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Islam in Brazil
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Islam in Brazil
Brazil is a predominantly Christian country with Islam being a minority religion, first brought by African slaves and then by Lebanese and Syrian immigrants. Due to the secular nature of Brazil's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. However, Islam is not independently included in charts and graphics representing religions in Brazil due to its very small size. It is grouped with "other religions", which generally represent about 1% of the country's population. The number of Muslims in Brazil, according to the 2010 census, was 35,207 out of a population of approximately 191 million people. This corresponds to 0.018% of the Brazilian population.
The history of Muslims in Brazil begins with the importation of African slave labor. 37% of all African slaves were taken to Brazil. This comes to over 3 million slaves. Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade in African slaves to work the sugar plantations instead of the native Tupi people. Scholars claim that Brazil received more enslaved Muslims than anywhere else in the Americas.
During the days of the Barbary Wars, some native Brazilians came into interaction with Muslim lands. It was noted by Dr. Antonio Sosa, a Portuguese cleric held captive in North Africa in the 1570s, that the port of Algiers maintained one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world including Amerindians from Iberian colonies in the New World. Barbary pirates were known to attack the shipping of slaves and merchandise while taking prisoners coming from the Americas. In 1673, 140 prisoners were taken from a Rio de Janeiro fleet, while a 1674 capture of a Brazilian ship contributed in the decision to increase naval protection.
The Muslim uprising of 1835 in Bahia illustrates the condition and legacy of resistance among the community of Malês, as African Muslims were known in 19th-century Bahia. Most participants were Nago, the local designation for ethnic Yoruba. Pacifico Licutan was one of the leaders of the revolt. Many of the "Malês" had been soldiers and captives in the wars between Oyo, Ilorin and other Yoruba city-states in the early part of the 19th century. Other participants included Hausa and Nupe clerics, along with Jeje or Dahomean soldiers who had converted to Islam or fought in alliance with Muslims."
Beginning on the night of January 24, 1835, and continuing the following morning, a group of African born slaves occupied the streets of Salvador and for more than three hours they confronted soldiers and armed civilians.
Even though it was short lived, the revolt was the largest slave revolt in Brazil and the largest urban slave revolt in the Americas. About 300 Africans took part and the estimated death toll ranges from fifty to a hundred, although exact numbers are unknown. This number increases even more if the wounded who died in prisons or hospitals are included. Many participants were sentenced to death, prison, whippings, or deportation. The rebellion had nationwide repercussions. Fearing the example might be followed, the Brazilian authorities began to watch the malês very carefully and in subsequent years intensive efforts were made to force conversions to Catholicism and erase the popular memory of and affection towards Islam. However, the African Muslim community was not erased overnight, and as late as 1910 it is estimated there were still some 100,000 African Muslims living in Brazil.
Following the revolt of the Afro-Brazilian Muslim community, the next period of Islam in the country was primarily the result of Muslim immigration from the Middle East and South East Asia. Some 11 million Syrian and Lebanese (mostly Maronite and Orthodox Christians) immigrants live throughout Brazil. The biggest concentration of Muslims is found in the greater São Paulo region.[citation needed] There is also a growing Bangladeshi Brazilian community, numbering in the thousands.
Architecture and cuisine also bear the trademarks of the culture brought to the hemisphere by the Arabs. As an example, the second largest fast food chain in Brazil is Habib's, which serves Arab food. The diversity of influence also stretches to businesses such as the textile industry, which is mostly run by merchants of Syrian-Lebanese origin (mainly of Christian faith). The São Paulo city council has a Muslim Councillor by the name of Mohammad Murad, a lawyer. A number of mosques dot the greater São Paulo area, the oldest and most popular of these being found on Avenida do Estado. Since its establishment, the mosque has added a Quranic school, library, kitchen and meeting hall for various functions.
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Islam in Brazil
Brazil is a predominantly Christian country with Islam being a minority religion, first brought by African slaves and then by Lebanese and Syrian immigrants. Due to the secular nature of Brazil's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. However, Islam is not independently included in charts and graphics representing religions in Brazil due to its very small size. It is grouped with "other religions", which generally represent about 1% of the country's population. The number of Muslims in Brazil, according to the 2010 census, was 35,207 out of a population of approximately 191 million people. This corresponds to 0.018% of the Brazilian population.
The history of Muslims in Brazil begins with the importation of African slave labor. 37% of all African slaves were taken to Brazil. This comes to over 3 million slaves. Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade in African slaves to work the sugar plantations instead of the native Tupi people. Scholars claim that Brazil received more enslaved Muslims than anywhere else in the Americas.
During the days of the Barbary Wars, some native Brazilians came into interaction with Muslim lands. It was noted by Dr. Antonio Sosa, a Portuguese cleric held captive in North Africa in the 1570s, that the port of Algiers maintained one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world including Amerindians from Iberian colonies in the New World. Barbary pirates were known to attack the shipping of slaves and merchandise while taking prisoners coming from the Americas. In 1673, 140 prisoners were taken from a Rio de Janeiro fleet, while a 1674 capture of a Brazilian ship contributed in the decision to increase naval protection.
The Muslim uprising of 1835 in Bahia illustrates the condition and legacy of resistance among the community of Malês, as African Muslims were known in 19th-century Bahia. Most participants were Nago, the local designation for ethnic Yoruba. Pacifico Licutan was one of the leaders of the revolt. Many of the "Malês" had been soldiers and captives in the wars between Oyo, Ilorin and other Yoruba city-states in the early part of the 19th century. Other participants included Hausa and Nupe clerics, along with Jeje or Dahomean soldiers who had converted to Islam or fought in alliance with Muslims."
Beginning on the night of January 24, 1835, and continuing the following morning, a group of African born slaves occupied the streets of Salvador and for more than three hours they confronted soldiers and armed civilians.
Even though it was short lived, the revolt was the largest slave revolt in Brazil and the largest urban slave revolt in the Americas. About 300 Africans took part and the estimated death toll ranges from fifty to a hundred, although exact numbers are unknown. This number increases even more if the wounded who died in prisons or hospitals are included. Many participants were sentenced to death, prison, whippings, or deportation. The rebellion had nationwide repercussions. Fearing the example might be followed, the Brazilian authorities began to watch the malês very carefully and in subsequent years intensive efforts were made to force conversions to Catholicism and erase the popular memory of and affection towards Islam. However, the African Muslim community was not erased overnight, and as late as 1910 it is estimated there were still some 100,000 African Muslims living in Brazil.
Following the revolt of the Afro-Brazilian Muslim community, the next period of Islam in the country was primarily the result of Muslim immigration from the Middle East and South East Asia. Some 11 million Syrian and Lebanese (mostly Maronite and Orthodox Christians) immigrants live throughout Brazil. The biggest concentration of Muslims is found in the greater São Paulo region.[citation needed] There is also a growing Bangladeshi Brazilian community, numbering in the thousands.
Architecture and cuisine also bear the trademarks of the culture brought to the hemisphere by the Arabs. As an example, the second largest fast food chain in Brazil is Habib's, which serves Arab food. The diversity of influence also stretches to businesses such as the textile industry, which is mostly run by merchants of Syrian-Lebanese origin (mainly of Christian faith). The São Paulo city council has a Muslim Councillor by the name of Mohammad Murad, a lawyer. A number of mosques dot the greater São Paulo area, the oldest and most popular of these being found on Avenida do Estado. Since its establishment, the mosque has added a Quranic school, library, kitchen and meeting hall for various functions.
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