Shafi'i and Wahhabi sectarian disputes at Mosque in Battambang province

១៨-សីហា-២០១២៖ លោក សើ សាឌីន (ស្ដាំ) អាយុ​៥៧​ឆ្នាំ ជា​សមាជិក​គណៈកម្មការ​នៅ​វិហារ​នរុល ឥស្លាម និង​លោក សើ ហ្វារ៉ាត់ (ឆ្វេង) ជា​សាសនិក​ឥស្លាម កាន់​និកាយ​ឥស្លាម​សើហ្វីអ៊ី នៅ​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង។ (RFA/Soun Sophalmony)

ជម្លោះ​រវាង​អ្នក​កាន់​និកាយ​ខុស​គ្នា​របស់​សាសនិក​ឥស្លាម​នៅ​បាត់ដំបង

មាន​ទំនាស់​ក្នុង​ជំនឿ​ដើរ​តាម​សាសនា​ឥស្លាម​ចំនួន​ពីរ​ក្រុម បាន​កើត​មាន​ឡើង​នៅ​ក្នុង​វិហារ​ចាម​មួយ នៅ​ក្នុង​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង។

2012-08-18
ដោយ សួន សុផលមុន្នី
Radio Free Asia

ក្រុម​ទី​១ ជា​ក្រុម​ប្រតិបត្តិ​តាម​និកាយ​ឥស្លាម​សើហ្វីអ៊ី និង​ក្រុម​ទី​២ ជា​ក្រុម​ប្រតិបត្តិ​តាម​និកាយ​វះប៊ី។ និកាយ​វះប៊ី ជា​ក្រុម​និកាយ​មួយ​ដែល​សាសនិក​ឥស្លាម​ជា​ច្រើន​លាន​នាក់​នៅ​ក្នុង​សកល​លោក មិន​ទទួល​ស្គាល់ និង​មិន​នាំ​គ្នា​ប្រតិបត្តិ​តាម។

សាសនិក​ឥស្លាម​ជិត​២០០​នាក់ ដែល​និយម​និកាយ​ពីរ​ក្រុម​ខុស​គ្នា បាន​ឈ្លោះ​ប្រកែក​គ្នា​ដោយ​ពាក្យ​សម្ដី និង​មាន​ការ​រុញ​ច្រាន​គ្នា​ទៅ​វិញ​ទៅ​មក​នៅ​ក្នុង​វិហារ​ចាម​មួយ ដែល​មាន​ឈ្មោះ​ថា នរុលអ៊ី ឥស្លាម ស្ថិត​នៅ​ភូមិ​សុ​ភី​១ សង្កាត់​រតនៈ ក្រុង​បាត់ដំបង ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង។

ក្រុម​និកាយ​សើហ្វីអ៊ី បាន​ចោទ​លោក អារ៉ាហ្វាត ជា​សមាជិក​ក្រុម​ប្រឹក្សា​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង ជា​មេ​ដឹកនាំ​ក្រុម​និកាយ​សាឡាហ្វ ឬ​វ៉ាត់ទី ទៅ​អុកឡុក​នៅ​ក្នុង​ពិធី​បុណ្យ​ថ្វាយ​បង្គំ​ព្រះ។ សមាជិក​គណៈកម្មការ​នៅ​វិហារ​នរុល ឥស្លាម លោក សើ សាឌីន បាន​ថ្លែង​នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១៨ ខែ​សីហា ថា កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១៧ វេលា​ម៉ោង​១២ និង​២០​នាទី មាន​ខ្មែរ​ឥស្លាម​ជិត​២០០​នាក់ ក្នុង​នោះ​មាន​ក្រុម​និកាយ​សើហ្វីអ៊ី និង​ក្រុម​និកាយ​សាឡាហ្វ បាន​នាំ​គ្នា​ទៅ​ថ្វាយ​បង្គំ​ព្រះ។

នៅ​គ្រា​នោះ មាន​ឈ្មោះ រិទ្ត វ៉ាង ជា​អ្នក​កាន់​និកាយ​សើហ្វីអ៊ី បាន​ឡើង​សូត្រ​គម្ពីរ​គូរអាន ស្រាប់​តែ​លោក ស៊ូ អារ៉ាហ្វាត ជា​សមាជិក​ក្រុម​ប្រឹក្សា​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង ហាម​មិន​ឲ្យ​សូត្រ និង​បញ្ជា​ឲ្យ​ប៉ូលិស​៤​នាក់​ចូល​ទៅ​ឃាត់ ហើយ​ទុក​ឲ្យ​ក្រុម​និកាយ​សាឡាហ្វ ដែល​ជា​និកាយ​មួយ​ហូរ​ចូល​ពី​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស ជា​អ្នក​ឡើង​សូត្រ​វិញ បណ្ដាល​ឲ្យ​មាន​ជម្លោះ​ពេញ​ព្រះវិហារ៖ «គោល​បំណង​របស់​គេ​នេះ ចង់​បំបែក​បំបាក់​ផ្ទៃ​ក្នុង​របស់​និកាយ​ចាស់ ដោយ​សារ​ពួក​គេ​ចង់​ដើម្បី​គេ​ដាក់​កម្លាំង​គេ​ថ្មី​ចូល​កាន់​កាប់​នៅ​កន្លែង​ហ្នឹង កាន់​និកាយ​ថ្មី គឺ​និកាយ​វះប៊ី ពួក​នេះ​ចូល​កន្លែង​ណា សាសនិក​ឥស្លាម​ចែក​វិហារ​មាន​មេ​ដឹកនាំ​ពីរ​នាក់»។

Cambodia/Islam: Cambodia Muslims Dream of Islamic Finance

PHNOM PENH, 21 Rabi al-Thani/14 March (IINA)-Aspiring to a better standard of living, Cambodia’s Muslims are dreaming of introducing the Islamic finance to the Buddhist country to lure investments from the Muslims-majority states in the Middle East and Asia.

