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"Moderate Mammal" <BunnERabbit@verizon.hutch.net> wrote in message
news:e233l1d88demq3ogcs0nttojs605h6l10m@4ax.com...
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-latinomuslims-oct15,0,4158034.story?coll=sfl
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> MIAMI -- Ask Melissa Matos why she converted to Islam, and you'll
> likely get an answer that spans 13 centuries.
>
> She may refer to seventh century Arabia, where Muslims believe the
> Prophet Mohammed received the Koran from the angel Gabriel. Or she
> might describe Islam's golden age in medieval Spain. Or she'll recall
> Sept. 11, 2001, when fear and curiosity drove her to read about Islam
> on the Internet.
>
> Matos, who comes from a family of Seventh Day Adventists from the
> Dominican Republic, has answered the question countless times since
> converting to Islam in April. She now covers her hair, prays five
> times a day, and is observing Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and
> reflection.
>
> "Sometimes it does get a little difficult,'' said Matos, a 20-year-old
> political science student at Florida International University who
> lives with her parents in Miramar. "I feel alienated from my family
> and my old friends, but Islam is so beautiful, it's worth it. And with
> Ramadan, I'm just doing it by myself, just me and God.''
>
> Though they make up a small fraction of the nation's 6 million
> Muslims, Hispanic women converting to Islam are exerting influence
> beyond their numbers, teaching Spanish-Arabic classes, forming
> Hispanic-Muslim organizations and distributing Spanish translations of
> the Koran.
>
> Matos, for one, is organizing an FIU lecture series this semester on
> the religion's little known history in Latin America, including two
> lectures in Spanish, she said.
>
> Some have founded support networks. Piedad, a network of Muslim women
> that seeks to educate Spanish-speaking communities about Islam, had 50
> members when it was founded in 1988; it now has more than 344
> nationally. Other groups, like the Latino American Dawah Organization
> , which was formed in 1997, promote the legacy of Islam in Spain and
> Latin America.
>
> "It's a movement that is growing, particularly in urban areas,'' said
> Manuel Vasquez, a professor of religion at the University of Florida.
> "It's part of the cross-fertilization that's occuring among immigrant
> groups.''
>
> There are some 40,000 Hispanic Muslims in the United States, according
> to a spokesman for the Islamic Society of North America. The largest
> populations live in New York, Texas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami,
> American Muslim organizations say.
>
> Jameela Ali, 26, became a Muslim seven years ago after she dreamed she
> was praying in a mosque filled with light. Her mother, who is from
> Peru, had converted to Islam several years before. Now her brother,
> 22, and sister, 21, have converted.
>
> "You feel a much closer connection to God,'' said Ali, who lives in
> Pembroke Pines and teaches two other Hispanic Muslim women to read and
> write Arabic. "You give up everything of your old lifestyle -- your
> old clothes, you're not going to clubs, you're not drinking, you're
> not smoking.''
>
> Islam's growth among Hispanic women may result from the broader Muslim
> outreach following the 9/11 attacks, said Aisha Musa, an assistant
> professor of religion at Florida International University. American
> Muslims responded by opening their mosques to outsiders and
> distributing pamphlets about their religion.
>
> Sofian Abdelaziz, the director of the American Muslim Association of
> North America in Miami, said his group often gets requests for the
> Koran in Spanish. In the last several years, they've given away more
> than 5,000 Spanish translations of the Koran to South Florida mosques
> and prisons, he said. They also hand out Spanish brochures about women
> in Islam.
>
> Converts and Muslim leaders are quick to note that Muslims accept
> Hebrew and Christian scripture as revelation, but maintain that the
> Prophet Mohammed provided the complete word of God. Muslims follow the
> Koran, the holy book revealed to Mohammed. Islam's five central tenets
> include professing faith in God and his prophet, Mohammed, performing
> daily prayers, showing charity, fasting during Ramadan and making hajj
> or pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holy city in Saudi Arabia.
>
> Islam spread rapidly after Mohammed's death in the seventh century and
> today is one of the fastest-growing religions in North America,
> scholars say.
>
> Hispanic converts in urban areas say it's become easier to find
> like-minded communities.
>
> "It's so great to meet other Latin people because we all know each
> other's backgrounds,'' said Fatima Narvaez, 30, who converted in 2002
> and now studies Arabic with two other Hispanic women on the weekends.
>
> But convincing families that conversion is the way to go hasn't always
> been easy.
>
> "They think I've rejected my way to salvation because I don't believe
> Jesus Christ is the son of God,'' Matos said of her parents, who are
> Seventh Day Adventists.
>
> Roraima Aisha Kanar was raised Roman Catholic by her parents, Cuban
> exiles who settled in Miami in 1959. Kanar, 52, considered becoming a
> nun before converting to Islam at age 22. Her parents, devout
> Catholics, didn't want their grandchildren to be raised Muslim, she
> said.
>
> "It was very hard to know that my own mother didn't respect my
> belief,'' said Kanar, who with her husband raised their three children
> as Muslims.
>
> But others have found support from their families. Narvaez, who lives
> with her grandparents in Davie, was worried they wouldn't understand
> her new dietary practices. Islam forbids pork and meat that isn't
> halal, or slaughtered according to Islamic law.
>
> "With Puerto Ricans, there's pork in everything,'' said Narvaez, who
> works in marketing. "But they accommodate all my issues and cook halal
> food for me.''
>
> Ali said she's renounced aspects of Hispanic culture that conflict
> with her beliefs, like cooking with wine or eating pork.
>
> But she still marks Christmas with her Peruvian family and cooks South
> American dishes.
>
> "Islam is a way of life, but you don't suddenly have to start
> listening to Arabic music,'' said Ali. "We still keep our heritage.''
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Fed up with illegal immigration?
> _____
>
> Forums to discuss news items of illegal immigration:
>
> http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/listarticles.cgi?117
> http://www.saveourstate.org
>
> http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/index.php
>
> Indexes breaking news of illegal immigration:
>
> http://idexer.com
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> Other important links:
>
> http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frostyA.htm
> http://www.rescuewithoutborders.org/index.html
> http://www.americanpatrol.com/LINKS/LINKS.html
> http://www.vdare.com/links.htm
> http://fairus.org/
> http://numbersusa.com/index
>

Ah, diversity is a such a blessing.

Hank
>
> _____
>
> "Cosmic upheaval is not so moving as a little child pondering the death
> of a sparrow in the corner of a barn." -Anouk Aimee, French Actor
> _____
>
> "Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny", Aeschylus (525BC-456BC),
> Agamemnon
> _____
>
> "I wear no Burka." - Mother Nature
>
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