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International Journal of Interreligious and Intercultural Studies (IJIIS) ISSN: 2654-2706, Volume 2, Number 2, October 2019

CONTESTING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CHAM IN

Betti Rosita Sari

Research Center for Regional Resources, The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (P2SDR-LIPI)

Abstract

Studies on Islam and Muslims in Vietnam are indeed very interesting to be understood and shared with other Muslims in the region. Historically, the Cham communities in Vietnam have converted over many years from Hinduism to and to Islam. Today, the Cham com- munities are often associated with Islam, but this does not mean that they are all practising the same rituals. However, even though they have different beliefs and orientations, the in- teractions among the Cham in their own community is still in harmony. I will argue that the differences between ethnic identities and religious orientations among the Cham in Vietnam have been influenced by their interactions with outsiders and their transnational networks. This study tries to capture the religious orientations among the Cham in Vietnam and how they maintain their harmonious livelihood and social interaction in the community. Furthermore, it takes a qualitative approach through observations, in-depth interviews and review literature. The observations and in-depth interviews occurred in May-June 2014 in City and Phan Rang Province in .

Keywords: Cham, identities, religious beliefs, transnational networks, Vietnam

Introduction over a long period from Hinduism to Cham people in , Buddhism and Islam. Together with Vietnam, and are often Hinduism, in around the 4th century, associated with Islam since Islam has Buddhism was introduced to the port- become their core identity. However, cities of where the pilgrims Cham people in Vietnam have stopped by during the monsoon. Later, experienced religious conversions in the late 7th century, the Chinese

25 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam pilgrim Yi-Jing noted that some culture and tradition must be preserved, branches of Hinayana Buddhism were rather than replaced by Arabian adhered to here, then from the 8th to customs. the 10th centuries there was the gradual This study will examine the expansion of Buddhism. contestation of religious beliefs among Islam was introduced to the Cham the Cham community in Vietnam. – one of fifty-four ethnic groups in First, it will explore the , by the Arab traders. According Islam in Vietnam, since, to understand to many legends and inscriptions, the the dynamics of Islam in the Cham Cham familiarized themselves with community means to deal with the Islam as early as the tenth or eleventh past and present conditions of the centuries. It is also recorded in some community regarding their Islamic historical documents of the Song orientation. Moreover, the dynamics of Dynasty () that Islam appeared Islamic orientation of the Cham cannot in Champa in the late tenth and early be separated from the networking of eleventh centuries. However, only Cham people in or after the historical events of Champa’s around the world. The argument of this decline in the middle of the fifteenth paper is that the difference of ethnic century did Islam become evident in the identities and religious orientations Cham community (Nguyen Thanh Xuan among the Cham in Vietnam have 2012). been influenced by their interactions At first, Islam blended into the with outsiders and their transnational Cham community through culture networks since the access and and tradition but as time went by networking among Cham around the Cham people related with Muslims world have developed and strengthened. from other countries and accepted This paper is divided into four Islam from Arabia as the right Islam. parts with the first dealing with Nowadays, their tradition has changed the history of Islam in the Cham to follow Arabian culture, especially community; The second part examines among the Cham Islam in the Mekong the evolving dynamic of Islam in Cham Delta and (HCM) communities; The third discusses in . This condition is Islamic networking and contestation still debatable among Cham Muslim of religious beliefs of the Cham in communities in Southeast Asia, Vietnam; and the last part considers the particularly in Vietnam since many predictions for the future of the Cham in old people, especially Cham Bani, still Vietnam. believe that old Islam is better than Arabian Islam. They believe that their

