Brazil is the largest country in Latin America. Although there are no official statistics, the Muslim population in Brazil is estimated to be approximately 1 million people, with a total population of more than 170 million.

This number includes reverts to Islam, Arab immigrants and their descendants. Brazilian reverts make up for no more than 1% of this number, about 10,000 people. Therefore, within a population of over 170 million, the small number that make up Brazilian reverts to Islam have very little power.

Next April, Brazil will celebrate 500 years of its discovery, and a major controversy is surrounding the event. In traditional Brazilian history, the discovery of the country is attributed to a Portuguese navigator named Pedro Alvarez Cabral. New historical sources however, seem to offer another fact: that the discoverer might have been a Spanish navigator.

More and more historians, both Muslim and non-Muslim. are becoming aware of the strong Muslim presence in the early Americas. Many evidences of the Muslim presence in Brazil, including inscriptions with the name of Allah, have being found. In the language of the Native Americans, words of Arabic origin have been identified, and even the names of some Brazilian cities which were supposed to be related with the native American language, seems to have Arabic origins.

If all this information is confirmed and introduced officially as part of Brazilian history, it means that faithful Muslims were the first ones to discover Brazil more than 500 years ago.

Also, through the Muslim slaves brought from Africa, we can easily identify the influence of the Islamic culture, although greatly distorted nowadays. This is especially evident in the northeast region of the country. All of this proves that Islam is not an alien to the Brazilian culture. It's indeed an important part of it ...