Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

is a minority religion in the island nation

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

. With the introduction of Ahmadiyya religion in 1985 by

Ahmadi Muslims Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

, there are approximately 50 Ahmadi Muslims in the country, of which all are members of the Ahmadiyya movement. Due to the country's small population of 10,679, this represents 0.46% of Tuvalu. The Tuvalu Mosque, in Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu, is the only mosque in the country.

History

Islam was first introduced to the island nation by a British Ahmadi Muslim of Pakistani descent, Iftikhar A. Ayaz, who works as the British consular representative to Tuvalu Islands. In 1985, he came to Tuvalu, and in out of office hours, he endeavoured to introduce the Islamic faith to the local population. With several converts to the faith, Ayaz requested the headquarters of the Community in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to send a missionary to the Islands. As a result, Hafiz Jibrail, a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian missionary, who was already based in the South Pacific at the time, arrived in 1989, approximately four years after the introduction of Islam to the nation. However, in 1991 Hafiz Jibrail had to be transferred to the

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

Islands and thus was replaced by Abdul Ghaffar, another Ghanaian missionary to the Community. Nonetheless, having served the Islands for roughly 5 years, he returned to serve his home country, Ghana. After a lag of several years, during which the islands had no missionary, Abdul Hakeem Boateng, another Ghanaian missionary arrived in 2003, who served there until 2009. Since 2009, Muhammad Idris, an

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n missionary to the Ahmadiyya Community, is now the current and first non-Ghanaian missionary to Tuvalu. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community translated the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

into the Tuvaluan language in 1990. The Tuvalu mosque, first constructed in 1991, is the only mosque in the Islands.

References

{{Tuvalu-stub

History

See also

References