Home › Islam In New Zealand

Islam In New Zealand

Young New Zealand Muslim Mosque of Canterbury, 2007

Islam in New Zealand is relatively small and new religious communities of over 36,000 people.

Islam in New Zealand began with the arrival of Chinese Muslims for the gold rush in the 1870s. A small number of Muslim immigrants from India and Eastern Europe have settled between the early 1900s until the 1960s. Large-scale Muslim immigration started in the 1990s with the arrival of immigrants and refugees from various war-torn country.

The first Muslim organization, the Muslim Association of New Zealand, was recorded in 1950. The first Islamic center was established in 1959 in the city of Auckland. The first was built on the mosque from 1979 to 1980.

The Muslim community was organized nationally in the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand , was recorded in 1979. Its first president was elected Mazhar Krasniqi , an Albanian native of Kosovo. In 2002, the New Zealand government has awarded a medal Krasniqi service Queens.

Between 1982 and 1999 Marhum Khalid Sheikh Hafiz was the main religious leader. Hafiz was born and educated in India and Saudi Arabia.