Fiji Muslim League
Encyclopedia
The Fiji Muslim League is a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 religious and social organisation based in Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

. Nearly 7% of Fiji's total population, including 16% of the Indian community, is Muslim. The Fiji Muslim League also pursues actively the conversion of indigenous Fijians
Fijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...

 from Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 and has attracted several hundred converts
Demographics of Fiji
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Fiji, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

 in this initiative.

Establishment of Fiji Muslim League

By 1908 there were about 4000 Muslims in Fiji, a third of them still indentured. In 1915 the Anjuman Hidayat-e-Islam was established in Nausori
Nausori
Nausori is a town in Fiji. It had a population of 47,604 at the 2007 census, the most recent to date. This makes it the fourth most populous municipality in the country. Situated 19 kilometers out of Suva, it forms one pole of the burgeoning Suva-Nausori corridor.Nausori grew up around Fiji's...

 and in 1916 the Anjuman Ishait El Islam was established in Lautoka. Around Suva there were only about 70 Muslims, without a school or a mosque. But as the number of Muslims in the capital city steadily grew, Anjuman-e-Islam was formed in 1919. The Fiji Muslim League was formed on 31 October 1926, at a meeting at the Jame Masjid in Toorak.

Role of Fiji Muslim League in education and welfare

The Fiji Muslim League has made valuable contribution in the field of education in Fiji
Education in Fiji
Primary school education in Fiji is not compulsory, but free for eight years.. In 1998, the gross primary enrollment rate was 110.5 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 99.4 percent. As of 2001, attendance was decreasing due to security concerns and the burden of school fees, often due...

. The first school, Islamic Girls School, was already in existence in 1926 and is today known as Suva Muslim Primary School. Today, the Fiji Muslim League owns and manages seventeen primary and five secondary schools plus 2 tertiary institution (Islamic Institute of the South Pacific and Fatimah Girls Hostel). The Fiji Muslim League accepts as students and staff members of all ethnic groups domiciled in Fiji. In 2000 its student population was: 4464 in secondary and 5243 in primary schools. In the secondary schools 3015 were Muslims, 994 Fijians/Christians, and 455 others, including Hindus.

The Fiji Muslim League provides help for tertiary studies for needy Muslims through loans from its Education Trust and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Of the two IDB loan/awards for tertiary studies one is given locally for information technology and the other for the study of medicine in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Most of the latter in recent times have been allocated for training Muslim female doctors; some have qualified and are working in Fiji.

Besides education, the Fiji Muslim League from its outset has attempted to assist in satisfying all the social needs of Muslims. Currently its involvement in social welfare is both at national and branch levels. In times of natural disasters or turmoil the Fiji Muslim League directly helps Muslims whose homes and lives are disrupted. Its charity keeps many families clothed, fed and housed, and Muslim children sent to school.

Muslims and politics

Since 1929 the Fiji Muslim League has sought to obtain separate representation for Muslims, in the Legislative Council
Legislative Council (Fiji)
The Fijian Legislative Council was the colonial precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.-The first Legislative Council:...

 till 1970, and in Parliament (both the House of Representatives
House of Representatives (Fiji)
The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...

 and the Senate
Senate (Fiji)
The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. It is the less powerful of the two chambers; it may not initiate legislation, but may amend or veto it. The Senate's powers over financial bills are more restricted: it may veto them in their entirety, but may not amend them...

) since 1970. Except for the period between 1932 and 1937, Muslims have been represented well in Fiji’s Parliament
Parliament of Fiji
Fiji's Parliament is bicameral. The House of Representatives has 71 members. 25 of these are elected by universal suffrage. The remaining 46 are reserved for Fiji's ethnic communities and are elected from communal electoral rolls: 23 Fijians, 19 Indo-Fijians, 1 Rotuman, and 3 "General electors"...

. From 1937 to 1963, there was always one Muslim nominated into the Legislative Council out of a total of five Fiji Indian representatives. The Muslim Political Front was formed to advance Muslim political rights and in 1966 it joined the newly formed Alliance Party, but voting trends have shown that most Muslims have tended to vote for the Party representing Fiji Indians, showing that their political aspirations are not different from the other 84% of the Fiji Indians.

As of January 2007, the President of the Fiji Muslim League is a prominent businessman, Hafiz Khan
Hafiz Khan
Hafizud Dean Khan is a Fijian businessman, Senator and president of the Muslim League. Appointed to the Senate on 13 July 2005 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Dr Ahmed Ali, Khan became one of the 9 out of 32 Senators nominated by the Prime Minister...

. Appointed to the Senate on 13 July 2005 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Dr Ahmed Ali
Ahmed Ali
Ahmed Ali was an Indian novelist, poet, critic, translator, diplomat and scholar, who was responsible for writing Twilight in Delhi. Born in Delhi, India, he was involved in progressive literary movements as a young man...

, Khan became one of the nine out of 32 Senators nominated by the Prime Minister of Fiji
Prime Minister of Fiji
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji is the head of government of Fiji. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President under the terms of the now-suspended 1997 constitution....

 (a further 14 are chosen by the [Great Council of Chiefs], eight by the Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Fiji)
The post of Leader of the Opposition is a political office common in countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Nations. It did not originate in Fiji but has a long tradition; in British constitutional theory, the Leader of the Opposition must pose a formal alternative to the government, ready...

, and one by the Council of Rotuma
Council of Rotuma
The Council of Rotuma is a municipal body on the island of Rotuma, a Fijian dependency. Owing to the unique character of Rotuma, the powers of this council are greater than those of other municipal bodies in Fiji and in some ways it approximates a legislative body, though it is in every way...

). Khan was formally sworn in on 22 August 2005. In June 2006, he became Vice-President of the Senate and served in this capacity until the military coup
2006 Fijian coup d'état
The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 occurred as a continuation of the pressure which had been building since the military unrest of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and 2005-2006 Fijian political crisis....

of 5 December 2006.
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