The Growth of Latine Muslim Community
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While stereotype often portrays all Latine people as faithful Catholics, this is not absolute fact. There are many Muslim Latine people, existing not only in our modern day but existing in the Historical Record as well. After the Reconquista, many Moriscos (Spanish subjects who were, or expected to be, Muslim) emigrated from Iberia and the influence of the Inquisition to the Americas. These Muslims lived and established communities in the Americas, despite pressure from the Inquisition and Spanish/Portuguese thrones, leaving an unmistakable impact on histories, cultures, and nations. It would be a disservice to leave these people out of the historical record.
That said, in an effort to hide their "Muslimness" from their Catholic Governments and Neighbors, many of the practices and overt Islamic affiliations of these Moriscos were greatly subdued and hidden. This was merely done as an act of survival. The repercussions this has today, however, is that it leaves many modern Latine people without their connection to these Moriscos, and leaves the 'indigenous practices' of American Islam 'warped'. For Latine people seeking an Islamic community, whether because of suspected familial ties, general interest, or because they felt that Islam will be a source of strength and comfort, they would often seek out International Muslims, for belief that their more orthodox practices are also more "pure", and because their Islamic Identity is far more rooted and tangible. This could lead to Latine people seeking to reject some parts of their identities and adopt new ones, as in the case of Addison Gilmo Rodez attempting to pass as South Asian, to more snuggly fit into their adopted Islamic community.
Often, Islamic communities in the United States are designed specifically for one subset of Islamic identities, e.g. a community for Black-American Muslims and another for International Muslims. Latine people frequently found themselves split between these two extremes, not being "black enough" for the specifics of a Black-American community to ring true for them and yet "too American" for the International community to feel right. This eventually led to efforts from Latine Muslims to foster their own communities, built to acknowledge their own specific heritage and circumstances. Coupled with increased historical research into the lives of Moriscos, these communities have found more firm rooting in their historical basises, alluding to the idea that many Latine "conversions" to Islam are actually more like a "reversion" to their original faith.
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I really like your thoughts on Latine Muslims' connection to the past, @nickolas_mazza. I hope to touch upon this in class.