Medellin, Colombia \u2013<\/strong> Ziauddin Yahya Iqbal Sandoval, known to his friends as Zia, observes Ramadan with quiet conviction.<\/p>\n The 14-year-old was born and raised in Colombia, where Christianity remains dominant. Nearly 63 percent of the population identifies as Catholic.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n But Zia is one of an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 Muslims in Colombia, comprising less than 0.2 percent of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n Within that community, though, is a prism of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Some of Colombia\u2019s Muslims reflect a rich history of migration to the region. Others are converts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Colombian Islamic community is a small one but enjoys more on account of its diversity,\u201d Zia said, as he took a break from serving tea in his uncle Zaheer\u2019s restaurant in the upscale Poblado neighbourhood of Medellin.<\/p>\n On the eve of Ramadan, Muslim communities in cities like Bogota and Medellin prepared for the coming festivities with decorations and prayer.<\/p>\n Golden, glittering letters spelled out wishes for \u201cRamadan Karim\u201d \u2014 or a \u201cgenerous Ramadan\u201d \u2014 above a modest mosque in Belen, on the outskirts of Medellin.<\/p>\n Inside, shoes were lined neatly along the wall. In a small, square prayer room, about eight men of different ages and nationalities stood shoulder to shoulder, bowing in unison.<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority of those who come to the mosque are Colombians, but we see people from Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Pakistan and other Arab countries,\u201d said Mu\u2019tasem Abdo, the mosque\u2019s imam who came to Medellin from Egypt four years ago.<\/p>\n He explained how, because Colombia\u2019s Muslim community is relatively small, newcomers sometimes find themselves aching for the festive experience they remember from home.<\/p>\n \u201cA native from a Muslim country can miss the grandeur of Ramadan as experienced back home,\u201d Abdo explained.<\/p>\n Pakistani immigrant Rana Arif Mohammad remembers arriving in Colombia 23 years ago with dreams of adventuring through Latin America. But he too felt isolation as a Muslim in the country.<\/p>\n He settled in Medellin and founded a restaurant where he serves Pakistani and Arabic specialities in his Belen restaurant. But fellow Muslims were few and far between, and he remembers struggling to find a mosque.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-three years ago, I met just four to five Muslims, just a few from Lebanon and Turkiye,\u201d Mohammad said.<\/p>\n But Mohammad and others have observed Muslim visibility on the rise in Colombia.<\/p>\n In 2020, for instance, Colombia elected its first Muslim mayor in the border city of Maicao. And Mohammad explained that there are now more Islamic cultural centres and places of worship.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, Medellin has five mosques,\u201d he said, counting the ones he knows.<\/p>\n The Muslim population in Latin America first surged after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. There have been several waves of migration in the century since.<\/p>\n In Colombia, one of the most significant came during Lebanon\u2019s civil war in the 1970s. The conflict triggered an exodus of nearly one million Lebanese people that included many Muslims and Christians.<\/p>\n Some settled in cities like Maicao, where one of the largest mosques in Latin America was built and completed in 1997.<\/p>\n The continued migration into Colombia has contributed to the diversity of its Muslim community.<\/p>\n In Bogota, Sheikh Ahmad Qurtubi speaks proudly of the range of nationalities in his jamaat, or congregation, at the Qurtubi Islamic Centre in the west of the city.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are people of different nationalities, approximately 10 or 15 different countries, and we find great diversity in this centre,\u201d Qurtubi explained after delivering the Taraweeh prayer marking the first night of Ramadan.<\/p>\n Though there are no official statistics on the origins of Colombia\u2019s Muslim population, Qurtubi has noticed an increase in Muslim converts.<\/p>\n He estimates that roughly 100 to 200 worshippers in his jamaat are new to the religion. It can be a struggle, though, to build a sense of cohesion, given the different backgrounds of the worshippers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge in Colombia is maintaining a stable community that has an impact on society and a common identity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a community where most people have converted due to different circumstances that led them to Islam, it can be a little more complicated to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n But Qurtubi said the diversity of his congregation has led to celebrations that embrace the spectrum of Colombia\u2019s Muslim identity.<\/p>\n He described how, on each night of Ramadan, a different family volunteers to cook food for the Iftar, the breaking of the fast.<\/p>\n \u201cThe food options can be very varied. Why? Because it depends on each person\u2019s culture and background,\u201d he explained. \u201cFor example, I can offer Moroccan food, one person can offer Pakistani food, others Colombian food.\u201d<\/p>\n He believes community events like Ramadan create an opportunity for Colombia\u2019s Muslims to embrace their differences and build communal understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cKnowledge is what allows a community to grow, to flourish \u2026 and to have the opportunity to prosper and put down roots here in Colombia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Medellin, Colombia \u2013 Ziauddin Yahya Iqbal Sandoval, known to his friends as Zia, observes Ramadan with quiet conviction. The 14-year-old was born and raised in Colombia, where Christianity remains dominant. Nearly 63 percent of the population identifies as Catholic. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list But Zia is one of an estimated 85,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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