They must have thought I would not understand them, confusing me for Arab or South Asian, so I stood silently waiting, half smiling. “Mira como los hombres rezan solos y ellas separadas (Look how the men pray alone and keep them [the women] separated,” the older gentleman remarked. The younger man shrugged and continued to work.

The Islamic calendar consists of twelve months, the first of which is the month of Muharram. The name “Muharram” is derived from the word “haram,” which means forbidden or impermissible, as it is considered unlawful to engage in any war or fighting during this month.

The year 2019 is only a few weeks in and already has its very own social media challenge, the “How Hard Did Aging Hit You Challenge,” with its accompanying hashtags, the #10YearChallenge, #2009vs2019, or for the more seasoned veterans, #1999vs2009. The goal?

For new Muslims nothing can be more daunting than dealing with family members’ reactions to the decision of converting to Islam. Parents, siblings, and other relatives can either shun their newly-Muslim family member, ask very tough questions…

One of the many things that she did that I am grateful for until this day is allowing my friend and I to vent our frustrations by performing spoken poetry in front of the class, or what we thought at the time were cool rap songs that we composed. It was the early 90’s and the topic of our amateur lyrics was Operation Desert Storm.

Before Muslims take a stand against xenophobia in the U.S., we really need to eradicate it from our own community. There. I said it. There is no nice way to put it. Muslims can be very intolerant of those outside their circles, particularly our Latino neighbors. How do I know?

Imagine you are invited to a formal gathering at a famous celebrity's house, a powerful political leader's mansion, or a dignitary from a royal family – maybe even the King, himself has summoned you to his palace. You have been chosen as one of the guests of honor.

We are witnessing the realization of this prophecy today, as Islam continues to spread from the East to the West, including North and South America, where the number of Muslims will more than double by the year 2030, according to statistical projections.

Their xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric questioning the allegiance and morality of Muslims and Latino immigrants is reminiscent of the Second Red Scare during the McCarthy era, in which a hysterical fear of communists (Reds) caused panic throughout the U.S.

September 15 to October 15 marked the 30th National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, a month-long tribute established by President Ronald Reagan on September 14, 1989. It is, therefore, worth reflecting on the important presence of Latin American Muslims who represent the fastest-growing population of Muslims in the United States.

I embraced Islam at the age of 20…Now that I am approaching 40, I have spent almost half of my life as a Muslim; and looking back on my journey, I wish I would have done a few things differently. I decided to write a list of 7 things I would tell my 20-year-old, new Muslim self:

Unlike the rest of my class, who knew each other, had taken classes and passed grade levels together eagerly awaiting graduation, I was an outsider. More than ever, I needed to rely on my faith to make it through a depressing time.

At the first instance of embracing Islam, the new Muslim feels a sense of overwhelming joy, pride, and zeal. He or she wants to do everything in their capacity to learn about Islam and stay firm upon this path, by Allah’s permission.

Good and proper manners apply to a broad spectrum of relationships and situations starting, first and foremost, with the proper manners toward Allah, the Mighty, and Majestic, and toward His deen of Islam.

When the month of Ramadan is approaching, the Ortiz-Matos family begins to prepare the only way they know how, Puerto Rican style.

A couple of years after I converted to Islam (in 2000), I realized that if I wanted to solidify my Deen, I needed to get married. I had read the hadith about marriage completing half your faith (Al Bayhaqi),

In 2009, only one percent of Muslims identified as Hispanic. By 2018, that number had reached seven percent, according to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s annual report “American Muslim Poll: Predicting and Preventing Islamophobia. “That’s a 700 percent growth in less than 10 years, and no other group has grown at this rate,” reported Dalia Mogahed, ISPU’s Director of Research. 

When exploring the topics of culture, faith, and spirituality in Latin America, many are surprised to find there is an enormous connection to Islam.

That is the opening line of author Wendy Díaz’s “De Puerto Rico to Islam With Love.” This collection of poetry is self-described as works that speak to identity and faith. But it is so much more!

Is there a difference between the three terms Latino, Hispanic, and LatinX? Why are there so many different options to describe the same group of people, and which one should we use? Even for a Latina, Puerto Rican Muslim like myself, it gets a bit confusing. So, to understand the origin of the terms let us explore how they came about and why.