Inside, attendees listened to Latine Muslim guest speakers and viewed a documentary about the history of Islam in México.

Planning for Mercado started in May, according to Ayah Abuserrieh, the lead organizer of the event. Abuserrieh said she wanted the occasion to uplift the businesses of Muslim converts, including the fast-growing Latine Muslim community.

“We have bazaars in Chicago, right? But I’ve never seen a Mercado,” Abuserrieh said. “I wanted a mercado that would be specific and unique to Latino Muslims.”

Mercado, which means “market” in Spanish, featured stalls including jewelry, Mexican food businesses Holy Peño and Abrazos Dulces, traditional Mexican clothes and more.

According to organizer Araceli Salgado, although Mercado was focused on Latino Muslims, it was also open to non-Latines and non-Muslims. The attendees comprised people from different religions and cultural backgrounds.

Salgado said Mercado’s slogan, “rooted in culture, growing in faith,” was meant to challenge misconceptions that Muslim converts had shed their Latino identity and for non-Muslims to “come and see we haven’t changed who we are.”

“We are just merging our faith to our culture,” Salgado said.

Mercado also featured Latino Muslim guest speakers, including religious leader and Puerto Rican convert Imam Wesley Lebron and activist Nahela Morales.

Additionally, the event included a screening of “Ojalá Supieras,” a documentary recounting the history of Islam in México and its erasure by the Spanish Inquisition, as well as a book signing with the film’s director, Mariam Saada.

Saada said she diversified the film by showing manuscripts, architecture and contemporary aspects in the hopes of showing audiences that México’s Islamic history was “not completely gone.”

“I actually also hope that this is not the end, but this is the beginning of many other films to run around Latin America and discover all our Islamic heritage and all the different parts. I believe that it’s everywhere,” Saada said. “We never claimed it. So this is time to reclaim, rename, re-own, retell our story from our perspective to the world.”

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According to organizers, the event garnered about 500 attendees from Canada, New York and other states. One attendee, Korin Leroy, visited from Milwaukee.

“When I heard about this, I was super excited because I’ve never been to a conference specifically for Latino Muslims, and all the speakers were very excellent,” Leroy said. “They all had a different perspective of what it means to be Latino, Muslim, and what our strengths are, what our struggles are and how we can move forward as a community.”

Abuserrieh said many Latino Muslims wanted the event to continue in future years.

“For the Latino Muslims, I hope that they can take away that you can coexist with both identities. And nobody or nothing can tell you otherwise,” Abuserrieh said.

Source: depauliaonline.com