26 Betti Rosita Sari

History of the Cham in Vietnam in and Annam in the center. As a result, relation to the influences of Islam the communities gradually became The Cham is a Malayo-Polynesian quite distinct from each other. This in Vietnam with a culture remains the case today and has resisted and language that bear great affinities all attempts at achieving ethnic unity with those of peoples from Malaysia, (Willoughby 1999). Indonesia and the . They According to the official statistics were the earliest inhabitants of the of 1979, the Cham were officially area of southern Vietnam. Champa, the considered one ethnic group out of 54 in kingdom of the Cham, existed from Vietnam, where the majority are ethnic 700–1471 C.E and was composed Kinh accounting for approximately of five territories: Indrapura, Vijaya, 87% of the total country population, Kauthara, and Amaravati. the remaining 13% are minority ethnic Different from the Cham in Cambodia people (Schliesinger 1997). Historically, and Malaysia who share the similar the Cham were divided along religious experiences of becoming and lines: Hindu and Muslim. The Muslim exiled people, the Cham in Vietnam, population is subdivided further although some had similar experiences between the Cham Banis and the as refugees, the majority continued mainstream (Sunni) Cham Islam. The in Vietnam, especially the Cham in Cham population is concentrated mainly Central Vietnam. This situation, of in the lower middle and southern parts course, influences the construction of of Vietnam. In the middle part, they live Cham identity in Vietnam and also their scattered in the Phan Rang and Phan transnational networks. The Cham in Ri regions. In the southern and south Vietnam who remained behind were western parts, they live in Tay Ninh, isolated by successive Vietnamese Chau Doc, An Giang, Ho Chi Minh, dynasties from the Islamized Malay Long Khanh, and Binh Phuoc cities. world, with which they shared a The Cham Banis and Cham Hindus common religion and culture and, only reside in Phan Rang and Phan Ri. to a lesser degree, language. With There, the Cham Banis make up about the incorporation of Vietnam into one-half of the Cham population, while the French Colonial Empire during the remaining half is Cham Hindu. the nineteenth century, all official However, in the south and south west, assimilation policies stopped and all of them follow mainstream Islam were replaced by a policy of benign (Ba Trung Phu 2008). Whereas, the neglect. Under the French, the Cham Cham communities in the Mekong found themselves in two different Delta live in 9 communities comprising colonies: Cochin China in the south from 700-3000 people in each one, most

27 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam situated along the Mekong River (sông land from 1000 to 1036. hau) and around Chau Doc market, This paragraph is carved, along which is located near the Cambodian with its Sanskrit translation, on two border (Huynh Van Phuc et al 2011). stones found by an archaeologist The Muslim Cham in Cau Doc host the working along the coast of Central local Institute of Higher Islamic Studies Vietnam. One stone is dated 1039 and and practise an orthodox form of Islam, the other between 1025-35. The writings similar to Malay practices. Teaching on both stones mention Muslims but is supplemented by village elders indicate that they are foreigners who and others who have some Islamic stay along the coast in the middle of knowledge. present-day Vietnam. Most of them were traders and builders who formed The Appearance of Islam in their own communities with a spiritual Champa and the Dynamics of leader and a man who led the prayers, Islam in Cham communities in whom they called emüm (imam). Based Vietnam on archaeological artifacts and historical As mentioned previously, based on data, some historians have concluded a Chinese record, Islam entered Champa that Islam entered Champa perhaps as during the tenth century: “There were early as the tenth century. many water-buffalos that lived on the Meanwhile, Nakamura (2008:8) mountain (in Yin Li) (Huber 1903). defines that the first existence of Muslim They (the buffalos) were not used to communities was in the 8th century, cultivate the land but as sacrificed located in South Central Vietnam. She objects to the Gods. When the water- argues that Islam in Vietnam, especially buffalo was killed, they invoked the on the coastline of Central Vietnam, was name ‘Allahu Akhar.’ Additionally, brought by Middle Eastern traders along Aymonier found this paragraph in the the silk road of the sea to China. At the record left by an anonymous historian same time, Musa (2004: 48) states that of Champa: Islam was introduced to Vietnam in the In the year of the mice, a man who 11th century by the Arab and Persian attributed himself to Po Auloah (Allah) traders who at the same time introduced worked for betterment and perfection of it to the . But the Champa. But the people became upset. progress of the acceptance of Islam in He then submitted himself wholly to Champa was very much faster than that God, migrated to live in the holy land in the Malay Archipelago as vestiges of of Mecca. Later, he returned to the Islam have been found only in the Cham kingdom in the reign of the king whose area. name is Ouloah (Allah) that ruled the Another source argues that in the

