A foreigner visiting Vietnam is unlikely to notice traces of the presence of one of the world's religions - Islam-in this country of the Indochina Peninsula. Nevertheless, in any reference book of Vietnam, among other denominations, the most numerous of which is Buddhist, there is also mention of the presence of a Muslim denomination in this country.
The population of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the end of 2003 totaled 80,782 thousand people, of which, according to the Vietnam Father Front, active believers - Buddhists, Christians (mainly Catholics), Taoists, Confucians, adherents of the ancestral cult and syncretic religions, and Muslims - make up 20%. Currently, official statistics of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam classify more than 70 thousand of its citizens as Muslims .1
Vietnam now has more than 60 mosques, including in Hanoi and Haiphong. In these two major cities of North Vietnam, as in Ho Chi Minh City, mosques are primarily used for worship by non - citizens of Vietnam: in Hanoi - by diplomats of Islamic states and students from Arab countries (for example, Palestinians); in Haiphong, a major port, by sailors and merchants from abroad who profess Islam; in Hanoi-by Muslim diplomats and students from Arab countries (for example, Palestinians). Ho Chi Minh City - both. In addition, Islam is practiced by people who have long lived here from the Hindustan Peninsula, for example, Tamils, who in colonial times were engaged in usury and trade in fabrics in Saigon (since 1976 - Ho Chi Minh City).
There are only a few representatives of the titular nation - the Viet (Kinh) - who profess Islam. These are usually mestizos. For example, in Hanoi, there are no more than 20 Muslim Vietas, and 15 of them belong to the same family, whose common ancestor was a native of the area of modern Pakistan, who married a Vietnamese woman in the 20s of the XX century.
The rest, most of the Muslims of Vietnam belong to the Tham (or Cham) people. The Tjamas are an Austroa ...
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