ISLAM AND MODERNITY: a study about the Muslim community in Belo Horizonte (ISLÃ E MODERNIDADE: um estudo sobre a comunidade muçulmana em Belo Horizonte)

This dissertation sought to approach the transformations that occurred in the Muslim Community of Minas Gerais. The Muslim Beneficent Society of Minas Gerais (SBM) was founded in 1961 by Syrian and Lebanese families who had been active in the city's commerce since before the middle of the last century. The initial objective of this group was to preserve their habits and customs, as well as their history and identity. In 1989 the foundation stone was laid for the construction of the Mosque of Belo Horizonte and in 1991 it was completed. Currently, the group is composed of immigrants and their descendants, foreign Muslims living in Brazil, and miners of no Muslim ancestry who converted to Islam. This movement of conversions lets us glimpse changes in the composition of the group, a factor that also justifies this study. Thus, the Muslim community in Minas Gerais has maintained a discrete relationship with the local society. However, this community has been growing and, lately, is constituting itself with a new configuration.

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