Naveed Ahmed’s Kiwi Muslim Directory is into its second edition, but he now fears it will be the last.

MUSLIM GUIDE: Naveed Ahmed with his Kiwi Muslim Directory.

A Muslim, Mr Ahmed says he may not be able to fund printing a third edition himself.

“If I am not able to get support from the community or from the companies and advertisers, I won’t be able to do it,” he says.

Mr Ahmed, who migrated from India in 1998, decided to set up the Kiwi Muslim Directory last year after finding there were no services or publications in New Zealand that provided Muslims with essential information about Islamic information and Muslim businesses.

The law requires Muslims to follow regulations regarding what food can be eaten, as certain products (such as animal fat, pork, alcohol and other non-halal items) are regarded as harmful.

Methods for slaughtering animals for consumption are being covered by the law and restaurants can gain a certification from a halal-certifying authority that allows them to offer halal-food.

The Kiwi Muslim Directory lists food services and restaurants that follow these standards.

It is available online and at Islamic centres throughout the country and lists Muslim businesses and food services for halal-certified products.

It also includes background information about the religion, prayer times, a Ramadan timetable, a list of events and activities and a section with information for migrants.

Mr Ahmed says this will be particularly helpful to international students new to the country.

He and his wife, Farzana, started collecting addresses and contact details of Muslim businesses throughout New Zealand and began last year to put them onto a website, before publishing the first printed edition of the directory in May.

“We did 5000 copies last year and now we’re working on the second edition,” he says.

Most of the printing costs had been covered by Mr Ahmed’s private savings, despite the fact he was made redundant for his job as an information officer late last year.

“We got some support from advertisers. Helping the community was the main thought behind the project.”

Extending the directory and including a residential listing (similar to the White Pages) is one of the next steps he has planned.

“We think about putting in names, how people want to be called and how they are known within the community.”

Some people only knew him by his surname, while others called him Naveed, so it would be important to develop a system that allows people to search by either version.

Sultan Eusoff, executive manager of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, says the Kiwi Muslim Directory was useful for the community.

“There was quite a number of people who were searching for halal-products, halal-food and all that,” he says.

To get first-hand experience of life “behind the veil”, the Wellington librarian – with the help of local Muslims – wore a hijab to the Kilbirnie mosque.

“It was fascinating because I completely blended in,” she says.

“No-one blinked an eyelid.  I was completely, not invisible, but no-one noticed me. It was bizarre. You become part of them. It’s an identification. Once you put that on, you become Muslim.”

A Victoria film theory graduate (now working at Newtown Public Library), Helen decided to make a DVD about the Islamic culture in the capital city.

Called Our place – Your place, and based on her ethnic exploration, it helped Wellington City Libraries win an award for its contribution to race relations at the Human Rights Commission’s annual New Zealand Diversity Action Awards this year.

Helen’s interest began when she noticed that headscarves and ethnic dress were becoming a regular sight in the library.

Inspired by the diverse range of ethnicities and religions she dealt with daily, Helen sought to learn more about the people.

Visiting the Kilbirnie Mosque to get a taste of Islam was the logical place to start.

“Working at Newtown we get so many cultures coming into the library and I was just really interested, fascinated.

“It was partly because Islam is such a loaded topic at the moment, so I was really curious – what are the Muslims really like?”

She had previously made a film, A taste of Nineveh, which explores the Assyrian culture.

This motivated her to learn more about the diverse Islamic community in Wellington.

“The Assyrians are an entity in themselves, and the Muslims are quite different – I wanted to explore the other side.”

Her interest in learning about minority cultures living in Wellington originates from the portrayal of religions and foreign cultures in the media.

“There are so many stereotypes and preconceptions that you are given, you form, that I was really curious as to how they would stack up in reality.”

She adds our culture is quite feminist-based, and wearing headscarves or other concealing garb is seen as a sign of oppression.

The welcome atmosphere at the mosque and interaction with the women allayed her doubts on how she would be received.