“Most investors in the Middle East are certainly looking for Islamic-compliant business in countries that aren’t majority Muslim,” Ashraf Bin Md Hashim, head of consultancy at the International Sharia Research Academy for Islamic Finance, told the Phnom Penh Post on Monday, March 12.

“This could open an Islamic banking window here.”

Extreme Khmer Episode 15: The Chams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yIUpnp1HDI

Assalamu'alaikum!

Assalamu'alaikum! To all our Muslim brothers and sisters who are observing Ramadan in Cambodia

100,000 Copies Of Quran For Cambodian Muslims In Next 5 Years

PHNOM PENH, July 28 (Bernama) -- The World Quran Endowment Programme organised by the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) with the cooperation of Restu Foundation will print 100,000 copies of the Quran with translation in the Khmer language for distribution to Muslims in Cambodia in the next five years.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the effort was to fulfil the need of the Muslim community in Cambodia and to ensure that each Muslim family would have at least one copy of the Quran.

"There are about 500,000 Muslims in Cambodia and there is only one Quran for every six families. So, we hope generous Malaysians can assist Cambodian Muslims through this programme so that each family will have at least one Quran," he told Malaysian journalists here Thursday.

Cambodia, The First Country To Receive Quran Donation

PETALING JAYA, July 28 (Bernama) -- Cambodia has become the first country to receive copies of the holy Quran through the World Quran Endowment Programme of the Malaysian Armed Forces in collaboration with the Restu Foundation.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said 10,200 copies of the holy book obtained through donations collected from corporate bodies, armed forces personnel and individuals, would be distributed to the minority Muslim community in that country.

"This is an effort to show Malaysia's concern towards Muslim minorities in other countries," he told reporters after receiving the 10,200 copies of the Quran from chairman of the foundation, Datuk Latiff Mirasa, here Wednesday.

A short course on Islam in Cambodia

Mawlid ceremony at Kampong Tralach, Kampong Chhnang, February 2011. Photo by: DC CAM

Wednesday, 02 March 2011
The Phnom Penh Post Staff

Islam is changing in Cambodia. Muslims are financially benefiting from aide from global Islamic institutions, often at the expense of traditional practices, which are quickly changing according to the preferences of international donors.

Cambodian Islam is composed of three main groups: the orthodox Islam, who make up a 80% of Cambodian Muslims, the Chvea Muslims of coastal regions and the Imam Sann group. The first group has the closest connection to Muslims around the world, and their practices most closely resemble those seen in other the majority of Muslim populations. Most orthodox followers, for example, forbid keeping dogs as pets as it is considered unsanitary.

History of Islam in Indonesia

18 November 2010
Musalman Times

In the year of 30 Hijriyah or 651 Christian, just around 20 years after Rasulullah SAW passed away, the khalifah Uthman ibn Affan RA sent the delegation to China introducing Islam’s Daulah.

On the way of 4 years, the messangers of Uthman apparently stopped in Indonesian archipelago. This was the first time Indonesian people introduced Islam. Since, the moslem seaman and merchants kept coming for centuries. They bought agricultural produce from this green country while religious proselytizing.

Gradually, the indigene started to embrace Islam even though not an a large scale. Aceh, the most west region in Indonesia archipelago was the first region receiving Islam. Moreover, in Aceh, the first Islam kingdom was standing, Pasai. Marcopolo said that on the time his stop in Pasai in 692 H/1292 C, many Arabic people had disseminated Islam. So Ibnu Battutha, moslem wanderer from Marocco which when he was stopping in Aceh in 746 H/1345 C, wrote that in Aceh had disseminated Syafi’i mazhab. Now the oldest inheritance from the moslem was found in Gresik, East Java, that was the Islam funeral complex. One of them was a muslimah grave, called Fathima binti Maimun. In her grave was written numeral of year 475 H/1082 C, meant long ago before Majapahit, greatest Hindu’s Empire in Indonesia.

Read glimpses of World history by Jawaharlal Nehru—for a listing of Brahman imperialism in Southeast Asia.

Sri Vijaya, based at Palembang in southern Sumatra, reached through Java to the east and to the area of Bangkok (before it existed) in Thailand to the north. It was a Buddhist empire born in 670 A.D. and lasting until 1365. During this period, Buddhist culture and thought spread throughout the archipelagic region, influencing social order, commerce, and art.

Irregardless of what they teach some temples–Indonesia was Buddhist–and marauding hordes of Brahmans invaded, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia and tried to exterminate Buddhism in the lands. the brutal Madjapahit Hindu empire with a capital in eastern Java originated about 1100 with help from the colonialists from South Bharat. It continued its brutalities ’till 1500. Hinduism was reversed in all the countries, and it kept its hold in Bali–the last island which is a reminder of Hindu imperialism in Southeast Asia.

Malacca was the first major Islamic state in the region–located in what is Malaysia today–originating in 1400 and remaining powerful until defeated by a major Portuguese naval force in 1511. In the period of Pasisir culture authors were very active in writing books on all subjects belonging to the sphere of Muslim Javanese civilization.

The three centres of Pasisir literature in Java were Surabaya (with Gresik), Demak (with Japara) and Cérbon (with Banten). East Javanese Pasisir texts came first, for in East Java Muslim religious influence first became an important element in civilization. Starting from Java, Islamic Pasisir culture spread to some other islands of which the coasts are washed by the Java sea. The most important outlying cultural provinces were Lombok and Palémbang. In the island of Lombok a remarkable Islamic Javano-Balinese literature came into existence. The texts contain reminiscences of indigenous Sasak culture. The native Sasak language developed into a medium of literary activity side by side with the Javano-Balinese idiom.

