Islam in New Zealand – A Mixed Reception: Historical Overview and Contemporary Challenges
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Jun 14, 2021
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Purpose: This research aims to discuss the history of Islam in New Zealand, together with some of the pressing issues and challenges Muslims have encountered along the way. Looking back at the history of early Muslim settlers and the emergence of Muslim organizations and allied enterprises, it is clear that the Muslim community in New Zealand has had a rather mixed reception in a land that, on the whole, is perceived to be benignly tolerant and accepting.
Methodology: The research is based on a critical analysis of the available literature, both contemporary and historical. This paper explores complicated community developments, conversions to Islam, the violence experienced with defacement and destruction of mosques in reaction to overseas events over recent decades, ongoing Islamophobia, and the infamous 2019 terrorist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch.
Findings: The research highlights the status of the New Zealand Muslim community and the extent and nature of their influence in the country. It constitutes a social hierarchy with a complex past and multiple internal issues. Accordingly, this paper concludes with a brief discussion of the migrant experience of Muslims. It also elucidates the necessity of further research in the future and emphasizes the need to study the culture, faith and history of New Zealand from various angles.
Originality: This is illustrated in the direct attachment of the research to the core topic of religion. This is the first academic study to deal directly with both the history of the Muslim minority and contemporary issues such as Islamophobia following the 2019 massacre.
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Keywords
New Zealand; IslamMuslimsIntegrationIslamophobia
References
Bibliography
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Andre, V. and D. Pratt (eds.), Religious Citizenships and Islamophobia (London & New York: Routledge, 2016).
Anonymous, ‘Moslem New Zealander’, Evening Star, 9 June 1945, p. 7.
Anonymous, ‘On the Gumfields’, New Zealand Herald, 14 October 1909, p. 6.
Anonymous, ‘Reads like book’, Auckland Star, 28 June 1945, p. 6.
Anonymous, ‘End of Innocence’, Press, 16 March 2019, pp. 1-6.
Anonymous, ‘Noeleen van de Lisdonk’, Canvas – New Zealand Herald, 18 November 2017, p. 11.
Asprem, Egil, “The Birth of Counterjihadist Terrorism: Reflections on some Unspoken Dimensions of 22 July 2011”, The Pomegranate 13.1 (2011): 17-32 [doi:10.1558/pome.v13i1.17].
Barclay, Chris, ‘Churches Join Forces to Back City Mosque’, Waikato Times, 25 May 1996, p. 3.
———, ‘City Mosque Wins Council Blessing’, Waikato Times, 28 May 1996, p. 1.
Bayer, Kurt, “‘Kaumatua’ of Muslims in NZ dies aged 87”, New Zealand Herald, 22 August 2019, p. A19.
Belich, James, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Auckland: Penguin, 2007).
Beynen, Martin van, “Muslim community takes back the story”, Press, 29 August 2020, p. B1.
Buang, Ahmad Hidayat, “Islam and Muslims in New Zealand”, Jurnal Usuluddin 16 (2002): 135-158.
Buckingham, Louise, “Salaman, Abraham Walley Mahomed”, The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol. 4, 1921-1940 (Auckland, 1998), pp. 447-448.
Buehler, Arthur F., ‘Modes of Sufi Transmission to New Zealand’, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies Volume 8, Number 2 (December, 2006), pp. 97-109.
Cardy, Tom, “Somalians told to complain, says community leader”, Evening Post, 29 April 1998, p. 19.
Coates, Ken, ‘City mosque will promote understanding of Islam’, Press, 30 January 1985, p. 15.
Dougan, Abdullah, Forty Days: An Account of a Discipline (Auckland: Gnostic Press, 1978).
Drury, Abdullah, “Mahometans on the Edge of Colonial Empire: Antipodean Experiences”, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 29, no. 1 (2018): 71-87.
———, “Once Were Mahometans: Muslims in the South Island of New Zealand, mid-19th to the late 20th century, with special reference to Canterbury”, MPhil diss. (University of Waikato, 2016).
