UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Latino Muslim by Design A Study of Race, Religion and the Internet in American Minority Discourse A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies by Harold Daniel Morales September 2012 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Jennifer Hughes, Co-Chairperson Dr. Jonathan Walton, Co-Chairperson Dr. Muhamad Ali Dr. Gastón Espinosa Copyright by Harold Daniel Morales 2012 The Dissertation of Harold Daniel Morales is approved: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Co-Chairperson ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Co-Chairperson University of California, Riverside ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Latino Muslim by Design A Study of Race, Religion and the Internet in American Minority Discourse by Harold Daniel Morales Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Religious Studies University of California, Riverside, September 2012 Dr. Jennifer Hughes and Dr. Jonathan Walton, Co-Chairpersons A growing community of Latino Muslims in the United States expands already dynamic categories of what it means to be a Latino and what it means to be a Muslim at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Through various avenues, including the Internet, Latinos have come into contact with Islam and Muslims in the U.S. A small but notable number of Latinos have adopted Islam as their religion. Despite their modest numbers, lack resources and inability to unify nationally, various organizations have managed to garner a dominant voice in the public sphere. In its relation to other media forms, the Internet, I argue, has been integral to the formation and dissemination of a particular Latino brand of Islam that focuses on narratives of ethnic marginalization, reversion to Islam and roots in Muslim Spain. Latino Muslim by Design is a study of race, religion and Internet discourse as they intersect to form new minority groups within minority groups in the U.S. and further expand the already dynamic categories of Latinos and Muslims in America. iv CONTENTS INTRODUCTION A Latino Muslim Identity: Scope, Methods and Theory of the Study 1 CHAPTER 1 The Origins of Latino Islam: La Alianza Islámica and the Emergence of a Pan Latino Muslim Vision 40 CHAPTER 2 Latino Muslim Reversion Stories: Conversion Patterns and Narratives in the American Religious Landscape 75 CHAPTER 3 "¡Puro Latino! ¡Puro Islam! ¡A su LADO!" The Development of Latino Muslim Organizations 110 CHAPTER 4 Latina Muslimah: Women’s Piety, Issues and Leadership Roles 143 CHAPTER 5 ‘Religion’ and ‘Culture’ Talk Categorical Divisions in Latino Muslim Discourse 173 CONCLUSION Latino Muslim Trajectories and Visions in Post 9/11 America 205 v LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1.1 Screenshot of PIEDAD’s website 8 FIGURE 1.2 Screenshot of LADO’s website 9 FIGURE 1.3 Screenshot of LALMA’s website 9 FIGURE 1.4 Casta Painting by Luis de Mena, dated 1750 15 FIGURE 2.1 Photograph of LALMA at anti-Israeli bombing protest, 2006 41 FIGURE 2.2 Photograph of a La Alianza America political March in New York city 41 FIGURE 2.3 Screenshot of a Blogsite page dedicated to the late Native-American/Latino Imam Benjamin Perez 53 FIGURE 2.4 Photographs of a La Alianza 65 FIGURE 3.1 Screenshot of HispanicMuslims.com website 99 FIGURE 4.1 Screenshot of PIEDAD’s Blogger website 115 FIGURE 7.1 Screenshots of Adobe Flash animated introduction on M-Team’s MySpace website 215 vi INTRODUCTION A LATINO MUSLIM IDENTITY SCOPE, METHODS AND THEORY OF THE STUDY It is You we worship and You we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path - The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray Qur‘an 1:5-7 (Translation by Muhammad Assad) I am more and more interested in the interaction between oneself and others and in the technologies of individual domination, the history of how an individual acts upon himself, in the technology of self. - Michel Foucault in Technologies of the Self On Sunday mornings in Southern California, members of the Los Angeles Latino Muslim Association, LALMA, gather at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab mosque on Exposition Boulevard. Here they recite, delve into and wonder at the beauty, solemnity and wisdom of the Qur‘an while at the same time raise energetic children, catch up with each other and discuss organizational matters over café y pan. The day begins with Arabic lessons in a large room on the third floor adjacent to the prayer hall. Like most Sunni Muslims, translations of the Qur‘an are not considered to be the complete message of God. Week after week, this Los Angeles community therefore commits itself to the study of Arabic, in order to one day study and recite the Qur‘an. And until that day comes, the group also tirelessly turns to a Spanish translation of Muhammad Assad‘s English translation of the Qur‘an. Each member has been