Islam in the Cook Islands
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Islam in the Cook Islands is a tiny religious minority in the Cook Islands, an associated state of New Zealand. The island nation's census does not calculate the number of Muslims, it is estimated that about less than 0.10% of the islands' population of about 15,000 is Muslim across the Pacific.{{cite news |last1=Ruslan |first1=Heri |title=Ranumnya Islam di Cook Islands |url=https://khazanah.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/islam-mancanegara/13/03/04/mj406p-ranumnya-islam-di-cook-islands? |access-date=8 February 2025 |date=4 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241206042604/https://khazanah.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/islam-mancanegara/13/03/04/mj406p-ranumnya-islam-di-cook-islands |archive-date=6 December 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Kettani |first1=Houssain |title=Muslim Population in Oceania: 1950 – 2020 |journal=International Journal of Environmental Science and Development |date=June 2010 |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=167 |url=http://www.ijesd.org/papers/30-D439.pdf |access-date=8 February 2025}} One of the earliest Cook Islanders to convert to Islam was Tatiana Kautai.{{cite book |editor1-last=Crocombe |editor1-first=Ronald Gordon|title=Asia in the Pacific Islands: Replacing the West |date=2007 |publisher=IPS publications |isbn=9789820203884 |pages=374-375 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iDg9oAkwsXAC&pg=PA375 |accessdate=13 August 2017}} Islam is a small religious minority in the Cook Islands.
History
In 2018, the first mosque in the Cook Islands called Masjid Fatimah Rarotonga was established in Titikaveka, on the south-east side of Rarotonga. As of November 2024, it was led by Mohammed Azam and had a congregation consisting of Cook Islanders, Indonesians, Filipinos, Fijians and Indians{{cite news |last1=Mika |first1=Talaia |title=Masjid Fatimah Rarotonga: Cook Islands has its first mosque |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/533872/masjid-fatimah-rarotonga-cook-islands-has-its-first-mosque |access-date=8 February 2025 |work=Cook Islands News |publisher=Radio New Zealand |date=15 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203210828/https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/533872/masjid-fatimah-rarotonga-cook-islands-has-its-first-mosque |archive-date=3 December 2024}} In February 2025, Rarotonga Muslim community spokesperson Tatiana Kautai expressed concern about rising Islamophobia in the local media, social media, the removal of the mosque pin on Google Maps and the emergence of a Cook Islands Christian Movement seeking to lobby the Cook Islands government to declare the island state a Christian country.{{cite news |last1=Mika |first1=Talaia |title=Religious debate heats up in Cook Islands |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/541002/religious-debate-heats-up-in-cook-islands |access-date=8 February 2025 |work=RNZ |date=5 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250208025529/https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/541002/religious-debate-heats-up-in-cook-islands |archive-date=8 February 2025|url-status=live}}
See also
References
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