Background
Currently, there have yet to be any precise and conclusive historical studies on the arrival of the first Muslims to the country. Despite this, some investigators have attempted to highlight some events that they use to try approximating this phenomenon. According to an academic work authored by Pedro Escalante and Abraham Daura entitled Sobre Moros y Cristianos, y otros Arabismos en El Salvador, the first appearance of Muslims occurred during the country’s period as a Spanish colony. It is written in the aforesaid work that in the year 1619 a man named Pedro Soriano was judged by a court of Santa Inquisición: “To say that she did not defend the faith in Jesus Christ, for being own hers the one of Moors”. Despite this data, the authors clarify that “there is nothing related to true Muslims” but to situations related to bigamy.
However, El Salvador did not completely escape the remarkable influence of Islamic Culture (largely brought from Al-Andalus or Islamic Spain), which is continually reflected in local architecture, gastronomy, language and customs. For example, proof of this is the still existing rest of the church of Caluco in Sonsonate, considered a clear testament of Mudéjar or Moorish architecture in the country: additionally, the Iglesia del Pilar in San Vicente still conserves visible legacies of this heritage.
Read more about this topic: Islam In El Salvador
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