But if you know some Spanish and go to the YouTube video page this video is taken from you will read there is a discussion of whether or not Arabic is required to become a Muslim.
While it is not required, it is so heavily emphasized that Islam, thankfully, has the drawback of being difficult to convert to.
With a major Evangelical Revival occuring in South America, the reverse is true. Evangelical missionaries try to learn the language of the natives. The natives are not required to learn the Hebrew or Greek of the Old and New Testaments, respectively.
The upshot is that converting to Evangelical Christianity is very easy.
It is about an Argentine woman who discovers that though she is of Italian, Spanish and Irish descent, one of her ancestors, her great-grandfather was a Lebanese Muslim. She set out to discover her distant relatives.
Posted on YouTube: August 15, 2012
The Muslims were so possessive of their women that it was unthinkable for them to allow women to migrate to Argentina alone. Hence, most of the Muslim men had no women to marry, unless they brought one over with them, or wrote for one expressly for marriage.
The intermarriage rate was high with the result that the children were usually raised Catholic.
Arab immigration to Argentina was quite considerable in the late 19th century, after World War I and up to the mid-20th century , having become its third most important immigration wave. Of these immigrants, 40% are estimated to have been Muslims or children or grandchildren of Muslims.
Well, Argentina’s Arabs are about 10% Muslim today, but most are not practicing at all. This means a steady translation over to Christianity, whether by converstion, intermarriage, or just simple neglect.
I am not going to pretend that this is a tragedy. I am Christian, and find this trend very heartening, especially since the Christianization seems to be a product of assimilation, not coercion.
What I do find very heartening is how well the Arabs succeed once they have assimilated. This offers hope not only for the Arabs in Latin America, but for the world was well.
If the Arabs could see that the deck is NOT stacked against them, that Western Civilization has embraced them – at least in Latin America – it would offer them hope. Where hope abounds, extremism will fade away.
The Muslim world may have to ask some painful questions.
Is their monolithic view of Islam helpful or hurtful?
Should they consider Christianity?
If Latin America is any indication of the superiority of Christianity, Islam is hurting the Arab world. The Muslims should consider Christianity.
In Latin America, the Arab is elite. Maybe it is time for the Muslim world to reconsider its insistance on Islam.
September 1, 2020 – Made some changes. November 19, 2024 – Made some changes. Converted from a page to a post.
It is a Muslim institution, one of the few in Argentina; but notice the blonde in the front row. Notice the teachers. Notice how European many of the teachers and students look. All of the ladies are wearing pants. No burqas or hijabs here. The children are mixed gender. The dress is conservative, but Western.
Hardly what one would expect from a Traditional Sunni school.
From what I have read, a lot of non-Muslims take their courses to learn Arabic.
Of course, the Colegio-Árabe wants to convert Christians, and instruction in the Arabic language is a way to effect that; but it remains to be seen if the Christian students will actually water down Islam in Argentina.
Until recently, with the advent of Saudi money, Islam took a real beating in Argentina. Most Muslims were non-practicising. Intermarriage and conversion kept them pretty much on the edge of demographic collapse.
If you think I am exaggerating, this article by Pedro Breiger, an Argentine Academic and news commentator noted in 2000:
The number of Muslims in Argentina is decreasing, and this is due to several factors. Firstly, in families of Muslim origin, customs are being lost, from the Arabic language to food and drink. Secondly, there is relatively little reading material on Islam available in Spanish. There is a growing tendency toward mixed marriages in which children lose all references to Islam, and there are too few study centres for disseminating Islam. This may, however, change in the future with the construction of the new Islamic Cultural Center King Fahd, financed by the Saudi government, which includes a school and a mosque with a minaret in the heart of Buenos Aires. It is considered to be the largest of its kind in Latin America.
Pedro Brieger noted that Islam in Argentina, around 2000, was on life-support. It was dying out. There were not enough local support to save it.
But he also noted the potential problem of Saudi Arabian money and the King Fahd Mosque, which in 2000 was being built. This observation was prescient on his part.
The King Fahd Mosque – and Saudi Money – has caused some noticeable problems. However other sources indicate most of any increase in Muslims is coming from new non-Arab immigrants, NOT Arab Argentines. If true, the King Fahd Mosque may only be delaying the death of Islam.
It remains to be seen if Saudi Money will cause some major problems. If so, Argentina was foolish to have even allowed it in at all.
BTW: as an aside, notice the winter clothing (this is the Southern Hemisphere, and June is the dead of winter). Argentine schools are in disrepair. Central heating is not one of their strong points. Buenos Aires is borderline subtropical; but in winter it can get close to freezing.
