The indigenous Muslims of Chiapas, Mexico

The southern state of Chiapas in the indigenous Mayan heartland of Mexico shows how vital the Muslim community is in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. Many predominantly indigenous Tzotzil men and women have converted to Islam from Catholic or other Christian denominations. By Edgard Garrido

  • 20-year-old Anisa from San Cristobal de las Casas, a Muslim of the Tzotzil-Maya ethnic group, poses for a photograph that shows her in a hijab made from a traditional Mayan scarf
  • View over San Cristobal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas: according to the last census, about 83 percent of Mexicans are Catholic. And although Muslims make up less than one percent of Mexico's 120 million inhabitants, a disproportionate number of indigenous believers are located in and around San Cristobal de las Casas, a community that combines Mayan culture with Spanish identity
  • In San Cristobal de las Casas Muslim men wear prayer caps, so-called kufis, while the women sport hijabs made from traditional Mayan scarves. The locals say that conversion to Islam in Chiapas began in the late 1980s, around the same time that Mexico's Zapatista movement was gaining popularity in Chiapas and the Church and rampant capitalism became increasingly discredited
  • Umar is an indigenous former Protestant pastor who converted to Islam in the late 1990s and now acts as a mediator between local Christians and Muslims in San Christobal de las Casas, Chiapas. "Our religion is monotheistic," he said. "But we are not practicing a holy cult here"
  • Imam Ibrahim Chechev delivers a sermon during Friday prayers in the Ahmadiyya mosque
  • Tzotzil Maya evangelical Christians and Muslims take part in an ecumenical meeting that brings together members of both religious communities
  • Muslims wearing their traditional Rebozo Tzotzil hijabs participate in Friday prayers in the local Ahmadiyya mosque