given a copy, which is a beautifully produced five 1 volume mix of Arabic Calligraphy and type, Latin character transliteration, Spanish translation and commentary by Muhammad Assad, 1980. After the initial one hour study of Arabic led by various instructors who volunteer their time, the group begins a doctrinal study of Islam in which the Assad translation and commentary is referenced. The commentary is vital in the study of the Qur‘an, since unlike Jewish and Christian scriptures, it does not follow a linear narrative. Instead, the Islamic text serves to preserve the message, which is primarily oral. There are tonal qualities, crucial use of empty silence, important breathing techniques and rhythms, and essential body movements meant to produce not just a linguistic understanding, but a total experience.1 The Latino Muslim Sunday gatherings are designed to teach new converts the pronunciation of Arabic script, the understanding of the Qur‘an‘s linguistic meaning and most importantly, the ritual recitation of the Qur‘an in Arabic prayer. After two hours of study, the Latino Muslims on the third floor conclude their Arabic and doctrinal lessons and make their way down to the prayer room at about one in the afternoon. After performing wudu, a ritual cleansing with water, and removing their shoes at the entrance of the prayer hall, each person finds a spot on the striped carpet indicating the direction of Mecca, sits, and waits. When the imam, prayer leader, finally begins, each person follows the prayer movements ending in full prostration in near unison. Throughout the prayer, various surahs or chapters of the Qur‘an are recited. And it is here that the Islamic scriptures exert the full force of dhikr, the morally guiding remembrance of God is employed, and that individual differences are transcended to 1 For a description of the Qur’an as a “sound image,” see Michael Anthony Sells, Approaching the Qur'an : the early revelations, 1st ed. (Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press, 1999). 2 create a sense of universal equality amongst all Muslims. Once the prayer is over, the Latino Muslims who had gathered either say their goodbyes to each other, hasta la otra semana, or continue to enjoy each other‘s company over a late lunch at a halal, Islamically permissible, restaurant near the Omar mosque on Exposition Boulevard. The white mosque‘s green dome and minaret lay nestled between the public museums, grass fields and Olympic Stadium of Exposition Park on one side of the boulevard, and the rod iron fences and brick paved paths and buildings of the University of Southern California on the other. A new railway, the Expo Line, picks up and drops off passengers directly in front of the Omar mosque to take them either still deeper into the heart of the metropolis or further away to the less crowded suburbs. Members of LALMA enthusiastically welcomed the new railway. More people would attend the group meetings, I am told, if only travel were not such a daunting task. And though only about twenty individuals consistently attend the weekly meetings, LALMA‘s over one hundred listserv members stay connected through frequent email notifications. LALMA is one of over thirty Latino Muslim organizations spread out across the U.S. According to Pew‘s 2007 report on Muslim Americans, there are an estimated 94,000 Muslims that identify as Latino the majority of which are converts to Islam.2 The 2 The little demographic information available on Latino Muslims is mostly contradictory. A 2007 report by ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America, estimates that there are 40,000 Hispanic Muslims in the United States (Latino Muslims Growing in Number in the US. ISNA.net.http://www.isna.net/articles/News /Latino-Muslims-Growing-in-Number-in-the-US.aspx Accessed on October 3, 2011); whereas the American Muslim Council reported an estimated 200,000 in 2006 (Conci, Pilar. “Latinos Converting to Islam.” The Dallas Morning News. http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/03/latinos- converting-to-islam.html Accessed on October 3, 2011). Perhaps one of the best estimates comes from the The Pew Charitable Trusts-funded Hispanic Churches in American Public Life national survey (n = 2,060) which put the number of Latino Muslims at approximately 47,000 when the percentages were imputed to raw numbers and updated per the 2010 U.S. Census (Gastón Espinosa, Changements 3 group generally reflects the demographic patterns of Latinos in metropolitan areas so that the majority of Latino Muslims in Southern California are, for example, of Mexican descent whereas those in New York are predominantly Puerto Rican. Although modest in number, they attract quite a bit of journalistic and new media attention and raise important issues regarding the character of two of the most rapidly growing and arguably most stigmatized groups in America: Latinos and Muslims.