OTHER MINORITIES

Jay Willoughby on the Cham Muslims of Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, the Cham Muslims of Vietnam supported FULRO (the French acronym for the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races).

FULRO, an organization of non-Vietnamese ethnic minorities living in Southern Vietnam, wanted to establish a separate military action against the Communists.

In 1979 its members sought refuge in Cambodia (and) resettlement in North Carolina. Hanoi is still wary of this group and does not allow Cham Muslim leaders in Vietnam to have contact with officials of any overseas groups.

After 1975, many Cham leaders and elite were sent to reeducation camps in the north. One Cham member is known to have spent nearly 13 years in a camp near Hanoi. He and others were only allowed to return to their homes after convincing the authorities that they had no political interest.

Most Vietnamese do not understand the Cham language, or Malay (the language used by the Cham for instruction and the Friday khutbah) or Arabic (the language of Muslim prayer).

As a result, Hanoi prohibited the making of Friday khutbahs without the presence of a government representative, who had the speech translated word for word. Permission also had to be obtained from local and county officials for jummah and 'Id prayers, or any congregational gathering. Local Islamic schools were shut down and the people were ordered to learn. Vietnamese so that the two peoples could understand each other. The government made arrangements to send teachers into the Cham areas to teach. Vietnamese. By 1978, Hanoi, apparently convinced that the Cham represented no threat, eased some of the restrictions.

Although politics is monopolized by the Communist Party, since 1986 Hanoi, using the Chinese model, has loosened economic and social controls.

Today, they experience few, if any, restrictions on their religious activities. During Ramadan iftar gatherings and tarawih prayers, no government officials are present to supervise the events. The Muslims invite police, armed forces, and government official to join them in 'Id festivities. Many do, and there is no apparent tension or ill-feeling on either side.

Cham Muslim Communities

Cham Muslims are concentrated mainly in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the provinces of Tay Ninh and Chau Doc, and the city of Phan Rang and surrounding villages.

Hanoi has one mosque for the foreign diplomatic community, but there is no local Muslim population. Ho Chi Minh City has thirteen mosques.

Several of these have a selection of Arabic and Jawi (Malay written in the Arabic script) literature and some copies of the Qur'an. The Cham Muslims' understanding of Islam is quite limited.

Tay Ninh province has approximately 500 Muslim families. Of these, 50 live in Thi Xa City, which has a mosque that was built some 20 years ago. Tan Chau and Suoi Day each have a mosque serving approximately 200 families. Tan Binh has a mosque to serve its 20 Muslim families. Chau Doc, which has more Muslims than Tay Ninh Province, has more than ten mosques.

Most Muslims in these two provinces are farmers. The Islamic books they have are more than one hundred years old. The imams have some copies of the Qur'an and books in Jawi, but the general population has no Islamic literature. There are Muslim schools for the children, but learning is by. memorization and without comprehension... Mosques suffer from years of neglect, due to the poverty of local communities... Many mosques are now too small to accommodate the worshippers on Friday and during community gatherings. In most mosques, the men pray in the mosque itself and the little porch that typically runs around each mosque, while the women pray in the back of the outside.

Since the late 1980s, Hanoi has allowed Muslims and other religious groups to receive overseas funds for the repair or expansion of their religious buildings, but construction of new facilities is apparently not allowed. On the main highway between Phuoc Nhon and Saigon (about 350 kilometers) many Catholics churches have obviously benefited from this infusion of money.

In order to educate their children, almost all Muslim communities in Vietnam want to build schools, whether as a mosque extension or as a separate building. Children in Vietnam are taught in Vietnamese. The Cham Muslim schools teach the Cham language and culture, as well as Islam. These schools do not impart the "modern" knowledge, which is taught in the Vietnamese schools and is essential to get ahead in contemporary Vietnam.

The shortage of basic Islamic literature is one of the factors for the very low level of Islamic knowledge, even among mosque officials. Since the final conquest of Champa in the 1940s, the official policy of every Vietnamese dynasty-monarchy-regime, regardless of ideology, has been to isolate the Muslims from the larger Muslim-world (and to) assimilate them.

