Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam (Lahore) — Fiji

Printing presses, prayer halls, and debate. The Lahore-aligned Ahmadi Anjuman formalised in the 1930s and built one of Fiji’s earliest Muslim publishing and outreach networks.

Founding & key people

The Lahore Ahmadiyya movement spread globally in the early 20th century by sending missionaries and literature across the Commonwealth and beyond. In Fiji, the society formalised in the 1930s under the colony’s Religious Bodies Registration framework (contemporary notes cite 3 October 1934). Early lay leaders included Mohammed Towahir Khan, Mohammed Sahu Khan, and X.K.N. Dean, who emphasised education and print alongside worship and prayer.

Why it mattered

• Publishing & study: Reading circles and printed outreach normalised scholarship in public religious life; local issues of Paigham-e-Haqq were circulated from Suva.
• Community spaces: Mission houses doubled as classrooms and prayer halls; the Nadi mission house later became the Aqsa Mosque.
• Pluralism: Lectures, translations and debates broadened Fiji’s Muslim intellectual life beyond the mosque pulpit and encouraged civic participation.

Flashpoints & campaigns

• Prayer access and governance: As the Lahore branch organised independently, disputes over access to established mosques in Suva prompted consolidation of its own registered body and worship spaces.
• Public literature: English and Urdu tracts, sermons and apologetic works—reflecting the Lahore school’s rationalist tone—were widely circulated to wider audiences, including non-Muslims.

Today

The AAIIL remains a smaller stream within Fiji’s Muslim landscape, with activity centred around Suva (Flagstaff) and historic properties in Nadi. Its legacy endures in buildings, collections and an ethos that pairs worship with study and publishing.

Legacy

The Lahore Anjuman set an early precedent for Muslim civil society in Fiji—books, classes, mission houses and study circles—alongside prayer. Its story also reflects the intra-Muslim debates that shaped institutions and public life from the 1930s onward.

Gallery

Sources

• Lahore Ahmadiyya movement global outreach histories (missions, publications).
• AAIIL Fiji notes and directories (registration in the 1930s; early leaders; mission houses; Paigham-e-Haqq).
• Masjid Noor address references (12 Bau Street, Flagstaff, Suva).
• Historic imagery: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections (1971 image) and Wikimedia Commons file pages (licences and provenance), including the 1945 Nadi mosque photograph.