Islam Gives Brazil New Face

Giving Brazil’s carnival city a new taste, a growing number of Muslim converts in Rio De Janeiro is changing the face of the world’s biggest Catholic country.
“I found in Islam everything I had always looked for,” Omar Israfil Dawud bin Ibrahim, who until just four years ago officiated as Catholic priest at a local church, told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, August 21.
“I met God as he is, with no adaptation,” the 34-year-old graphic designer said.
Wearing a traditional robe, Omar accompanies his wife, Alessandra Faria, who goes by the name “Fatima” after converting to Islam and donning hijab, on Ramadan nights to Mesquita da Luz, Rio’s first mosque.
“At the seminary, you learn that Islam is one of the monotheistic religions. There is no prejudice against this religion,” said Omar as he stood by his wife.
As for the wife, the decision to don hijab in a city where mini-bikinis in seaside neighborhoods is a normal scene was surprising to many.  
“In the beginning, my mother was mortified at the thought of going outside with me,” she said.
Feeling proud of her new religion, Fatima says her beliefs can find a place in the multi-cultural country.
“I wear the veil to show I am Muslim and aware that I am part of a minority,” she added.
“Brazil is a mix, made up of several different cultures. This mix makes Brazilians very adaptable and tolerant.”
According to the 2001 census, there are 27,239 Muslims in Brazil.
However, the Islamic Brazilian Federation puts the number at around one and a half million.
Islam expert Paulo Pinto of Fuminense Federal University estimated Brazil is home to about a million Muslims.
With no confirmed number of Muslims, the best indicator of the growth of Islam in the country is the rapid increase in the number of mosques.
There are now 127 mosques, four times as many as there were back in 2000.

New Facts

Posing new facts on the ground, a growing number of Brazilian converts changed the diagram of Muslims in the southern American country with converts representing 85% of the city’s Muslim population.
“The number of Muslims continues to grow, and most are Brazilians who are converting,” said Sami Isbelle, a spokesman for the Beneficent Muslim Society (SBMRJ).
“In Rio, there are about 500 Muslim families, 85 percent of them Brazilian converts who have no Arab links,” Isbelle said.
Things are different in Sao Paulo state and southern regions of Brazil.
The majority of Muslims are descendants of Syrian, Palestinians and Lebanese immigrants who settled in Brazil in the nineteenth century during the World War I and in the 1970s.
Many Iraqis have arrived in the country after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Most Muslims live in the states of Parana, Goias, Riod de Janiero and Sao Paulo, but there are also significant communities in Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul.
The sudden rise of Muslim numbers followed 9/11 attacks which was accompanied by an increase in interest in Islam.
After the September 11 attacks in the United States, “there was a growth of interest in Islam, and many people decided to convert,” Pinto, the Islam expert, added.
“Islam was seen as a new form of resistance.”
Moreover, a soap opera launched just three weeks after the 2001 attacks, “The Clone,” sparked some Brazilians’ interest in Islam.
Set in Morocco, the popular show showed a “positive imagine of that part of the world, with a benevolent Muslim hero,” said Pinto.
“There is a tendency to think that Brazilian culture, as liberal and sensual as it is, is against the rules of Islam.
“But in fact, there are many conservative rules that are part of moral and sexual control. Look at how many evangelicals are successful in Brazil!”

Source: OnIslam & News Agencies