The Cham Muslims of Vietnam

Abstract

Islam was brought to Hindu/Buddhist Champa (presentday southern Vietnam) by Arab and Persian sailors and merchants who plied the rich Asian trade routes during the first Islamic century. As the region’s aloewood soon became a profitable commodity, small commercial settlements appeared. Islam made slow but steady progress among the Cham aristocracy and educated classes. At the time of Champa’s final military defeat and territorial absorption by Vietnam in the 1490s, the Cham were predominantly Muslim. After their loss of political independence and during subsequent Vietnamese dynastic struggles, in which the Cham fared quite badly, many Cham fled to Cambodia. The Cham royal court remained centred in Phan Rang until 1693, after which it moved to Cambodia and continued to function for over a century in a much diminished capacity The Cham who remained behind were isolated by successive Vietnamese dynasties from the Islamized Malay world, with which they shared a common religion and culture and, to a lesser degree, language. With the incorporation of Vietnam into the French colonial empire during the nineteenth century, all official assimilation policies stopped and were replaced by a policy of benign neglect. Under the French, the Cham found themselves in two different colonies: Cochin China in the south, and Annam in the centre. As a result, the communities gradually became quite distinct from each other. This remains the case today, and has resisted all attempts at achieving ethnic unity.