Reposted from the web

Summary: A Vietnam halal food map for Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang, covering Indian restaurants, Muslim-friendly food stops, halal seafood notes, and the original travel photos and names.

Vietnam has about 65,000 Muslims, making up 0.08% of the total population. This is the third lowest percentage in Southeast Asia, with only Laos and East Timor having fewer. Most Vietnamese Muslims are Cham people who follow the Sunni Shafi'i school. They mainly live in Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, and An Giang provinces. In the 17th century, the Champa king converted to Islam, which led most Cham people to become Muslims.

I traveled to Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang. Before leaving, I heard that Vietnamese customs officers often ask Chinese tourists for tips. The amount is only a few dozen yuan, but it feels unfair because they rarely ask tourists from other countries. While waiting in line, the Chinese travelers behind me tucked tips into their passports. They said they were worried about trouble with their visa-on-arrival, so they prepared the money. I had already obtained my visa paper in advance and was prepared to face trouble if I refused to pay a tip. I figured if they gave me a hard time, I just wouldn't visit Vietnam. I have been to Southeast Asia many times, and it is all quite similar, so I would not have any regrets. Luckily, I was not asked for a tip at either entry or exit and passed through smoothly. However, I went through Ho Chi Minh customs; I heard Nha Trang customs is very corrupt and hard to avoid.

1. Shanti Indian Cuisine



Halal restaurants in Vietnam fall into two main categories: Southeast Asian cuisine and Indian-Pakistani cuisine.



This Indian restaurant is exceptionally clean and tidy, with fresh flowers of different colors on every table.





The restroom has a bidet sprayer for wudu (small ablution), which is common in Vietnamese restrooms.







At Indian restaurants, I always order roti, commonly known as flying bread (feibing). It is a simple Indian flatbread that tastes great when dipped in curry sauce.



See the business card in the image above for the restaurant address.

2. MUSAKARIEM



This is a Malay-Vietnamese restaurant run by Vietnamese Cham Muslims. You can eat both Malay and Vietnamese food here. A woman wearing a black veil greeted us at the door. This style of dress is hard to see in China nowadays.





While we waited for our food, a white man came in and asked the girl if she was from Malaysia. The girl said she was local, and that was when I learned they were Cham.





The squid here is very fresh and tasty. I ate one plate and ordered another; it was delicious and cheap.





This pancake is a Vietnamese-style pancake, which is actually just an egg crepe, nothing special. The restaurant address is below the sign in the picture.

3. MORNING COFFEE



I found this halal fast-food burger shop by accident on the small delta island of Thanh Da. When I entered, only the hostess was there. She is Vietnamese. After talking, I learned her husband is an American Muslim. My first thought was that he might be of Indian descent, as most American Muslims I have met are.







To my surprise, after we finished our meal, we met the hostess's husband. He was a tall white American. A thunderstorm started outside, so we stayed to wait out the rain and chatted with him for a while. He said he is from Ohio in the United States and converted to Islam five years ago. He also mentioned that many white people in the U.S. have converted to Islam just like him. He has been to Hong Kong and has lived in Vietnam for a year. He goes back to the U.S. once a year and loves traveling all over the world.





We had a great chat. Before we left, he gave us a business card for a restaurant his friend owns, saying we should eat there if we have the chance.



4. Saigon Green House



This restaurant also mixes Malay and Vietnamese food, but I think it is the best halal restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City.







This was my first time eating Vietnamese beef noodle soup (pho). The beef was tender and the broth was delicious. Vietnamese noodles are much better than I imagined.





Prices in Vietnam are very low. Freshly squeezed fruit juice at restaurants costs less than 10 RMB, so I make sure to drink plenty every time.



The address is in the picture above.

5. Halal Saigon Restaurant



I originally wanted to come here for seafood. It is a Singaporean halal restaurant with fish, shrimp, crab, and more on the menu. Unfortunately, they were out of crab and shrimp when I went at noon. Muslims in Southeast Asia belong to the Shafi'i school of thought, so they are allowed to eat shrimp and crab.





In Southeast Asia, restaurants with halal certification do not serve alcohol. Restaurants that sell alcohol cannot apply for halal certification and can only label themselves as pork-free.







Claypot stewed sea fish.



Vietnamese spring rolls. Unless you have a specific taste for them, I suggest you skip these. The flavor is really strange. They are filled with raw chives, raw green onions, cilantro, and a local herb rolled up with shrimp.



The bill was 574,035 Vietnamese Dong. Don't worry, 1 RMB is about 3,300 Vietnamese Dong, so this meal cost less than 200 RMB.

The address is on the receipt, right across from the Saigon Mosque.

6. HAJI IDRIS RESTAURANT





This Haji restaurant serves Chinese food and the prices are not expensive.



I ordered a grilled fish, and it tasted good.



The small mushrooms in the vegetable soup were delicious.







This meal cost 485,000 Vietnamese Dong, which is about 145 RMB. The address is on the receipt.

Nha Trang

7. OMAR INDIAN RESTAURANT



There is currently no mosque in Nha Trang. Because Nha Trang has always been a Vietnamese naval base and only became a tourist destination in recent years, there are very few Muslims. I found a few halal Indian restaurants on the island. This is a fairly excellent Indian restaurant that has appeared on the Ctrip food list.



This is the Vietnamese flag in the shop.







Even though it is a tourist city, the cost of living in Nha Trang is even lower than in Ho Chi Minh City. A glass of fresh mango juice is 8 RMB.







The address is on the sign. You can find it by searching for Omar on Baidu Maps or Google Maps. The shop faces the beach.

