| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fredric L. Rice" |
| Date: |
16 Oct 2005 09:02:33 PM |
| Object: |
Number of Latino Muslims growing |
Number of Latino Muslims growing
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/12914541.htm
Ask Melissa Matos why she converted to Islam, and you'll likely get an
answer that spans 13 centuries.
She may refer to seventh century Arabia, where Muslims believe the
Prophet Mohammed received the Koran from the angel Gabriel. Or she might
describe Islam's golden age in medieval Spain. Or she'll recall Sept.
11, 2001, when fear and curiosity drove her to read about Islam on the
Internet.
Matos, who comes from a family of Seventh Day Adventists from the
Dominican Republic, has answered the question countless times since
converting to Islam in April. She now covers her hair, prays five times
a day, and is observing Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and reflection.
"Sometimes it does get a little difficult," said Matos, a 20-year-old
political science student at Florida International University who lives
with her parents in Miramar. "I feel alienated from my family and my old
friends, but Islam is so beautiful, it's worth it. And with Ramadan, I'm
just doing it by myself, just me and God."
Though they make up a small fraction of the nation's 6 million Muslims,
Hispanic women converting to Islam are exerting influence beyond their
numbers, teaching Spanish-Arabic classes, forming Hispanic-Muslim
organizations and distributing Spanish translations of the Koran.
Matos, for one, is organizing an FIU lecture series this semester on the
religion's little known history in Latin America, including two lectures
in Spanish, she said.
Some have founded support networks. Piedad, a network of Muslim women
that seeks to educate Spanish-speaking communities about Islam, had 50
members when it was founded in 1988; it now has more than 344
nationally. Other groups, like the Latino American Dawah Organization ,
which was formed in 1997, promote the legacy of Islam in Spain and Latin
America.
"It's a movement that is growing, particularly in urban areas," said
Manuel Vasquez, a professor of religion at the University of Florida.
"It's part of the cross-fertilization that's occuring among immigrant
groups."
There are some 40,000 Hispanic Muslims in the United States, according
to a spokesman for the Islamic Society of North America. The largest
populations live in New York, Texas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami,
American Muslim organizations say.
Jameela Ali, 26, became a Muslim seven years ago after she dreamed she
was praying in a mosque filled with light. Her mother, who is from Peru,
had converted to Islam several years before. Now her brother, 22, and
sister, 21, have converted.
"You feel a much closer connection to God," said Ali, who lives in
Pembroke Pines and teaches two other Hispanic Muslim women to read and
write Arabic. "You give up everything of your old lifestyle - your old
clothes, you're not going to clubs, you're not drinking, you're not
smoking."
Islam's growth among Hispanic women may result from the broader Muslim
outreach following the 9/11 attacks, said Aisha Musa, an assistant
professor of religion at Florida International University. American
Muslims responded by opening their mosques to outsiders and distributing
pamphlets about their religion.
Sofian Abdelaziz, the director of the American Muslim Association of
North America in Miami, said his group often gets requests for the Koran
in Spanish. In the last several years, they've given away more than
5,000 Spanish translations of the Koran to South Florida mosques and
prisons, he said. They also hand out Spanish brochures about women in
Islam.
Converts and Muslim leaders are quick to note that Muslims accept Hebrew
and Christian scripture as revelation, but maintain that the Prophet
Mohammed provided the complete word of God. Muslims follow the Koran,
the holy book revealed to Mohammed. Islam's five central tenets include
professing faith in God and his prophet, Mohammed, performing daily
prayers, showing charity, fasting during Ramadan and making hajj or
pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holy city in Saudi Arabia.
Islam spread rapidly after Mohammed's death in the seventh century and
today is one of the fastest-growing religions in North America, scholars
say.
Hispanic converts in urban areas say it's become easier to find
like-minded communities.
"It's so great to meet other Latin people because we all know each
other's backgrounds," said Fatima Narvaez, 30, who converted in 2002 and
now studies Arabic with two other Hispanic women on the weekends.
But convincing families that conversion is the way to go hasn't always
been easy.
"They think I've rejected my way to salvation because I don't believe
Jesus Christ is the son of God," Matos said of her parents, who are
Seventh Day Adventists.
Roraima Aisha Kanar was raised Roman Catholic by her parents, Cuban
exiles who settled in Miami in 1959. Kanar, 52, considered becoming a
nun before converting to Islam at age 22. Her parents, devout Catholics,
didn't want their grandchildren to be raised Muslim, she said.
"It was very hard to know that my own mother didn't respect my belief,"
said Kanar, who with her husband raised their three children as Muslims.
But others have found support from their families. Narvaez, who lives
with her grandparents in Davie, was worried they wouldn't understand her
new dietary practices. Islam forbids pork and meat that isn't halal, or
slaughtered according to Islamic law.
"With Puerto Ricans, there's pork in everything," said Narvaez, who
works in marketing. "But they accommodate all my issues and cook halal
food for me."
Ali said she's renounced aspects of Hispanic culture that conflict with
her beliefs, like cooking with wine or eating pork.
But she still marks Christmas with her Peruvian family and cooks South
American dishes.
"Islam is a way of life, but you don't suddenly have to start listening
to Arabic music," said Ali. "We still keep our heritage."
--
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do,
because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."
- Susan B. Anthony, 1896
---
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Bush is a Christian. Get over it!
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Number of Latino Muslims growing |
16 Oct 2005 09:41:59 PM |
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Fredric L. Rice wrote:
Number of Latino Muslims growing
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/12914541.htm
Ask Melissa Matos why she converted to Islam, and you'll likely get an
answer that spans 13 centuries.
She may refer to seventh century Arabia, where Muslims believe the
Prophet Mohammed received the Koran from the angel Gabriel. Or she might
describe Islam's golden age in medieval Spain. Or she'll recall Sept.
11, 2001, when fear and curiosity drove her to read about Islam on the
Internet.
<snip>
Though they make up a small fraction of the nation's 6 million Muslims,
Hispanic women converting to Islam are exerting influence beyond their
numbers, teaching Spanish-Arabic classes, forming Hispanic-Muslim
organizations and distributing Spanish translations of the Koran.
It's like I've said before, muslims are doing what the catholics
tried to do: outpopulate everybody else, dictatorship through
democracy or numbers.
Combine the catholic cult's complicity in hiding child abuse
plus collaboration with the fascist dictators of the past, it
doesn't exactly endear the cult to the Latino people. Small
wonder some are grasping at straws they think is greener grass.
Bob Dog
Atheist #153 = 1^3 + 5^3 + 3^3
EAC's chief cook and brainwasher
-----
"I always thought our house was haunted,
'Cause nobody said boo to me."
- John Hiatt
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