Latino Muslims Receive More Attention and Support

August 17, 2002

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On August 17, 2002, The Houston Chronicle featured an article on the growing number of Latino Muslims in Texas and the U.S. "Some Hispanic Muslims in Houston say the general public often assumes they are of Middle Eastern or Pakistani origin because of their religion. But where they once were an unrecognized 'other' in demographic studies of American Muslim communities, the number of Hispanic converts to Islam is growing... A study of mosques in the United States published in 2001, indicated that about 6 percent of converts to Islam in the United States are Hispanic... About 27 percent of American converts are white, 64 percent are African-American and 3 percent are a mixture of other backgrounds, according to 'The Mosque in America: A National Portrait.'" The article also reported on the Latino American Dawah Organization, a Latino Muslim organization that "started about five years ago in New York City... The organization has grown into a support network and an information outreach that provides Qurans and pamphlets on Islam in Spanish and runs a Web site. The group now has a chapter in Austin and is working on chapters in Illinois, Massachusetts and Arizona."