Ramadan in the Quran (Photo: Rana Ossama)

Today begins Ramadan, the holy month of fasting in Islam. One of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, Ramadan calls for Muslims around the world to abstain from eating, drinking and sexual activity from dawn until sunset.

Argentina is rarely associated with Islam, yet it has the largest Muslim population in Latin America. According to estimates from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, in 2010 the country was home to nearly one million Muslims, representing 2.5% of the total population.

In the month ahead, many of Argentina’s Muslim residents will partake in the practice of Ramadan.

An overwhelming proportion of the country’s Muslim population is concentrated in the capital city of Buenos Aires, which is home to three mosques: the Al-Ahmad mosque, the Al-Tauhid mosque, and the Rey Fahd mosque, also known as the Palermo mosque.

Each of these mosques has different religious affiliations, reflecting the diversity of the Muslim community in Argentina, which includes Sunni, Shiite, Alawite, and Sufi Muslims, among others.

Dr. Noberto R. Méndez, a professor and investigator at the UBA and the UCAECE states, however, “it is worth clarifying that none of these mosques discriminate as to who can enter, be they Sunni or Shiite.”

Of the three mosques, Méndez observes that the Al-Ahmad mosque is “the most popular, because it is in the centre of what is known to be a neighbourhood with a high population of Arab descent”.

The Muslim Community in Buenos Aires

The Al-Ahmad mosque was founded by the Islamic Centre of the Argentine Republic (CIRA), an organisation started in 1931 by Arab Muslims.

According to Pedro Brieger and Enrique Herskowich in their 2003 article ‘The Muslim Community in Argentina’ published in ‘Todo es Historia’, when the Muslim community in Argentina began to grow in the late 19th and early 20th centuries “practically all of the Muslim immigrants were of Arab origin”. Many of these early Muslim migrants came from Lebanon and Syria.

Rey Fahd Mosque in Palermo (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Today, Argentines of Arab decent remain a significant proportion of the Muslim population. As migration flows have shifted, however, the composition of the community is changing.

Méndez notes that the Arab community “in general…is shrinking, because the last migrants from Syria and Lebanon came to Argentina in the fifties.” Simultaneously, new migration waves – including those originating from West Africa, and particularly from Senegal – have increased the non-Arab Muslim population.

Alexis El-Sayer, a representative of the CIRA, calls his organisation the “institution that gathers all Muslims in Argentina” and the “official voice of the community.”

‘No Discrimination’

In a time when Muslim communities across the world face increasing discrimination, El Sayer states, “no discrimination exists [in Argentina] on account of being Muslim” and that “a Muslim in Argentina…can practice his faith in complete peace, without any inconvenience.”

The CIRA representative notes, however, that “there is a general lack of knowledge” about the Islamic faith and community.

Méndez also observes that with regards to discrimination against Muslims in Argentina, there is “almost none.”

Nevertheless, he observes that some members of the Muslim community feel that in the past, the population had to “make itself invisible in a discriminatory Catholic-majority Argentina and thus many converted … to Catholicism.” An oft-cited sample of this phenomenon is the conversion of former Argentine president Carlos Saúl Menem to Catholicism. Menem was a first generation Argentine born to Muslim parents who had immigrated from present-day Syria, and helped with the project to build the Rey Fahd mosque in Palermo, currently the largest in South America.

A sunset picnic in the gardens of the Santa Sofía mosque in Istanbul, Turkey during Ramadan. (Photo: Carmen Alonso Suarez)

El Sayer also notes that in the wake of the 11th September attacks in the US 2001, “there was a strong current against us” and that “many Muslim people…did not want to say that they were Muslim.” Still, he feels that the community “has overcome” this discrimination.

At the same time, El Sayer observes that for Muslims in a predominantly Christian country, there can be challenges, such as fasting during Ramadan when the majority of people are not fasting, or fitting the five daily prayers into the workday.

“Fundamentally,” he says, however, “we try to have a respectful presence, because in this country, the truth is that Muslims have coexisted really well; they have not had any type of problem.”

Ramadan in Buenos Aires

The Ramadan fast runs from the dawn prayers through the sunset prayers. Practitioners are asked to refrain from eating, drinking, and participating in sexual activity during the daylight hours. The fast is traditionally broken at night with three dates.

Besides Ramadan, the other four pillars of the Islamic faith include the ‘shahada’, or the confession of faith; the ‘salad’, or five daily prayers; the ‘zakat’, or almsgiving; and the ‘hajj’, or pilgrimage to Mecca.

During the thirty days of Ramadan, the Al-Ahmad mosque will operate on a special schedule. The mosque opens early for dawn prayers, which practitioners typically practice at home during the rest of the year. During this month, the CIRA also provides a daily breakfast for all who come to the Al-Ahmad mosque in the morning.

For those practitioners who choose to remain home for dawn prayers, the CIRA will also be running a special Ramadan television program at the time of the pre-dawn suhoor meal.

After a short break, the Al-Ahmad mosque reopens mid-morning and remains open through the special Salat al Tarawih, an extra congregational prayer performed at night by some Muslims during the month of Ramadan.

This month, the CIRA will organise a variety of events and meetings with the intention of deepening the spiritual experience of Muslim community members and raising awareness among the non-Muslim community.

