Mexicali Muslims Find a Home
From The Imperial Press
MEXICALI - "Curious passers-by often peek in the window of the new Centro Islamico de Mexicali on Michoacan Avenue, just 15 minutes walking distance
from the Calexico West Port of Entry, where at least twice a week, the few but faithful Mexicali Muslims come to pray together.
Valley resident Mustapha Guerbaz saw that many Muslims in Mexicali couldn't cross into the States to meet with Valley Muslims since they don't have
the necessary visas. He then collected roughly $2,800 in donations to rent out a space in Mexicali and by the end of Ramadan this year, the Centro
Islamico de Mexicali was open for visitors.
"For a long time it's been difficult for them to find a place of worship," he said. "In our religion, it's an obligation if you see someone who needs
help, you help them, whether they're from your religion or not."
Guerbaz usually comes there on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help lead prayers as well as teach the Arabic language to Mexicali Muslims so they can
eventually read the Quran on their own.
It's not easy being a Muslim in Mexico.
It's difficult to find tortillas not made with pork lard. Some people assume that the reason women wear a head scarf is because they have cancer.
Others ask if they are from a non-existent country called "Muslimania."
These are just a few of the challenges Mexicali Muslims face.
However, finding a place to pray together and to learn more about the Arabic language as well as their faith is no longer one of those challenges.
Mexicali resident Ivan Guzman Martin visited the center for his first time Thursday out of curiosity and asked Guerbaz to show him how to write amor,
or love, in Arabic on the center's dry-erase board.
Roughly 15 people come to the center now, and Guerbaz hopes that as the center becomes more established, it will move closer to the university area of
Mexicali to increase its accessibility to others.
Islam and mosques in Mexico, while still a rarity, are increasing in numbers. Mexico City's Centro Cultural Islamico de Mexico was established in the
late 1990s, and Guerbaz said Tijuana's first mosque was built in just the last couple years.
A study by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography reported only 59 Baja California residents practicing Islam in 2000 and 3,700 in
the entire country according to the 2010 census.
All of the visitors to the center are converts to Islam except one, and each has a unique story as to why they converted.
Daniela Trillo, who also uses her Arabic name Fareedah, converted six years ago from Catholicism.
The 24-year-old Mexicali native said she "didn't find all her questions about religion answered" and was continually told that she should just believe
for the sake of believing. Any further requests for explanation were met with the answer, "that's the mystery of God."
Muslims friends introduced her to the religion, and she began the conversion process.
"My life changed in everything. They way I see the world, everything. It's hard to explain," she said. "My life changed in from the way how I talk,
the way I eat and how I sleep, how I dress, in everything, so Islam is more than a religion. Islam is a way of life."
Jamila Castillo converted two years ago after learning about Islam from an online friend. She later had a dream where she saw her testimony to the
faith two months before it actually occurred. In the dream, she heard Arabic spoken for the first time and saw people she didn't know and later met at
the center, she said.
Her family accused her of having the devil in her head, "controlling her mind and feelings," but Castillo continued with her conversion and said she's
happy with her choice.
Many Muslims in Mexicali said other Mexicans don't believe they're from Mexico and at times find difficulty blending Mexican culture with their
Islamic faith. For example, while Mexicans often greet each other with a kiss on the cheek, one needs permission to touch Muslim women, and the sexes
are often separated to reduce temptation.
Karina Noriega came to the center Thursday evening with her two daughters. She converted a year ago after losing her faith in Catholicism. She said a
priest refused to give her mother her last rites since it was too early in the morning and outside of church hours, and on a separate occasion, a
priest requested sexual favors from her.
Conversion hasn't been easy for Noriega. Her practice of wearing a traditional head scarf has clashed with her work in corporate brand advertising
since there, "image is everything," and people often laugh at her in the street, calling her a terrorist or Taliban member.
She can't cross to the States and is very excited about the center in Mexicali.
"I want a lot of people to know about it and others to be aware and to erase the bad images," she said in Spanish. "It's main principle is peace and
above all family values. People need to see that aspect. We're here and exist. We're not terrorists."
Center visitors gradually arrived Thursday night, removed their shoes, lay down prayer rugs and joined each other facing east toward Mecca for two of
the five daily obligatory prayers.
"For us, it's very important (to have the center,)" Mexicali resident Kawthar Licon said. "We don't need a mosque to be a Muslim but for us, it's very
special to have a place."
E-mail Mustapha Guerbaz at mguerbaz@hotmail.com for more information on the Centro Islamico de Mexicali.
Staff Writer Chelcey Adami can be reached at 760-337-3452 or cadami@ivpressonline.com
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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