“It was nice to throw some of these preconceptions away and see them as individuals. As people.”

The ethnic diversity at the Kilbirnie mosque is quite surprising.  Many have refugee backgrounds and lack confidence in their new country.

“You have to walk in their shoes a little bit before they will trust you.”

Following her positive experiences at the mosque, Helen visited a café in Lyall Bay and got the opposite reaction.

“Everyone stared.  It wasn’t glancing, it was directly staring for quite a while, and a lot of people did it.”

The waitress forgot her order, bought out the wrong thing and then forgot her cutlery.

“It was really weird.  It made me think – how difficult that would be dealing with that on a daily basis if you were a Muslim.”

Helen is fair-skinned, and her impression was Kiwis were disturbed seeing one of their own in Muslim garb.

“It’s just amazing how, you know just what you wear, completely affects how people see you and treat you, but it’s just a piece of cloth.”

So she was not treated as well as she expected?

“No, no, staring at someone directly is not respectful really.  It’s not treating you like you’re an equal.  It was bordering on rude.

“I don’t think you tend to see Muslims as people and that’s the problem with different ethnicities anyway, in a hijab makes it even more so.  People just look on them as something foreign.”

Wearing a niqab is something Corinne Poole (left) does every day.

A blue-eyed, fair-skinned, born and bred Kiwi, she converted to Islam six years ago.

Islam and the lifestyle obligations which go with it – no drinking, wearing headscarves – were alien to her before becoming Muslim.

Compared to the multi-ethnic crowds at the Kilbirnie mosque she stands out starkly – until she puts on her headdress.

Wearing a nijab or headscarf is an essential part of daily life as a Muslim, although how much you cover up in NZ differs between individuals.

Walking the street in her religious garb with her light complexion, she has found reactions are not always complimentary, but she simply ignores the jibes.

“The people who make comments would shout things at anyone who is different.”

Staring is rude…but

STARING is rude and New Zealanders aren’t wont to do it.

Celebrities love that about us.

But what’s it like to wear something out of the ordinary every day?

To gauge the reception people in full Muslim dress receive, NewsWire conducted a social experiment on Cuba St passers-by.

Dressed in a burqa with NewsWire cameraman ready, we captured the reaction of the public – and our perception was people were merely curious.

There were no derogatory comments or aggressive actions.

But there were a few prolonged stares (captured below), and most of the public gave a brief, discreet glance before looking away.

It is a place for prayer and worship, weddings, community gatherings, Ramadan dinners, Sunday school classes and holiday programmes.

The mosque also hosts tours, school visits, open days and ethnic food fairs in an effort to open its doors to the wider community.

On Sunday mornings the Mosque is a hive of activity.

In between sharing lunch and catching up with friends, classes are held on Quran reading and Islamic studies.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

A visit to the local mosque introduced Lyall Bay School’s youngest pupils to Muslim culture last term – but multicultural learning happens every day, say teachers.

The visit was part of the unit “A World in One School”, which focused on diversity and taught how cultures do the same activities, but differently.

The unit, for Years 1 to 3, included talks from local Greek people, and visiting the local mosque. Deputy principal Jan Cross says: “Now when they go past the mosque, it’s not a big mystery.” 

The school also celebrated its diverse cultures in a performance last week.

The Years 1 to 3 children dressed in costumes from the 15 ethnic groups represented in the school. They sang and danced a range of items, including counting songs, Maori and Pacific Island songs and the quintessential New Zealand Hokey Tokey.

Teacher Gary Tresch says: “Name a culture, there is probably one here – second or third generation.” 

The performance reflects the diverse local community of Lyall Bay, which is not only unique due to its cultural but also socioeconomic diversity, principal Dennis Thompson says.

“It is important to put the school out there as a centre point in the community, where not only the children congregate for learning, but also to acknowledge that the school is part of the community.”

The unit taught key competencies including participation, contribution, belonging and understanding of other cultures.