Also, after various military conflicts, the Cham (usually the losers) saw their elite either executed or exiled. As a result, almost no Cham Muslims today can understand the Qur'an, even though they read it. Only a few of the educated Cham understand Hadith and other literature.

The language of Islamic literature and instruction is Jawi, Rumi, or Malay written in the Latin script as in Malaysia and Indonesia; although not much literature is available.

Islamic material can be sent directly to people in Vietnam, but it is long process and there is no guarantee that Hanoi will not return it. It is much easier for visitors to hand carry literature in and then leave it behind. Now that the once restricted diaspora of Cham Muslims are allowed to enter Vietnam, many do this when visiting relatives.

Hanoi now allows qualified young people to study abroad, but most Cham Muslims are not high school graduates. The young Chams seem to have two choices: either follow their parents into the traditional occupations of farming or fishing, or else move to Saigon or a large regional city in hopes of finding a job.

This is often the only way to earn enough money to case the hardships of a typical Vietnamese family. There is almost no incentive to become à guru (a religious instructor), for they receive no fixed salary and are dependent on what the parents of their students can afford to pay them, either in cash or in kind. Cham parents do encourage their children to acquire a modern education.

There is massive poverty in the rural areas. Those living in rural areas labor in the rice fields.

The real Muslims have maintained their faith through their contacts with Malay and Cham Muslim communities living in Cambodia and near the Cambodian-Vietnamese border.

Although a minority, their ranks are increasing with converts. Until 1975, there was a thriving foreign Muslim community in Saigon, made up of mainly Indian and Pakistani merchants and immigrants who had intermarried with the local Muslims.

After the verification of Vietnam, these Muslims were expelled. At the present time, there are hardly any foreign Muslims left in Vietnam, except for diplomats and representatives of foreign organizations or companies, but the Cham have very little contact with these Muslims because the Cham live mainly in the north.

Vietnam is unique in one aspect. The local Muslims claim that they have a very positive image in the eyes of the Vietnamese. The few Vietnamese who have converted to Islam have not faced any reprisals.

Muslims are apprehensive that problems with Cambodia or more recently incidents with China, both over the northern border areas and over the Spratley Islands in the South China Sea, could alter the present positive environment dramatically.

In appealing to the world Muslim community, the Cham Muslims say that although they are a little known and insignificant minority, they should not be ignored by the ummah. It is amazing that they are still Muslim after centuries of isolation and hardship. They feel that their endurance should be rewarded.

(Source: The Islamic Horizons, July/August, 1995)

TANZEEM: Organized Constructive Programme in Thane District, Maharashtra

The Tanzeem is a charitable organization for the welfare of the underprivileged Muslims residing in the rural areas of Thane district. They are invariably daily wage earners whose lives have been disrupted from time to time by communal clashes. The Tanzeem was formed following the communal clashes in 1970. In the following years the organization has been able to institutionalize itself and has brought about a change in the lives of the underprivileged (under its) care. The (present) activities include the following:

Education:

a)     The Tanzeem has set up 11 secondary schools in remote areas of the district... Education is free and... facilitated by providing students with educational material, travel allowance....

b)    The Tanzeem manages two government-aided technical schools for boys and girls with 26 different courses including short-term technical courses in motor winding and electricity.

c)     The Tanzeem has set up Arabicadarsas in 40 villages.

Welfare:

a)     A monthly stipend is provided to over 100 widows for sustenance.

b)    A "Baitul Mal" provides financial aid to individuals

c)     for starting small business.

d)    Financial aid to needy and deserving students.

Legal Aid:

The Tanzeem provides legal aid in cases relating to individuals as well as the community e.g. The Jawahar Dargah Case

Construction of Mosques:

The Tanzeem has helped in construction of mosques in 8 remote places.

Liaison Work:

The Tanzeem helps the needy in getting assistance from government agencies.

Medical Camps:

The Tanzeem has organized free medical camps to provide basic health care to children and women. For details, please write to:

The President,

Thane District Muslim Welfare Organization,

Lucky Compound, Vanjarpatti Naka,

Bhiwandi -421 302 (Maharashtra).