: Padilla Arrest Puts Latino Muslims in the Spotlight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After Jose Padilla's arrest, Americans wondered what Latinos have in common with Islam. Latino Muslims counter that their history with Islam goes back hundreds of years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/06\/padilla_arrest_puts_latino_muslims_in_the_spotlight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": Padilla Arrest Puts Latino Muslims in the Spotlight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After Jose Padilla's arrest, Americans wondered what Latinos have in common with Islam. 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{"id":1508,"date":"2002-06-19T01:05:55","date_gmt":"2002-06-19T06:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2002-06-19T01:05:55","modified_gmt":"2002-06-19T06:05:55","slug":"padilla_arrest_puts_latino_muslims_in_the_spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/06\/padilla_arrest_puts_latino_muslims_in_the_spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":": Padilla Arrest Puts Latino Muslims in the Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Adding to the ethnic confusion surrounding converts to Islam caught in the terror dragnet, the arrest of Jose Padilla (\u201cAbdullah Al Muhajir\u201d) has highlighted<\/a> the little seen world of Latino Muslims<\/a>. With numbers estimated at up to 40,000<\/a> nationwide, Latino Muslims point out a long history of interaction with Islam going back to Moorish Spain (and nascent flourishing in Latin America<\/a>). \u201cGrowing up, I was a very devout Catholic,\u201d says Aminah Martinez, who converted in 1993. \u201cBut as I got older, I felt there were too many distractions. Islam was a faith where I felt a strong sense of belonging.\u201d In the 27 years since Alianza Islamica<\/a> (one of the first Latino Muslim groups in the country) was formed in New York, Latino Muslims have gone on to form outreach<\/a> groups, literary organizations<\/a>, and womens\u2019 associations<\/a> \u2013 all of whom will have their work cut out for them since the Jose Padilla landed at O\u2019Hare.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

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