A video published by Brut España features several Cuban women who have converted to Islam, explaining the reasons behind their faith and the challenges they face while practicing it in Cuba.
The material, lasting two minutes and 42 seconds, features testimonies from Muslim Cuban women who discuss the compatibility between their national identity and their faith, the use of the veil, and the growth of this community in the Caribbean country.
"The veil does not make me any less Cuban. It doesn't even make me Arab, because I'm not. I am Cuban, Latina, and I do not want to lose who I am," asserts Maryam Camejo, one of the interviewees in the video.
Among the reasons for adopting Islam as a religion in Cuba are the "spiritual awakening" and the fact of being "couples of Muslim men."
Another of the protagonists describes the adaptation process as gradual and conscious.
"It was a bit challenging for me to change the way I dress. It was really difficult, just like changing my way of speaking, because you know how we Cubans are—we talk loudly and gesture a lot. But little by little, you learn with wisdom and understanding," said Yailin Fernández.
It is important to understand the differences between Islam, which is the religion; a Muslim, who is the believer practicing it; and Islamism, which is a political ideology that seeks to organize the state according to Islamic principles, representing only a minority within the Muslim world.
The interviewees reflect how the lack of understanding of these terms leads to frequent confusion in Cuba and generates prejudices against them.
In the country, there is only one mosque, located in Havana. Furthermore, it is quite complicated to find halal food, as Islam was a religion that practically had no followers on the island until very recently.
"I have been called a Taliban, I have been called crazy, I've even been referred to as a nun. And that's when you realize that they can't tell the difference between a nun, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew; they all have their differences," recounts Isaura Margarita Argudín.
His conclusion is straightforward: "Here in Cuba, what people lack is knowledge."
Maryam Camejo points out that practicing Islam in the West, and especially in Cuba, requires an additional effort of adaptation.
"Embracing Islam in the West requires consciously having the tools to do so, which sometimes the Arab scholars don’t provide because they are not here and do not understand how life is lived here," said the Muslim Cuban.
The Muslim women's community is growing in Cuba
"In recent years, the number of women who are becoming empowered has been growing—women with professional aspirations who are trying to find that balance between practicing their religion and living in this society," Camejo stated.
Islam is a minority but expanding religion in Cuba. The Islamic League of Cuba estimated around 6,000 Muslims on the island, of which approximately 1,200 are women.
The organized growth of the community began in the 1990s, during the Special Period, when the economic crisis drove a religious pluralization on the island.
Until 2015, Cuban Muslims lacked their own mosque and gathered at the House of Arabs in Havana or in private homes. That year, the Abdallah Mosque was inaugurated in Old Havana, with a capacity for 500 people.
Yaima González, another converted Cuban, summarized the experience with a phrase that encapsulates the feeling of many: "Wearing the veil is an act of courage."
The video concludes with the aspiration of a Cuban Muslim man, Pedro Lazo, president of the Islamic League of Cuba.
"We hope to see more women. It is necessary to have more women because women are the mothers of the believers, the ones who educate. That’s why we believe it is very good to have more Muslim women in Cuba, and I think there will be more."
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