Islam in Vietnam
is primarily the
religion of the
Cham people,
a minority
ethnic group
related to
Malays;
however, roughly
one-third of the
Muslims in
Vietnam are
of other ethnic
groups.
However, there
is a community
describing
themselves of
mixed ethnic
origins (Cham,
Khmer, Malay,
Minang, Viet,
Chinese and
Arab), who
practice Islam
and are also
known as
Cham, or
Cham Muslims,
around the
region of
Chau Doc in
the Southwest.
[3]
History
Uthman, the
third
Caliph of
Islam, sent
the first
official Muslim
envoy to Vietnam
and Tang Dynasty
China in
650
Seafaring Arab
traders are
known to have
made stops at
ports in the
Champa
Kingdom en route
to
China very
early in the
history of Islam;
however, the
earliest
material
evidence of the
transmission of
Islam consists
of
Song Dynasty-era
documents from
China which
record that the
Cham
familiarised
themselves with
Islam in the
late 10th and
early 11th
centuries.[4][5]
The number of
followers began
to increase as
contacts with
Sultanate of
Malacca
broadened in the
wake of the 1471
collapse of the
Champa Kingdom,
but Islam would
not become
widespread among
the Cham until
the mid-17th
century.[6]
In the mid-19th
century, many
Muslims Chams
emigrated from
Cambodia and
settled in the
Mekong River
Delta
region, further
bolstering the
presence of
Islam in
Vietnam.
Malayan Islam
began to have an
increasing
influence on the
Chams in the
early 20th
century;
religions
publications
were imported
from Malaya,
Malay clerics
gave
khutba
(sermons) in
mosques in the
Malay language,
and some Cham
people went to
Malayan
madrasah to
further their
studies of
Islam.[7][8]
After the 1976
establishment of
the
Socialist
Republic of
Vietnam,
some of the
55,000 Muslim
Chams emigrated
to
Malaysia.
1,750 were also
accepted as
immigrants by
Yemen; most
settled in
Ta'izz.
Those who
remained did not
suffer violent
persecution,
although some
writers claim
that their
mosques were
closed by the
government.[1]
In 1981, foreign
visitors to
Vietnam were
still permitted
to speak to
indigenous
Muslims and pray
alongside them,
and a 1985
account
described
Ho Chi Minh
City's
Muslim community
as being
especially
ethnically
diverse: aside
from Cham
people, there
were also
Indonesians,
Malays,
Pakistanis,
Yemenis,
Omanis, and
North Africans;
their total
numbers were
roughly 10,000
at the time.[6]
However,
Vietnam's
Muslims remained
relatively
isolated from
the mainstream
of world Islam,
and their
isolation,
combined with
the lack of
religious
schools, caused
the practice of
Islam in Vietnam
to become
increasingly
syncretic.
Command of
Arabic is
not widespread
even among
religious
leaders, and
some Muslims are
reported to pray
to
Ali and
refer to him as
the "Son
of God".[1]
Vietnam's
largest mosque
was opened in
January 2006 in
Xuan Loc,
Dong Nai
Province;
its construction
was partially
funded by
donations from
Saudi Arabia.
Demographics
Vietnam's April
1999 census
showed 63,146
Muslims. Over
77% lived in the
Southeast Region,
with 34% in
Ninh Thuan
Province,
24% in
Binh Thuan
Province,
and 9% in
Ho Chi Minh City;
another 22%
lived in the
Mekong River
Delta
region,
primarily in
An Giang
Province.
Only 1% of
Muslims lived in
other regions of
the country. The
number of
believers is
gender-balanced
to within 2% in
every area of
major
concentration
except An Giang,
where the
population of
Muslim women is
7.5% larger than
the population
of Muslim men.[10]
This
distribution is
somewhat changed
from that
observed in
earlier reports.
Prior to 1975,
almost half of
the Muslims in
the country
lived in the
Mekong River
Delta, and as
late as 1985,
the Muslim
community in Ho
Chi Minh was
reported to
consist of
nearly 10,000
individuals.[1][6]
Of the 54,775
members of the
Muslim
population over
age 5, 13,516,
or 25%, were
currently
attending
school, 26,134,
or 48%, had
attended school
in the past, and
the remaining
15,121, or 27%,
had never
attended school,
compared to 10%
of the general
population. This
gives Muslims
the
second-highest
rate of school
non-attendance
out of all
religious groups
in Vietnam (the
highest rate
being that for
Protestants,
at 34%). The
school
non-attendance
rate was 22% for
males and 32%
for females.[11]
Muslims also had
one of the
lowest rate of
university
attendance, with
less than 1%
having attended
any institution
of higher
learning,
compared to just
under 3% of the
general
population.[12]
Official
representation
The Ho Chi Minh
City Muslim
Representative
Committee was
founded in 1991
with seven
members; a
similar body was
formed in An
Giang Province
in 2004.
Source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Vietnam |