The Islamophobic attack on March 15 which killed 50 Muslim New Zealanders in Christchurch city and fatally injured many others has shed a worldwide spotlight on the Muslim community of the remote Pacific nation.
According to The Conversation, Muslims make up just over 1% of New Zealand’s population.
Historical accounts document that Islam first arrived in the country in 1769, with just two Indian Muslims.
New Zealand’s national Muslim organization, the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ), mentions the 1850s as the beginning of Muslim immigrant family settlement in the Polynesian country.
A growing number of Muslims arrived in New Zealand during the early 20th century. The census of 1901, mentioned 41 Muslims.
The history of the New Zealander Muslims can also be traced back, as William Shepard explains, to three Gujarati men who arrived between 1906 and 1920.
Moreover, in the early 1950s, the children of the New Zealander Muslim community brought their family members to settle in the island nation.
By 1986, the Fijian-Indian Muslims, professional and white-collar workers, as well as international students studying at New Zealand universities under the Colombo plan, boosted the number of Muslims to 2,500.
Modern Times
Today, according to Tahir Nawaz, the president of the International Muslim Association of New Zealand, the number of New Zealand’s Muslims has reached almost 60,000 people.
About half of today’s Muslim population are women, reflecting a steady increase from the beginning of the 20th century, when there was virtually no female presence.
New Zealand has several mosques and Islamic centers in the major centers, as well as two Islamic schools; ‘Al Madinah’ and ‘Zayed College for Girls’ in Auckland city which alone has about 15 Islamic centers, mosques.
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, founded in 1979, is the national umbrella organization that represents NZ Muslims, and is affiliated with seven regional organizations, most mosques and Islamic centers in the country.