Cambodia

       

 

 

1.  At Islamic School, a Separation of the Sexes
[By : Pich Samnang,  VOA News]
 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. 

 

2.  A Look at Cambodia's Muslim Minority  
[By Antonio Graceffo]Followers of the religion of Islam make up less than one percent of the predominantly Buddhist population of Cambodia. Roughly 80% of Cambodia's Muslims belong to the Cham ethnic group. "There are two types of Muslims in Cambodia." Said Sary Abdulah, president of the Islamic National Movement for Democracy of Cambodia.

   
 

3.  Cambodia Muslim
[Phnom Penh Post, Issue 10/22, October 26 - November 8, 2001]

Followers of the religion of Islam make up less than one percent of the predominantly Buddhist population of Cambodia. Roughly 80% of Cambodia's Muslims belong to the Cham ethnic group. "There are two types of Muslims in Cambodia." Said Sary Abdulah, president of the Islamic National Movement for Democracy of Cambodia.
 

4.  Cambodia's Muslims as geopolitical pawns

[: Geoffrey Cain (ASIA TIMES)] PHNOM PENH - Competition for influence in Cambodia, recently seen as a two-country race between the United States and China, has now seen another deep-pocketed suitor emerge: petrodollar-rich Gulf states. While Washington has required counter-terrorism cooperation for its assistance, and Beijing has sought greater access to markets, Middle Eastern countries seem keen to build religious ties with Cambodia's Muslim Cham minority.
   
 

5.  Cham Muslims in Cambodia
[Dewi Mohd Sofri & BANDAR  (THE BRUNEI TIMES)] WITH a population estimated to be between half a million and one million, Cambodia has the largest concentration of Chams and roughly 90 per cent of them are Muslims.Also known as Khmer Islam, the Chams are considered to be a minority ethnic group which makes up 5 per cent of the country's total demographic of roughly 14 million people. Most live in the Kampong Cham Province, a 125km drive away from Phnom Penh City

 

6.  Chamrebillion until 1979
[Survivors Stories from the Villages (Ysa Osman)]

The Cham
Rebellion
Survivors´ Stories from the Villages
   
 

7.  Genocide against Cham Muslim
[By Ysa Osman]

The 1975-1979 regime of Democratic Kampuchea (DK), led by Pol Pot and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, left more than one million Cambodians dead,1 their bones scattered like those of animals. All of the more than 6,000,000 people who survived the regime2 lived with constant horror and fearthroughout those 3 years, 8 months, and 20 days. But the extent of suffering differed according to ethnicity and religious practice...
 

8.  Islam in Cambodia   [By WIKIPEDIA]

Islam is the religion of a majority of the Cham (also called Khmer Islam) and Malay minorities in Cambodia. According to Po Dharma, there were 150,000 to 200,000 Muslims in Cambodia as late as 1975. Persecution under the Khmer Rouge eroded their numbers, however, and by the late 1980s they probably had not regained their former strength. Today, there are an estimated 500,000 Cham Muslims in Cambodia, or roughly 3% of the total population of Cambodia. All of the Cham Muslims are Sunnis of the Shafi'i school. Po Dharma divides the Muslim Cham in Cambodia into a traditionalist branch and an orthodox branch.
   
 

9.  Islamic fundamentalism taking root among Cham Muslims[By Asia News]

Islamic fundamentalism is moving into Cambodia. The predominantly Buddhist country is seeing the rise of a more radical wing among local Cham Muslims (also known as Khmer Islam) under the influence of Malaysia's conservative movement Dawa Tablight and extremist Saudi  wahabism.
 

10.  Jewish family builds mosque in Cambodia

[By Associated Press]Lightman family funds construction of mosque in village located 44 miles northwest of capital Phnom Penh for members of small Islamic sect who 'like the Jews, have faced persecution over the centuries'

   
 

11.Legacy of Cham Muslims
[BY IslamOnline(IOL)]
 

California's Santa Ana city is home to some hundred Cham families, a community that first arrived 30 years ago after fleeing the Khmer Rouge's reign in Cambodia and is known for its adherence to Islam.
 

12.  Night of the Khemer Rouge
[By Paul Roberson Gallery(The State University Of New Jersey]

   
 

13. Putting Down Roots
[The Cambodia Daily , WEEKEND Saturday, September 13, 2003]

From the nearby mosque, the amplified call to afternoon prayer wafts over the Cham village of Prey Thnang in Kampot province.One of the five daily summons to the faithful, the sonorous recital slips unnoticed over one Cham family—and a gaggle of inquisitive relatives—in this small, quiet roadside village a modest drive from Kampot town.
 

14. Seattle cham  
[Lacey's Cham refugees hold family, faith close to home By VANESSA HO, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER]

When Halimah Yousof needs a baby sitter for her two sons, she relies on relatives. They're pretty easy to find. There's her mom next door, her aunt two doors down, another aunt three doors down. Then there's her husband's first cousin behind her, her third cousin down the street and her grandfather around the corner
   
 

15. The Cham Muslims of Indo-China  
[China  By J. Willoughby Source: The Message International]

The Cham Muslims of Vietnam and Cambodia represent one of the most forgotten Muslim peoples of the Muslim ummah. We hear of the Muslim minorities in the Soviet Union, China and India due to their large numbers and majority-minority tensions, and sometimes of the smaller Muslim communities in Burma, Thailand and the Philippines
 

16.The Khmer Islam community
 [By LOWY INSTITUTE]

Two recent devlopments in Cambodia have briefly focussed international attention on that countrys's little-known 'indigenous' Islamic community. The first of these devlopments was the arrest in Phnom Penh of three foreigners alleged to have links with...
   
 

17. U.S. Fears Islamic Militancy Could Emerge in Cambodia
[By SETH MYDNAS ,December 22, 2002,THE NEW YORK TIMES]

''I say Cambodia is safe,'' said Ahmad Yahya, one of the most prominent Muslims in the country, addressing fears that Islamic militants could find a niche in this unruly land.''But who knows?''