Islam in Latin America: from the twentieth to the twenty-first century

The Islam is now offering a new visibility in our region, where the worship centres, the publications, and even the women wearing veils do not constitute a rarity as was some years back. For this reason and following other features, we can assume that it is in Latin America where the Islam's expansion and consolidation process started several centuries ago is closing. Like in other regions with new immigration currents, the Islam's growing presence has set the alarm in the circles linked to the USA's armed forces and the Vatican and, also, among some researchers interested in a field as yet quite overlooked. This paper means to offer a better balanced view of the situation by way of a bibliography survey, the follow-up of various sources - electronic material, newspaper clippings - and by generating new reflections and contrasts. The assumption of a pre-Colombian and a Colonial Islam are investigated as well as the characteristics of the Arab immigration as from the XIXth century and the low profile of the Muslin communities in most of the XXth century. The new visibility taking place as from the 1980s, the controversial figures related to the number of Muslims, the recent migration waves, the religious campaigns and conversions are also analysed. The ways in which the Islam in Latin America can be seen are not homogenous and introduce variations which respond, among other factors, to the kind of society where those Islam members are received. Such circumstances lead to the possibility of a strongly-rooted Islam capable of showing a more creative synthesis than we are generally accustomed to in this Semi-Continent of racial of miscegenation and cultural mix.