———, “Wish You Were Here; A Short History of New Zealand Muslims and Integration”, Nazhruna: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam, Vol. 3,No. 3 (2020): 355-370
Duderija, Adis, and Halim Rane, Islam and Muslims in the West: Major Issues and Debates (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
Field, Michael, “Elder learns Te Reo to translate Koran”, Sunday Star Times, 3 November 2013, p. 3.
Flynn, Nizam, ‘Editorial’, Waikato-Bay of Plenty Association (Inc.) Newsletter, August 1987, pp. 1-2.
Foo-Yuen, Chun, “The Dynamics of the Halal Meat Trade in New Zealand and Australia”, in Ron MacIntyre (ed.), New Zealand and the Middle East, (Christchurch: Australasian Middle East Studies Association, 1987), pp.149-176.
Francis, Roberta, “Islam in New Zealand: Immigrants, Converts and Maori Muslims”, Unpublished graduate research paper, Tel Aviv University (2011).
Garrett, David, “Muslim immigration: the political dilemma”, Investigate (August-September 2014): 10-11.
Greenaway, Richard, Rich Man, Poor Man, Environmentalist, Thief: Biographies of Canterbury Personalities Written for the Millennium and for the 150th Anniversary of the Canterbury Settlement (Christchurch: Christchurch City Libraries, 2000).
Hoby, Katherine, “NZ – land of milk and honey”, Press, 10 December 1998, p. 2.
Holloway, Bruce, “Leader says Mosque Fire wasn’t an Act of Racism”, Waikato Times, 11 August 1998, p. 3.
Karčić, Fikret, ‘Prvi Bošnjaci na Novom Zelandu’, Oslobođenje (4 April, 2015), p. 29.
Keber, Ruth, “The New Maori Muslims”, North & South, March 2013, pp. 44-51.
Khan, Zohoor Mohammad, “Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi”, in One Hundred Great Muslim Leaders of the 20th Century (New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies, 2006), pp. 157-160.
Kolig, Erich, “An Accord of Cautious Distance: Muslims in New Zealand, Ethnic Relations and Image Management”, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 5, no. 1 (2003): 24-50.
———, “Deconstructing the Waitangi Treaty Narrative: Democracy, Cultural Pluralism, and Political Myth Making in New Zealand”, Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, N.S. 1, no. 2 (May 2004): 84-118.
———, “Interfacing with the West: Muslims, Multiculturalism and Radicalism in New Zealand”, New Zealand Sociology, Vol. 21, no. 2 (2006): 215–246.
———, New Zealand’s Muslims and Multiculturalism (Leiden: Brill, 2010).
McGehan, Kris, “Arsonist Hunted as Muslims Grieve”, Waikato Times, 8 August 1998, p. 3.
———, “Fire Guts City Mosque”, Waikato Times, 6 August 1998, p. 3.
Moon, Paul, This Horrid Practice (Auckland: Penguin, 2008).
Moore, Leanne, “Muslims and Catholics in single salute”, New Zealand Herald (30 September 1995), p. 24.
Moxon, Melissa, “Muslims not Daunted by Mosque Fire”, New Zealand Herald, 7 August 1998, p. A7;
Nachowitz, Todd, “Towards a Framework of Deep Diversity: Identity and Invisibility in the Indian Diaspora in New Zealand”, PhD diss. (University of Waikato, 2015).
Nolan, James, What they saw in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G. K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb, (Cambridge University Press: 2016), reviewd by Tigani MA Zaid, in Journal of College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, vol.37, (2), 2020, pp.161-181.Pratt, Douglas and Rachel Woodlock (eds.), Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia (Switzerland: Springer International, 2016).
Pratt, Douglas, “Antipodean angst: encountering Islam in New Zealand”, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 21, No. 4 (October 2010): 397-407.
———, “Islamophobia as Reactive Co-Radicalization”, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 26, no. 2 (April, 2015): 205-218.
———, “Mosque shooter no ideological Einstein”, Newsroom – Ideasroom, March 18, 2019. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@ideasroom/2019/03/18/493097/mosque-shooter-no-ideological-einstein#
———, “Reacting to Islam: Islamophobia as a form of extremism”, in John L. Esposito and Derya Iner (eds.), Islamophobia and Radicalization: Breeding Intolerance and Violence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 35-53.
