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History of Fiji Muslim
League
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Foreword
One's quest to understand oneself and attain
one's identity necessitates the study of history. Indeed history
provides the source of knowing what happened in the past in
order to fully understand and appreciate the present. According
to the famous historian A. L. Rowse*, "Everything has its
history." So does FML, which is now 77 years old.
All historians agree that history is an
integral part of the social fabric of any society or
organisation. Indeed as the famous scholar Saiyad Qutub** has
said, "The most important need of the day is to help the Muslim
acquire confidence in himself and his past so that he is able to
face the future with hope, courage and high resolve." It is with
this spirit that the following brief history of FML has been
written by Dr. Ahmed Ali, a scholar and historian, who is a past
Vice President of FML. The views expressed in this article are
those of the author and not FML. Br. Ahmed Ali may be contacted
through FML.
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*A.L. Rowse 1946, The Use of History, English
University Press, London.
**S. Qutub, 'Forward' in Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi
1973, Islam and the World, Academy of Islamic Research and
Publications, Lucknow.
Muslims as Indentured Labourers
Muslim settlement in Fiji derives from the
indenture system which between 1879 and 1916 brought 60,536
labourers from India, of whom Muslims constituted 14.3%. Muslims
numbered 5098 males and 2537 females; almost 90% were aged
between 11 and 30 years.
They came under girmit, a five year contract
which deprived them of their human rights and brutalized them
for the profits of their employer. The labourers emigrated to
Fiji to escape the oppressive social and economic conditions of
India. They were encouraged to come and remain in Fiji by the
British colonial rulers of Fiji and India. The apprehensions and
protests of Fijian chiefs regarding the influx of Indian
labourers were brushed aside to accommodate the demands of
imperialist capitalism.
In a situation where the labourers were
overworked, women sexually abused, and violence was the British
rule of law, Muslims clung to Islam; and even transmitted it to
their children born in Fiji. In this remarkable achievement,
Muslim women played a courageous and indispensable role, even
though the evils of girmit assaulted their moral integrity most
of all. It was the fortitude provided by their Islamic faith
that enabled Muslims to survive the horrendous sufferings and
injustices of girmit.
From 1884 onwards, many who had completed
girmit and remained in Fiji, formed their own Muslim communities
in different parts of Fiji. They tended to be small, often
isolated, as Muslims always remained a tiny minority but
recognizing the need for contact and cooperation among
themselves for social and religious enhancement. There were from
the beginning Muslims who were literate and sufficiently versed
in Islam to assume leadership roles, including in such
fundamental matters as leading prayers.
Islam is a faith that can be transmitted and
preserved through oral instruction, through memorizing mandatory
prayers and verses of the Holy Quran. Obligations can be
fulfilled without public display. Milad gatherings, initially in
homes, helped foster an Islamic identity and inculcated a sense
of unity. By 1894 Muslims in Navua were slaughtering cattle to
celebrate Baqr Eid, and a mosque was there by 1900. In 1902
Labasa had "a mosque of corrugated iron and weatherboard".
Muslim efforts to proclaim their distinct
Islamic/Muslim identity is evident in 1909 before the first
Education Commission, in their request for Urdu, to be taught in
the Persian script to their children. Urdu remains an essential
symbol of Muslim identity in Fiji - today it is taught in
schools and students are able to learn it as a public
examination subject as far as Form 7; its retention remains at
the forefront of Fiji Muslim League's education objectives.
Islam is a faith that emphasizes community
participation and the need to pursue community goals saw the
emergence of community organizations. In 1915, the Anjuman
Hidayat ul-Islam petitioned government for the solemnization of
Muslim marriages by a kazi and recommended its secretary's
appointment as one for the Suva area. In Lautoka the Isha Ithul
Islam emerged and in 1916 was directing its efforts towards
building a mosque there.
Establishment of FML
By 1908 there were about 4000 Muslims in Fiji,
a third of them still indentured, Around Suva there were only
about 70 Muslims, without a school or a mosque. But numbers in
the capital city steadily grew, and Suva in 1919 saw the Anjuman-e-Islam,
the forerunner of the Fiji Muslim League, meeting frequently in
Toorak to advance the interests of the small Muslim community in
the capital. Among those who attended the meeting on 31 October
1926 at the Jame Masjid in Toorak to establish what became the
Fiji Muslim League were: Abdul Aziz Khan, a successful
businessman, who was elected the first President of the FML;
Nasir Ali, secretary, Nasirud Dean, vice-president, Atah
Mohammed, treasurer, Khifayat Hussein, assistant secretary,
Mohammed Tahir Khan of Lautoka was there representing Ba, Nadi,
and Lautoka.. Moulvi Rasul Buksh represented the Nausori-Rewa
area. Others present included Moulvi Rahim Buksh; Abdul Gafoor
Sahu, Fordil Khan, Wali Mohammed and Nure Abdul Khan.
They came from all walks of life, workers as
well as self-employed entrepreneurs, several Fiji-born among
them, all of them of independent means and minds determined to
secure permanence for Muslims and Islam in Fiji. They organized
to pursue Muslim goals as the 1920's were tumultuous years. The
industrial strikes of 1920 and 1921 had isolated those who came
from India and heightened Fijian and European antagonism towards
them. There was also emerging communal militancy among Indians
inspired by visitors from India and events there; making the
small Muslim community apprehensive and more conscious of its
Islamic distinctness. Muslims felt a need for a voice of their
own, articulating their specific concerns and aspirations, hence
their Muslim League, patterned on the sub-continent original.