The important oversea expansions of Javanese Pasisir literature, both eastwards and westwards, started from East Java. Minor expansions, of Javanese Pasisir culture took their course from Banten and from Central Javanese maritime towns. The districts affected by them, Lampung in South Sumatra by Banten, and Bañjar Masin in Borneo by Central Java, did not produce Javanese literary texts of any importance, however.

In, Javanese Pasisir literature, the influence of Islamic culture was strong. Islam first reached Java by the intermediary of Malay literature, Malay being the medium of the interinsular commerce which brought Muslim traders from India to the Archipelago. Asa result, Pasisir literature contains borrowings, from Malay and from Arabic, the sacred language of Islam, but also, from other continental languages, in the first place Persian, which was the universal Islamic medium in India in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

A number of significant early mosques survive, particularly along the north coast of Java. These include the Mesjid Agung in Demak, built in 1474, and the Menara Kudus Mosque in Kudus (1549) whose minaret is thought to be the watch tower of an earlier Hindu temple. Javanese mosque styles in turn influenced the architectural styles of mosques among its neighbors, among other the mosques in Kalimantan, Sumatra, Maluku, and also neighboring Malaysia, Brunei and the southern Philippines. Sultan Suriansyah Mosque in Banjarmasin and Kampung Hulu Mosque in Malacca for example displaying Javanese influence.

In 19th century, the sultanates of Indonesian archipelago began to merge Islamic architecture with Javanese style already popular in the archipelago. The Indo-Islamic and Moorish style are particularly favoured by Aceh Sultanate and Deli Sultanate, as displayed in Banda Aceh Baiturrahman Grand Mosque built in 1881, and Medan Grand Mosque built in 1906. Particularly during the decades since Indonesian independence, mosques have tended to be built in styles more consistent with global Islamic styles, which mirrors the practice of Islam.

Courting the Cham

New theatre of terror?

A cultural revival gathers pace. So do worries about fundamentalism

Sep 30th 2010
The Economist
PHNOM PENH

IN THE so-called war on terror, Cambodia is a sleepy outpost on a tense South-East Asian front that stretches from the Philippines to Thailand. Western governments are, however, worried that trouble may be brewing in this backwater.

Security experts fret about the possible perversion of a cultural revival by Cambodia’s Muslims, who mostly belong to the 400,000-strong Cham minority. In the genocidal 1970s the Khmer Rouge executed most leaders of the Cham and tried to exterminate both the tribe and Islam from the Maoist paradise they said they were building. Ben Kiernan of Yale University estimates that 90,000 out of a population of 250,000 died, a higher rate of loss than any other ethnic group. Only 21 imams survived out of 113, along with perhaps 15% of Cambodia’s mosques.

As they struggled from the wreckage, poor Muslim congregations came to depend on foreign charities for help rebuilding their mosques, whose numbers have risen tenfold to around 250 today, says Bjorn Blengsi, an anthropologist. They also became receptive to imported versions of Islam, which tend to be stricter than the traditionally relaxed local variety. Agnès de Féo, another anthropologist and author of “L’Islam au Cambodge et au Vietnam” says both Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia and Tablighi Jemaat from India are gaining adherents.

Nothing wrong with that, perhaps. Most Islamic charities teach the faith and help the poor. But not, alas, all. In one much-publicised incident in 2002, according to the American government, a local member of the Kuwaiti-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) helped an Indonesian fugitive, Riduan Isamuddin (alias Hambali), the mastermind behind the nightclub bombings in Bali. Hambali, who is now in prison in Guantánamo Bay, reportedly said he had hoped to bomb the American and British embassies in Phnom Penh and to use Cambodia as a base for terrorist operations throughout South-East Asia. RIHS, which has been cleared of links with terrorism by Kuwait’s government, remains active in Cambodia. A local affiliate, the Kuwait-Cambodia Islamic Cultural Training Centre, recently met the president of parliament.

The influence of foreign religious organisations seems to be growing along with rising government loans from Gulf states. These loans include help for rebuilding religious institutions. In January, for example, Cambodia approved an agreement with Kuwait from 2008 in which the oil-rich state promised loans of $546m, mostly for energy and agriculture, and including $5m for new mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools). The only unusual thing about this was that the religious component was revealed. According to Milton Osborne of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank, most aid packages from the Gulf include such a component but do not make it public.

Nothing wrong with that either, of course. But suspect and banned organisations seem to be moving in the slipstream of genuine charities. According to Ms de Féo, the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and the International Islamic Relief Organisation have both worked in Cambodia. Branches of these bodies appear on the United Nations’ list of organisations banned for their links with al-Qaeda. Several other Kuwaiti charities in Cambodia are on America’s list of groups which finance terrorism, including some local affiliates of RIHS.

The concern of security experts is not that scores of terrorist actions are being carried out or even averted just in time. The most recent example of a terrorist plot hatched in Cambodia was as long ago as 2004, when three people connected to a madrassa in Phnom Penh were convicted of planning to bomb embassies there.

Rather, the worry is that unsavoury organisations are coming into the country to take advantage of the Cham revival. Though the Cham themselves do not seem to be embracing extremism, they remain—understandably given their history—suspicious of outsiders (including Cambodia’s government). Few people really know what is happening inside the areas they control. Fundamentalism remains a force in South-East Asia, and lawless Cambodia is no safe haven.

