According to rahyafte (the missionaries and converts website) The number of Latin Americans converting to the religion of Islam is rapidly increasing according to the New York Times newspaper. The daily added that there were very few Latin American Muslims in New York some years ago, but that now there are over 10,000 Muslims in the New York region.
The newspaper said that the rise in conversions in the Latin American community was due to the fact that many Latin Americans don’t feel comfortable with the restrictions and superstitious beliefs of the Catholic religion.
Experts also consider marriages between Latin American women and Muslim men to be another cause of the increased number of conversions to Islam.
Khadijeh Rivera, who converted to Islam in 1983, has started a radio show in New York and is trying to show Latin American people that accepting Islam doesn’t mean accepting Arab traditions. She says that Islam is a modern religion which can easily answer most questions.
Latinos who don’t drink alcohol, eat pork or even dance, might feel out of step with their families or with other Latin Americans. Just the same, about 40,000 Latinos living in the United States find that Islam meets other needs and provides an alternative community. The majority of the converts are Mexicans, central Americans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Peruvians and Costa Ricans.
“Some claim that they are dissatisfied with Christianity, some are interested in the more active practice that Islam offers. Some find out about Islam through friends and family,” said Samantha Sanchez, President of Latino American Daw’a Organization (LADO), one of several US Organizations of Latino Muslims.
Marta Galedary, a Mexican immigrant who discovered Islam through friends 20 years ago, now organizes study groups for Latinos at the Los Angeles Islamic Center.
“People came to the United States out of curiosity and asked for literature about Islam in Spanish, we realized that we needed to reach out to non-Muslims,” said Galedary, whose group numbers 25 to 30.
Recent converts to Islam have little problem giving-up pork, liquor and dance. The problem is getting their families to accept their new lifestyles.
“The problem for them is how their families may feel betrayed by them. My cousin was still trying to feed me pork pies for years after I converted to Islam. When I mentioned the problem with pork, she would just say: “So don’t eat that part,” said Ismi Saraji, who lives in New York.
“My parents still don’t understand a lot about my religion and I sometimes feel that they don’t want to understand something that they don’t like,” said Mercedes Zeenni, a Mexican-born California resident who converted to Islam 11 years ago, before marrying a Lebanese.
So strong is the fear of rejection that some follow Islam in secret. “I am always worried that the people I love the most, will reject me. My grandparents still don’t know. I think the fear of rejection is one that all new converts fear,” said Juan Galvan of Texas.
Nearly all Latino converts to Islam had been practicing Catholics who were to some degree uncomfortable with Catholicism.
“I was Catholic. But from the start, it seemed that Islam gave more answers to my questions, was more direct, without mysteries, and making it easier for me to understand what it meant to believe in God,” said Zeenn