28 Betti Rosita Sari first millennium B.C.E., the Cham in Vietnam, Han1 states that there was had sailed from the west coast of an inscription in Jawi that explains across the East Sea (or the Islam already existed in the Champa Sea) and settled in what Kingdom around the 9th and 10th is now Central and South-Central centuries in Phan Rang. However, he Vietnam (Angie Ngoc Tran 2016). claims that this does not mean that According to Nakamura (2000), there Cham people also converted to Islam. were two waves of Muslim arrivals Furthermore, Han contends that after in Champa. Persians, , Indians the decay of the Champa Kingdom in and Chinese Muslims were the first 1832, the majority of the Cham people Muslims who came to Champa in immigrated to Cambodia, and the ninth century and established a Lao PDR. Some, who were fishermen, presence there by the eleventh century. migrated to Malaysia and Indonesia. In At that time, conversion to Islam Cambodia, the Cham lived among the was limited to people who enjoyed Malayan community (with the same special relationships with the foreign Malayo-Polynesian languages) who communities. The second wave followed Islam. Therefore, the majority comprised Malay Muslims who had of them were gradually converted contacts with the Cham during the from Brahmanism to Islam. These peak of Southeast Asian maritime Cham people later came back to their trade in the sixteenth and seventeenth native land in Vietnam and tried to centuries. This was the time when persuade the rest of the people to leave a significant number of the local Brahmanism to follow Islam. However, population converted to Islam. Like the since the Cham in Vietnam, at that time, contemporary Sunni Muslim Cham in were still under the great influence Giang Province in Vietnam, a province of the remnants of matriarchy and bordering Cambodia, with close Brahmanism – their main religion, this associations with Cham Muslims in Islamic propagation gained very few Cambodia. They speak the same dialect converts. As a result, half of the Cham and some have kinship ties. Moreover, people here still followed Brahmanism. the were responsible for This condition is different from that converting the Cham refugees to Sunni of the Cham people who immigrated Islam with both the Cham Muslims and to Malaysia and Indonesia because Malay Muslims following the same they seem to have lost their identity as school of Islam (Shafi’i) and sharing Cham and as time went by to identify similar religious customs (pp. 63–64). themselves as Malay and not be eager In an interview with Cham scholars 1 Interview with Samad Han, May 13, 2014, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

29 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam to go back to their ancestral land (field Minh City, known as “the New Islamic interview with SH, Cham scholars in Group,” “Cham Islam,” or “Islam” HCMC). (Table 1). As a result of differences in The religious beliefs among the geographical location, missionary Cham community in Vietnam can be context, living conditions and level of categorized into: exchange with the outside world, first Cham Ahier or Cham Jat (Original and foremost the Islamic world, two Cham) different Cham communities following Hinduism was the first Islam were formed in Vietnam. religion adopted by the Cham at According to Yoshimoto (2012) they the establishment of the Champa are divided into two main groups: one, Kingdom. Hindu temples are known as the Muslims living in Ninh Thuan and Bimong in the Cham language but are Binh Thuan Provinces in South-Central commonly referred to as tháp “stupa”, Vietnam, known as “the Old Islamic in Vietnamese. Quoting from Cabaton Group,” “Cham Bani,” or “Bani”; two, (1907): among the Cham who believe in the Muslims living in An Giang, Tay Brahmanism – their practices have little Ninh, and Dong Nai Provinces around resemblance with those in India and the , as well as in Ho Chi they call themselves Cham Jat or Cham

Table 1. Muslims in Vietnam

Islam (Cham Islam), New Islam Bani (Cham Bani), Old Islam Branch Sunni Bani Place of living , Tay Ninh Ninh Thuan Province, Binh Province, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Thuan Province (old territory of Nai Province, Ninh Thuan Province Panduranga-Champa) Authorized Ho Chi Minh City Muslim Bani Religious Leaders Council organizations Community (2006~) Representative Committee (1992~) An Giang Muslim Community Representative Committee (2004~) Population 25,000 41,000 Places of worship 41mosques, 19 surao 17 thang mugik Religious clerics 288 407 Religious features Islamic rules and rituals are fully Strongly influenced by local, observed; pilgrimages to Mecca; traditional customs and beliefs networks with Malaysia, Indonesia, and incorporated elements of and Brahmanism and matriarchy; no pilgrimages source: Yoshimoto 2012

