{"id":1209,"date":"2021-04-07T21:12:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/many-us-latinos-choose-islam\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T21:12:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:29","slug":"many-us-latinos-choose-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/many-us-latinos-choose-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do So Many US Latinos Choose Islam?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tim Padgett<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Latino<\/a><\/p>\n

In religious terms, Latinos, like Gonzalez, say Islam provides a simpler, more direct form of worship than Catholicism does.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Just as the U.S. Latino population is on the rise, Hispanics are now the nation\u2019s largest minority, so is the number of Latino Muslims. And it\u2019s not just a result of Arab Latin Americans emigrating to the United States.<\/p>\n

According to organizations like WhyIslam.org<\/a>, Latinos are one of the fastest growing segments of the Muslim community<\/a>. About six percent of U.S. Muslims are now Latino, and as many as a fifth of new converts to Islam nationwide are Latino.<\/p>\n

The American Muslim Association of North America (A.M.A.N.A.)<\/a>, based in North Miami, says heavily Hispanic South Florida in particular is home to a rising number of Latino Muslims.<\/p>\n

Not that conversion to Islam is easy in Latino society, as Marina Gonzalez knows. A Nicaraguan-American nurse in Miami, Gonzalez converted five years ago and wears the hijab, the Muslim women\u2019s head garb. At first her family stopped talking to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (were) calling me Talibana,\u201d Gonzalez recalls. \u201cMy mother, she didn\u2019t like to go (out) with me because I wear the hijab.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now her mother \u201cunderstands. When I go to my parents\u2019 house they turn off the TV when I have to pray. I\u2019m so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Najib Sowma\u2019s first name was Dario before he converted six years ago. Today he\u2019s a leading member of the Al-Ihsaan mosque in South Miami-Dade. But his Cuban mother was initially shocked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow her views have changed,\u201d says Sowma.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to me being Muslim to who I am now, she sees a big difference in my character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Islam<\/b><\/h1>\n

If it\u2019s a surprise that many Latinos are moving from a predominantly Roman Catholic culture to an originally Arab faith, perhaps it shouldn\u2019t be. For one thing, like African-Americans in the 1960s, Latinos are discovering their own historical and cultural ties to Islam and the Arab world. And that starts with what most defines Latinos: Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur language is nurtured by more than 4,000 words that come from Arabic,\u201d says Wilfredo Ruiz, a Puerto Rican-born Muslim who converted a decade ago and is a lawyer for the South Florida chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery word in Spanish that starts with \u2018al,\u2019 for example, like alcalde, alcantarilla, almohada.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Arab Muslims ruled Spain for some 800 years during the Middle Ages, and made the Iberian Peninsula one of the most advanced civilizations of its time. A millennium later, Ruiz says that past is an inescapable part of the Hispanic DNA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat most Latinos who have embraced Islam<\/a> find most amazing is their cultural affinity to the Muslim culture,\u201d says Ruiz.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like rediscovering your past. That area of our past has been hidden from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruiz points out that both Latinos and Arabs highly value the extended family and traditions like offering hospitality to strangers. In religious terms, Latinos, like Gonzalez, say Islam provides a simpler, more direct form of worship than Catholicism does. They also feel more structure than they see in the evangelical churches so many Latinos join today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe connection I have with God now is better than before,\u201d says Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

Yet many take comfort in the overlap between Catholicism and Islam<\/a>. Muslims, for example, venerate the Virgin Mary as well as Jesus, at least as a prophet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning when I was reading the Qur\u2019an I said, \u201cOh, (Muslims) believe in the hereafter, in angels,\u2019\u201d says Liliana Parodi, a Peruvian-American surgical technician in Miami who converted 24 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s not so much difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women Converts<\/b><\/h2>\n

More Latina women<\/a> convert to Islam than Latino men do. Islam is admittedly questioned for its segregation of women. But Latinas like Parodi say it\u2019s hypocritical for a male-dominated Catholic Church \u2013 which forbids women priests, birth control and divorce \u2013 and an ultra-macho Latino society, whose Spanish-language television networks still portray women<\/a> as spitfire sexpots, to criticize their new faith in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell them, \u2018Look at yourself,\u2019\u201d says Parodi. \u201cThe sad part is (when they) see women as objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decade ago, the nation\u2019s image of a Latino Muslim was unfortunately Jose Padilla, the so-called \u201cDirty Bomber\u201d who was convicted for aiding terrorists. But for Ruiz, who was also a Navy chaplain, much has changed since then, and Latinos are less fearful now of converting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey soon come to learn that (Muslims) abhor violence,\u201d Ruiz says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the same aspirations for social justice <\/a>as a Christian or a Jew does.\u201d<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Source: wlrn.org<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

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With a significantly increasing Hispanic Muslim community in America arises the question: Why do they embrace Islam? How does the newly-found faith relate to their Spanish roots?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[510,2],"tags":[656,1523,5851,644,513,612,202,516,1524,518,519,10,559,240,560,522,561,524,525,527,528,167,600,212,604,647,648,5852,5853,531,2583,533,1666,5854,534,535,536,650,537,136,539,567,5855,570,145,652,571,2328,573,574,544,674,410,546,312,575,547,314,548,551,655,552,553,554,579],"class_list":["post-1209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversion-stories","category-new-muslims","tag-656","tag-a-loving-god","tag-amana","tag-american-muslim","tag-american-muslims","tag-baptism","tag-be-better-person","tag-belief-in-allah","tag-cair","tag-challenges-facing-new-muslim","tag-christian-belief","tag-concept-of-god-in-islam","tag-conversion-to-islam","tag-converts-to-islam","tag-creator-of-universe","tag-day-of-judgment","tag-declaration-of-belief","tag-devout-adherents-to-islam","tag-eternal-happiness","tag-family-and-friends","tag-family-reaction","tag-featured","tag-find-peace-in-islam","tag-five-daily-prayers","tag-from-catholicism-to-islam","tag-from-christianity-to-islam","tag-gods-messengers","tag-growing-muslim-converts","tag-icna","tag-islam-in-america","tag-islam-in-spain","tag-islamic-way-of-life","tag-jews","tag-latino-muslims","tag-learning-about-islam","tag-meaning-in-life","tag-message-to-all-people","tag-mississippian-muslim","tag-multi-cultural-religion","tag-muslim-community","tag-my-journey-to-islam","tag-new-muslims-experiences","tag-north-america","tag-practicing-muslim","tag-prophet-muhammad","tag-reading-quran","tag-religion-of-peace","tag-reverts-to-islam","tag-search-for-god","tag-search-for-truth","tag-shahadah","tag-spanish-muslims","tag-submission-to-the-creator","tag-submit-to-god","tag-teachings-of-islam","tag-testimony-of-faith","tag-the-one-god","tag-trinity","tag-true-religion-of-god","tag-western-muslims","tag-what-islam-means","tag-why-i-became-muslim","tag-why-i-chose-islam","tag-worship-god","tag-worship-god-alone"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-latino-muslims-Choose-Islam1.jpg?fit=620%2C320&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ZvKT-jv","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}