RAMADAN: Cambodian Muslims prepare to break their fast

A Cham Muslim man prepares grapes for the evening meal at the Nurunnaim Mosque in Russey Keo district. (All PHOTOS: WILL BAXTER)
A Cham Muslim boy sets out plates of grapes and noodles for members of the community surrounding Nurunnaim Mosque.
Muslim men chat before the evening meal at the entrance of Nurunnaim Mosque.

Thursday, 09 September 2010
Khouth Sophakchakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

MEMBERS of Cambodia’s 600,000-strong Cham Muslim community are set to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which draws to a close today. During the entire month of Ramadan – which began on August 11 – Muslims are required to fast from dawn until sunset.

Sa Lesh, a Cham Muslim and hakim (elder) at the Nurunnaim Mosque in the city’s Russey Keo district, explained that Ramadan is the holiest of months in the Islamic calendar, and is intended to cleanse devoted Muslims of all sins.

“Allah has taught us through the Qur’an to make good commitments and to share food with the poorest of people,” he said. “Why did Allah teach us to do that? Because he wants us to understand about suffering and hunger… so we will distribute food and other belongings to the poor.”

He said that elders, the infirm and children under age 15 were not required to fast.

Holy feast

Wednesday, 08 September 2010
Khouth Sophakchakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

Click here to view the photos at the PPenh Post

Members of Cambodia’s 600,000-strong Muslim community are set to celebrate the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which draws to a close today.

During the entire month of Ramadan – which began on August 11 – Muslims are required to fast from dawn until sunset.

Sa Lesh, a Cham Muslim and hakim at the Nurunnaim Mosque in the city’s Russey Keo district, explained that Ramadan is the holiest of months in the Islamic calendar, and is intended to cleanse devoted Muslims of all sins.

“Allah has taught us through the Qur’an to make good commitments and to share food with the poorest of people,” he said.

“Why did Allah teach us to do that? Because he wants us to understand about suffering and hunger… so we will distribute food and other belongings to the poor.”

He added that elders, the infirm, and children under age 15 were not required to fast.

In Preah Sihanouk, a Tale of Two Mosques

A mosque in Tramoung Chroum for followers of Imam San sect

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Preah Sihanouk, Cambodia Tuesday, 18 May 2010

“They each have their own rights to practice religion in their own way.”

Din Nos lives just a few steps from a newly built mosque in his home village of Banteay Prey in Preah Sihanouk province. But he refuses to pray there.

Instead, the 76-year-old travels a kilometer down the road, to neighboring O’trav village. That’s because the new mosque has brought new ways with it, and Din Nos, who is almost bald and was lying on a long wooden bed facing the new mosque, prefers the old traditions.

“In this new mosque, they do not pray the way we do,” he said. “We don’t just follow the new way after having seen it, because we have our traditional ways left behind by our ancestors.”

According to Din Nos’ traditions, the practice of Islam includes prayers for the dead, so that they may communicate with Hell, and celebration of the birthday of Mohammad. These practices and others are denounced by the mosque next door.

It wasn’t always this way, though. Residents here say they used to pray at the same old mosque, which was named after the two villages—O’trav and Banteay Prey—that shared it.

The breakup came in 2008, after the new mosque, funded by benefactors in Saudi Arabia, was built. The Derol Es Las Mosque cost about $30,000 and was constructed after a group of young Muslim men returned from overseas studies in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Ron As Matt, a religious teacher at the mosque.

“The practices of Islam by the traditional group are against our religion,” he said in an interview at the new mosque. “The Quran allows Muslims to do just two celebrations: Ramadan and the Hajj in Mecca.”

“If they continue their practices, it will affect the next generation,” said Ron As Matt, who is 29 and studied Islam in Thailand. “The young will take on the wrong practices that do not exist in the Quran or under ‘hadith.’”

Down the road, the traditionalists disagree.

“Our group cannot accept the Wahhabist teachings,” Sen Sakarya, himself a teacher at the older mosque, said. “We don’t agree with them, because we have done our own way for generations. The Wahhabists just want to eliminate or long-standing practices.”

So far, the schism over the mosque and the new ways have led only to verbal attacks. No violence has been reported between the followers of each mosque.

Still, Ung Feul, the provincial imam, said he has had to step in and ask both sides to respect each others’ practice.

“They each have their own rights to practice religion in their own way,” he said.

Hey KI-Media, what's going on?

Hey KI-Media,

Though Buddhism is the official religion of Cambodia, and has been for a long time, there is a big section of Cambodian population of other faiths, at home and oversea, that we rarely hear about on this blog. What's going on?

I don't know your blog is aimed toward reaching all cross-section of Cambodian of different faith or not. But if you are, perhaps you should includes, every now and then, articles about other faith as well. Though some of us embrace other faith, we are still Khmer and feel connected to fellow Khmer.

Just a thought, because I'm a regular reader of this blog, and outside of Buddhism, you guys seldom post news of other faith.
---------

Dear Readers,

You are correct in your observation. It is true that the majority of our religious postings are aimed towards Buddhism rather than other faiths, such as Christianity or Islam. The explanation to this is relatively simple: because we rely on our Readers to send us information to post, when it comes to religious events, our Buddhist readers tend to send more information for us to post. That being said, from time to time, there are some rare news articles about Catholic and/or other Christian denomination activities. As for Islam, we rarely read much news about this faith even though Cambodia counts a large number of Khmer-Islams.

Nevertheless, we would be delighted to hear and to post information from our brothers and sisters of all faiths. We encourage all our Readers to send us photos and information on religious events in your respective communities so that we may share them on KI-Media. Please send your information to us at: kiletters@gmail.com

With our deepest respect,

KI-Media team

On Island of Massacre, Chams Remember

Cambodian Muslims, known as Chams, bow during Friday prayers at the Noorul Isant mosque, north of Phnom Penh. (Photo: AP)

On an island in the Mekong River in Krouch Chhmar district, about 50 km from Kampong Cham provincial town, lies a Cham village that is little more than a few bamboo, thatched-roof houses.