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Harat (Pure race) (Musa 2004). By trade. Nowadays, they are living inland calling themselves by such a name, they and engaging in wet rice cultivation. mean to differentiate themselves from Agriculture and gardening provide the Muslim Cham. Among the Cham the main income for the Cham in Islam, they are also known as Akafir or Central Vietnam. They are engaged in Kafir (Impure), a deformation from an cultivating crops such as sugar cane, word Kafir which mean infidel. maize, bananas, coconut trees, beans, As a consequence of an interview peppers, as well as betel leaves, which with scholars in Ho Chi Minh City, VD2 are chewed to produce a mild stimulant. states that the traditional Cham group Most of the Cham in Central Vietnam live in the mountain areas, Binh Dinh do not practise rice paddy agriculture and Phu Yen Provinces. They usually that is widespread in other regions of do not follow a religion but adhere to Vietnam. They have domestic animals the traditions of their ancestors. There such as buffaloes, chickens, ducks, and are around approximately 20,000 goats. As Muslims, they do not raise Cham people there. Distinct from the pigs. They also abstain from eating Cham Bani, another group, the Cham dogs, tortoises, crocodiles, elephants, Ahier, practise, a syncretic form of peacocks, vultures, eagles, crows, and Hinduism, observe taboos about eating drinking alcohol (Dang Nghiem Van beef, cremate their dead and are led by 1993). Traditionally, Cham males in a priest called ‘Halau Tamunay Ahier’ Vietnam do most of the agricultural (Willoughby 1999). labor in the fields, while women engage The Cham in Binh Dinh and Phu in domestic duties such as housework, Yen Provinces have settled in areas of cooking, caring for children, preparing grassland in small houses on stilts, with food and weaving beautiful cloths. floors 1m above the ground and a door Some villages specialize in making on one of the longer sides. At each end certain kinds of products such as pottery of the ridge of the roof, a letter V can and textiles. With the development of be seen, formed by the two “horns of , indigenous hand the house” (chke vang) which are the woven textiles and pottery have become extensions of the two main rafters. The quite popular and the Cham traditional houses of the Cham Hroi group are weaving has been revived (Nakamura smaller (about 8m long and 4m wide) 2008). adapted to their ancient nomadic way of Cham Bani life and culture. Cham Bani or Cham Assalam are In the past, the Cham people used the Cham who had converted to Islam. to be sea people involved in maritime The word Bani is from an Arabic word beni which means son, or son of the true 2 Field interview with VD, 14 May, 2014, in his office

31 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam faith. Cham Bani have been degraded in their family. Every Bani family and become unorthodox due to the has one representative as an imam. influence of local manners and customs Nowadays, many young Cham Bani over the religion, including Brahmanic do not follow religious practices, such beliefs and matriarchy (Musa 2004). as fasting and praying and even eat This situation has resulted in incorrect pork which is forbidden in Islam. The Islamic awareness. Similarly, interesting fact is, even though they Yoshimoto (2012) reveals that they are not religious, most of them will are strongly influenced by local and come back to their ancestral land in the traditional customs and beliefs and have Ramawan (Ramadhan) and carry out incorporated elements of Brahmanism traditional rites. Moreover many Cham and ancestor worship. They also have Bani have now converted to Islam. very limited contact with other Muslims The Cham Bani live predominantly outside Vietnam. in Vietnam’s Bình Thuận, Ninh Thuận With the exception of religious and Bình Phước Provinces, the remnant practices, there is no difference of the Champa Kingdom. They are between the Cham Akafir and the proud of their historical heritage and Cham Bani. The difference lies only worship deified kings and practise their in the practice of their religion; not in old rituals in . They have their social organization. Generally, kept their traditional writing system the Cham Bani do not care much which has evolved from the Sanskrit. about whom they marry, a Muslim or The Cham Bani practise a syncretic a non-Muslim, neglect their ablutions form of Islam and worship Po Alwah and the five daily prayers and do not (Allah) in the mosque which they call practise circumcision. Their conduct Thang Muki which is only open in is more like that of an unbeliever than the Ramadhan month on the Islamic a Muslim. For them, the respect of the calendar. They do not eat pork, bury obligations and interdictions of the their dead and are led by a religious Koran are not very important as they head called Halau Tamunay Awar. The believe that they can amend any wrong Cham Bani call Ramadhan ‘Ramuwan,’ doing by the purification (atau ra). In which takes place around the same time an interview Krisna3 , a young Cham as the Ramadhan. Three days before the Bani and university student in HCMC first day of Ramadhan, the Cham Bani states that Bani is a mix of Islam and engage in ceremonies and visit ancestral tradition where they can delegate the graves (Nakamura 1999). responsibility to pray or fast to an imam The Cham Bani in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan prefer to live away from 3 Interview with Krisna, 15 May, 2014, in Ho Chi the Kinh (majority Vietnamese) people. Minh City

