The Shi'ite Muslims in Thailand from Ayutthaya Period To
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THE SHI’ITE MUSLIMS IN who alongside Muhammad’s grandsons THAILAND FROM are their descendants. Shi’ites believe that Ali, rather than Abu Bakr, should have AYUTTHAYA PERIOD TO succeeded the Prophet Muhammad as THE PRESENT khalifa (Netton 1922: 231). Thus, Shi'as consider imams, the Prophet Muhammad's 1 descendants, as the true source of guidance Julispong Chularatana while considering the first three ruling Sunni caliphs a historic occurrence and not Abstract something attached to faith. Shi’ite Islam originated as a political This article aims at studying and movement supporting Imam Ali as the analyzing the status and development of rightful leader of the Islamic state. The the Shi’ite Muslim minority in Thailand th legitimacy of this claim, as initially from the 16 century to the present day. envisioned by Imam Ali's supporters, was The Shi’ite Muslims in Thailand developed based on Muhammad's alleged designation and are informally separated into two of Imam Ali as his successor, Imam Ali’s groups. The original ones call themselves righteousness, and tribal customs, making Chao Sen, which means Imam Hussein’s him closely related to the Prophet. Imam followers, and are descended from Indo- Ali was murdered in 661, and his son, Iranian Shi’ite Muslim ancestors who Imam Husayn, was killed in 681 by the came from Iran and the Shi’ite States of th army of Yazid I. The second Umayyad India during the early 16 century. The Caliph at Karbala (today in Iraq) was a others, who are called by the original seed of the Shi’a. It restored to religion the group Chi A Mai, which means new motive of passion, which has thoroughly Shi’ites, converted from other beliefs to penetrated Shi’ism (van Donzel 1994: Shi’ism under the influence of the Shi’a 412). revival after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. In the mid 15th century, the Safavids of Iran adopted Shi’a Islam, and their Introduction movement became highly millenarian in character. In 1501, under their leader Shī’a Islam, also Shi’ite Islam or Shi’ism Ismail I, the Safavids seized power in is the second largest denomination based Tabriz, which later became their capital. on the Islamic faith after Sunni Islam. Ismail was proclaimed shah of Iran. The Shi’as adhere to the teachings of the rise of the Safavids marks the reemergence Prophet Muhammad and the religious of a powerful central authority in Iran guidance of his family or his descendants within geographical boundaries attained known as Shi’a Imams. The Prophet by former Iranian empires. The Safavids Muhammad’s bloodline continues only declared Shi’a Islam the state religion and through his beloved daughter Fatima used proselytizing and force to convert the Zahra and his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, large majority of Muslims in Iran to the 1 Lecturer, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 11:56:47PM via free access The Shi’ite Muslims in Thailand from Ayutthaya Period to the Present Shi’a sect.2 At present, a large portion of The main objective of this article is to the world's Shi’a lives in the Middle East. explain and discuss the status and Shi’a Muslims constitute a majority in development of Shi’ite Muslims in Yemen, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Bahrain and Thailand from the establishment of their especially Iran, where 90% of the first community in the late 16th century to population is Shi’a, giving it the highest the present day. percentage of Shi’a Muslims of any country in the world. In Lebanon, Shi’ites Muslims in Ayutthaya, the former form a plurality, and they remain capital of Thai Kingdom significant minorities in Afghanistan, Syria, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Yemen. Muslim people in Ayutthaya had contact Among the small Persian Gulf states, with the lands of Southeast Asia by sea Qatar, Kuwait (~30%) and the United trade routes from Africa, Arabia, and Arab Emirates (~16%) also have Persia via India more than a thousand significant Shi’a minorities, as does the years ago due to Siam4 ’s location on the Eastern Province (~33%) of Saudi Arabia international sea trade route from Iran to (Simon, Mattar and Bulliet 1996: 1652– China. They established communities in a 1653). According to Marcinkowski (2005: port of Siam before the 16th century A.D. 17), about 20% of India's Muslim According to The Book of Duarte Barbosa population is Shi’a, and significant Shi’a (Barbosa 1967: 164–165), the record of a communities exist in the coastal regions of th 3 Portuguese traveler in the early 16 West Sumatra and Aceh in Indonesia. century, several Muslim merchants from Shi’a presence is negligible elsewhere in Arabia, Iran, India, Malaya and the Southeast Asia, where Muslims are Indonesian