Islam in New Zealand

Islam in New Zealand is a relatively small and new religious community.

The first Muslim immigrants were Chinese gold prospectors in the 1870s. Some Muslim immigrants from India and political refugees from communist Eastern Europe ( Albania and the former Yugoslavia) settled in the years 1900 to 1960. In the 1990s, many more Muslim immigrants were added.

The first Islamic organization, the New Zealand Muslim Association (New Zealand Muslim Society), was founded in 1950 in Auckland. They built the first Muslim House in 1959. 1979 they built the first mosque in the whole of New Zealand.

In 1979, the first national Islamic organization, the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, protected by law. Mazhar Krasniqi, born in 1931 in Pristina, Kosovo was the first president. He led the New Zealand Muslim Association in the 1970s and 1980s. On 31 December 2002 it a Certificate of Merit was awarded by Generalgouvenour of New Zealand, which he took in Wellington on 4 April 2003.

The Muslim Association of Canterbury ( Canterbury Muslim Society ) was founded in 1977. She built 1984-1985, the first mosque in the South Island.

Today, more than 36,000 Muslims live in New Zealand. Many are immigrants and refugees, plus a few thousand converts.