Pich Samnang, VOA
Kampong Cham, Cambodia
Monday, 26 April 2010

“The Khmer Rouge collected our Quran for burning and cut women’s hair."

On an island in the Mekong River in Krouch Chhmar district, about 50 km from Kampong Cham provincial town, lies a Cham village that is little more than a few bamboo, thatched-roof houses.

The village is on Koh Phal, or “Island of Harvest,” where Cham Muslims resisted the Khmer Rouge in an uprising in September 1975, just five months after the radical Maoists took power in Cambodia.

“The reason for the rebellion was that there was no more Islam,” Chet Sman, a 75-year-old widower and the head of one of the four families living here, told VOA Khmer in an interview recently. “The Khmer Rouge collected our Quran for burning and cut women’s hair, including my mother’s. This is the reason.”

Chet Sman sat in front of an old black-and-white TV in his cottage, smoking tobacco and describing the uprising, which led to a massacre of the Chams on the island. These killings, and others like them, will be a part of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s upcoming trial against four jailed leaders of the regime.

The Khmer Rouge shut down mosques, forbid prayer and abolished head-covering for women, he said. They also forced the Chams to raise pigs and eat the pork, a deeply offensive act to the traditional Muslims.

Before the Chams of Koh Phal were pushed to rebellion, the Khmer Rouge went house to house, collecting swords, knives and other tools that might be used as weapons, Chet Sman said. But many villagers hid theirs, or quickly constructed new ones, as they decided to resist.

“The desperate villagers who dared fight against the Khmer Rouge with their swords or bamboo wanted to die as our religion disappeared,” he said, his own long knife and axes lying nearby.

In response, the Khmer Rouge surrounded the island with artillery and weapons. Within a week, they had killed the rebellious villagers, burned down their homes, religious schools and mosques and then turned the name of Koh Phal to Koh Phes, or “Island of Ashes.”

Then, two weeks later, Cham villagers in Svay Klaing, 10 kilometers away, rose up as well, after their teachers and religious leaders were arrested by the Khmer Rouge. Many more were killed in a single day and night.

Ysa Osman, author of “The Cham Rebellion,” which chronicles the uprisings, said the Khmer Rouge then sent survivors to four prisons in Kroach Chhmar district, in areas prone to malaria.

“At that time, there were not enough prisons to put people in, as there were thousands of people both young and old,” he said in an interview last week. “So the Khmer Rouge used schools and pagodas as detention centers for the rebellious villagers.”

Among an estimated 1.7 million people who were killed or died of starvation, overwork or torture under Democratic Kampuchea, an estimated 500,000 are believed to be Chams, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

In late 2009, the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal added the charge of genocide for four former Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trials. The four, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, had previously been charged with crimes against humanity, murder, torture and religious persecutions.

As part of the trial, which could begin next year, Yusos Pinyamin, a survivor of the Svay Klaing massacre, was among those who have filed complaints as civil parties, and he said recently he wants justice done more quickly.

He worries the old leaders will die before they see trial.

“I knew that I could not win, but it was not worth living any longer,” the 56-year-old “hakim,” or village elder, said of the 1975 rebellion. “I was so desperate that I could not wait to be killed.”

Small Muslim Sect Worries Over New Influences

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 January 2010

Toothless and balding, Bhann Tes sat on a wooden bed, writing Cham script in a handheld notebook outside a mosque on Udong mountain, some 30 kilometers from Phnom Penh.

The mosque, which looks more like a Buddhist temple, might not be recognizable to more orthodox Muslims. Nor would the practices of Bhann Tes, who belongs to a rare sect of Islam whose members say is in decline.

Bhann Tes, who is 76, travels to the mosque from his home, 20 kilometers away in Kampong Chhnang province, just once a week to pray. This was required by Allah to maintain a good mind, he said. To pray five times a day, as other Muslims do, was not necessary, he said.

“Allah did not tell us to physically pray five times a day, but only to keep our minds clean of bad thoughts, like wanting to steal others’ property, telling lies, or cheating others,” he said.

Bhann Tes belongs to the Imam San sect of Islam, better known as Jahed, who comprise an estimated 37,000 Cham Muslims and whose beliefs merge the teachings of the Quran with older traditions and customs like ancestor worship.

The small group is now facing a new threat, as money and influence from other Islamic groups, including those in Arab states, have begun drawing the Jahed under their influence.

“They consider us out of their group, but we follow the same holy book,” said Kai Tam, a revered Jahed elder. “They pray with body movement, and we just pray without it.” (Women, he said, are not required to pray at all.)

“I am worried that we may lose our customs and identity in the future, as some of our members have already lost their self-identity to join with the other groups for money,” Kai Tam said in an interview at his home in Kampong Chhnang’s Kampong Tralach district.

However, Sos Kamry, who leads the majority of Cambodia’s Muslims as a mufti, denied Jaheds were being lured by material gain or money.

“Those who have joined our group did it on a voluntary basis, especially after they returned from overseas studies or pilgrimages in some Arab states, where they witnessed the true practices of Islam,” Sos Kamry said. “They call themselves Muslims, but they worship our Lord a bit differently. They may not yet know how to do it fully, but when they understand it better they follow [us] because their practices exist nowhere else in the world.”

Emiko Stock, a French anthropologist who has studied the Cham for nearly a decade, said leaders of the Imam San community often refuse aid from other Islamic sects for fear they might lose their identity.

