By Iesa GallowayGuest EditorialHouston ChronicleJanuary 23, 2005 Should I go to Mecca to perform Hajj? Would I find both my place and my place in my faith? As an American Muslim, these weren’t just idle questions. I understood this as I pondered a surprise invitation to go to Hajj – a pilgrimage that is a […]
Category: LM articles
Hispanics Turn to Islam
The Jersey JournalSeptember 29, 2005 Came seeking peace, says convert It was obvious that Pedro Fernandez was nervous as he stood next to Imam Mohammad Al-Hayek, in front of more than 100 Muslims and those considering conversion to Islam. Fernandez was about to make his profession of faith or Shahada. He was repeating after Al-Hayek, […]
Latino women finding a place in Islam‘I am doing this for God,’ one convert says
By Carmen SesinNBC NewsSeptember 30, 2005 UNION CITY, N.J. — On a hot summer day, Stefani Perada took a break from her job in West New York, N.J., and stepped outside in her long jilbab, the flowing clothes clothes worn by many Muslim women. Meanwhile, other Latinas in the mostly Hispanic neighborhood were taking advantage […]
A Place To Pray
By Kevin GarciaThe Brownsville HeraldOctober 17, 2004 Valley Muslims celebrate Ramadan in city’s first traditional mosque Allah has a new house this year in Brownsville — just in time for Ramadan. The Masudur-Rahman, or “Mosque of Peace,” opened two weeks ago to serve the city’s estimated 50 Muslim families. “It was our dream for at […]
The Mexican Kitchen’s Islamic Connection
By Rachel LaudanSaudi Aramco WorldMay/June 2004 When Mexico’s leading writer, Nobel Prize laureate Octavio Paz, arrived in New Delhi in 1962 to take up his post as ambassador to India, he quickly ran across a culinary puzzle. Although Mexico and India were on opposite sides of the globe, the brown, spicy, aromatic curries that he […]
In Brazil, Teaching the Koran in the Original
By Isaura DanielBrazzil MagazineDecember 28, 2004 In the corridors of the Brazilian Islamic School, in the Vila Carrão neighborhood in the city of São Paulo, it is possible to see children and teenagers talking in Arabic during their breaks. Here, topics such as grammar rules, dictations, text comprehension and essays aren’t only for the Portuguese […]
Let Us Be Moors: Islam, Race and “Connected Histories”
By Hisham AidiMiddle East ReportFebruary 2004 (Hisham Aidi, a research fellow at Columbia University’s Middle East Institute, works on the university’s Muslim Communities in New York Project, sponsored by the Ford Foundation.) “Seamos moros!” wrote the Cuban poet and nationalist José Martíí in 1893, in support of the Berber uprising against Spanish rule in northern […]
Spain’s Muslims: Living on Society’s Edge
By Bettina AmbachDeutsche WelleMarch 3, 2004 Though Islam is woven into the fabric of the country’s history, Moroccans and other Arabs living there today are struggling to find their place in society as well as their role in the Muslim world. Mustafa Bougrine is a Moroccan who has lived in Spain for 19 years. He’s […]
From Golden Age to an Embattled Faith Islam Once was at Forefront of Civilization
By Stevenson SwansonChicago TribuneFebruary 8, 2004 GRANADA, Spain — As the fiery orange sun sinks behind the mountains, the stones of the 800-year-old Alhambra take on a rosy glow. Against the backdrop of the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the fortress’ rugged towers stand out in the gathering dusk. As the lights of this […]
Latino Muslims
By Belia OrtegaExtra NewsAugust 5, 2004 Another Face of Islam — The Peña family are part of a small but growing movement of Latino Muslims in Chicago. It is said that there are between 25,000 and 40,000 Latino Muslims in the US. At a time when young Latino generations are increasingly becoming less traditional and […]