By Bernd DebusmannFox News LatinoJuly 29, 2013 MEXICO CITY – When Moroccan national Said Louahabi arrived in Mexico City in 1994, he and fellow Muslims had to attend religious services at the Pakistani embassy because there were no mosques or Islamic centers. “I started looking for Muslims and a mosque when I first arrived,” Louahabi, […]
Latino Muslim Articles (Archives)
Newspaper and magazine articles about Latino Muslims from 1992 until 2015 reveal a growing interest in this community. Notably, in 2011 alone, there were 25 articles dedicated to exploring various aspects of the Latino Muslim experience.
Islamic faith finds a fertile home in the Latin American community
By Jason MargolisPublic Radio International (PRI)December 23, 2013 Growing up was rough for Jaime Fletcher in Houston. He moved from Colombia to Texas when he was 8. In high school, kids splintered off into ethnic gangs. One day, he says an African-American gang leader attacked him. “And so I just fought back, and because I […]
Hispanic Muslims: Why Are Catholic Hispanic Americans Converting To Islam?
By Susmita BaralLatin TimesAugust 21, 2013 Islam is most commonly associated with the Middle East and the Arab world, but the simple truth is that 85 percent of the world’s Muslims are non-Arab. Current estimates suggest that one-fourth of the world’s population is Muslim (roughly 2.6 billion). When looking at the countries with the largest […]
Latina Immigrants: The New Ambassadors of Islam
By Wendy DiazThe Muslim LinkJanuary 17, 2013 Tucked away in a quiet rural neighborhood in Somerset, New Jersey is the brown brick building that houses the New Jersey Chapter of the Islamic Center of North America’s (ICNA) WhyIslam Project. Within its confines, in a second floor office with rose-colored walls, sits the administrative assistant and […]
Raza Islámica: Prisons, Hip Hop & Converting Converts
By SpearItBerkeley La Raza Law Journal,Vol. 22, No. 1, 2012February 11, 2013 The interface of prisons, hip hop music, and Islam is a complicated subject. At close examination, however, patterns begin to emerge. Among the most prevalent is how scores of African-Americans, as well as increasing numbers of Latinos, arrive at mainstream Islam. The journey […]
Hispanic Muslims? An In-depth Look at a Little Known but Growing U.S. Minority
By Ken ChitwoodSightingsOctober 31, 2013 In the early 1990s, the media took notice of the estimated 40,000-200,000 Hispanic Muslims living in the U.S. and started to chronicle their stories and their “reversions” (the preferred term of Hispanic Muslims who view conversion as a return to Hispanic roots). Twenty years later, the themes covered by the […]
U.S. Latina/o Muslims Since 1920: From “Moors” to “Latino Muslims”
By Patrick D. BowenJournal of Religious HistoryVolume 37, Issue 2, June 2013 This article provides a historical overview of the development of the U.S. Latina/o Muslim community. U.S. Latina/os have been converting to Islam since the 1920s. Early converts were primarily found in African-American-majority Islamic communities, though there were some others who entered Islam through […]
Close connections between Latin culture and Islam
By Joshua RiveraThe Chicago MonitorAugust 12, 2013 Diana Cruz’s mother is Catholic, her father is Mormon, and she is Muslim. Hearing her speak about the diversity of religious identities within her Puerto Rican and Mexican family makes it clear why she became the Director of Latino Outreach at the Institute of Islamic Information and Education […]
Muslim community sees increase in Latinos converting to Islam
By Elisa CordovaCronkite News ServiceOctober 29, 2013 TEMPE – Chris Cruz was born and raised Roman Catholic but converted to Islam in large part because of its call for a healthier lifestyle, including a prohibition on drinking. But converting doesn’t make him any less Hispanic, he said. “Islam does not make you lose your culture,” […]
Islam, prisons and Latinos
By SpearItSt. Louis AmericanFebruary 2, 2012 Jose Pimentel’s recent arrest by New York City police for plotting a bomb attack has kindled debate about Latinos and terrorism. In the polemic, some see the relationship between Latinos and extremism as tenuous at best, serving only to foment fear and new layers of anti-Latino sentiment amidst increasingly […]