Muslim migration to Mexico is considered a new phenomenon, despite the longstanding Islamic-Iberian influence and Muslim presence in the country as a result of the Spanish conquest, slavery, Arab diaspora, globalisation, and local conversion. In the 21st century, the era in which Islamisation became visible, the ‘newcomers’ in the Muslim immigrant population are more racially and ethnically diverse than those who have been in Mexico for a longer time. They mostly settle in Mexico City and frequently immigrate through marriage with local citizens. However, little is known about who they are and what they do and think. This is because no significant in-depth research has been conducted on the presence of Muslim immigrants. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the primary purpose of this research was to therefore examine how they adapt to the Mexican lifestyle and their experiences as Muslims in the country. The primary focus was on identity negotiation, which involved examining their metaperceptions and everyday religious practices across personal and social domains while performing what I conceptualize as Mexicanness. Rather than assuming that their religious characteristics are of ongoing importance, a better option was to consider the specific means by which immigrants understand or demonstrate religious meaning and identification in daily interrelationships. To achieve these aims, I employed an ethnographic approach consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews with 43 informants, participant-observation, document analysis, informal conversations, and the collection of visual material (photographs and videos) during a 12-month period of fieldwork in Mexico in 2021. My original contribution to knowledge is to pioneer research on the Muslim population in Mexico by considering all immigrants together under the label of ‘Muslim immigrants’, and recognising the diversity that exists beyond Middle East sources while still considering each individual’s contestation of identity. In the historical chapter, my research expanded on the contemporary reasons that brought Muslims to Mexico and documented the
fast-growing interest in ḥalāl. The main findings were as follows: concerning metaperceptions, I argue that because of Mexico’s welcoming culture toward foreigners, the deep-embedded history that values foreigners in the doctrine of mestizaje, the lack of pre-existing ideas and personal experience with Muslims, and the absence of inflammatory political debates, these Muslims experienced highly positive and welcoming attitudes that helped forge the creation of an unstigmatised
Muslim identity. Islamophobia was almost non-existent except for a small
intersectionality of discrimination for being dark-skinned. On the other hand, the Muslim identity is viewed as exotic, rich, unique, and foreign. I argue that even though it is sometimes rather challenging to fulfil religious practices and obligations in a catholic-dominant environment, particularly when local Muslim communities are too small to provide assistance, Muslims do not move to Mexico holding very conservative, traditional religious views and rigid attitudes. They are very much integrated into host societies by performing Mexicanness, mainly through language, inter-cultural marriage, food, and culture. Finally, various identity negotiation strategies are
deployed, primarily to educate locals about their religious identity, as opposed to assimilation due to threat or stigma. This indicates that host members do not view Muslims as a threat to their nation, therefore these foreigners did not feel compelled to radicalise their faith in order to secure legitimacy.