“For instance, if they accept aid from Arab states or other countries, they said they are worried that the way of practicing their religion would be changed, such as the observance of Mawlut ceremony and the prayers for their ancestor.”

Although Cambodia’s two sects of Islam practice the same religion quite differently, no clashes or mishaps have been reported in the Buddhist-dominated country.

Min Khin, the Minister of Cults and Religion, and Senate President Chea Sim each said separately at a Buddhist conference this week that Cambodia would maintain freedom of religion.

For worshippers like Bhann Tes, the differences make no difference.

“We are all walking toward the same light,” he said. “It’s just that the way we are taking is different. Who will reach the light first, let’s just wait and see.”

Cham Muslim Women Seek More Rights

Cham women (Photo: Brendan Brady, IRIN)

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 December 2009

Mann Fitas is a 43-year-old Cambodian Muslim living in the capital’s Russey Keo district. She has a husband and five children, and, like many Cham women, she is not satisfied with the role her gender plays in her religion.

“In strict Islamic law, wives do not have the right to work outside the house,” she said in a recent interview. “We are just allowed to raise children and look after the house, that’s it.”

Visits outside the home, even to visit relatives, must be conducted by permission, and when a marriage sours, she said, a woman has little recourse.

“No matter how angry a woman is with her husband, she cannot say, ‘I divorce you,’” Mann Fitas said. “We can only complain to the [imam]. But the right to divorce is entitled to the husband.”

Islamic law and the Quran are meant to have women and men compliment each other, said Matt Islamiyas, a university student in Phnom Penh. But in reality, she said, there are still some advantages for men.

“Talking about inheritance, a daughter gets only half of a son’s share,” she said. “In Kupol [the most important ritual in wedding], only men are allowed [to make a decision].”

Sons receive a larger inheritance because a man is expected to support a family after marriage. In a wedding, the bride’s father pays a dowry and hands his daughter over to her groom. If the bride’s father is not present, he is replaced by a brother or male relative, not her mother.

Men are given more weight as witnesses than women, too. Two witnesses in the wedding must be men, unless none are available. In that case, women can stand in as a witness, but there must be twice as many.

Sos Mousine, secretary of state for the Ministry of Cults and Religion, acknowledged a disparity among women and men in Islamic law but said it did not add up to discrimination.

“For example, a woman cannot be an imam leading a mosque, because, biologically, she menstruates, so this is already inequality,” he said.

“As far as Islam is concerned,” said Kop Mariyas, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Women Affairs, “reasons are normally not explained, because everything is already set and we just obey it, that’s all.”

The rights of women Cambodia’s Muslim women have improved, she said, and more and more Muslim girls are now attending school, with some even continuing to higher education.

Kop Mariyas, who is also the secretary-general of the Cambodian Islamic Women’s Development Association, noted that Islamic law and customs are not strictly practiced in Cambodia. There are also organizations that can help women achieve more, she said.

Meanwhile, there are Cham women who don’t fit the mold.

So Farina, a Cham project team leader at Documentation Centre of Cambodia, is currently studying for her master’s at the University of Ohio. She said in a recent e-mail that the rights of Cham women suffer because men have more power in decision-making.

“The community must empower women so that they can move forward,” she said.

In Cambodia, a threatened tribe of Islam

Oct 30, 2009
By Brendan B Brady
Asia Times Online (Hong Kong)

"We love God just the same as others ... But we don't tell others how to practice and they should show us the same respect" - 19-year-old Keu Sarath

UDONG - Imam San was perhaps once Cambodia's most privileged Muslim. Legend has it that in the 19th century, former King Ang Duong encountered him meditating in the forest and was so captivated by the stranger's spirituality that he offered him land in the royal capital. A more cynical account relates that the Khmer royal family, at a time when its power was dwindling, found a ready and willing ally in the Muslim leader.

On the occasion of Imam San's birthday each October, the sect that emerged from his early followers gathers in the former royal city of Udong, about 30 kilometers outside of the present capital of Phnom Penh, to honor his memory through prayer and offerings. The colorful mawlut ceremony reaffirms the sect's privileged heritage and its continued isolation from the rest of the country's Islamic community, which is dominated by a group known as the Cham.

The Imam San followers are the only group to remain outside the domain of the Mufti, the government-sanctioned leader of Islam in Cambodia - a status that was renewed by the government in 1988. Successive Imam San leaders, or Ong Khnuur, have held the prestigious title of Okhna, originally bestowed by the palace.

Cambodia's estimated 37,000 Imam San followers live in only a few dozen villages spread throughout the country. Geography has reinforced the sect's isolation, and the mawlut has become an increasingly important opportunity to forge friendships and - more essential to the survival of the community - marriages.

At the annual ceremony, parents search for eligible suitors for their children, who otherwise would not come in contact with teenagers and young adults from other Imam San communities. The day's use for matchmaking may have new importance as the sect's long-standing isolation is challenged by pressures from Cambodia's larger Islamic community as well as from abroad.

Many Imam San followers see their sect's relationship with other Muslims as the biggest threat to their way of life, as their most vehement critics come from within their faith. For Ek Bourt, an elder member of the Imam San community, it is discrimination from other Muslims that he fears most.

"Other Muslims look down on us since we practice our religion in a different way," he said. "I'm afraid the next generation might lose our unique culture and customs."

The pilgrimage to Udong's Phnom Katera - a site of great importance for Khmers' Buddhist and royal traditions - highlights what some other Muslims see as the Imam San community's unholy cultural proximity to mainstream Khmer society. Conspicuously, the mosque on Phnom Katera is adjacent to the tombs of former Khmer kings and its name, "The Islam Cham Temple of Imam San", is written in Khmer, Cham and English, but not Arabic.