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From the historical point of view, the as of followers of Hồi giáo mới in Kinh people are the latecomers who Vietnamese, which means “new Islam,” migrated into the land of Champa. The or Cham biraw in Cham, which means Cham usually form their villages a “New Cham.” According to previous little away from the provincial capital, studies, “New Islam” began to emerge markets and the major roads where the in the 1960s when some of the Cham Kinh population usually concentrates. Bani were exposed to the practice of Each village comprises several hundred Sunni Muslims in places such as Saigon inhabitants, sometimes up to a thousand. (now Ho Chi Minh City). Realizing The houses are arranged in orderly rows that their own religious practices were each surrounded by a garden with a wall not authentic, they began to aim for or hedge. The Cham villages are ringed purer Islamic practices (Nguyễn 1974: by rice fields and vineyards and often 272; Nakamura 1999: 104). After their one has to cross a small stream before conversion, the converts abandoned entering the village. The people are ancestor worship and with the aid of the engaged in agriculture, raising animals Islamic community from outside, built and husbandry, as small-scale traders, mosques in their villages (Dohamide making handcrafts and pottery and 1965: 56; Yoshimoto 2010: 243). This so on. The Cham Bani handcraft and group brought a new Islamic orientation weaving products are sold to the tourist among the Cham which is commonly centers in Nha Trang or Ho Chi Minh found in Islam around the world. City as souvenirs. The Cham Islam developed very Cham Islam well and widely in Cau Doc, Ho Chi As mentioned previously, in the Minh City, Tay Ninh and Dong Nai mid 10th and 11th centuries Champa Provinces in South Vietnam with a became a busy commercial port, a population of 13,000 Cham (Taylor bridge of trade in the region. Muslim 2006: 238). The religious activities traders from the Arabian Peninsula here are orthodox and eventful. The and the Middle East were the first to Islamic canon laws and rituals are bring Islam to Champa. Until the 15th fully obeyed, in particular, the Islamic century, Champa was not only a trading community here has connections to the center for Muslims of other countries Islamic world through their pilgrimages but also an ally of other Islamic to Mecca and send their children to communities in Southeast Asia. By schools in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the 1670s, the bulk of the population, Saudi Arabia. These activities have including the Cham royalty, was helped Islam to remain relatively intact. Muslim. In the past, Chau Doc was considered a Cham Islam is usually described miniature version of the Islamic world

33 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam in French dominated Indochina. From and after 10 years of living in Malaysia the Islamic center of Chau Doc, Islamic came back.5 In a similar vein, SH education has spread widely, even to argues that most Muslims in Vietnam areas like Cambodia. follow Safii Mazhab. However, he also The Vietnamese Cham Muslims states that some Muslim extremists try adhere to the Sunni Islamic school to bring their thoughts to their of thought, which is similar to their but they encounter resistance from the counterparts in Cambodia, Malaysia, elderly.6 and Indonesia. Even their lifestyles and At the same time, Maryam7 customary practices reflect this common contends that Islam from Arabia was trend of Islamic belief. For instance, introduced to her village in Phan Muslim communities in all these places Rang from Cambodia around 4 years are called “kampongs”. Muslim men ago since they have relatives who wear “batik lungi” tied in a knot at the live in Cambodia. At first, most of waist. But while the “songkok” (black the villagers refused to accept this Muslim cap) is popular in Indonesia religious teaching, however, in time, and Malaysia, the Cham of Vietnam and many villagers followed it. Although, Cambodia wear white skullcaps called as Cham Muslims they have accepted “kapea” The elders among the Cham the teachings of Islam, they still try to wear white robes and “sunnah”. maintain their traditional customs and Yoshimoto (2012: 491) states that practices. In an interview, Ismael, a some of the Cham Bani in HCMC were Cham Bani in Chan Vang village who exposed to the practice of Sunni Islam converted to Islam declared that: around 1960 by other Cham Bani who We live together as Muslims in the came from Malaysia and Cambodia. In same community because we have support, VD argues that in around 1960, different lifestyle and practices from the other Vietnamese. Even there was a man who had finished his though we have different religious study in UEA and lived in Anh Giang.4 beliefs, one Cham Bani and the other Cham Islam, but we are a family. He brought the “new Islam” and built Moreover, We, the older generation a different place of worship, which he must also be careful not to lose our called a mosque. As a consequence, Cham cultural heritage. there have been two Islamic groups in Anh Giang since then. YS, cham people YT, head of Islamic Representation in HCMC contends that ‘new Islam’ in Ninh Thuan, stated that in around was introduced to some communities 1960, many Cham Bani converted to in HCMC after one Bani who had Cham Islam. Most of them were Cham graduated from Malaysia University 5 Interview with YS 13 May, 2014. 6 Interview with SH, 13 May, 2014. 4 Interview with VD, 14 May, 2014. 7 Interview with Maryam, 17 May, 2014.

