Choice of Mosque and Ethnolinguistic Homophily: Muslim Migrants in Auckland

Figures & data

Table 1. Participants’ biographic information.

Participant, gender & denomination	Country of origin & language(s) spoken^a	Education	Years in NZ	Mosque attendance frequency
P1 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Pashto (5)	MA	6	3/week
P2 (f) Sunni	Pakistan, Pashto (5)	BA	5	Daily^b
P3 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Pashto (3)	BA	3	2/week
P4 (m) Sunni	Afghanistan, Pashto (4)	BA	21	Daily
P5 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Pashto (3)	PhD	10	2/week
P6 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Pashto & Urdu (6)	BA	7	Daily
P7 (f) Sunni	Pakistan, Pashto (3)	Diploma	5	Daily
U1 (m) Sunni	India, Urdu (3)	BA	3	Daily
U2 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Urdu (4)	MA	3	1/week
U3 (m) Shi’a	Pakistan, Urdu (3)	MA	3	1/month
U4 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Urdu (3)	MA	20	Daily
U5 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Urdu (3)	MA	5	Daily
U6 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Urdu & English (6)	MA	1	Daily
U7 (m) Sunni	Pakistan, Urdu (3)	BA	8	Daily
U8 (m) Sunni	India, Urdu (6)	MA	19	1/week
P16 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (3)	PhD	19	1/month
P17 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	Secondary	10	Occasional^c
P18 (m) Shi’a	Afghanistan, Dari/Farsi (5)	Secondary	15	1/week
P19 (f) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	PhD	19	No^d
P20 (f) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	PhD	5	1/month
P21 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	MA	23	Occasional^c
P22 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	MA	3	Occasional^c
P23 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	MA	4	Occasional^c
P24 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	MA	2.5	1/month
P25 (m) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	MA	3	1/month
P26 (f) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	BA	1	Occasional^c
P27 (f) Shi’a	Iran, Farsi (2)	BA	7	1/month
P28 (f) Shi’a	Bahrain, Arabic (3)	Diploma	32	1/week
P29 (m) Shi’a	Iraq, Arabic (3)	BA	29	5/week
P30 (f) Shi’a	Afghanistan, Dari/Farsi (5)	BA	17	1/week

^aThe participants' first language(s) is followed by the number of additional languages they know. These include English and languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Memoni, Farsi and Arabic.

^bDaily: This can mean once or multiple times a day.

^c“Occasional” refers to the attendance for special religious events only, not for regular prayer.

^dThis is the only participant who did not frequent a mosque at the time of data collection, although she previously did and her responses are based on this experience.

Table 2. Criteria guiding the choice of mosque.

Criteria	Total (n = 30)	Sunni (n = 14)	Shi’a (n = 16)
(a) Importance of connections (family/friends)	18 (60%)	5 (36%)	11 (81%)
(b) Use of social media & the Internet	12 (40%)	2 (14%)	7 (44%)
(c) Convenient location	26 (87%)	14 (100%)	12 (75%)
(d) Importance of ethnicity or language	26 (87%)	10 (71%)	16 (100%)
(e) Quality	7 (23%)	1 (7%)	6 (38%)
(f) Additional activities	21 (70%)	8 (57%)	13 (81%)
(g) Community involvement in mosque affairs	11 (37%)	2 (14%)	9 (56%)
(h) The imam	16 (53%)	3 (21%)	13 (81%)
(i) Importance of politics	8 (27%)	1 (7%)	7 (44%)
(j) Mosques not selected as appropriate	12 (40%)	1 (7%)	11 (69%)
(k) Limited mosques restrict choice	15 (50%)	3 (21%)	12 (75%)
(l) No other choice	7 (23%)	0	7 (44%)

Table 3. Importance of attendance at mosque.

Criteria	Total (n = 30)	Sunni (n = 14)	Shi’a (n = 16)
(a) Attend social or educational events	27 (90%)	13 (93%)	14 (88%)
(b) Attend religious events (other than prayer)	20 (67%)	8 (57%)	12 (75%)
(c) Attendance of family (or social circle) at same mosque	25 (83%)	9 (64%)	16 (100%)
(d) Intergenerational religious, cultural & language transmission	24 (80%)	11 (79%)	13 (81%)
(e) Mosque as place for heritage language maintenance	10 (33%)	4 (29%)	6 (38%)
(f) Accommodates different ethnolinguistic groups	30 (100%)	14 (100%)	16 (100%)
(g) Feeling of belonging in Auckland/NZ	30 (100%)	14 (100%)	16 (100%)
(h) Sense of wellbeing	22 (73%)	10 (79%)	12 (75%)
(i) Nostalgia for homeland	19 (63%)	10 (71%)	9 (56%)
(j) No connection to identity	10 (33%)	0	10 (63%)