Islam

The Adelaide Mosque

The first Muslims arrived in South Australia in 1838, less than two years after the arrival of the first British settlers. The Adelaide Mosque in Little Gilbert Street was completed in 1888. Hadji Mulla Merban from Kandahar, Afghanistan, is said to have been the first spiritual leader of the Afghan community in South Australia, after the completion of the Mosque. The "Ghan" railway runs 2979km across central Australia from south to north - the name of this rail journey commemorates the contributions of the early Afghan settlers in Australia. Further information on the history of Muslims in Australia may be seen at http://www.icv.org.au/history.shtml

The Muslim population of Australia grew 40% from 1996 to 2001, when the Census recorded more than 280,000 Muslims in Australia, of whom one third were Australian-born.

An interesting paper, "Islam and Freemasonry", has just been published in Singapore. It may be seen at www.dglea.org/islam.html

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