———, “Reactive Co-Radicalization: Religious Extremism as Mutual Discontent”, Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, Vol. 28/1 (2015), pp. 3-23.
———, “Secular New Zealand and Religious Diversity: From cultural evolution to societal affirmation”, Social Inclusion 4/2 (2016): 52-64. DOI: 10.17645/si.v4i2.463
———, “Threads of Terror and Signs of Hope”, Waikato Islamic Studies Review Vol. 5, no. 1 (June 2019): 6-19.
Rizvanović, Šefik,‘Priča o dedi mustafi’, Oslobođenje (18 June 2016).
“Salaman’s Tomb” in Paul Gittens, Epitaph II, (Random House New Zealand, 2001), pp. 200-207.
Schmid, Alex P., “Frameworks for Conceptualizing Terrorism”, Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 16, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 197-221.
Scott, Stuart C., The Travesty of Waitangi: Towards Anarchy (Dunedin: Campbell Press, 1995).
Selengut, Charles, “The Sociology of Religious Violence”, in Andrew Murphy (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence (Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 89-98.
Shaver, J. H., G. Troughton, C. G. Sibley and J.A. Bulbulia, “Religion and the Unmaking of Prejudice toward Muslims: Evidence from a Large National Sample”. PLoS ONE 11.3 (2016): e0150209; see: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150209
Shaw, Bob, “An imam ‘as imams should be, but rarely are’ ”, Evening Post (16 December 1999), p. 5.
Shepard, William, “New Zealand Muslims and Their Organisations”, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 8, no. 2 (2006), pp. 4-44.
Tahana, Yvonne, “Koran's message of unity shared in te reo translation”, New Zealand Herald, 15 April 2010, p. 11.
Tan, Lincoln, “Changing Faith”, New Zealand Herald, 19 May 2015, pp. 14-15.
Tan, Lincoln, “Lifting the veil on the life of Muslim women in NZ”, New Zealand Herald, 23 January 2014, p. 14.
Tan, Lincoln, “Religion at work under spotlight”, New Zealand Herald, 23 May 2014, p. 20.
Thomson, Ainsley, “Mazhar Krasniqi”, New Zealand Herald, 31 December 2002, p. A6.
Trickett, Peter, “Minarets in Ponsonby”, New Zealand Listener (21 April 1979), pp. 18-19.
Wane, Joanna ‘Test of Faith’, North & South (June 2016): 36-49.
http://islamicity-index.org/ Accessed November 19, 2020.
Abdyli, Sabit R., Bijtë e shqipes nё tokën e reve të bardha (Auckland: Universal Print & Management, 2010), pp. 88-90.
Andre, V. and D. Pratt (eds.), Religious Citizenships and Islamophobia (London & New York: Routledge, 2016).
Anonymous, ‘Moslem New Zealander’, Evening Star, 9 June 1945, p. 7.
Anonymous, ‘On the Gumfields’, New Zealand Herald, 14 October 1909, p. 6.
Anonymous, ‘Reads like book’, Auckland Star, 28 June 1945, p. 6.
Anonymous, ‘End of Innocence’, Press, 16 March 2019, pp. 1-6.
Anonymous, ‘Noeleen van de Lisdonk’, Canvas – New Zealand Herald, 18 November 2017, p. 11.
Asprem, Egil, “The Birth of Counterjihadist Terrorism: Reflections on some Unspoken Dimensions of 22 July 2011”, The Pomegranate 13.1 (2011): 17-32 [doi:10.1558/pome.v13i1.17].
Barclay, Chris, ‘Churches Join Forces to Back City Mosque’, Waikato Times, 25 May 1996, p. 3.
———, ‘City Mosque Wins Council Blessing’, Waikato Times, 28 May 1996, p. 1.
Bayer, Kurt, “‘Kaumatua’ of Muslims in NZ dies aged 87”, New Zealand Herald, 22 August 2019, p. A19.
Belich, James, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Auckland: Penguin, 2007).
Beynen, Martin van, “Muslim community takes back the story”, Press, 29 August 2020, p. B1.