Purity perceptions
Descendants of the Cham Bani from Vietnam, who converted to Islam in the 17th century, Imam San followers view themselves as devoted adherents of the Muslim faith even as they maintain religious and cultural practices that are viewed by some as at odds with Islamic teachings. Because they blend faith in the Koran with other religious customs, including animist-like ceremonies, the Imam San followers are seen by many other Muslims as impure.

Perhaps no tradition of the Imam San community is more offensive to critics than praying only once a week, while praying five times a day is standard practice for most Muslims. And none is more bizarre than the chai ceremony, in which they dance in a possessed state, sometimes carrying prop weapons.

In fact, about 85% of Muslims consider the Imam San followers to be so heterodox as not to qualify as Muslims, according to a study by Norwegian Bjorn Blengsli, who has studied Muslims in Cambodia for nearly a decade.

"They're not true followers of Mohammed," said Hussein Bin Ibrahim, a Salafi Muslim who lives in Phnom Penh. "They don't really count as Muslims. For Muslims like us in Cambodia, our Islam is now becoming more like the Islam in Arab countries. We have grown closer to Mecca." Hussein prays in the outskirts of Phnom Penh at the Norul Ehsan mosque, which was recently renovated with funds from Kuwait.

Most of Cambodia's Muslims are ethnically Cham, whose practices have traditionally been moderate. But the last several years have seen a rise of fundamentalism in the Cham community, most notably of Wahhabism, an austere form of Islam originating from Saudi Arabia.

Growing economic ties between Cambodia and Arab countries suggest the trend will only strengthen.

Last year, after making high-level state visits, Kuwait and Qatar pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in soft loans to Cambodia for agricultural development. The aid sparked concerns among some Western officials that the money could be used not just to invigorate Cambodia's farming, but also to radicalize its Muslims.

"There are some organizations here from the Middle East that are very radical and that are very intolerant, and they are trying very hard to change the attitude and the atmosphere of the Muslim population here in Cambodia," said then-outgoing American Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli in his farewell speech to reporters in August 2008.

The primary focus of the most recent state visits has been trade. Yet cultural ties are also at stake: Kuwait pledged some $5 million for Cambodian Islamic institutions, including renovating the dilapidated International Dubai Mosque in Phnom Penh.

Economic ties with Arab countries will reverberate in Islamic practices in Cambodia, according to Blengsli. "Economic ties between Cambodia and Arab countries will lead to more funding for Islamic organisations in Cambodia and, since they are often unhappy with the purity of Islam as its practiced here, there will be increasing Arab influence on local Muslim practices," he said.

Islamic revivalism
The penetration of Islamic missionaries, as well as development and educational organizations into Cambodia, is problematic because of the separation from other cultures these groups encourage, according to Alberto Perez, a Spanish anthropologist who is writing his PhD dissertation on the Cham.

The Imam San community has been further estranged amid a wave of Islamic revivalism embraced by the majority of Cambodia's nearly 350,000 Muslims. In the past, Imam San followers have rejected donations from wealthy Middle East-based Islamic groups and resisted pressure from foreign preachers, whose requests that they convert to orthodox Islam are frequently backed by offers to finance the construction of new mosques.

But this long-maintained separation is weakening under the same foreign influences that, according to Blengsli, have made Cambodia's mainstream Muslims one of the fastest-changing Islamic communities in the world.

The Imam San community is losing numbers to other Muslim sects, including the Salafi, Jamaat Tabligh and Ahmadiyya, which have international standing and deeper pockets, he said. In particular, young Imam San followers who are sent to Phnom Penh to continue their studies face pressure from other Muslim communities to convert to orthodox Islam.

"We're especially afraid that the young will be tempted to join other groups that are well-funded," said Kai Tam, the Imam San's current Ong Khnuur. But such concerns would not have him change his group's practices.

"Our people are strong because we believe in our ancestors and we believe in their culture and the way they practiced Islam - to change would be an insult to our ancestors. We have the same goal as other Muslims, but we get there a different way."

Ahmad Yahya, president of the Cambodian Islamic Development Association and an advisor to the government on Cham issues, has said that Imam San followers should break their isolation and reform their observance. Yahya has aggressively solicited foreign funding for Cambodian Muslims to continue their studies locally and abroad, and he believes Iman San followers should make the changes necessary to avail themselves of such opportunities.

Indeed, some Imam San villages have begun praying five times a day as a compromise to foreign donors who have financed new mosques for them. But for 19-year-old Keu Sarath, whose home is in the same village as the Ong Khnuur's, her faith in the way of her ancestors has not wavered.

"We love God just the same as others," she said. "But we don't tell others how to practice and they should show us the same respect."

Brendan B Brady is a freelance journalist based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

At Islamic School, a Separation of the Sexes

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Kandal province
08 October 2009

Classes are underway at the Cambodian Islamic Center in Kandal province, and at the nearby Al Rahmani mosque, a group of female students waited for their instructor on a recent day.

It is not by chance that the classroom was empty of men. Here, young women and girls are separated from their male classmates, in a bid to help them study, officials say.

“It is common that female and male students have love relationships, and this makes it difficult for us to control,” said Pich Solin, director of the Islamic Center’s secular studies.

Segregation helps earn the trust of parents and helps students concentrate on their studies, he said.

Cambodia has around 500,000 Muslims, many of whom are descendants of a lost kingdom in today’s Vietnam. Over the decades, they have lived side-by-side with their Khmer neighbors, but Muslim leaders maintain traditions in schools like the Islamic Center, underscoring the difference in cultures.

The Islamic Center has strict rules regarding relationships between its students.