Role of FML in Education and Welfare
While the Fiji Muslim League has remained
generally faithful to its original objectives in working towards
the social alleviation of Fiji's Muslims, its greatest
enterprise has been in the field of education. Its first venture
was a school already in existence in 1926, known initially as
Islamic Girls School, today's co-educational Suva Muslim Primary
in Nabua. Today, the Fiji Muslim League through its branches,
twenty-six of them of varying sizes, owns and manages seventeen
primary and five secondary schools plus a tertiary institution
(Islamic Institute of the South Pacific). The Fiji Muslim League
accepts as students and staff members of all ethnic groups
domiciled in Fiji. It does nevertheless ensure the special
Islamic character of its educational institutions. 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.
Its schools are well patronized by Muslim
students and generally their academic performance is of the
highest standard. Increasing numbers are enrolling in tertiary
institutions locally and abroad. There is a steady stream of
Muslim diploma and graduate holders, some through scholarships,
most through the sacrifices and efforts of their families.
Muslim parents place a very high premium in seeking secondary
and tertiary education for their sons and increasingly for their
daughters. The Fiji Muslim League provides help for tertiary
studies for needy Muslims through loans from its Education Trust
and the Islamic Development Bank. 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. Most of the
latter in recent times have been allocated for training Muslim
female doctors; some have qualified and are working in Fiji.
The demands for assistance for tertiary
studies are greater than the resources of the FML permit.
Emigration is reducing the proportion of Muslims in our schools
while that of others is increasing. Similarly, the FML is losing
its members, especially young professionals who are leaving Fiji
for greener pastures elsewhere. While this outflow has been a
feature of Fiji's Muslim society since the 1960s, it has
accelerated as a result of Fiji's political troubles of 1987 and
2000 and also as a consequence of more flexible immigration
rules in Australia, New Zealand and North America.
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 even housed, and Muslim children
in school.
FML and Politics
The Fiji Muslim League has always been active
in safeguarding all aspects of Muslim life. Various petitions in
the 1930s and memoranda and letters since then to government
bear testimony of its dedication. Though not a political
organization, the FML speaks on political issues affecting
Muslims. Since 1929 it has sought to obtain representation for
Muslims, in the Legislative Council till 1970, and in Parliament
(both the House of Representatives and the Senate) since 1970.
Likely success in 1931 was thwarted by Indian influence in India
and in 1965 and subsequently by Indian political leaders in
Fiji, sometimes with the assistance of some Muslim themselves.
Indian leadership has preferred to keep Muslims within its own
racial classification as the Muslim presence swells Indian
numbers and enables demands for a greater share for Indians in
the politics and resources of the country --- gains are not
commensurately transferred to the Muslim community.
Many challenges have come its way: internal
strife, sectarian divisiveness, economic hardship, political
exclusion; all have hitherto been overcome through the courage
and determination of its members to advance their Muslim
organization for the greater good of Islam.
FML Personalities
The success of the Fiji Muslim League owes
immensely to the devoted and generous service of many Muslims
down the years. Of the most recent, was the late Sher Mohammed
Khan Sherani, President from 1961 to 1966 and then continuously
from 1973 till his death in 1988. He also served from the 1930's
at branch level. His service was dedicated and selfless,
frequently from personal resources and at great sacrifice. His
successor till 1995, Abdul Rauf, and now Patron, also served
many years in various capacities. Some of old were India-born
Said Hassan (lawyer), Mirza Salim Buksh (civil servant), Moulvi
Rahim Buksh, Moulvi Taj Mohammed, Rahmatullah Khan and locals
Anwar Shah, Hasan Raza, Molvi Nur Ali, S.M.Dean, Bahadur Ali,
Gulab Khan, Nizamud Dean, and some more recently,
lawyer/politicians, S.M.Koya, M.T.Khan and Faiz Sherani; as well
as Mohammed Razak Akbar, Ramzan Ali, Sher Mohammed Khan, Ishaq
Ali, Moulvi Sayyed Ishaq, Master Ahmed Ali, Master M.T. Khan,
Fazal Khan, Riaz Dean and Maulana Bashir Ahmed Diwan. These are
only some.
Muslim Women
Throughout Muslim women have played a critical
role in ensuring the continuity of Islam in Fiji. They have been
mothers, wives and teachers, usually in the background, thereby
making them faceless despite their essential and invaluable
contribution. Evidence exists of a Muslim women's organization
after 1926 but it faded away to be temporarily revived in
1945-46. It was in 1968 in Lautoka that the Fiji Zanana League
was cinstituted and since then it has played a daily part in the
social and religious life of Muslims here. Two important
contributions, out of several, are those of Mrs Amina Koya and
Mrs Noorjehan Dean.
Muslim Sports
In 1944 out of the first Muslim soccer
inter-district tournament in Sigatoka the Fiji Muslim Sports
Association was founded. Of its three initiators, M.T.Khan,
Aligarh graduate and lawyer, Nur Ali from Toorak, only Sher
Mohammed Khan is still with us. This association since its
inception has made a sterling contribution in bringing young
Muslims together annually in sports. Of late its spirit appears
to have flagged and it needs to return to the dedication of its
earlier stalwarts.
Muslim Youth
There is also a very active youth movement
tracing its origins to the 1960's, whose executive meets
regularly and organizes camps and other gatherings for young
Muslims. It has a national outreach, with members from high
schools as well as tertiary institutions and university
graduates and professionals in the workforce. Recently it has
organized a wing to facilitate the interests of young educated
Muslim women.
Ownership of FML
Though the Fiji Muslim League has not
attempted to be a mass movement it has nonetheless throughout
its seventy-seven years with its extensive range of involvement
in all aspects of public affairs and in serving the religious
needs of all Muslims embraced all Muslims. Every Muslim family
in Fiji at some time or other has provided participants at
branch or national level, directly or indirectly. All have
contributed when the need has arisen. The Fiji Muslim League
belongs to all the Muslims of Fiji, and to many now living
abroad.
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