Cursillos in Christianity is an apostolic movement of the Catholic Church. It was founded in Majorca, Spain, by a group of laymen in 1944, while they were refining a technique to train pilgrimage Christian leaders.
The Latino American Dawah Organization (LADO) is a grassroots organization founded in September 1997 by a handful of Latino converts to Islam in New York City. The idea began with Samantha Sanchez who then recruited the help of Juan Alvarado and Saraji Umm Zaid and the group was formed. Later, the group leadership transferred to Juan Jose Galvan. The organization's name was selected to express LADO's ethnic and religious identity as Latinos/Hispanics and as Muslims. LADO also wanted to emphasize that this would be an Islamic organization whose primary purpose would be dawah and education to Latinos. Today, the Latino American Dawah Organization is known by most Muslims as simply "LADO" and as "The LADO Group." In Spanish, LADO is known as "El Grupo LADO." The acronym LADO means 'side' in Spanish. The motto of the Latino American Dawah Organization is "¡Puro Latino! ¡Puro Islam! ¡A su LADO!".
Da‘wah is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is da‘wāt (دَعْوات) or da‘awāt (دَعَوات).
From the late 1980s to the mid-2000s, Alianza Islámica was the largest and most influential Latino Muslim organization in U.S. history. It was co-founded in New York City's fabled Spanish Harlem by three Puerto Rican Muslims - John (Yahya) Figueroa, Ramon (Rahim) Ocasio, and Freddie (Ibrahim) Gonzalez, who all lived within five blocks of each other.
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is an Islamic North American grassroots umbrella organization.
Yasir Qadhi, is an American preacher, theologian, and imam. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also taught in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently the resident scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas.
Hispanic and Latino American Muslims are Hispanic and Latino Americans who are of the Islamic faith. Hispanic and Latino Americans are an ethnolinguistic group of citizens of the United States with origins in Spain and Latin America. Islam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah), and that Muhammad is a messenger of God. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, claimed to be the verbatim word of God, and the teachings and normative examples of Muhammad. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and the Quran in its Arabic to be the unaltered and final revelation of God. The Spaniards took the Roman Catholic faith to Latin America via imperialism and colonialism; Roman Catholicism continues to be the largest, but not the only, religious denomination among most Hispanics. In contrast, the Arabs took Islam to very few Latin American countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia via post-independence immigration.
Indonesia Institute of Islamic Dawah or LDII, is an independent social organization for study and research on Alqur'an and Alhadist. Dakwah is Arabic for religious proselytizing.
Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) was founded and incorporated by Zuriana (Ani) Zonneveld and Pamela K. Taylor in 2007, headquartered in Los Angeles with a regional office in Malaysia and The Netherlands.
The Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) is a system of mosques in Greater Houston. It is headquartered at the Eastside Main Center in Upper Kirby in Houston.
Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas, is home to a significant number of Muslim Americans. As of 2012 it has the largest Muslim population in Texas and the largest Muslim population in the Southern United States. That year, Kate Shellnut of the Houston Chronicle wrote that "Some estimate that Muslims make up 1.2 percent of the city's population." As of 2012 the estimated population of Muslims in Houston was around 63,000. As of today, there are over 209 mosques and storefront religious centers, with the largest being the Al-Noor Mosque of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH).
Jaime "Mujahid" Fletcher is a filmmaker and member of National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). He is the owner and CEO of an advertising agency, FocusPoint Studios.
In 1988 PIEDAD was founded by Khadijah Rivera in New York. In its acronym form, it reads "Propagación Islámica para la Educación y la Devoción a Aláh el Divino". Literally, PIEDAD means "Taqwa, piety or God-fearing." Their numerous seminars have included speakers like Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Mohammed Nasim, Dr. Thomas Irving, Dr. Omar Kasule, and others. PIEDAD began as the first Latina Muslim organization dedicated to Latina converts in the United States. Nylka Vargas became the PIEDAD National Coordinator after Khadijah Rivera's passing on November 22, 2009. Today, members consists of Latinas and non-Latinas. PIEDAD actively participates in local mosques and communities to collaborate, share information, and devise strategies to better all communities. Its five national chapters have more than 300 members.
LALMA is a not-for-profit organization that was established in 1999 in response to the need for Spanish-language resources on Islam. LALMA began with a group of five Latino Muslims from Los Angeles led by Marta Felicitas Galedary began having regular meetings to learn about Islam in the Spanish language. According to its mission statement, LALMA "promotes a better understanding of Islam to the Spanish speaking community and establishes a forum of spiritual nurturing and social support to Latino Muslims, building bridges among the monotheistic community and advocating for social justice in accordance with Islamic values." Initially LALMA stood for Los Angeles Latino Muslims Association, but after a restructuring to accommodate its growth, LALMA was renamed to La Asociacion Latino Musulmana de America.
Marta Felicitas Ramirez de Galedary is a co-founder of the La Asociacion Latino Musulmana de America (LALMA) in 1999. LALMA is at the forefront of providing information and support to Latinos in Southern California. She is a former nursing director at the UMMA Clinic in Los Angeles. Galedary also works with LA Voice, and MuslimARC, She is also a registered nurse.
Khadijah Rivera founded the first organization, PIEDAD, for Latinas of the Islamic faith in 1988. She was a Puerto Rican Muslim convert from Roman Catholicism. She was married to an Egyptian Muslim. Khadijah Rivera was involved in some two dozen social causes. She encouraged members to become active in their mosques. During her life, she was a social activist and community worker. She taught at a local Tampa Bay school. She was a coordinator of Project Downtown Tampa, a project that helps the homeless and needy. In summer 2009, she began working at CAIR's Tampa office.
Hamza Perez is a Puerto Rican former American rap artist who converted to Islam. He has been ranked as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the royal strategic Islamic center. Hamza spends his time on the streets and jail cells spreading the message of Islam to at-risk youth and communities. He was also a member of the hip-hop group M-Team, a music group that consisted of Hamza and his brother Suliman Perez. They used hip-hop to spread their faith and religious message to other young people. Hamza is the founder of the S.H.E.H.U. Program and one of the co-founders of the Light of the Age Mosque in Pittsburgh, PA. He has also worked with the interfaith poetry project Crossing Limits. In 2009, PBS released a movie entitled "New Muslim Cool" about his life, music, and community.
Omar Suleiman is an American Muslim scholar, civil rights leader, writer, and public speaker. He is the Founder and President of Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, and an Adjunct Professor of Islamic Studies and member of the Ethics Center Advisory Board at Southern Methodist University. He is currently the Resident Scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center and the Co-Chair Emeritus of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square, a multi-faith coalition of clergy for peace and justice.
The Hispanic population in Houston is increasing as more immigrants from Latin American countries come to work in the area. As of 2006 the city has the third-largest Hispanic population in the United States. As of 2011, the city is 44% Hispanic. As of 2011, of the city's U.S. citizens that are Hispanic, half are age 18 or older, and are therefore at the age range eligible to vote. As of 2011 many Hispanics in Houston are not U.S. citizens, especially those living in Gulfton and Spring Branch, and are therefore ineligible to vote in elections. As a result, Hispanics have proportionally less representation in the municipal government than other ethnic groups. As of April 2011 two of the Houston City Council members are Hispanic, making up 18% of the council.
