Islam in Mexico

But they are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country [2] due to the secular nature of the state, established by Mexico's constitution.

The muslims who immigrated during the Porfiriate however, decided to settle down in places such as Yucatán, Veracruz, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Mexico City and Puebla; due to the economic opportunities said states had to offer.

This group was the subject of a study carried out by British anthropologist Mark Lindley-Highfield, of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen.

[14] The approximate number of Muslims by State goes as follows: Islam has been present in Mexico since the mid-1950s, due to mass Spaniard and Arab settlement.

Muhammad Nafia (formerly Aureliano Pérez), arrived in the state of Chiapas shortly after the Zapatista uprising and established a commune in the city of San Cristóbal.

The President Vicente Fox voiced concerns about the influence of the fundamentalism and possible connections of the Zapatistas to the Basque terrorist organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).

[18] In San Cristóbal, the Murabitun established a pizzeria, a carpentry workshop[19] and a Quranic school (madrasa) where children learned Arabic and prayed five times a day in the backroom of a residential building.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of Native Mexicans today are not muslims.This is a list of some, but by no means all mosques and Islamic meeting centers in Mexico.