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Bani who worked in Cau Doc on South that the dead bodies can rest in peace.10 Vietnam’s border with Cambodia. They In addition, the new Cham community saw religious practices that differed built its own mosque and Qur’anic from their rituals and believed that this school where religious teaching is given was the “right” Islam.8 Since then, in Arabic and Malay. many , especially in Central Vietnam, believe that “new Islam’ is Transnational networks and Con- “the right Islam”, and they have to testation of religious beliefs of the follow it. Cham in Vietnam “The right Islam” means they The Cham people established have to follow the five pillars of Islam: extensive and intense webs of 1) Shahadah, the declaration of faith, relationships that encompassed stating there is no god but God and activities in the economic, religious, that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the cultural and political spheres throughout messenger of God); 2) solat, the five . Moreover, daily prayers; 3) zakat, the personal The Cham of Southeast Asia were not taxes paid during Ramadhan and on completely isolated from other areas wealth and shadaqah, charity; 4) sawm, of the Islamic world. As mentioned Ramadhan fasting; and 5) haj, the earlier, there were contacts between the pilgrimage to Mecca. The last is mostly Cham of Vietnam and Cambodia and observed by those who are financially their religious brethren in the Malayan- and physically able to do so.9 Besides Indonesian world. In addition, some of practising the five pillars of Islam, the Cham traveled to the Middle East Cham Muslims observe other important in order to be exposed to the Islamic Islamic religious festivities and other traditions in that region. In so doing, aspects of Cham culture, including Eid- they began to bring back to their home ul Adha (Islamic New Year), Mawlid countries Islamic beliefs and practices (Muhammad’s Birthday), and ziarah that eventually shaped the indigenous (visitation to the grave of religious forms of Islam in their regions (Scupin figures and their loved ones). The 1995). funeral ceremony is important for Cham The Malayan and Malaysian Islam Muslims. In Islam, it is imperative have a great effect on Cham Muslims. that the ceremony, along with ritual Although there are not many Malayans prayers for dead bodies, be prepared living amongst Muslims in Chau Doc, in a religiously appropriate manner so their influences are still significant in many ways, from social structures to religious activities. In the past, the 8 Interview with YT, 18 May, 2014 9 An oral history of Cham Muslim women. 10 An oral history of Cham Muslim women.

35 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam

Koran was read in Arabic but recited opportunities in such countries than in Malay. Islamic dignitaries and they would have if they were Hindu Koran teachers were mostly Malays. Cham. Therefore the Cham, following Most religious publications were also the logic of the Instrumentalists, use imported from Malaysia. Even the their ethnicity to further their interests, new religious movements were under socio-economic survival being one of the influence of the new religious them (Effendy 2007). movement in Malaysia. However, the SH states that there are a lot of influence of the Malays on Islam in funds from Cham Muslims around the different areas are not equal, being world for Cham people in Vietnam, deepest in Chau Doc but less profound in regard to scholarships, mosque in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai buildings, pilgrimages, etc.11 YS is a (Nguyen Thanh Xuan 2012). Cham funded to do the hajj pilgrimage The Muslim Cham have greater by the UEA. He explained that every economic and social status because of year, around 40-50 Cham people in the economic links they have with other Vietnam make a pilgrimage to Mecca Muslim countries such as Malaysia, with funds from the UEA through the Indonesia, and some countries in the mosque community.12 Vietnam’s largest Middle East. Bjorn Blengsli in an mosque was opened in January 2006 article entitled “Trends in the Islamic in Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province; its community”, points out the existence of construction was partially funded by Arab charities such as the Om Al Quran donations from Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Charity Organization and the Islamic Dewi argues that there are lots of funds Heritage Society that have set up from Muslim organizations for Cham schools and mosques around Cambodia, in Vietnam, for example, IDB (Islamic including opportunities to study abroad Development Bank) gives scholarship or perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. for graduate and postgraduate degrees.13 However. what is more significant is The networking is not only that the Muslim Cham ride on linguistic, concerned with religious matters but cultural, and historical affinities with also in terms of socio-economics. peoples of the “Malay world”. The Mohamed Effendy Bin Abdul Hamid Cham capitalized on the perception (2007) states that the Cham have of the Malaysian government that the established transnational networks Cham were “cousins” of the Malays. in pursuing economic, cultural and An interview with YS highlights political purposes all around Southeast some features of this. Through such perceptions, the Muslim Cham 11 Interview with SH 13 May, 2014. garnered a greater degree of economic 12 Interview with YS, 13 May, 2014. 13 Interview with Dewi, 14 May, 2014.

