THE EMERGENCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO’S MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE CITY’S PUBLIC SPACE

Arab migrants –mostly Palestinian, Lebanese and Syriancompose the majority of Muslims in Brazil. Until the beginning of the 21st century, the Islamic institutions present in the country are mainly concerned with the transmission of Islam as a cultural heritage to their descendants. Rio de Janeiro’s Muslim community presents a particularity since, in the beginning of the 1990s, it’s Islamic Mutual-Aid Association discontinues the transmission of Islam as an Arab religion, separating religion and culture, thus making Islam accessible to the Brazilian public. This leads to an important increase in the number of Muslims in Rio, as well as the construction of the city’s only operational mosque in 2007. Exemplary, this case sheds light on the ways a new religious actor emerges in the religious urban landscape of the city. This essay examines the emergence of Rio de Janeiro’s Muslim community in the urban and public space of the city.

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