HOUSTON – The inauguration of the first American Spanish-language mosque in Houston six month ago has created a new understanding of the religion among Hispanics, with more reverts knocking its doors every now and then to learn about their faith.

In its first months, Centro Islamico welcomed 28 new converts to Islam, according to Alex Gutierrez, Islam in Spanish’s development and operations director.

“They were all Latinos – families, single mothers, couples with children,” he told Houston Chronicle on Tuesday, August 9.

“We’ve had 10-year-old sisters; we’ve witnessed a grandmother accepting Islam.”

The first Spanish-speaking Islamic center was opened in Houston, Texas, earlier this year in January.

The new center followed years of hard work to provide Spanish translations of Islamic books by IslamInSpanish, a non-profit organization that educates Latinos about Islam in Spanish, and also to newly-convert Latino Americans.

In its early years, IslamInSpanish  issued more than 500 audio books and 250 videos, most of which were aired on public access television. More recently, it has directed attention to the internet.

Sunday classes are streamed live, offering a worship option to Muslims unable to travel to the Houston mosque.

“We reach viewers in Brazil, Spain, Argentina,” Gutierrez said.

“We’ve had people tune in from Germany and Paris. We’re open to anybody, any Latinos anywhere in the world who are open to Islam.”

In December, the non-profit will host the nation’s first Latino Muslim convention as part of the 2016 Texas Dawah Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Latinos in the US are considered the fastest-growing demographic group of Muslims in America, according to a report by National Public Radio (NPR).

New Life

In the state where Latinos comprise almost 40 percent of population, stories of new reverts to Islam were recurrent in Texas.

Mexican-born Maria Dawood is one of those reverts who grew up Catholic before embracing Islam about 40 years ago.

She found it after a Muslim friend loaned her his Spanish-language Qur’an.

“I couldn’t stop,” she said. “I continued reading. Once I finished, I started again. Every time I read it I found something new. This is what I had been looking for.”

Like Dawood, Nahela Morales, 40, was born in Mexico to a Catholic family.

“As far back as I can remember, I was always looking for God,” she said. But when she sought religious guidance from the most devout member of her family, her grandmother, she simply was admonished to “always believe.”

“By my mid-20s, that wasn’t good enough,” said Morales, who today is “brand ambassador” for IslamInSpanish.

Morales attended Mormon, Baptist and Jehovah’s Witness services.

Angered by 9/11 attacks, she bought a copy of the holy Qur’an to know what Islam is about. What she found was surprising.

“When I came across Islam, I was encouraged to ask questions. All my questions were answered,” she said.

“I got a Bible to compare with the Qur’an. When I found that Islam didn’t disregard Jesus, that was a big deal with me. Islam doesn’t disregard any of the messengers and prophets – there’s room for Adam, Noah, Jesus and finally the Prophet Muhammad, peace be to them all.”

For Dawood, the values of Islam comported with what she had been taught in her Catholic girlhood.

“It teaches love and peace,” she said, adding that Islam offers direction on how to treat people, get along with parents, to engage in charity without judging the recipients.

“When I travel and see someone in need, I give a dollar. What they do with it is up to them,” she said.

IslamInSpanish founder Jaime Muhajid Fletcher, formerly a Houston gang member, was a searcher too.

Classes at west Houston’s Elfarouq mosque brought him to the faith and saved his life.

In a 2008 Houston Chronicle article, the Colombian native explained the transformative nature of his found faith.

“I didn’t drink anymore. I didn’t smoke anymore. I didn’t go out,” he said.

“Not because someone told me to stop, but because I would have felt dirty if I’d done it. It was a total change. … Deep inside, I wanted peace, and I wanted justice and for God to have given me Islam – it is what I hoped for all along.”