The Latinx Muslim Experience

The global Covid-19 pandemic has completely changed our day to day lives, particularly since the lockdown has taken force. This has been no different at MEND, where once monthly evening meetings would be taking place for different working groups across the UK, this new reality has meant all those involved with MEND have also had to re-adjust to the restrictions of social gatherings.

Despite this dramatic shift in our daily activities, one constant that has remained unchanged is the continuation of group collaboration, monthly meetings (be it on Zoom or Google Hangout) and a joint effort to continue on the efforts in the endeavour to tackle Islamophobia in the UK. A real marker of this has been the MEND events which have taken place online.

The Central London working group has also been part of this success story, with the group recently organising a very much unique and engaging educational seminar on the topic of Latino Muslims in the US. A volunteer from the working group, Kat, was able to wonderfully coordinate the speakers for the event in the US with MEND. As a result, connecting and building bridges between these two Muslim organisations.

The seminar itself took place in September and consisted of Muslim revert sisters all given their account and experiences of becoming Muslims in the US as Latinos. They explored the Latino culture and history as a community living in the US. And focused on some of the challenges faced by the revert Latino community when both accepting a new faith and way of life, as well as the day to day challenges which come about when treading the path of learning and expressing Islam as a new faith.

There were recommendations which were also brought forward by the speakers, which were insightful for those listening as well as pragmatic in nature. These points aimed to further improve community cohesion and enhance a shared cultural and spiritual understanding of the faith.