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Asia. In support, SH contends that Muslims, some Cham are Hindu), have the relations among the Cham in been using their own ethnic passport Southeast Asia have been dominated for some time now in countries such by trading. They have great networking as Malaysia and Indonesia where with Cham in Cambodia, Malaysia, they travel mostly for work, study and Indonesia, especially in Muslim and business. There are large Malay- wares, including clothing, headscarves, speaking and predominantly Muslim prayer mats, tudung, baju kurung, populations. head caps, etc. Many Cham outside Networking among Cham Muslims Vietnam share financial capital with is not limited to Southeast Asia but the Cham in Vietnam to open a halal practised all around the world. One restaurant, sell Muslim wares and of the examples is Abdul Halim bin open travel agencies.14 As Vietnam Ahmad, YT’s uncle who moved to the moved to a market-based economy, the USA and studied Islam in the UEA. Cham became disadvantaged locally When Vietnam won its freedom in (compared to the Kinh majority) in 1975, he was asked to choose his their economic ventures but they have citizenship and opted for the US. been successful extra-locally in making Now, he teaches Islam there and gives their living by moving across national scholarship information to family and borders and within Vietnam. According fellow Muslims in Vietnam. From to Taylor, the Cham “reinvent economic this story it is clear, the networking of space through local and extra-local Cham is not only among Cham people trading practices that draw upon and or Muslim organizations in Southeast also sustain their distinct cultural Asia but also among Cham and Muslim competencies and institutions” (Taylor organizations around the world. 2006: 248). Another aspect is the proliferation Effendy’s study (2007) reveals that of religious missionary activities in the Cham use a “religious layer”, or the Vietnam, bringing spiritual aid to perception of other Malay-Muslims of the country. This is because most of their “Muslimness”, allowing the Cham the missionaries from abroad hold to participate in the social networks, the view that the Cham Muslims in establish personal relationships and Vietnam, especially the Cham Bani engage in certain processes within pre- in Central Vietnam, do not adhere dominantly Malay Muslim countries, sufficiently to Islam and thus are in such as Malaysia and Indonesia. He need of purification. Each Muslim sect finds that the Cham, especially the from outside Vietnam wants the Cham Muslim Cham (while the majority are to accept its theology, such as Jamaah Tabligh, Da’wah, etc. During our field 14 Interview with SH, 13 May, 2014.

37 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam work in Phan Rang, we saw some to develop a community with some missionaries from the Jamaah Tabligh conditions for them to follow their group reside in the mosque in a Cham Islamic practices (Sari 2013). On top of Bani village. They came from several that, Malaysia is the most influential countries, including India, Pakistan, in shaping the Sunni Muslims of and Malaysia. They stayed there for one Cambodia by offering opportunities for week to spread Islamic values and then young Cambodian Muslims to further moved to other villages. According to their studies. In February this year, 19 our interview with Ismael, the Imam Muslims were awarded scholarships in the mosque, the Cham community to study Bachelor and Master Degrees accepts them warmly but we do not sponsored by the Al-Manar Islamic have much information whether all of College in Malaysia. Apart from the villagers followed their teaching education, the have given because the majority of the villagers are large grants to support the Islamic Cham Bani though some of their family Institute at Boeng Kak Mosque in members have converted to Cham Islam . Malaysian government already.15 aid also supports a women’s center and In Cambodia, the existence of an clinic at Kilometre 7, in the middle of Islamic movement from abroad has Cham-Chvea communities found along sometimes led to conflicts within Cham National Route 5, north of Phnom communities, for example, the conflict Penh. The Malaysian government has between Chumnik and Soay villages supplied the women’s center with both in Kampong Cham Province when two sewing machines and looms to teach or three different sects competed for poor Muslim women income generating followers in the same village (Osman skills. The association also provides 2010). The Cham were told that their training for women in family health traditional practices are not very pure practice and to increase and that they must now adopt other ones female literacy and to improve access which are the purest. When hearing to contemporary books in Malay. The this, some decided to accept one new continuous support and productive practice, while others accepted others. relationship between the two countries Each group then considered that it was have been in existence for decades the best practitioner of Islam. resulting in intermarriages with the Moreover, Sari’s study finds Malay community. Today most Cham that some charity organizations from speak the Malay language with many of Arab countries, Pakistani, Thailand, them adopting Malay customs as their and Malaysian sources provide funds own.