“They don’t allow us to sit in the same class [with boys], as we may woo each other,” a shy, 15-year-old girl named You Sali said. This is for the best, she said.

The center has around 200 female students, who leave their homes across the country to study here, 20 kilometers outside Phnom Penh. Nearby, on the main grounds of the Islamic Center, 500 male students undertake secular and religious courses.

Kimri Safert, 18, said he wanted to study in a classroom with female students.

“I want to, but how can I if the tradition won’t allow it?” he asked with a sigh.

Nos Sles, an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Education, said the separation of students does not affect quality of education.

“They just put female students in one place and male students in another, but the curriculum is the same,” he said.

Still, some students look forward to a day when they can mingle in a classroom.

Kimri Safert, a male student at the center, said he must wait three more years to graduate the school. “Then I will go to university with mixed sexes.”

At Islamic Center, Students Prepare for Class

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Kandal province
02 October 2009

In white clothes and Muslim caps, more than 700 students were set to begin classes at the Cambodian Islamic Center on Thursday, with the Ramadan festival coming to an end.

The center, in Kandal province, is the largest Islamic school in the country and registers students from seven different provinces, though most come from Kampong Cham.

Students stood in long lines outside the center, waiting for classes to begin.

Ari Fin, 15, said he was looking forward to studying at the center, as it provided both general knowledge and Islamic subjects.

“Having both programs makes it easy for me, as I don’t have to go to our religious school far from my village home,” said the ninth grader from Kampong Cham.

Formerly the Om Al-Qura high school, the center has registered 744 Muslim students, who board at the school and study from seventh to twelfth grade. (In 2003, the Om Al-Qura was closed down after three Islamic teachers there were implicated in a Jemaah Islamiyah plot to attack targets in Cambodia and were arrested.)

Pich Solin, who is in charge of secular studies at the center, said the addition of Islamic studies attracts an influx of Muslim students. “Our Khmer Muslims want both, as Islam is the most important for us, and state schools provide only general knowledge.”

Students also said they liked the structure provided by the center.

“I did badly at my old high school,” said Meut Tor Hiet, 15, who was starting ninth grade. “But I do better being here. Here I focus only on my studies, and I don’t go around.”

The center sits on four hectares, and includes dormitories, a canteen, a football pitch, a basketball court and a mosque.

Parents say they like the school because it is fully equipped and helps their children retain their traditions.

“I wanted my son to be well educated in Islam, as I am afraid he would sin, as I did, because I did not know much about Islam,” said Li Pi As, who had accompanied her son on a journey from Pursat province and held a crying infant by her side.

Along with Islamic studies, students can also pursue computer skills and English, Malay and Arabic, courses meant to prepare them for job markets and opportunities overseas.

Each year, about six students from the center manage to travel abroad, to countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya and Malaysia, Pich Solin said.

Muslim Women Finding Education in Capital

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 May 2009

Ly Navy had just come back from school. Wearing her school uniform and a scarf to cover her head, the second-year medicine student at Phnom Penh’s University of Health Science entered a room filled with bunk beds, bookshelves and wardrobes.

For now this was her home, a hostel for female Muslims on the grounds of the International Dubai Mosque in Phnom Penh.

The 22-year-old student from Kampong Cham province said she has felt at ease staying in the hostel for more than a year.

“Staying here is not difficult, as we have a firm and good manager who is taking care of us,” she said, referring to her student head sitting nearby.

“Most students in this hostel come from provinces, and as you know our parents cannot afford our high education here in the city,” said Math Islamiyas, another student from Kandal province. “So, we are really happy to be able to go to colleges or universities on provided scholarships.”

Some scholarships are offered on a competitive basis by the Islamic Development Bank or organizations in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, according to the Cambodian Muslim Student Association.

Fifty-two university students have been staying here at the International Dubai Mosque since the first-ever hostel for female Muslim students was opened in 2007, said the student head, Tolos Fa-Eysas , who is from Kratie province.

Most of them are from the provinces of Kampong Cham, Kratie, Kampong Thom, Kampong Chhnang and Battambang.

They are all studying at both private and state colleges or universities, according to Tolos FaEysas, herself a fourth-year student of computer science at Norton University.

“When we stay here, we not only have a chance to go to university, but we also have access to Islamic education,” said the 25-year-old Tolos Fa-Eysas, adding that all the female students in the hostel go to Arabic or Malay classes or Quran-reading classes every evening in an Islamic institute next door.

CMSA President Sos Mousin said the creation of the hostel encouraged parents of Cambodian Muslims to send their daughters for higher education.

“Some parents do not lack money; they really can afford their daughter’s higher education, but they are worried about her staying in the city,” Sos Mousin said. “So the hostel is of great value, not just for poor students but also for those concerned parents.”

Of 300 Muslim students who are attending colleges or universities in the country, more than 100 are female.

Some are staying with relatives in the city, said Sos Mousin, who is also a secretary of state for the Ministry of Cults and Religion.

Like their Buddhist counterparts, most Muslim female students in the countryside have little chance of even finishing high school, let alone attending higher education. They are generally not encouraged to go away from home for fear of their personal safety and security.

Consequently, rarely does one see Muslim women holding high positions in either private or state institutions.

Among more than 20 high-ranking Muslim officials in the government, just two are women, serving as undersecretary of states, said one of them, Kob Mariah, who works at the Ministry of Women’s Affair.

However, with recent permission by the government to let female Muslim students wear traditional clothes in schools, more Muslim parents will send their daughters to universities, she said.

“I believe more and more female Muslim students will pursue higher education, such as those at the hostel,” said Kob Mariah, who is also secretary-general for the Cambodian Islamic Women Development Association.