Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand - Criticisms

Criticisms

Over the past thirty years, with growing numbers of Muslims in New Zealand, there have been a number of serious and ongoing complaints directed at the Federation. The most serious issue centres around whether FIANZ is primarily a religious minority organisation or an ethnic minority cultural outfit : it has been suggested that the Federation conducts its affairs more like a Third World organisation than a New Zealand one. As early as 1983 one Arab Muslim resident in Wellington dismissed FIANZ as "a group of Fijian labourers". More recently FIANZ leadership was tagged "..as a conservative businessmen's club of relaxed Muslims, well integrated in New Zealand society and benignly sexist."

Other lingering criticisms reflect cultural matters. Despite a veritable obsession with the "public" appearance of following the Sunnah, the Federation in fact remains a very personal vehicle. At critical and often seemingly random points, administrative decisions and recognisable general policies (or perspectives), hold little grip : highly subjective evaluations seem to spontaneously decide and attempt to smother further communal discussion on various issues. Positions within the Federation Executive Committee and staff (and indeed staff salaries) seem to be settled less by actual talent or qualification than by arbitrary and fluctuating whims. Above all other considerations, it appears to be the largely undefined and changing will of the Federation president that determines policy which is later presented as conforming to the Sunnah. A good example of this has been the recent (2008–2010) dispute over the Halal certification of Nando's in New Zealand : after securing the approval of the Federation ulema FIANZ issued a Halal certificate for chickens served at the restaurant chain, however many Muslims remain unconvinced pointing to the machine-kill of the chooks (which many Muslims find unacceptable).

There is a widespread suspicion among many New Zealand Muslims that a vague small fluctuating group - a Nomenklatura - are manipulating the Federation to keep themselves in positions of authority without any real interest in either advancing the welfare of the New Zealand Muslim minority or spreading Islam in the country. The president selects his Executive Committee from among the most compliant members of the Federation Council at an AGM and then determines their tasks, not according to the legal constitution, but according to personal ambition : he decides his own role within the Federation, and his own tasks and even his own successor. Organised chaos.

There have also been criticisms directed at the close relationship between certain Federation leaders and the New Zealand Labour Party after it was disclosed that FIANZ had contributed over $10,000 to their failed 2008 election campaign.