A man from the city of Auckland has launched the first translation of the Holy Qur'an in the ethnic language of the New Zealand native tongue: The Maori language.

The proportion of Māori followers of Islam is low. Census figures show the number of Māori Muslims increased from 99 to 708 in the 10 years to 2001, and to 1,074 by 2006. Despite this growth, the 2006 Māori Muslim community was no more than 0.19 percent of the Māori population (565,329). Traditional beliefs form the background of most Māori religious thought, with others belonging to one of several Christian churches, or syncretic churches such as Ratana.

Shakil Ahmad Monir age 81, told Fairfax Media that it took him a period between six and seven years to learn the language. "It was quite hard, but I didn't give up," he said.

It also took Mr Monir nearly twenty years to publish the first half of the Qur'an which is referred to as the "Kuranu Tapu" in the Māori language.

A copy of this Qur'an was also presented to King Tuheitia at a marae outside Hamilton, which gave Mr Monir an opportunity to address a large group of Māori in their own language  "It was so nice, the people cheered after I'd finished" he said.