Mazhar Krasniqi
Encyclopedia
Mazhar Krasniqi is a New Zealand
Muslim community leader of Kosovar Albanian descent. He was the first president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand
(FIANZ) in 1979 and a human rights
activist
, Yugoslavia
- in present day Kosovo
. In 1950 he fled the Communist regime of Yugoslavia and sailed for New Zealand
on board the refugee boat SS Goya
. He arrived penniless in Wellington
on 1 May 1951 and started to work at a variety of jobs throughout the decade including farming in Southland
, and steam drilling around the Waikato
and Bay of Plenty
regions.
On 1 January 1956 he attended the '1st Moslem Congress' organised by the nascent New Zealand Muslim Association
(NZMA) and became an extremely active member of the Executive Committee, of which he remained a member up to his retirement in 1992. He served as president twice, in 1975 and again in 1987.
In 1960 Krasniqi set up a restaurant named the 'Albania' in Panmure
where he became a very successful and prosperous businessman. In 1970 he opened a kiosk at the new Panmure 'Swimarama', and later set up the 'New Zealand Middle East Export Company' and also a waterbed business.
In 1965 Krasniqi attended an important international conference in Mecca
, Saudi Arabia
, as the NZMA delegate over 17 to 24 April (15 to 22 Zul Hijjah 1384), performed the Umrah
and even brought back with him a 38 page document entitled the “Resolutions by General Islamic Conference; Second Session” as a souvenir. He extended his stay and made some important contacts with a number of Arab
s and expatriate Albanians
there who were keen on importing halal
meat from New Zealand.
In the 1970s Krasniqi developed extensive contacts with Muslim
embassies in Wellington
and Canberra
, and continued to attend overseas conferences and events on behalf of the New Zealand Muslim community. He was also present at the foundation stone laying ceremony for New Zealand’s first mosque
on 30 March 1979. The Mosque Committee members - Mazhar Krasniqi, Hajji Abdul Rahim Rasheed, Said Alvi, Mohammed Yakub Patel and Hajji Mohammed Hussein Sahib - all mortgaged their own houses to raise the necessary cash to complete the financial commitment needed by the builder.
In an important media interview in 1979 Krasniqi observed the increasing number of conversions to Islam :
"Most of them are people who have come into contact with Islam while travelling in the Middle East. We seem to be getting new members almost every week. If it goes on like this, we will soon be outnumbered by Kiwi Muslims. Seriously, though, this is one good reason why we urgently need a mosque - so we can have proper facilities for these new converts."
Further construction work for the hall extension on the mosque was started in 1987 when Krasniqi was president of the NZMA.
in New Zealand, Mazhar Krasniqi went on to become the first president of the first national Muslim organisation, the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ). He was elected to the top post on 15 April 1979. The meeting was in fact actually held at the 17 Vermont Street property just weeks before work was to begin on building the country’s first mosque.
Late in 1980, Hajji Muhammad Ali Hrakan, General Secretary of the authoritative Muslim World League
(Rabitah Al-Alam Al-Islami), granted Rayes (literally Arabic for 'commander') Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi the right to issue halal
certificates to export meat and food to Saudi Arabia
. Five years later, with Dr Hajji Ashraf Choudhary
as president of FIANZ, and after extensive negotiations with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board, a formal contract was arranged. Krasniqi was appointed the first FIANZ North Island Halal
Supervisor on 16 September 1985. His work took him regularly to Wairoa
, Omahu and Morewa on the East Coast. He resigned in 1986.
Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi was appointed Patron, Haroon Aziz Rasheed from Fiji
became president, and Feroze Ali the Secretary. The following year Krasniqi left community politics, and retired from both the NZMA and FIANZ. He later attended US Congessional hearings.
However during the 1999 Kosovo crisis
(when the Serbs expelled over one million Albanian Muslims from their homes in Kosovo), Krasniqi persuaded the New Zealand government to immediately accept 650 Albanian refugees. On 1 April 1999 the New Zealand Albanian Civic League, of which Krasniqi was president, organised a march and demonstration in central Auckland
to express their support for the US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
.
On 31 December 2002 the Governor-General of New Zealand
bestowed the Queen's Service Medal (QSM) for public service on Mazhar Krasniqi for his decades of community service to both the Albanian and wider Muslim communities on behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
. The investiture ceremony was held on Friday, 4 April 2003, at Government House in central Wellington
.
In August 2005 FIANZ celebrated its Silver Jubilee rather modestly by issuing a commemorative booklet in which Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi presented a one page message of congratulations and peace, attributing all glory to Allah alone.
