Safar 1422H
May 2001
Volume 15-05 No:173
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Safar 1422H May 2001 Volume 15-05 No:173 |
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At dusk, Aminah Martinez prepares dinner in her small Fairfax kitchen. Corn tortillas for enchiladas, grated cheese and beef for tacos, maybe an avocado for guacamole — all staples of her youth.
But dusk is also time for prayer. So every evening, with her husband and two children, she places her hands together and kneels to the east. It is Maghrib, Muslims’ fourth prayer of the day, and she begins whispering in Arabic as the subtle aromas of Mexico mix with sounds often associated with the Middle East.
Martinez is one of the thousands of Latinos nationwide who have converted to Islam. It is an amalgam of two seemingly disparate communities. But in growing numbers, Hispanics, the country’s fastest-growing ethnic group, are finding new faith in Islam. Moved by what many say is a close-knit religious environment and a faith that provides a more concrete, intimate connection with God, they are replacing Mass with mosques.
“Islam has given me a sense of religious community and well-being that I was starting to miss in my life,” said Martinez, 26, who converted from Catholicism in 1993. “It’s helped giving me a sense of completion.”
The steadily increasing number of Latino Muslims illustrates how deeply rooted Islam has become in the national landscape — even spreading to communities not normally associated with the faith, religious scholars say. The Muslim population in the United States is estimated at more than four million, nearly six times the number in 1970, but still a fraction of the nearly one billion Muslims worldwide.
Although exact numbers are difficult to find, the American Muslim Council, an advocacy group in Washington, estimates that there are 25,000 Hispanic Muslims in the United States. The largest communities are in New York City, Southern California and Chicago — all places that traditionally have had large Hispanic and Muslim populations. All-Spanish mosques have emerged in some of those areas.
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John L. Esposito |
Many of the converts say they are choosing Islam because they feel the religion gives them greater direct contact with God, without saints and a rigid church hierarchy. Some also point to what they see as a closer-knit, smaller community that helps replace the extended family they have lost here in America, as well as a supportive sanctuary to help sort through their sometimes recent immigration. The Latino Muslims are part of a larger trend of American Hispanics leaving the Catholic Church, experts say.
In the Washington region, the population of Latino Muslims is largely from Mexico and Central America, as it is in western states, according to Latin American Muslim Unity, an advocacy group in Fresno, California. In other eastern cities, including Miami, significant number of converts are from Puerto Rico and Cuba.
“It certainly is a community that we have seen grow throughout the country over the past several years,” said Aly R. Abuzaakouk, executive director of the American Muslim Council. “The community is not as organized as other Muslim groups here, so sometimes it’s hard to determine the numbers.”
Signs of the growth of Islam in the United States can be seen in everyday life. A few colleges are building student centers for Muslims. In many areas Latinos who have converted say their attraction to Islam is spiritual and pragmatic. And even as their community seems scattered - with members attending mosques in Manassas, Herndon, Falls Church, Langley Park and College Park (all in vicinity of Washington D. C.) — they have formed their own organizations and have produced their own literature. Spanish translations of the Koran, for instance, are popular at several Northern Virginia mosques.
The Association of Latin American Muslims, a group based in Takoma Park, distributes a bilingual, bimonthly newspaper, La Voz Del Islam (“The Voice of Islam”) with members occasionally walking the streets to talk to Latinos.
“Organizing here can be very difficult at times, because it is easy to mistake Hispanics for other ethnicities,” said group president R. Abdur Rahman Campos, who converted in 1982 after coming here from Mexico. Campos, 48, said he left the Catholic Church frustrated by what he called its heavy emphasis on saints, which he says distracted him from the word of God.
“But it is important to continue to spread the teachings to Hispanics and non-Hispanics,” he added. “To everyone.” (Source: Washington Post, Jan 7, 2001)
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