For example, the organisation holds daily meetings focused on faith and religious questions. Additionally, the centre typically hosts a visiting an Egyptian Mufti, or professional Koranic reader. The Al-Ahmad mosque is affiliated with the Al-Azhar mosque in Egypt. This spiritual leader stays throughout the month and often visits community members in their homes.

The largest activities for the month will occur on the last day of Ramadan, which is known has Eid Al-Fitr, literally referred to in Spanish as “el día de desayuno” or “the day of breakfast”.

On this day, the CIRA hosts a large celebration, attended not only by Muslims, but also by community members, civil society groups, government officials, and representatives from other religious communities attend. Above all, El Sayer states, the day is a “community day” in which 2,000 – 2,500 typically partake in festivities and all are welcome to share in the celebrations.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has even attended the Eid al-Fitr celebration. El Sayer notes that for the CIRA, this visit was “very important” and constituted “a recognition…of our existence within Argentine society.”

El Sayer emphasizes that a central focus of the CIRA is to remain “completely pluralist, completely open, in such a way that all groups would be represented.”

The mosque along Av Bullrich (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

The largest mosque in South America is improbably located across the street from the gambling mecca of the Hippodrome and right next to the shopping center containing Easy and Jumbo in Palermo and the train station, 3 de Febrero. This impressive but hauntingly empty complex is the King Fahd Islamic Cultural Centre. It houses the mosque, a library, the Colegio Rey Fahd for young students, with beautiful manicured lawns and fountains. Saudi architect Zuhair Faiz designed the beautiful geometric buildings and complex. The grounds cover 3.5 hectares between Avenidas Bullrich, Libertador, Dorrego and Cerviño.

There are estimates of some 700,000 Muslims in Argentina, mostly descended from Syrian and Lebanese immigrants who came over in the late 1850s. There are only two mosques in Buenos Aires, the other being part of the Organización Islámica Argentina. There is also a strong historical link between Muslims and Spain, so it doesn’t seem too out of place that there should be such a large community here in Argentina.

The inside of the mosque is a highlight of the tour (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Non-Muslims in Argentina don’t seem to know much about this complex other than that former President Carlos Saúl Menem (himself of Syrian descent) was responsible for it. This is somewhat true. King Fahd of Saudia Arabia financed the construction, which totaled some U$15m. Menem’s contribution was arranging the donation of the land, which has been valued at around U$10m. Congress passed a national law in 1995, giving the land to the cultural centre. The first stone was laid on 7th December 1998, not without some slight controversy: neighbours were unsure about the increased traffic and architectural disharmony, among other issues. But the centre opened on 25th September 2000 with much fanfare as King Fahd himself and 250 other dignitaries came from Saudi Arabia to celebrate the opening.

I arrived for a guided tour on a clear crisp Tuesday afternoon, just as things were getting started. After providing some identification, I joined the group together in the front courtyard by the fountain. Our guide explained in Spanish that our tour would last about an hour and where photos were and were not allowed. We were led through to the back plaza overlooking the train station. It was the school courtyard, but the students were inside and not visible.

In fact, not many people were around at all. We were then led to the anteroom of the mosque where we were shown a short video about the centre and all that it has to offer. I was surprised about all that was available. There is a library, a radio station on FM 93.9, Arabic language classes and of course the mosque itself. We were able to peek in from outside, but were not allowed inside. I was expecting a hub of activity for noon-time prayer, but there was really no one around. I also realised that I hadn’t heard the call to prayer that one would expect five times a day. Maybe the neighbours put the kibosh on that.

Geometric Art on display in the mosque (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Finally, we were led to a beautiful display of Muslim art with its abstract geometric designs across the hall from the library where I could finally see some people who were looking through the books.

When I first inquired about the guided tours available, I was given a brochure about the wonders of Islam with a title “¿Has Descubierto su Verdadera Belleza?” (Have you Discovered his True Beauty?). This put me off a bit as I was worried about people trying to convert me to Islam, but I was relieved to find that this wasn’t the case at all.

The guide at the end of the tour did explain the Five Pillars of Islam which every Muslim must adhere to but there was no pressure to convert. The first pillar is that Muslims must accept Allah as the one true God and Muhammad as His messenger. The second is that each Muslim must pray five times per day. The third is that alms must be given to the poor based on each believer’s ability. The fourth speaks to fasting. Fasting is obligatory during Ramadan and can be done at other times as penance. The fifth is the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) that every Muslim must make at least once in their lives if they can afford it. But there is no pillar requiring people to try to convert people to their faith, unlike other religions.

The tour guide answers questions from the group. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

The tour guide stressed the fact that this cultural centre is open and available to the general population at large and yet at the same time he sometimes seemed reluctant to go into much detail and stuck to his script when answering questions. For example, he excitedly and proudly told us that he had been to the Kaaba – Black Cube – in Mecca, yet when asked, said he couldn’t remember what it was like inside and suggested that it was made out of brick when the black sheen is really silk that is replaced yearly. Maybe he misunderstood the question… But overall, this was an interesting tour. Your Spanish should be up to snuff as there isn’t an option in English, although he doesn’t go too fast and is happy to explain – as long as he sticks to the script.

The mosque is located at Av Bullrich 55 in Palermo. There are guided tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon, to which you must bring identification. You can find more information (in Spanish) at www.ccislamicoreyfahd.org.ar