By Amy Green | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
ORLANDO, FLA. – With her hijab and dark complexion, Catherine Garcia doesn’t look like an Orlando native or a Disney tourist. When people ask where she’s from, often they are surprised that it’s not the Middle East but Colombia. That’s because Ms. Garcia, a bookstore clerk who immigrated to the US seven years ago, is Hispanic and Muslim. On this balmy afternoon at the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, she is at her mosque dressed in long sleeves and a long skirt in keeping with the Islamic belief in modesty. “When I was in my country I never fit in the society. Here in Islam I feel like I fit with everything they believe,” she says.
Garcia is one of a growing number of Hispanics across the US who have found common ground in a faith and culture bearing surprising similarities to their own heritage. From professionals to students to homemakers, they are drawn to the Muslim faith through marriage, curiosity and a shared interest in issues such as immigration.
The population of Hispanic Muslims has increased 30 percent to some 200,000 since 1999, estimates Ali Khan, national director of the American Muslim Council in Chicago. [more]
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Note from Rafik Beekun: Below are a few video clips that describe the wonderful return of our hispanic brothers and sisters to Islam. I have also included a video of Surah Ar-Rahman, the adhan, and a dua video in Spanish and a link to a spanish translation of the Holy Qur’an. I have also listed a few websites dedicated to latino Muslims and Muslimahs.
1. Latino Muslims Growing in Number in the US
2. Hispanic Muslims
3. Telemundo Latino Muslims (in Spanish)
3. Musulmanes Hispanos (in Spanish)
Adhan (call to prayer with Spanish Subtitles)
El Adhan y traducida al español.
Surah Ar-Rahman with Spanish Translation
Sura 55. Ar-Rahmán. (El compasivo)
Dua with Spanish Subtitles
Dua video: Dua Qunut with Spanish Subtitle
Bonita Du’a recitada por Mishary Rashid Al-Efasy y traducida al español.
El Mensaje del Qur’an
Latino Muslim Websites:
1. LADO (Latino American Dawah Organization)
2. HispanicMuslims.com
3. Latino Muslim Association
More links to national and regional latino Muslims organizations in the USA can be found by clicking here.
The Islamic Workplace 
Posted on February 27, 2007
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