Dear Editor, Unlike many of your readers, I decided to establish how Cook Islands News was able to expose that there was a mosque located in Kauare, Rarotonga, and found that it was through looking at Google Maps Rarotonga (GMR) which showed that there was a mosque called “Masjid Fatimah” located in Kauare, Titikaveka.

After this news hit Rarotonga, landowners reached out to me and expressed their opposition to the mosque being located on their land, and asked what they could do about it. A search of the land title revealed that a Residential lease had been granted to one Etita Azam, a landowner, but that GMR was now showing her private home as a mosque. On 21 November 2024, a sister of Etita met with her brother-in-law, Mr Azam, as Etita was overseas, and asked that I be present to explain to him how unhappy landowners were to discover through the newspaper that there was a mosque on their land.

Mr Azam was very sorry that he had caused offence. I explained that in the Cook Islands, all land is customarily owned and granted by landowners for specific purposes, and that the land could only be used for that purpose unless landowners varied the usage through the Court process. I explained that the issue was not that he and his family and others were praying in his home and practicing their faith, as it was their fundamental right to do so, but rather, that by pinning it on GMR as a mosque, it sent a false message to the world that there was an established mosque on Rarotonga, and by doing so, it varied the use of his wife’s Residential lease.

Mr Azam’s sister-in-law asked if he could remove the pin locating their home as a mosque on GMR, and that she and other landowners would not have any problem with him quietly praying in his own home, as many of us do in our own homes every day. Mr Azam was very gracious, and again expressed how sorry he was to have caused offence to the landowners, and that he would look at how he could remove the pin locating his home as a mosque.

I have been overseas for a few days and arrived back yesterday, and was happy to see that there is no longer a pin showing Mr Azam’s home as a mosque. I have advised concerned landowners and they are very happy.

I hope this ends the matter about a mosque in Rarotonga, and also the discrimination shown to Mr Azam and his family. Cook Islands News should also reciprocate and report that there is no mosque on Rarotonga.

I did explain to Mr Azam that if he was to build a mosque that he would have to obtain land for that purpose and go through the proper channels to establish such on Rarotonga, and he was very grateful for the assistance.

Yours sincerely

Tere Carr