Brazil – Few Imams, Closed Mosques

“One third of the mosques are closed due to the absence of imams,” Al-Sadiq Al-Othmani, head of the Islamic Affairs Department at the Sao Paulo-based Center of Islamic Da`wah in Latin America, told IslamOnline. net over the phone.

There are mosques in all the major capitals of the Brazilian states and some cities in the interior.  In the city of Sao Paulo there are around ten mosques, including the Mosque Brazil, the first built in Latin America whose construction began in 1929.

Is it a crisis of funding or of faith?

Though Muslims enjoy a unique atmosphere of tolerance in Brazil, many of their mosques are closed because of the rarity of imams, something that threatens the Islamic identity of many Muslims, particularly the younger generations.

“Though there are some 120 mosques in Brazil, there are only 40 imams and preachers,” asserts Khaled Taqei Ed-Din, an imam of a Sao Paulo mosque.  “Only few of those imams have finished their university degree in Shari`ah, while the rest are only imams by practice.”

Despite the massive buildings and unique designs, two thirds of these mosques are almost deserted, with no signs of life.

Othmani

“Many mosques do not even hold all five prayers of the day,” laments Othmani (pictured).

Muslim leaders attribute the crisis to the lack of financial aid to Islamic centers and mosques in Brazil, hampering the training of more mosque leaders.

According to the 2001 census, there are 27,239 Muslims in Brazil.

However, the Islamic Brazilian Federation puts the number at around one and a half million.

The majority of Muslims are descendants of Syrian, Palestinians and Lebanese immigrants who settled in Brazil in the nineteenth century during the World War I and in the 1970s.

Many Iraqis have arrived in the country after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Most Muslims live in the states of Parana, Goias, Riod de Janiero and Sao Paulo, but there are also significant communities in Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul.

Identity

Muslim leaders agree that much of the blame lies with their community, which did not exert enough efforts to support the mosque institution and its message.

Othmani suggests that Muslim organizations and groups should strife to recruit qualified, full time imams with financial support from within the community, instead of resorting to volunteer imams.

Professor Mohsen Bin Musa El-Husseini, head of the Islamic Center in Foz du Iguacu, the city which has the second majority of Muslims in Brazil after Sao Paulo, has another solution. “The Muslim community is in dire need of an Islamic endowment, whose revenue would be dedicated to Muslim institutions, ” he said.  “This is the only way to preserve the Muslim identity of the future generations. “

Internet Serves Da`wah in Brazil

In a vast country like Brazil, the internet is emerging as the most effective tool to spread the message of Islam, says a leading Muslim scholar in the South American nation.  “The internet is one of the most successful contemporary da`wah tools,” Al-Sadiq Al-Othmani, head of the Islamic Affairs Department at the Center of Islamic Da`wah in Latin America, told IslamOnline. net over the phone.  “That’s why I encourage scholars to spread the word to broader masses through the web, especially in such a vast country.”

Othmani, a Moroccan who has lived in Brazil for the past seven years, believes the internet can be particularly helpful for Muslim preachers in Brazil.  “Muslim preachers, many of them volunteers, usually take two to three hours to reach a mosque within their own city to deliver a sermon. “If the mosque is in a different city, they may take up to 12 hours just to reach the place,” he explained.

Othmani, a renowned imam in Sao Paulo, cites his own personal experience. “In 2007, I delivered a sermon themed ‘Islam and slaves freeing’ in a Sao Paulo mosque, and it was appealing to the few attending worshippers, ” he recalled. “After I finished, some of the attendants asked me to translate the sermon and post it on the internet, and I did.”

The sermon was posted on the website of a young Muslim who established a website to introduce Islam to Brazilians. “To our surprise, the sermon got 800,000 hit in just one week,” said Othmani. “We also received a flood of letters and e-mail from many people asking for more information about Islam, and many of them later converted to Islam.”

Othmani later embraced the idea of online da`wah and established an online magazine that introduces Islam to Latin Americans.  “So far the magazine gets some 5,000 visitors a week.”

Tolerant Brazil

Othmani believes that spreading the message of Islam in a country as tolerant as Brazil can be very effective. “Brazil is the land of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity,” he maintains. “The atmosphere of religious tolerance has even helped that diversity to thrive.”

The Muslim scholar notes that Muslims are enjoying an atmosphere of tolerance in Brazil. “They have all the freedom to pray and to build mosques,” he asserted. “There are nearly 120 mosques across Brazil, in addition to Islamic centers, charities and organizations. ”

There are ten mosques in the city of Sao Paulo, including the first mosque built in Latin America whose construction began in 1929. There are mosques in all the capitals of the major states and some cities in the interior.  According to the 2001 census, there are 27,239 Muslims in Brazil.  However, the Islamic Brazilian Federation puts the number at around one and a half million.

The majority of Muslims are descendants of Syrian, Palestinians and Lebanese immigrants who settled in Brazil in the nineteenth century during the World War I and in the 1970s.

Many Iraqis have arrived in the country after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Most Muslims live in the states of Parana, Goias, Riod de Janiero and Sao Paulo, but there are also significant communities in Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul.

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