says.

The two groups tend to be family-oriented, religious, and historically conservative politically, Dr. Bagby says. Many who convert are second- and third-generation Hispanic Americans.

The two groups also share an interest in social issues such as immigration, poverty, and healthcare. Earlier this year Muslims joined Hispanics in marches nationwide protesting immigration-reform proposals they felt were unfair.

In South Central Los Angeles, a group of Muslim UCLA students a decade ago established a medical clinic in this underserved area. Today the nonreligious University Muslim Medical Association Community Clinic treats some 16,000 patients, mostly Hispanic, who see it as a safe place to seek care without fear for their illegal status, says Mansur Khan, vice chairman of the board and one of the founders.

Although the clinic doesn't seek Muslim converts, Dr. Khan sees Hispanics taking an interest in his faith because it focuses on family, he says. One volunteer nurse founded a Latino Islamic organization in the area. Another Hispanic woman told Khan she felt drawn to the faith because of the head covering Muslim women wear. It reminded her of the Virgin Mary.

The trend is a sign that Islam is becoming more Americanized and more indigenous to the country, Bagby says. As Republican positions on issues such as immigration push Muslim Hispanics and blacks in a less conservative direction, Islam could move in the same direction. Muslim Hispanic and black involvement in American politics could demonstrate to Muslims worldwide the virtues of democracy, eventually softening fundamentalists. He believes the Osama bin Ladens of the world are a small minority, and that most fundamentalists are moving toward engagement with the West.

"The more Hispanics and other Americans [who] become Muslim, the stronger and wider the bridge between the Muslim community and the general larger American community," Bagby says. "Their words and approach have some weight because they are a source of pride for Muslims throughout the world."

Garcia left Colombia to study international business in the US. Always religious, she considered becoming a nun when she was younger. But her Catholic faith raised questions for her. She wondered about eating pork when the Bible forbids it, and about praying to Mary and the saints and not directly to God.

In the US she befriended Muslims and eventually converted to Islam. Her family in Colombia was supportive. Today she says her prayers in English, Spanish, and Arabic, and she eats Halal food in keeping with Islamic beliefs.

"It's the best thing that happened to me," says Garcia in soft, broken English. "I never expected to have so many blessings and be in peace like I am now." (1 image)

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 12.

#2. To: Ferret Mike (#0)

I wish they were drawn to Islam much more strongly so they'd immigrate to Mecca. Let's see how the middle east deals with the illegal alien problems that we have in America.

TommyTheMadArtist  posted on  2006-09-29   16:28:48 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#2)

US satrap states like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Kuwait deal with them by calling them "Guest workers", other than that- pretty much the same as here- shitty sub standard housing nestled between the highway and the chemical plant, quasi legal status that makes them fearful and obediant of all authority, crap wages . . . but just about anybody with a mortgage can afford to have a few of these timid man serfs to tend to their postage stamp lawns and take care of their one golden child.

Burkeman1  posted on  2006-09-29   22:50:52 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: Burkeman1 (#6)

Not me, I'm a self employed artist who actually works for a living. I'm not afraid to do my own lawn work, nor am I lazy. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. Then again, with this free long distance thing I've got with my phone, I'm surprised I haven't been in trouble for calling people at all hours of the night.

The issue here isn't one of immigration, it's one of illegal immigration, and potential terrorism.

Why have a war on terror, when your future terrorists are coming over the border like a tidal wave? Considering we're fighting terrorists in the middle east, we might be more concerned about the illegal alien terrorist who drives a truck bomb over the border and detonates it in the heartland.

Then again, I've always tried to use common sense when I approach things.

TommyTheMadArtist  posted on  2006-09-29   23:45:47 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 12.

        There are no replies to Comment # 12.


End Trace Mode for Comment # 12.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]