Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

is a predominantly

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

country, with

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

being a small minority religion. Due to secular nature of the country's constitution,

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. The statistics for Islam in Honduras estimate a total

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

population of 7,000- 8,000 representing 1.1 percent of the population. Although there are no official statistics, it is estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 of the country's eight million inhabitants are of Arab descent, and of these, the great majority are Palestinian Arabs. However, the vast majority of these Arabs are of Orthodox and Catholic Christian descent. No other country in the Western Hemisphere has a higher proportion of Arab immigrants and, in absolute numbers, Honduras ranks seventh after the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Canada and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. There are two known Islamic organizations in

, including the Centro Islámico de Honduras in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671,460 ...

led by Yusuf Amdani, and the Comunidad Islámica de Honduras in Cortés.

Background

Honduras received its first Arab immigrant in 1896, and by 1918, according to a local survey, Arab immigrants were largely Palestinian Christians in

, the country's second-largest city. They immigrated due to the Ottoman control of Palestine, where Arabs fled with Ottoman passports gaining their commonly known nickname, Turkish (''Turcos''). Immigration picked up again after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. In 1984, an Islamic charitable organization was founded, with the main object of taking care of the interests of the Arabs and Muslims in the country, and they have since built a mosque, where they meet and discuss their social and religious affairs, including the education of their children, the most important of which is teaching them the

Qur’an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

and the Arabic language.Muslim Population

References

Religion in Honduras

{{Islam-country-stub

Background

See also

References