Navy, continues to learn about the faith. Ruiz, who went on to study religion at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut and who served as a chaplain in the U.S. Some community leaders are concerned about retaining Latino Muslims in the faith after they’ve made the step of converting. When Latino Muslims go to their local mosques or community centers and meet groups of Muslims speaking Arabic or other languages among themselves, they can feel excluded. Although there are fairly large Latino Muslim populations concentrated in Texas and New Jersey, for the most part, they’re scattered. They also cite cultural and linguistic connections between Arabs and Spanish-speakers, including the fact that the Spanish language absorbed thousands of Arabic words during the Muslim rule of the Iberian peninsula.īut Latino converts face a number of challenges.
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Pointing to the history of Al-Andalus - which was, for hundreds of years, Muslim-ruled - Ruiz and others say that Islam is a deep-rooted part of the heritage bequeathed by Spain. Some Latino converts also appreciate that figures from Christianity like the Virgin Mary and Jesus are also part of Islam, says Juan Galvan, author of the book “ Latino Muslims: Our Journeys to Islam” who is himself a Latino convert to Islam.
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Many Hispanic converts to Islam say that praying directly to God without an intermediary is appealing, as is the unitary aspect of God. My daughter and I follow the line of women into the building and up the stairs to the sequestered balcony on the second floor, where the women line up side by side to pray, forming rows. Now the women seated around the table explain to me that after this quick, light snack, we’ll go inside to pray. A jar of chutney materializes and is passed around, the women spooning it onto the fried snacks before us. A woman announces, “You can break the fast now” and everyone reaches for a date, some whispering prayers before they begin to eat.īodies, tense from a day’s hunger, relax.
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As the time approaches, a hush cascades across the tables. Beyond the mango tree, on the other side of the parking lot, women wrapped in colorful saris sit under a large white tent, ready to break the fast with dates and neon red juice. Men take seats at the long white tables that stand between a large mango tree and green-pillared arches. It’s a Saturday night during Ramadan and, as the sun sets, the courtyard of Muslim Community of Palm Beach County comes alive as locals gather for iftar, the breaking of the fast.