Islam in Fiji - Free Indo-Fijian Muslims

Free Indo-Fijian Muslims

From 1884 onwards, as labourers completed their five-year indenture contracts, Muslim communities began forming in various parts of Fiji. They tended to be small, often isolated, but recognising the need for contact and cooperation among themselves for social and religious enhancement, they congregated together. There were amongst the first generation of Indian labourers, Muslims who were literate and sufficiently versed in Islamic teachings to assume leadership roles and to lead prayers. Prayer meetings, initially in homes, helped foster an Islamic identity and inculcated a sense of unity. The arrival of Mulla Mirza Khan, as a free-immigrant in 1898, was a boost to Islam in Fiji, as he contributed a lot to the educational and religious needs of the Muslims. In 1900 a mosque was built in Navua on land provided by the Fiji Sugar Company, a small mosque and school was built in Nausori on land provided by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, and another mosque was built in Labasa in 1902. In 1909, Muslims made submissions to the Education Commission for Urdu to be taught in the Persian script to their children. In 1915, the Anjuman Hidayat ul-Islam petitioned the government for the solemnization of Muslim marriages by a kazi and recommended its secretary's appointment for the Suva area. In Lautoka, the Isha Ithul Islam emerged, and in 1916 and was directing its efforts towards building a mosque there.