Brazil's 'oldest' mosque - an historic reminder of the country's diversity

Описание: (13 Jul 2014) In a leafy street next to a busy road in Sao Paulo's Cambuci district, lies a landmark of Muslim history in Latin America.
"Mesquita Brazil" (Brazil Mosque), Sao Paulo's 85-year-old mosque, is thought to be the oldest in South America.
Once called Sao Paulo Mosque - or Saint Paul - after the city it was founded in, Muslim clerics decided it could not continue to be named after a Christian Saint.
The solution? To re-name it "Brazil Mosque" and hold it high as the region's first.
"When I was a teenager, there was only this mosque, Brazil's mosque," says Sheikh Jihad Hammadeh, who is the Vice-President of the Word Islamic Youth in Latin America as well as a spokesperson for the Brazilian Islamic Community.
He's the son of a Syrian father and Lebanese mother who grew up speaking Portuguese and Arabic in the city.
During his childhood, Hammadeh was a regular at the mosque which served as a meeting point for the Muslim community in the city, as well as newly arrived immigrants.
Unsurprisingly it was two immigrants who founded the mosque in 1927 for Sao Paulo's growing Muslim population.
Palestinians Hosni Kadura, a doctor, and Darwich Gazal set-up the Palestinian Islamic Beneficient Society to help the growing number of Palestinian and Arab immigrants in Brazil.
Most found themselves in the sprawling Bras district, when they who were mostly traders, first set foot when they arrived in Sao Paulo.
Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrian and other Arab nationals helped make up the diverse neighbourhood - unified by the same religion.
The original mosque - built in 1929 - was inspired by Egyptian mosques with high ceilings and ornate decoration.
It's size mirrors the expanding size of the Muslim community in the city, with successive extensions made to accommodate new worshippers.
The last extension was made in 1956.
While there are no official data on the number of Muslims in Brazil, Sheikh Hammadeh estimates there could be as many as 1.5 million.
Sao Paulo continues to have a large concentration of Muslims, around 400,000 attend services in the 15 mosques throughout Sao Paulo state.
Mosque Brazil welcomes around 700 worshippers per week, but the number can go up to 1000 in special holidays like Ramadan.
Coinciding with winter in Brazil, the days are shorter and colder and therefore easier to bear than the Middle East.
"I pray to God for the Muslims worldwide, that all Muslims can be accepted with the arrival of the month of Ramadan, that their fasting, their prayers and worship can be accepted by God, and that God can alleviate the suffering of our brothers in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and in all places, Islamic and non-Islamic," says Sheikh Jihad Hammadeh.
Friday prayers gather a few hundred faithful, mostly adult men, but also some teenagers - Brazilians proud of their Arab and Islamic identity.
"Prayers are good to unify the Muslim community here in Sao Paulo, in Brazil and in all mosques," says 17-year-old Youssef Chauki Orra.
Many of the first wave of immigrants were conflicted, pulled between their old lives in the Middle East and the mix of the new Latino culture.
But as Orra laughs and jokes with friends after prayers he's happy to be thought of as both Brazilian and Muslim.


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