what is the history behind Muslim first names in Latin America ?

Question

Cubans and other Latin American populations sometimes have Muslim names though they are not Muslim themselves. Names such as Ibrahim ( instead of the judeo-Christian Abraham) or Omar...
Where does this tradition come from ? Post-reconquista arabo-andalusian emigrants, West African Muslim slaves ? Political reasons ?

Answer 1

Islam in Argentina
Islam in Argentina is represented by one of Latin America's largest Muslim minorities. Although accurate statistics on religion are not available (because the national census does not solicit religious data) the actual size of Argentina's Muslim community is estimated between 1 and 1.5% of the total population (375,000 - 525,000 people) [1] although the number is assumed to be smaller than that because of statistical inaccuracies.


Early Muslim immigration
Though early Spanish and Portuguese explorers and immigrants to the New World were very familiar with Muslims and Islamic culture (due to 800 years of Moorish rule), it is doubtful that any Muslims were among the first wave of the largely Spanish and Italian settlers who formed the majority of the immigrant population in colonial Argentina.

The 20th century saw an influx of Arab migrants to the country, mostly from Syria and Lebanon. It is estimated that today there are upwards of 3,500,000 Argentinians of Arab descent. [2]. The majority of these Arab immigrants were Christians and Sephardic Jews, and though accurate information is unavailable, probably less than a quarter of Arab migrants were actually Muslim. The descendants of Arab Jews are more likely to identify themselves as Jewish rather than Arab today. In any case, conversion to Catholicism, Argentina's state religion, was common amongst these early Muslim pioneers.

Among other notable Arab immigrants is the Menem family, who were of Syrian origin and Muslim themselves but let their children follow the Catholic religion. Former President Carlos Menem was allowed to run for the presidency only because of this, since Catholic affiliation was a constitutional requirement for the head of state at the time[3] (this was abolished in the 1994 constitutional reform).


Recent Immigration and Conversion
More recent Muslim immigration is comprised mostly of immigrants from the Indian Sub-Continent. Reports of conversion to Islam amongst Argentines has grown in recent years but no accurate data exists with regard to their numbers. For example, the Argentine newspaper Clarín has reported that Muslim converts in Argentina number 900,000, but this number is not based on any verifiable data.

Today, some estimates of the Muslim population in Argentina exceed one million people, but such high numbers are thought to be based on flawed assumptions (i.e.: that all people of Middle Eastern descent are Muslims or that all Muslim immigrants and their descendants continued to practice Islam).


Islamic Institutions In Argentina
There is a prominent mosque in Buenos Aires's Calle Alberti, in the city’s center, that was built in 1989 by local Argentinian Muslims. There are also several mosques in other cities and regions throughout the country, most notably the controversial Tres Fronteras region (see discussion of Triple Frontera region below).

The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center, the largest mosque in South America, was completed in 1996 with the help of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on a piece of land measuring 20,000 square meters. The total land area granted by the Argentinean Government measures 34,000 square meters, and was offered by President Carlos Menem following his visit to Saudi Arabia in 1992. The project cost around US $30 million, and includes a mosque, library, two schools, a park and is located in the middle class district of Palermo, Buenos Aires.

The Islamic Organization of Latin America (IOLA), headquartered in Argentina, is considered the most active organization in Latin America in promoting Islamic affiliated endeavors. The IOLA holds events to promote the unification of Muslims living in Latin America, as well as the propagation of Islam.

islam in west africa:
Islam was first introduced into West Africa south of the Sahara, across the salt and gold trade routes. Islamicized Berber and Tuareg merchants traveled the trans-Saharan trade routes. As time passed, Muslim clerics and scholars — teaching their beliefs and setting up places of worship along the routes — accompanied traders on their journeys. The Hausa and the Fulani, a traditionally nomadic group, traveled all over West Africa, taking their Muslim beliefs to places such as present-day Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

Islam in the United States of America began when Muslim slaves were forcibly brought to the United States.[citation needed] Conversions did not occur until the 20th century. Between 1.1 to 7 million Muslims live in the United States today. Most surveys place the actual number somewhere between 2 to 4 million. The large majority of muslims are from South Asian, African-American and Arab backgrounds. There are many mosques in the United States.

While there is speculation of earlier Muslim vists prior to the formation of the United States between 1776-1789, the first Muslims known for certain to live in the U.S. arrived as slaves from West Africa, such as 'Umar Ibn Said and Ayuba Suleiman Diallo.

In 1888, Alexander Russell Webb was one of the first Anglo-Americans to embrace Islam.

Small scale migration to the U.S. of Muslims began in 1893. The immigrants included Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian Muslims.

1907 Immigrants from Poland, Russia, and Lithuania found the first Muslim organization in New York City.
1915 The first mosque, founded by Albanian Muslims, is established in an older building that was not built to be a mosque.
1935 The first building built specifically to be a mosque is established in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Although the first mosque was established in the U.S. in 1915, relatively few mosques were created before the 1960s. 87% of mosques in the U.S. were founded within the last three decades according to the Faith Communities Today (FACT) survey. Yehudit Barsky, a member of the American Jewish Committee, claims that 80% of all mosques in the United States are funded by the Saudi Arabian government ..
***for opression of islam check this out-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Islam

** for muslim slavery check it out here-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade

hope it helps:)

Answer 2

Muslim Population In South America