Buang, Ahmad Hidayat, “Islam and Muslims in New Zealand”, Jurnal Usuluddin 16 (2002): 135-158.
Buckingham, Louise, “Salaman, Abraham Walley Mahomed”, The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Vol. 4, 1921-1940 (Auckland, 1998), pp. 447-448.
Buehler, Arthur F., ‘Modes of Sufi Transmission to New Zealand’, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies Volume 8, Number 2 (December, 2006), pp. 97-109.
Cardy, Tom, “Somalians told to complain, says community leader”, Evening Post, 29 April 1998, p. 19.
Coates, Ken, ‘City mosque will promote understanding of Islam’, Press, 30 January 1985, p. 15.
Dougan, Abdullah, Forty Days: An Account of a Discipline (Auckland: Gnostic Press, 1978).
Drury, Abdullah, “Mahometans on the Edge of Colonial Empire: Antipodean Experiences”, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 29, no. 1 (2018): 71-87.
———, “Once Were Mahometans: Muslims in the South Island of New Zealand, mid-19th to the late 20th century, with special reference to Canterbury”, MPhil diss. (University of Waikato, 2016).
———, “Wish You Were Here; A Short History of New Zealand Muslims and Integration”, Nazhruna: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam, Vol. 3,No. 3 (2020): 355-370
Duderija, Adis, and Halim Rane, Islam and Muslims in the West: Major Issues and Debates (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
Field, Michael, “Elder learns Te Reo to translate Koran”, Sunday Star Times, 3 November 2013, p. 3.
Flynn, Nizam, ‘Editorial’, Waikato-Bay of Plenty Association (Inc.) Newsletter, August 1987, pp. 1-2.
Foo-Yuen, Chun, “The Dynamics of the Halal Meat Trade in New Zealand and Australia”, in Ron MacIntyre (ed.), New Zealand and the Middle East, (Christchurch: Australasian Middle East Studies Association, 1987), pp.149-176.
Francis, Roberta, “Islam in New Zealand: Immigrants, Converts and Maori Muslims”, Unpublished graduate research paper, Tel Aviv University (2011).
Garrett, David, “Muslim immigration: the political dilemma”, Investigate (August-September 2014): 10-11.
Greenaway, Richard, Rich Man, Poor Man, Environmentalist, Thief: Biographies of Canterbury Personalities Written for the Millennium and for the 150th Anniversary of the Canterbury Settlement (Christchurch: Christchurch City Libraries, 2000).
Hoby, Katherine, “NZ – land of milk and honey”, Press, 10 December 1998, p. 2.
Holloway, Bruce, “Leader says Mosque Fire wasn’t an Act of Racism”, Waikato Times, 11 August 1998, p. 3.
Karčić, Fikret, ‘Prvi Bošnjaci na Novom Zelandu’, Oslobođenje (4 April, 2015), p. 29.
Keber, Ruth, “The New Maori Muslims”, North & South, March 2013, pp. 44-51.
Khan, Zohoor Mohammad, “Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi”, in One Hundred Great Muslim Leaders of the 20th Century (New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies, 2006), pp. 157-160.
Kolig, Erich, “An Accord of Cautious Distance: Muslims in New Zealand, Ethnic Relations and Image Management”, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 5, no. 1 (2003): 24-50.
———, “Deconstructing the Waitangi Treaty Narrative: Democracy, Cultural Pluralism, and Political Myth Making in New Zealand”, Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, N.S. 1, no. 2 (May 2004): 84-118.
———, “Interfacing with the West: Muslims, Multiculturalism and Radicalism in New Zealand”, New Zealand Sociology, Vol. 21, no. 2 (2006): 215–246.
———, New Zealand’s Muslims and Multiculturalism (Leiden: Brill, 2010).
McGehan, Kris, “Arsonist Hunted as Muslims Grieve”, Waikato Times, 8 August 1998, p. 3.
———, “Fire Guts City Mosque”, Waikato Times, 6 August 1998, p. 3.
Moon, Paul, This Horrid Practice (Auckland: Penguin, 2008).
