👆 WATCH ChaiChat&Community interview with Zia Ahmad OAM.
There are people who speak about community, and then there are people who build it with their hands, their time, and their steady presence.
For more than 50 years, Zia Ahmad—or Zia Bhai as I call him—has been one of those people. When the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours were announced, and his name appeared with the Order of Australia Medal (OAM), many in the community simply nodded.
It felt right. It felt earned. It felt like recognition for a lifetime of work done without noise or ego.
Sitting with him for my Chai, Chat & Community podcast, I realised very quickly this was not just a story about achievement. It was a story about a man who has spent his entire life holding people together.
A beginning shaped by purpose
Zia Bhai’s story starts in India, where his father, Dr Qazi Ashfaq Ahmad, was a respected professor of mechanical engineering. In 1971, father and son made the decision to migrate to Australia. Zia Bhai and his family’s departure was delayed by the India-Pakistan war, but they eventually arrived in Sydney later that year, ready to start again in a country that was still new to multicultural life.
The Muslim community at the time was tiny. There were no mosques, no halal shops, no cultural networks. But the Ahmad family had come to build a life, and they began doing exactly that.
Within six months, they bought a 4 bedroom home with a granny flat — made possible by the generosity of a family friend, Ted Jameson, who loaned them $5000 and another loan of $5000 obtained from a credit union with the Commonwealth Bank providing the rest of the $22,000.
That granny flat would become the first office of the Australian Islamic Mission. A simple act of kindness became the foundation of something much larger.
A father’s example
To understand Zia Bhai, you must understand his father. Orphaned young, raised by a grandfather who lived to 103, and driven by a belief that service is a duty, not a choice, Dr Qazi Ashfaq Ahmad shaped his son’s worldview in ways that still echo today.
He was an engineering professor, but also a self taught scholar who studied religions, languages, and ideas so he could understand the world directly, not through others. His motto was simple: “Do or die.” If you take on a task, you give it everything.
He was involved in interfaith work long before it became common. He visited churches, synagogues, and community groups—building relationships based on respect and curiosity. He received his own OAM in 2020 and passed away in 2021 at the age of 93. His legacy lives on in the work Zia Bhai continues.
Building a voice for the community
The Ahmad family’s publishing journey began in 1973, when Zia Bhai and his father started producing newsletters and magazines from their granny flat. What began as a small publication grew into something far more significant.
In 1984, the family invested in one of the first Macintosh computers in Australia—a bold decision that placed them at the forefront of a new era in publishing. It allowed them to produce work that would have otherwise required equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Then, in 1991, during the first Gulf War, Zia Bhai launched the Australasian Muslim Times (AMUST). It was multilingual from the start—English, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Persian, and Bosnian—reflecting the diversity of the community it served.
After retiring at 60, Zia Bhai relaunched AMUST in full colour in 2014. For 12 years, it has not missed a single issue. That consistency is not about deadlines. It is about duty.
A family that lives its values
One of the most remarkable parts of Zia Bhai’s story is the weekly family study circle that has been running since 1983. For 43 years, 45 to 50 family members have gathered every week in a purpose built home to learn, discuss, share meals, and stay connected.
There are Quranic lessons, talks on family, social and political issues, Sunday school for children, and now third generation members presenting their own reflections. Visitors from overseas have walked into this home and said they have never seen anything like it.
This weekly ritual kept his parents mentally sharp well into their 90s. It also became the foundation for the Multicultural Eid Festival and Fair MEFF, first held in 1985 and now in its 41st year.
The family itself has grown to around 80 members from different South Asian backgrounds, all held together by a shared commitment to service.
“Despite disagreements,” Zia Bhai says, “we always come back to the table.”
Interfaith work rooted in respect
Zia Bhai’s interfaith work is not theoretical. It is lived. He attends events across communities, including synagogues, and speaks openly about Islamophobia and antisemitism. He believes in acknowledging harm, but also in celebrating the many stories of solidarity that rarely make the news.
He encourages new migrants to step outside cultural comfort zones and engage with the wider Australian community. For him, multiculturalism is not a slogan—it is a daily practice.
He often says that Australia remains “the best multicultural success story in the world,” held together by the simple idea of a fair go.
A steady voice in a noisy world
As Editor in Chief of AMUST, Zia Bhai sees the publication as a platform for everyone. It is widely read across different faiths and backgrounds. He is critical of political leaders who divide communities, but he speaks with hope, not anger. His focus is always on what can be built, not what is broken.
That is the quiet strength that defines him.
A closing reflection
When I sat down with Zia Bhai, I expected to hear about achievements. What I found was a story about love—love for family, for community, and for a country that gave a family of migrants from India the space to build something lasting.
“Social harmony does not happen by accident,” he told me. “As migrants, we come here and put our heads down, working hard to build this nation.”
And then he said something I have carried with me since: “We should work for a multicultural Australia—a nation where diversity is celebrated, service is valued, and every person feels they belong.”
Zia Ahmad has spent more than 50 years living those words. It is a privilege to share his story.
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