Brazil is a predominantly Christian country with Islam being a minority religion, first brought by African slaves and then by Lebanese and Syrian immigrants.[1] Due to the secular nature of Brazil's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. However, Islam isn't independently included in charts and graphics representing religions in Brazil due to its very small size, being grouped in "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.[2] This corresponds to 0.018% of the Brazilian population.[3]
The history of Muslims in Brazil begins with the importation of African slave labor to the country. Brazil obtained 37% of all African slaves traded. Over 3 million slaves were sent to Brazil. Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade African slaves to work the sugar plantations once the native Tupi people deteriorated. Scholars claim that Brazil received more enslaved Muslims than anywhere else in the Americas.[4]
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.[5]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.[6]
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. The majority of the 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.[7]"
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.[8][9]
Even though it was short lived, the revolt was the largest slave revolt in Brazil and the largest urban slave revolt in the Americas.[10] 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.[9] 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.[11] 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.[12]
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.[15] 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.
According to the Braziliancensus of 2010[16] there were 35,167 Muslims living in the country, primarily concentrated in the states of São Paulo and Paraná, compared to 22,450 Muslims in 1990 and 27,239 in 2000.[17] There are significant Muslim communities in the industrial suburbs of the city of São Paulo and in the port city of Santos, as well as in smaller communities in Paraná State in the coastal region and in Curitiba and Foz do Iguaçu in the Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay triborder area. The community is overwhelmingly Sunni; the Sunnis are almost completely assimilated into broader society. The recent Shi'ite immigrants gravitate to small insular communities in São Paulo, Curitiba, and Foz do Iguaçu.
A recent trend has been the increase in conversions to Islam among non-Arab citizens.[18] A recent Muslim source estimated that there are close to 10,000 Muslim converts living in Brazil.[13] During the past 30 years, Islam has become increasingly noticeable in Brazilian society by building not only mosques, but also libraries, arts centres, and schools and also by funding newspapers.[19] The growth of Islam within Brazil is demonstrated in the fact that 2 of the 3 existing Portuguese translations of the Qur'an were created by Muslim translators in São Paulo.[13]
According to the IBGE census, 83.2% of Muslims are self-declared as white, 12.2% are mixed, 3.8% black, 0.8% orientals and 0.04% indigenous. Almost all Brazilian Muslims (99,2%) have been living in urban areas. Despite 60% of Brazilian Muslims being men, 70% of converted Muslims are women.[20]
There are over 150 mosques in Brazil and the number is growing.[21] As has been the case in many of the larger metropolitan mosques in South America, foreign assistance and individual effort have played major roles in the sustainability of the mosques in the greater São Paulo area. For example, the Imam of the Av. Do Estado Mosque is from the Middle East and often Imams are chosen jointly by the Mosques' management committees and the Arab governments that pay for the Imam's services. Ismail Hatia, a South African who came to Brazil in 1956, built a mosque in Campinas many years ago. Hatia, who also runs a language school, felt that the approximately 50 Muslim families in Campinas were in dire need of some community organization to help provide cohesion and direction for the Muslims. The Campinas mosque now holds regular Friday juma'at prayers.
↑ Reis, João José (1993). Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN978-0-8018-4462-1.[pageneeded]
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population and the 5th-largest by area. Bahia's capital is the city of Salvador, on a spit of land separating the Bay of All Saints from the Atlantic. Once a monarchial stronghold dominated by agricultural, slaving, and ranching interests, Bahia is now a predominantly working-class industrial and agricultural state. The state is home to 7% of the Brazilian population and produces 4.2% of the country's GDP.
The predominant religion in Brazil is Christianity, with Catholicism being its largest denomination.
Afro-Brazilians are Brazilians who have predominantly sub-Saharan African ancestry. Most members of another group of people, multiracial Brazilians or pardos, may also have a range of degree of African ancestry. Depending on the circumstances, the ones whose African features are more evident are always or frequently seen by others as "africans" - consequently identifying themselves as such, while the ones for whom this evidence is lesser may not be seen as such as regularly. It is important to note that the term pardo, such as preto, is rarely used outside the census spectrum. Brazilian society has a range of words, including negro itself, to describe multiracial people.
Brazil is geopolitically divided into five regions, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, which are formed by the federative units of Brazil. Although officially recognized, the division is merely academic, considering geographic, social and economic factors, among others, and has no political effects other than orientating Federal-level government programs. Under the state level, they are further divided into intermediate regions and even further into immediate regions.
The Brazilian Highway System is a network of trunk roads administered by the Ministry of Transport of Brazil. It is constructed, managed and maintained by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT), federal agency linked to the Ministry of Infrastructure, and the public works departments of state governments.
Petrolina is a municipality located in the southernmost point of the state of Pernambuco, in Northeast Brazil, in the valley of the São Francisco River. The population was 354,317 in 2020, and the total area is 4,756.8 km², making it the largest municipality in the state by area. The municipality is closely integrated with Juazeiro, Bahia, located on the opposite bank of the São Francisco.