Moore, Leanne, “Muslims and Catholics in single salute”, New Zealand Herald (30 September 1995), p. 24.
Moxon, Melissa, “Muslims not Daunted by Mosque Fire”, New Zealand Herald, 7 August 1998, p. A7;
Nachowitz, Todd, “Towards a Framework of Deep Diversity: Identity and Invisibility in the Indian Diaspora in New Zealand”, PhD diss. (University of Waikato, 2015).
Nolan, James, What they saw in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G. K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb, (Cambridge University Press: 2016), reviewd by Tigani MA Zaid, in Journal of College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, vol.37, (2), 2020, pp.161-181.Pratt, Douglas and Rachel Woodlock (eds.), Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia (Switzerland: Springer International, 2016).
Pratt, Douglas, “Antipodean angst: encountering Islam in New Zealand”, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 21, No. 4 (October 2010): 397-407.
———, “Islamophobia as Reactive Co-Radicalization”, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 26, no. 2 (April, 2015): 205-218.
———, “Mosque shooter no ideological Einstein”, Newsroom – Ideasroom, March 18, 2019. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@ideasroom/2019/03/18/493097/mosque-shooter-no-ideological-einstein#
———, “Reacting to Islam: Islamophobia as a form of extremism”, in John L. Esposito and Derya Iner (eds.), Islamophobia and Radicalization: Breeding Intolerance and Violence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 35-53.
———, “Reactive Co-Radicalization: Religious Extremism as Mutual Discontent”, Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, Vol. 28/1 (2015), pp. 3-23.
———, “Secular New Zealand and Religious Diversity: From cultural evolution to societal affirmation”, Social Inclusion 4/2 (2016): 52-64. DOI: 10.17645/si.v4i2.463
———, “Threads of Terror and Signs of Hope”, Waikato Islamic Studies Review Vol. 5, no. 1 (June 2019): 6-19.
Rizvanović, Šefik,‘Priča o dedi mustafi’, Oslobođenje (18 June 2016).
“Salaman’s Tomb” in Paul Gittens, Epitaph II, (Random House New Zealand, 2001), pp. 200-207.
Schmid, Alex P., “Frameworks for Conceptualizing Terrorism”, Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 16, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 197-221.
Scott, Stuart C., The Travesty of Waitangi: Towards Anarchy (Dunedin: Campbell Press, 1995).
Selengut, Charles, “The Sociology of Religious Violence”, in Andrew Murphy (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence (Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 89-98.
Shaver, J. H., G. Troughton, C. G. Sibley and J.A. Bulbulia, “Religion and the Unmaking of Prejudice toward Muslims: Evidence from a Large National Sample”. PLoS ONE 11.3 (2016): e0150209; see: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150209
Shaw, Bob, “An imam ‘as imams should be, but rarely are’ ”, Evening Post (16 December 1999), p. 5.
Shepard, William, “New Zealand Muslims and Their Organisations”, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 8, no. 2 (2006), pp. 4-44.
Tahana, Yvonne, “Koran's message of unity shared in te reo translation”, New Zealand Herald, 15 April 2010, p. 11.
Tan, Lincoln, “Changing Faith”, New Zealand Herald, 19 May 2015, pp. 14-15.
Tan, Lincoln, “Lifting the veil on the life of Muslim women in NZ”, New Zealand Herald, 23 January 2014, p. 14.
Tan, Lincoln, “Religion at work under spotlight”, New Zealand Herald, 23 May 2014, p. 20.
Thomson, Ainsley, “Mazhar Krasniqi”, New Zealand Herald, 31 December 2002, p. A6.
Trickett, Peter, “Minarets in Ponsonby”, New Zealand Listener (21 April 1979), pp. 18-19.
Wane, Joanna ‘Test of Faith’, North & South (June 2016): 36-49.
http://islamicity-index.org/ Accessed November 19, 2020.
How to Cite
Drury, Abdullah, and Douglas Pratt. 2021. “Islam in New Zealand – A Mixed Reception: Historical Overview and Contemporary Challenges”. Journal of College of Sharia and Islamic Studies 39 (1). https://doi.org/10.29117/jcsis.2021.0290.
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Articles in English