Presença muçulmana no Brasil: breve síntese histórica (Muslim presence in Brazil: brief historical overview)

The present article deals, from an historical approach, with the presence of Muslims in Brazil from different waves and ethnic origins (slaved Africans, Arabic immigrants and their descendants, African and Asian immigrants, Brazilian converted people), focusing on sectarian questions of Arab immigrants from Lebanon, that arrived in this country mostly from second half of the twentieth century. The article also analyzes the formation of the religious and cultural institutions of these groups as a form of cultural and religious identity preservation.