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Islam in Venezuela
There are approximately 400,000 Muslims in Venezuela, 1.0 percent of the nation's population. Venezuela has a small but influential Muslim population, many of them Arabs of Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian descent and Turkish.
The capital, Caracas, has a Muslim population of 15,000. The Mezquita Al-Ibrahim mosque in Caracas is the biggest in Latin America. Located in a rapidly changing area of the city, this historic mosque features the use of dome, minaret and portal to single its presence in the urban landscape, and devices such as the octagonal hall rising up from a platform to a circular dome to achieve the transition between the street and the interior of the prayer hall. It was constructed with funds from the Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Ibrahim Foundation under the planning of architect Oscar Bracho. Other notable mosques and Islamic organizations include the Isla Margarita-Caribe La Comunidad Islamica Venezolana, Centro Islamico de Venezuela, the Mezquita al-Rauda in Maracaibo, the Asociacion Honorable Mezquita de Jerusalen in Valencia, Centro Islamico de Maiquetia in Vargas, and the Asociacion Benefica Islamica in Bolivar.
Margarita Island in particular is home to a sizeable Arab Muslim community. The local cable television outlet carries al-Jazeera as well as channels from Lebanon, like LBC Sat and ART and more recently, the Saudi/Imarati MBC. Women wearing hijab work cash registers, and on most shop counters, Qur'anic ayah are on display. Arabs are involved mostly in retail businesses and more recently, banks as well as travel agencies.
On February 11, 2006 around 200 (mainly Muslim) protesters marched to the Danish embassy in Caracas and burnt Danish and U.S. flags, as protests over cartoons of Muhammad spread to Latin America.Venezuelan Muslims protest cartoons, From correspondents in Caracas, The Australian, February 11, 2006
On July 20, 2006 dozens of people marched in Caracas towards the Israeli embassy to protest against the war in Lebanon. Most of them were Venezuelan Muslims, but some were members of pro-government organizations.
Currently, Chavez's policy is influenced by the Muslim in Venezuela such as relation with Isrel, Iraq war, and War on Terrorism.
External links
Mezquita Sheikh Ibrahim website on MiPunto.com [*]
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Islam in Venezuela