That same year the New Delhi
, India, based Institute of Objective Studies released book entitled 100 Great Muslims of the 20th Century that identified the inaugural president of FIANZ, Mazhar Krasniqi, among them. His name stands besides other luminaries of the Islamic world such as Ahmed H. Deedat
, Alija Izetbegović
, Dr Mahathir Mohamed
, Al Hajj Muhammed Husain Al Amini, Imam Hassan Al Bana, Ismail-bey Gaspraly, King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud
and King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
, Malcolm X
, Muhammed Jinnah
, Maulana Muhammed Ilyas
, Muhammed Asad
, Professor Kurshid Ahmad, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini
, Sayyid Qutb
, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin
, Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi and many, many more.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Muslim community leader of Kosovar Albanian descent. He was the first president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand
Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand was set up in April 1979 by Mazhar Krasniqi and other Muslim community leaders to draw together the regional Islam organisations of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury into one centralised New Zealand-wide body.-Origins:Following the creation...
(FIANZ) in 1979 and a human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist
Overview
Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi, son of Shukri Krasniqi and Aisha Minushi, was born on 17 October 1931 in PristinaPristina
Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....
, Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
- in present day Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
. In 1950 he fled the Communist regime of Yugoslavia and sailed for New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
on board the refugee boat SS Goya
SS Goya
SS Goya was a Norwegian refugee ship that carried hundreds of eastern European refugees to New Zealand in 1951. Most notably it carried several men who went on to play a significant role in the development of the New Zealand Muslim Association including Mazhar Krasniqi and Nazmi Mehmeti.The ship...
. He arrived penniless in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
on 1 May 1951 and started to work at a variety of jobs throughout the decade including farming in Southland
Southland Region
Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region and is also a district within that region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura...
, and steam drilling around the Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
and Bay of Plenty
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
regions.
On 1 January 1956 he attended the '1st Moslem Congress' organised by the nascent New Zealand Muslim Association
New Zealand Muslim Association
New Zealand Muslim Association - the oldest Islamic institution in New Zealand. It was established in 1950. In 1959 it purchased a house in Ponsonby, central Auckland, and converted it into the first Islamic Centre in the country. In 1960 the NZMA invited Maulana Said Musa Patel from the Gujarat...
(NZMA) and became an extremely active member of the Executive Committee, of which he remained a member up to his retirement in 1992. He served as president twice, in 1975 and again in 1987.
In 1960 Krasniqi set up a restaurant named the 'Albania' in Panmure
Panmure, New Zealand
Panmure is a south-eastern suburb of Auckland City, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 11 kilometres southeast of the city centre, close to the western banks of the Tamaki River and the northern shore of the Panmure Basin...
where he became a very successful and prosperous businessman. In 1970 he opened a kiosk at the new Panmure 'Swimarama', and later set up the 'New Zealand Middle East Export Company' and also a waterbed business.
In 1965 Krasniqi attended an important international conference in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, as the NZMA delegate over 17 to 24 April (15 to 22 Zul Hijjah 1384), performed the Umrah
Umrah
The Umrah or is a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. In Arabic, Umrah means "to visit a populated place"...
and even brought back with him a 38 page document entitled the “Resolutions by General Islamic Conference; Second Session” as a souvenir. He extended his stay and made some important contacts with a number of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s and expatriate Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
there who were keen on importing halal
Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
meat from New Zealand.
In the 1970s Krasniqi developed extensive contacts with 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...
embassies in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, and continued to attend overseas conferences and events on behalf of the New Zealand Muslim community. He was also present at the foundation stone laying ceremony for New Zealand’s first mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
on 30 March 1979. The Mosque Committee members - Mazhar Krasniqi, Hajji Abdul Rahim Rasheed, Said Alvi, Mohammed Yakub Patel and Hajji Mohammed Hussein Sahib - all mortgaged their own houses to raise the necessary cash to complete the financial commitment needed by the builder.
In an important media interview in 1979 Krasniqi observed the increasing number of conversions to Islam :
"Most of them are people who have come into contact with Islam while travelling in the Middle East. We seem to be getting new members almost every week. If it goes on like this, we will soon be outnumbered by Kiwi Muslims. Seriously, though, this is one good reason why we urgently need a mosque - so we can have proper facilities for these new converts."
Further construction work for the hall extension on the mosque was started in 1987 when Krasniqi was president of the NZMA.
Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ)
Following the foundation ceremony for the first mosqueMosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in New Zealand, Mazhar Krasniqi went on to become the first president of the first national Muslim organisation, the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ). He was elected to the top post on 15 April 1979. The meeting was in fact actually held at the 17 Vermont Street property just weeks before work was to begin on building the country’s first mosque.
Late in 1980, Hajji Muhammad Ali Hrakan, General Secretary of the authoritative Muslim World League
Muslim World League
The Muslim World League is one of the largest Islamic non-governmental organizations. Muslim religious figures from 22 states founded it in Makkah in 1962.-Structure:...
(Rabitah Al-Alam Al-Islami), granted Rayes (literally Arabic for 'commander') Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi the right to issue halal
Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
certificates to export meat and food to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Five years later, with Dr Hajji Ashraf Choudhary
Ashraf Choudhary
Dr Ashraf Choudhary, QSO, is a Pakistani-New Zealand scientist in agricultural engineering and a member of the Parliament in New Zealand. He is a member of the Labour Party, and is New Zealand's first MP from South Asia and Pakistan....
as president of FIANZ, and after extensive negotiations with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board, a formal contract was arranged. Krasniqi was appointed the first FIANZ North Island Halal
Halal
Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
Supervisor on 16 September 1985. His work took him regularly to Wairoa
Wairoa
Wairoa is a town in New Zealand's North Island. It is the northernmost town in the Hawke's Bay region, and is located on the northern shore of Hawke Bay at the mouth of the Wairoa River and to the west of Mahia Peninsula...
, Omahu and Morewa on the East Coast. He resigned in 1986.
Retirement
During the 1992 NZMA AGMAnnual general meeting
An annual general meeting is a meeting that official bodies, and associations involving the public , are often required by law to hold...
Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi was appointed Patron, Haroon Aziz Rasheed from 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...
became president, and Feroze Ali the Secretary. The following year Krasniqi left community politics, and retired from both the NZMA and FIANZ. He later attended US Congessional hearings.
However during the 1999 Kosovo crisis
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
(when the Serbs expelled over one million Albanian Muslims from their homes in Kosovo), Krasniqi persuaded the New Zealand government to immediately accept 650 Albanian refugees. On 1 April 1999 the New Zealand Albanian Civic League, of which Krasniqi was president, organised a march and demonstration in central Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
to express their support for the US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
.
On 31 December 2002 the Governor-General of New Zealand
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
bestowed the Queen's Service Medal (QSM) for public service on Mazhar Krasniqi for his decades of community service to both the Albanian and wider Muslim communities on behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
. The investiture ceremony was held on Friday, 4 April 2003, at Government House in central Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
.
In August 2005 FIANZ celebrated its Silver Jubilee rather modestly by issuing a commemorative booklet in which Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi presented a one page message of congratulations and peace, attributing all glory to Allah alone.
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, India, based Institute of Objective Studies released book entitled 100 Great Muslims of the 20th Century that identified the inaugural president of FIANZ, Mazhar Krasniqi, among them. His name stands besides other luminaries of the Islamic world such as Ahmed H. Deedat
Ahmed Deedat
Ahmed Hussein Deedat was a Muslim writer and public speaker of Indian South African descent. He was best known for his numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as pioneering video lectures, most of which centered around Islam, Christianity and the Bible...
, Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegovic
Alija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
, Dr Mahathir Mohamed
Mahathir bin Mohamad
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad . is a Malaysian politician who was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister. His political career spanned almost 40 years.Born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah, Mahathir...
, Al Hajj Muhammed Husain Al Amini, Imam Hassan Al Bana, Ismail-bey Gaspraly, King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud
Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia
King Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia was the first monarch of the Third Saudi State known as Saudi Arabia. He was commonly referred to as Ibn Saud....
and King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Faisal of Saudi Arabia
Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamic Nationalism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian...
, Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, Muhammed Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum ....
, Maulana Muhammed Ilyas
Muhammad Ilyas
Hazrat Mawlana Ilyas was born in 1885 in a small town in the United Province of British India in a family of religious scholars. As a response to degradation in practice of Islamic principles and values among the common Muslim folk and efforts by organizations such as Arya Samaj to convert poorer...
, Muhammed Asad
Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad , was an Austrian Polish Jew who converted to Islam, and a 20th century journalist, traveler, writer, social critic, linguist, thinker, reformer, diplomat, political theorist, translator and scholar...
, Professor Kurshid Ahmad, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
, Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin
Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization...
, Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi and many, many more.