Colombia: Growing interest in Islam and a long history of coexistence and tolerance

Like other South American countries, the presence of Muslims in Colombia dates back to many decades ago. The Islamic presence in this country dates back to more than 500 years ago, specifically with the official discovery of the Americas, when many Muslims immigrated to ‘The New World’ at that time.

The total population of Colombia is about 44 million people, of which the number of Muslims is about 80 thousand people.

Muslims set foot in South America a long time ago through the travels of the Muslims of Cordoba in the Atlantic Ocean, which Columbus later benefited from, and which Al-Masoudi mentioned in his book (Meadows of Gold), that Islam entered Latin America, including Colombia, with slaves brought from North and East Africa, most of whom settled in Brazil, then spread to the rest of North and South America.

The overwhelming majority of these were Muslims, who had been forced to abandon their faith under threats, torture and murder.

There was a second attempt at immigration in the sixteenth century, after the liberation of slaves, in addition to the intense migrations in the fifties of the last century, from India, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Syria.