New Zealand Muslim Association (NZMA) - the oldest Islamic institution in New Zealand. It was established in 1950. In 1959 it purchased a house in Ponsonby

Ponsonby, New Zealand

Ponsonby is an inner-city suburb of Auckland City located 2 km west of the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. The suburb is oriented along a ridge running north-south, which is followed by the main street of the suburb, Ponsonby Road....

, central Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, and converted it into the first Islamic Centre in the country. In 1960 the NZMA invited Maulana Said Musa Patel

Maulana Said Musa Patel

Ahmed Said Musa Patel was the first Imam in New Zealand and served as the principal spiritual and religious advisor to the Islamic community here from 1960 to 1986....

 from the Gujarat to become New Zealand's first Imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

. In 1967 this house was sold and another bought; in 1972 this too was sold and another acquired at 17 Vermont Street, Ponsonby. In 1979 the house on this site was removed and construction work began to build New Zealand's first real mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

.

Also in 1979 the NZMA was a founding constituent member of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ), the national Muslim organisation.

Former presidents of the NZMA include Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

-born Mazhar Krasniqi

Mazhar Krasniqi

Mazhar Krasniqi , is a New Zealand Muslim community leader of Kosovar Albanian descent. He was the first president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand in 1979 and a human rights activist-Overview:...

 (1975 and 1987–88) and Nazmi Mehmeti

Nazmi Mehmeti

Nazmi Mehmeti , also recorded as “Mehmetovitch” on the SS Goya, was an Albanian born on 25 March 1918 in Rechani, Macedonia, near Gostivar. He came to New Zealand in 1951 at the age of 33...

 from the Republic of Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 (1963). The longest serving Executive Committee member between 1956 and 1981 was Hajji Avdo Musovich (1919–2001), originally from Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

.

The current president of the Association is Imtiaz Ali and the current Secretary is Feroze Ali (no relation).