Arab Brazilians are Brazilian citizens of Arab ethnic, cultural, linguistic heritage and identity. The majority of Arab Brazilians trace their origin to the Levantine region of the Arab World, known in Arabic as Bilad al-Sham, primarily from Lebanon and Syria, as well as Palestine. Arab Brazilians are Christians in the great majority. The first Syrians and Lebanese arrived in São Paulo around 1880. It is not known exactly when, although the Syrians and Lebanese say that in 1885 there was a small core of peddlers working in the market square. By 1920, the census listed 50,246 Syrians and Lebanese in Brazil, 38.4% (2/5) of these in the state of São Paulo. The 1940 census enumerated 48,614 Syrians, Lebanese and other related groups with a decrease of approximately 1647 people. As immigration almost ceased after 1929 and the colony aged, it is surprising that the decline was not even greater. The trend of the period between 1920 and 1940 was the continuous concentration of Syrians and Lebanese in São Paulo. Almost half (49.3%) of Syrians and Lebanese residents in Brazil lived in São Paulo.
Islam in the Dominican Republic is a minority religion. Accurate statistics of religious affiliation are difficult to calculate and there is a wide variation concerning the actual numerical amount. Although the majority of the population is Christian, Muslims have formed local organizations such as the Círculo Islámico de República Dominicana and the Islamic Center of the Dominican Republic. Currently, the Círculo Islámico estimates that Muslims number over 4,000, including of a good number of local converts. Most recently, there has been another organization, led by native born Muslim converts, the Entidad Islámica Dominicana or EID.
Cuba is a majority Christian nation, with Islam being one of the smallest minority faiths in the country. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center report, there were then 10,000 Muslims in Cuba who constitute less than 0.1% of the population. As of 2012, most of the 10,000 Cuban Muslims were converts to the religion.
Jamaica is a predominantly Christian country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to the secular nature of Jamaica's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
The Malê revolt was a Muslim slave rebellion that broke out during the regency period in the Empire of Brazil. On a Sunday during Ramadan in January 1835, in the city of Salvador da Bahia, a group of enslaved African Muslims and freedmen, inspired by Muslim teachers, rose up against the government. Muslims were called malê in Bahia at this time, from Yoruba imale that designated a Yoruba Muslim.
Vinhedo is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population in 2020 was 80,111 and its area is 81.60 km2 (31.51 sq mi). It has a population density of 777 inhabitants per square kilometer. The elevation is 777 m (2,549 ft). Vinhedo is 96% urbanized and It was founded in 1949.
The history of the Jews in Brazil begins during the settlement of Europeans in the new world. Although only baptized Christians were subject to the Inquisition, Jews started settling in Brazil when the Inquisition reached Portugal, in the 16th century. They arrived in Brazil during the period of Dutch rule, setting up in Recife the first synagogue in the Americas, the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, as early as 1636. Most of those Jews were Sephardic Jews who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal to the religious freedom of the Netherlands.
There were significant slave revolts in Brazil in 1798, 1807, 1814 and the Malê Revolt of 1835. The institution of slavery was essential to the export agriculture and mining industries in colonial Brazil, its major sources of revenue. A marked decrease in the Indian population due to disease necessitated the importation of slaves early in the colonial history of Brazil with African slaves already being enslaved in greater amounts than Indian slaves on sugar plantations in the Bahia region by the end of the 1500s. A gold and diamond boom in the interior of Brazil in the mid-eighteenth century precipitated a significant increase in the importation of African slaves.
Brazil had an official resident population of 203 million in 2022, according to IBGE. Brazil is the seventh most populous country in the world, and the second most populous in the Americas and Western Hemisphere.
The history of Afro-Brazilian people spans over five centuries of racial interaction between Africans imported, involved or descended from the effects of the Atlantic slave trade.
Brazilians in Nigeria, Amaros or Agudas consist of the descendants of freed Afro-Brazilian slaves who left Brazil and settled in Nigeria. The term Brazilians in Nigeria can also otherwise refer to first generation expatriates from Brazil.
São Marcelo Fort, also known as Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo or Forte do Mar, is located in Salvador in Bahia, Brazil. It is located in small bit of land off the coast in the Baía de Todos os Santos. Standing on a small bank of reefs about 300 metres (980 ft) from the coast, it is one of two forts separated by water from land in Brazil, the other being the Fort Tamandaré da Laje Tamandaré in Rio de Janeiro. It is the only cylindrical fort in Brazil. Its design follows those of Castel Sant'Angelo in Italy and São Lourenço do Bugio Fort in Portugal. It is popularly known as the "Forte do Mar". It was built to protect the important port city Salvador from threats; the city had the largest number of forts during the colonial period of Brazil.
Pacífico Licutan was a Muslim slave and Islamic community and religious leader in colonial Brazil in the 1800s, and was involved in the 1835 Malê Revolt in a leadership capacity. He was not killed in the revolt but did die shortly afterwards, after 11 February 1835.
Brazil had a profound racial miscegenation, Brazilians have the most diverse physical characteristics. Research indicates that 44% of Brazilians have two religions. Official data from the Brazilian census indicate that 1,011,507 Brazilians have two religions or follow a syncretic religion. Because to miscegenation it is common for a person to have a father of one race and religion and a mother of another race and another religion, naturally that person can adopt the two beliefs or follow a religion that mixes the two beliefs.
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