archipelago joined in the predominantly Shafi'i Sunnis. foreign trade with Chinese and local people in the western seaports of Some Shi’ite Muslims also established Ayutthaya, the former capital of the Thai communities outside the Islamic countries Kingdom from the 15th to the 18th including Thailand. Although they are a centuries. minority among Muslims, they have had powerful and close relations with Thai In The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires society for more than four hundred years. (Cortesao 1990: 109), Tomé Pires, another Portuguese traveler, notes the settlement of Muslims of many nationalities 2 See Tabatabai (1989: 66). Shah Ismail I announced that the Ithna Ashari of “Twelver” including Arab, Persian, Bengali, Kling from Shi’ism was to be the official religion of (Muslims from southeastern India), and the newly established group in 1501 A.D.. As Chinese in the Siamese seaports. Fernao previously noted, Ithna Ashari Shi’ism lay at Mendes Pinto (1904: 63–65), a Portuguese the heart of power of the Safavid leaders, their traveler who passed through Siam in the claim to be the representatives on earth of the mid 16th century, wrote about two Turkish 12th imam or Mahdi, the last Shi’ite imam. See marshals who lived in Ayutthaya and led also Savoy (1980: 27). foreign troops to join the Siamese army in 3 During the 1980s and 1990s, many Malaysians and Indonesians (mostly former Sunnites) were found at the theological study 4 “Siam” means the Ancient Thai Kingdom. center of Qum in Iran. See Marcinkowski This term was used in many documents during (2005: 17). the Ayutthaya and early Rattanakosin periods. 38 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 11:56:47PM via free access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities, Special Issue No.16, 2008 1547–1548. He also remarked that there consisted of people who practiced other were seven mosques of the Turks and the religions, e.g. khaek Brahman, khaek Arabs, and about 30,000 households of the Hindu and khaek Sikh. According to the Moors in the capital of Siam. So it was Royal Institute (1969: 2273 – 2272), the possible that Muslim people had Siamese used the term khaek in the sense established communities in many Siamese of ‘foreigners,’ and the term later meant cities before the 16th century. the people from the West who were not Europeans. Ayutthaya, the capital of the Thai Kingdom from A.D. 1350 to A.D. 1767, is There were three large groups or situated in central Thailand on an island communities of Muslim in Ayutthaya. The surrounded by natural rivers which helped first was the communities on the banks of protect the city from enemies and the Chao Phraya, the greatest river of connected the capital with the hinterland Thailand, opposite the south and southeast and sea through river branches. The city of city walls. The second group was the Ayutthaya was the center not only for Thai communities inside the outer city walls administration but also for trade and near canals or the river, and the third commerce. For some four hundred years, group was the communities inside the city the commerce of the Eastern world passed walls. However, there were other Muslims through Ayutthaya. Goods from those who spread to other areas, but mainly near great trading empires, China and Japan to the river or canals, or in trading areas or the east, and India and Persia to the west markets that were in contact with the went back and forth through Siam. Thus, urban communities. Muslims from different nations traveled into the land for trade and other purposes, 1. Muslims of the Cham Malay groups and settled in the land of opportunity. and from the Southeast Asian Archipelago who resided in communities The Siamese referred to the various along the banks of the Chao Phraya Muslim groups as a whole by the term opposite the south and southeast city walls khaek. This term was used to refer to were Muslims of Malay race or Muslims people from the lands west of Thailand- from the States in the Malay Peninsula, the India, Iran, Arabia, and the Middle East, Muslims of Makassar State in the whose people were mainly Islamic. Other Indonesian archipelago, and the Cham nationalities from the West who were not Muslims. Chularatana (2007: 94) notes Muslims but were not Europeans also fell that these Muslims consisted of both under the category khaek, for example the traders and political refugees that migrated Hindu. Later on, the Malays were also into the country, so they were of varied called khaek. From documents and other professions and classes. evidence in Thai history, the khaek immigrants in Siam could be separated Pongsripian (1985: 7) states that the into two groups. The first group consisted Muslims from the Malay Peninsula who of those of the Islamic religion or so called settled in Siam ranged from merchants to Muslims, e.g.