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The Mosque in San Andres, Colombia, as seen from the Sunrise Hotel
The statistics for Islam in Colombia estimate a total Muslim population of 85,908, representing 0.2 percent of the population[citation needed]. There are a number of Islamic organizations in Colombia, including Islamic centers in San Andrés, Bogotá, Guajira, Nariño, and Santa Marta. There are also primary and secondary Islamic schools in Bogotá and Maicao. Maicao plays host to the continent's second largest mosque, the Mosque of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab.
Over the past few years, Islam and the Arab-Muslim world seem to have entered even more poignantly into the Colombian imagination, gaining a presence in political discourse and strongly influencing popular culture. This Arab cultural influence in Colombia is often attributed to the Brazilian telenovela El Clon[citation needed] and Lebanese-Colombian pop icon Shakira. But Arab-Muslim influence in Colombia preceded Shakira: the protagonist of Gabriel García Márquez's novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, for example, is half-Arab.[citation needed]
It should be noted that most Arab immigrants to Colombia came during the first half of the 20th century and were Maronite Christians mainly from Lebanon.[citation needed]
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