15 Interview with Ismael, 14 May, 2014.

38 Betti Rosita Sari

Conclusion: Future Predictions for gradually accepted, especially among the Cham in Vietnam the younger people. The Cham communities in Vietnam In Vietnam, the number of Cham have frequently converted from Islam is growing significantly since they Hinduism to Buddhism and to Islam. have access to transnational networks Generally, the Cham can be divided with Muslims in Malaysia, Indonesia, into three mainstreams: the Cham Jat and the Middle East in terms of Islamic or Ahier, Cham Bani and Cham Islam. education, economics, and social The Cham Ahier and Cham Bani are welfare. As Vietnam moved to a market- concentrated in Central Vietnam. Both based economy, the Cham became of them still practise traditional rituals disadvantaged locally (compared to and do not have many contacts with the Kinh majority) in their economic outsiders. On the other hand, Cham ventures but they have been successful Islam are mainly located in Ho Chi extra-locally in making their living Minh City and some provinces in the by moving across national borders Mekong Delta. They received a lot of and within Vietnam. Many Cham in influences from the Cham in Cambodia South Vietnam are becoming traders and also from the Islamic brotherhood and workers in Malaysia, supported by in Malaysia and Indonesia. Indeed, the previous Cham who moved to Malaysia. dynamic of Islamic orientation of Cham The ethnic networks and similar identity in Vietnam could not be separated with as Cham people are being used when their networking with Cham people in they travel mostly for work, study and Southeast Asia and around the world. business to Malaysia or Indonesia. The condition of the Cham in There are large Malay-speaking and Vietnam began to change after the predominantly Muslim populations in emergence of the dakwah movement those countries. in Southeast Asia. This happened in Indeed, in terms of identity, the three countries, Vietnam, Malaysia, widening of networks among the Cham and Cambodia with the rise of Islamic communites has brought about their education from The Middle East. Many identities. For instance, some Cham Cham joined dakwah schools and who have been associated more with brought the new understanding of Islam Malaysia, tend to identify themselves to their communities. Furthermore, as Malay-Cham. While, other Cham many in the young generation believe groups like Cham Bani have not related that the Middle Eastern perspective is closely with Malaysia and therefore, are the Right Islam. At first, this new way not associated with the Malay but rather was rejected by the older generation, associated with the Cham of Vietnam, however, as time passed the change was the “pure Cham”.

39 Contesting Religious Beliefs: The Experience of the Cham in Vietnam

Question and Answer resources to travel abroad and have Q: Why are Cham Bani in Central contact with outsiders. Vietnam not greatly influenced by the Acknowledgments transnational islamic movement, such as Jamaah Tabligh? I’d like to acknowledge Research A: I think, on the contrary, the Center for Regional Resources-LIPI Cham Bani in Central Vietnam are the which provided funds for the research target of the Jamaah Tabligh group since project on the Cham in they believe that the Cham Bani still Southeast Asia: Construction of Identity practise traditional rituals, not purely and Transnational Networks in Vietnam Islamic teaching. Moreover, the Jamaah in 2014. Comments and feedback Tabligh is still limited in number and from “IFSSO International Seminar on can not reach all of the Cham Bani in Global Connectivity: Challenges and Ninh Tuanh and Binh Tuanh Provinces. Responses” participants on September On the other hand, the economic status 10-13, 2017 in Denpasar, Bali. were of the Cham Bani is lower than of the very helpful. Finally, I would like Cham Islam in South Vietnam because to thank the team members of this they are engaged in agriculture, raising research, Prof Dr Yekti Maunati cattle and other subsistence economic and Amorisa Wiratri, MA for their activities, so they do not have many comments and support of this article.[]

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