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PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHWL #0826/01 2970232
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P 240232Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3401
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHWL/USDAO WELLINGTON NZ PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 WELLINGTON 000826 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/ANP AND S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PINS PTER PREL KISL SMIG NZ
SUBJECT: KIWI MUSLIMS: WAHHABIS IN THEIR MIDST 
 
REF: A) WELLINGTON 811 B) WELLINGTON 341 C) 
 
     WELLINGTON 570 
 
Classified By: DCM David Keegan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
This cable was drafted by ConGen Auckland and approved by 
Embassy Wellington. 
 
¶1.    (SBU) SUMMARY: New Zealand Muslims are getting 
increased attention from broader society as the community 
faces internal divisions, Wahhabi influence from overseas 
groups, and discrimination.  Alleged Wahhabi activities have 
been at the heart of some publicized schisms involving mosque 
administrations and student groups.  Whether or not there are 
extremists in the community, Muslims are starting to feel a 
bit less welcome in New Zealand with periodic spikes in 
mosque desecrations and media attacks on Islam.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Internal divide 
--------------- 
 
¶2.    (SBU) The Federation of Islamic Associations in New 
Zealand (FIANZ) is an umbrella organization for smaller 
Muslim groups in New Zealand.  FIANZ is the most prominent 
Muslim organization in the country (see ref A) with the most 
extensive links to government and broader society, but not 
all Muslims feel represented by it. 
 
¶3.    (C) In a meeting with ConOff, Reza Khatami, president 
of the Aal-e-Muhammad Society (AEM), an unofficial student 
group at Auckland University, said FIANZ is essentially a 
Sunni establishment.  He said Shias do not feel represented 
by the national organization.  Although he claimed there are 
no tensions between FIANZ and the Shia community, he 
criticized FIANZ for not doing enough to educate New 
Zealanders about Islam.   A Shia himself, Khatami said AEM 
has some outreach activities but he did not give details. 
His predecessor and founding member of AEM, Shahin Soltanian, 
said there are approximately 8,000 Shias in New Zealand, most 
with roots in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and a 
smaller number hailing from Iraq. 
 
¶4.    (C) Soltanian, who was also a past president of 
Auckland University's Islamic Society (AUIS), a registered 
student group informally affiliated with FIANZ, was also 
critical of FIANZ during his meeting with ConOff.  He said 
tolerance of extremist activities by both FIANZ and AUIS has 
been a contentious issue within the Muslim community. 
 
Wahhabi influence 
----------------- 
 
¶5.    (C) Contrary to assertions by FIANZ president Javed 
Khan (see ref A) that there are no extremists in New Zealand, 
Soltanian told Conoff that Wahhabi groups have "overtly tried 
to influence New Zealand's Muslim society."  Soltanian said 
AUIS has sponsored speakers from Hizb ut-Tahrir and Al 
Haramain.  Soltanian claimed these two groups receive Saudi 
money for their activities.  AUIS's alleged drift towards or 
tolerance of Wahhabi ideology made it difficult for Shias and 
even some Sunnis to stay with the group, and so Soltanian and 
other disaffected members left to form AEM. 
 
¶6.    (C) Soltanian said the extremists' activities are not 
limited to the university campus; he claims that there are 
extremist preachers who operate with the full knowledge of 
FIANZ and the GNZ.  After 9/11, he said the GNZ deported a 
few rabble-rousers, but others operate without hindrance 
aside from casual surveillance by the Government.  He also 
claims that while he and others are trying to counter these 
groups' activities, most of the community remains silent for 
fear of being branded infidels.  Soltanian asserted that 
inaction by the government, acquiescence by Muslim groups 
like FIANZ, and the extremists' strong financial backing from 
abroad make it difficult to counter their growing influence. 
He said their activities often target young Muslims. 
 
¶7.    (C) ConOff's own visit to Ponsonby mosque, Auckland's 
oldest Islamic house of worship, provided a mixed picture. 
The imam wore traditional Arabic garb, sometimes indicative 
of Wahhabi leanings, but he followed orthodox, non-Wahhabi 
methods: during the sermon or "khutba" he praised the first 
four or "rightly guided" Caliphs, and he offered an 
additional prayer set prescribed by Islam's prophet after the 
 
WELLINGTON 00000826  002 OF 003 
 
 
congregational prayer )- steps often ignored by Wahhabis. 
The sermon focused on a traditional theme -) God's mercy )- 
and cited the common message of prophets from the Abrahamic 
faiths.  Posters were plastered on the mosque door for a 
protest the following day against Israeli actions in Lebanon 
(see ref C), but the protest was not mentioned in either the 
sermon or the community announcements that followed the 
imam's ministration. However, of the approximately 300 
worshippers attending the day's services, about 20%, mainly 
young adults of Arab appearance, were following Wahhabi-style 
worship methods. 
 
¶8.    (C) Dr. William Shepard, a retired associate professor 
at Canterbury University, states that internal divisions in 
the Muslim Association of Canterbury (MAC) are partly due to 
the perception that the current management is Wahhabi.  In a 
yet unpublished update of his extensive research paper on New 
Zealand Muslims, which he confidentially shared with ConOff, 
Shepard writes "The present (MAC) management, commonly 
labelled (sic) 'Wahhabi' by its opponents, sought in 2003 to 
turn the mosque property over to a trust dominated by the 
Saudi Al-Haramain Trust in return for money to establish a 
school...The opposition group has vigorously opposed these 
efforts, aided by the discovery that some branches of the 
Haramain Trust had been involved with terrorist activity, and 
has even sought help from the local municipal authorities." 
In March, Canterbury newspaper The Press reported that MAC's 
finances had been frozen as a result of a power struggle 
within management. The opposition group promised to hold 
elections later to decide on a permanent management board for 
MAC. 
 
¶9.    (C) Wahhabi footprints, though light, appear to have a 
long history.  Shepard's paper notes that the formation of 
FIANZ in 1979 was spurred by the visit of a Saudi delegation 
that encouraged the various Muslim groups to unite.  But 
while their current level of influence is difficult to 
ascertain, post-9/11 crackdowns on terrorist financing seems 
to have impaired some of their activities. 
 
Muslim bashing 
-------------- 
 
¶10.   (SBU) The community also faces external problems. 
Every few months the press reports allegations of 
discrimination against Muslims.  In May, a group of New 
Zealand Muslims accused the Customs Service of racial 
profiling.  The Dominion Post published an op-ed piece in 
February of this year in which the writer accused Muslims of 
being a "fifth column" for Tehran and Damascus. Following the 
summer's Heathrow hijacking scare, FIANZ asked Muslim women 
to avoid wearing Islamic headdress, and advised mosques to 
hire security firms to protect property. 
 
¶11.   (SBU) Don Brash and his National party, as well as 
other right-of-center parties, are also seen as hostile to 
Muslims.  In recent weeks, Khan publicly criticized Brash for 
what FIANZ and some others believed were exclusionary remarks 
toward immigrants, especially Muslims.  Foreign Minister 
Winston Peters is infamous amongst Muslim New Zealanders for 
a remark in July 2005 that likened the community to a 
multi-headed hydra, saying even "moderate" or "mainstream" 
Muslims come from the same body as extremists )- "they fit 
hand and glove." 
 
¶12.   (U) There have been spates of anti-Muslim vandalism; 
after the London bombings in July 2005 mosque walls were 
spray-painted and windows were broken.  Mosques were also 
attacked this past July during the Israeli-Lebanese conflict 
(see ref A). 
 
¶13.   (C) At a group dinner attended by ConOff and active 
members of the Muslim community, Anjum Rahman, a former 
Labour parliamentary candidate and head of the Islamic 
Women's Council, said she was alienated at work after she 
decided to wear Islamic headdress or "hijab". Some cited 
incidents in which Muslims were passed over for jobs 
ostensibly because of their faith.  And Ali Ikram -- a TV One 
reporter and past participant in the Department's 
international visitor program (see ref B) -- said possible 
discrimination aside, many young and educated Muslim New 
Zealanders are, like their non-Muslim compatriots, leaving 
for Australia to find jobs.  The group said this local brain 
drain is depriving the community of its most promising 
 
WELLINGTON 00000826  003 OF 003 
 
 
members who could also help uninitiated Kiwi Muslims 
integrate more easily into the broader society (see ref A). 
 
¶14.   (C) COMMENT: Reftel A showed that the first large wave 
of Muslim immigrants from the 1960s through the 1980s had no 
choice but to interact with their non-Muslim neighbors, and 
was thus quickly initiated into traditional New Zealand life. 
 They were largely English-speaking, educated service 
providers whose language abilities and job skills dovetailed 
with Kiwi society.  However, since the 1990s, immigrants with 
limited language and educational backgrounds have come into 
an already established Muslim community with mosques, Halal 
meat butchers, and government services available in their 
native language.  If not carefully managed, this could lead 
to the kind of insulation seen in some Muslim populations in 
Europe that can potentially serve as a breeding ground for 
homegrown extremists.  While we don't see extremism taking 
hold here yet, our GNZ counterparts and many Muslim leaders 
recognize the ingredients are there.   END COMMENT. 
McCormick