8. GANESH INDIAN RESTAURANT



I did not eat at this shop because I went to another Indian restaurant right next door.



9. TAJ GRILL





This place is also on Dazhong Dianping. The waitress was very friendly and kept asking if we liked the food.











The yellow dish is fish. I suggest you skip the curry fish and just stick to the chicken, lamb, or beef curry.





Maybe it was because I was hungry after coming back from the sea, but I ate four thin flatbreads (naan) at this shop.

Note: If you want to visit the mosque (dousiti) in Ho Chi Minh City, I suggest staying near Ho Chi Minh Square in the city center. The Saigon Mosque is right next to the square, and there is a street with halal food nearby. Within a 2-kilometer radius, you can walk to popular spots like Bui Vien Street, Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, the War Remnants Museum, the Central Post Office, and the Cafe Apartment. There are 15 mosques in Saigon, so it is easy to find halal restaurants.

Nha Trang has a four-island tour that you can book through any hotel front desk. It costs about 45 yuan per person, including round-trip transfers, the boat ride, and lunch, but you have to pay extra for activities on the islands.

The 100 Egg Mud Bath costs 70 yuan per person and is worth a soak.

The best part of Nha Trang is the one-day trip to Vinpearl Island. Tickets are 240 yuan per person. You can enjoy all the water activities and amusement park rides on the island without waiting in line. It is much more fun than Happy Valley back home.

I passed through Mui Ne on my way from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City. The scenery is average and it is a bit quiet, so you can skip this place if you are short on time. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Ho Chi Minh City — Malay Muslims, Mosques and Food is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Southern Vietnam has a long history of close contact with the Malay Archipelago. In the 15th century, the Malacca Sultanate (1400–1511) became a major power in Southeast Asia and maintained close ties with Champa, which. The account keeps its focus on Ho Chi Minh City, Malay Muslims, Vietnam Muslims while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

Southern Vietnam has a long history of close contact with the Malay Archipelago. In the 15th century, the Malacca Sultanate (1400–1511) became a major power in Southeast Asia and maintained close ties with Champa, which then ruled southern Vietnam. The classic Cham literature piece, The Princess of Kelantan, tells the story of a princess from Kelantan on the Malay Peninsula who practiced her faith in Champa. After the Portuguese occupied the Malacca Sultanate in 1511, many Malay people moved away, and some settled in southern Vietnam, where they integrated with the Cham Muslims.

The Western missionary M. Mahot MEP began living in Champa in 1676. In a letter written in July 1678, he noted: 'Regarding the Cham religion, the Malay Muslims are more vigilant than we are. They have immigrated to Champa in large numbers and have brought the Cham king and his court into Islam.'

In 1692, Vietnam invaded Champa and established Binh Thuan Prefecture on former Cham lands, then continued to invade the Mekong Delta, which was ruled by Cambodia. In 1698, they established Gia Dinh Prefecture in the Mekong Delta, which was the predecessor to Ho Chi Minh City. In the early 19th century, Emperor Gia Long (reigned 1802–1820) of the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty sent troops to guard Gia Dinh City. Because he lacked enough soldiers, he recruited many Cham and Malay troops.

In 1859, the joint French and Spanish forces captured the city of Gia Dinh. In 1862, France and the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam signed the Treaty of Saigon, officially occupying Gia Dinh. From then on, Gia Dinh gradually developed into Saigon, a commercial hub for the French in Southeast Asia.

During French rule, the government had a relatively relaxed policy toward the faith. Many Malay and Indonesian people came to Saigon for business, and the first mosque in Saigon was the Al Rahim Mosque, built by Malay and Indonesian Muslims in 1885.













After entering the 20th century, the Malay community had a greater influence on the faith in Vietnam. At that time, religious publications were all imported from Malaya, and mosques were accustomed to inviting Malay imams to give sermons (waaz) in the Malay language. Local Cham youth were used to traveling to Malaya to study the scriptures, returning to Vietnam to practice their faith after completing their studies. In 1954, Vietnam was divided into North and South, and South Vietnam maintained good diplomatic relations with the then Federation of Malaya and later Malaysia. Many mosques in Vietnam were built with help from Malaysia in the 1950s and 1960s. In Saigon, you can find the Haiyat Al Islam mosque built in 1962, the Alsa Adah mosque built in 1968, and the Jamiul Anwar mosque built in 1969.

Jamiul Anwar mosque















The area in Ho Chi Minh City with the most Malay people is currently Malay Street, located outside the west gate of Ben Thanh Market.

Since these restaurants mainly serve Malay tourists, they also offer Vietnamese food. This makes it very easy for Malay Muslims to try local Vietnamese dishes.



The west gate of Ben Thanh Market is at the end of the road.

The street has many stalls and shops selling women's clothing for Muslims.





There are also Muslim travel agencies. Among them, Bismillah means the basmala.



Haji Osman Restaurant

I flew from Beijing to Ho Chi Minh City and headed straight to Malay Street first thing in the morning. Malay Street was still quiet in the morning, so I walked around and picked Haji Osman Restaurant, which looked like the busiest spot.







I ordered Vietnamese-style baguette, rice noodle soup (pho), and coffee, and everything was excellent. I never used to like coffee, but I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it this time.



Vietnamese baguette (banh mi) is a classic breakfast on the streets of Saigon. The baguette arrived in Saigon after the French occupied the city in 1861. Back then, wheat was expensive to import, so the baguette was considered a luxury item. During World War I, wheat imports stopped, so more cheap rice flour was added to Vietnamese baguettes, making them much fluffier. Because the price dropped, baguettes became a regular part of the Vietnamese diet.

Before the 1950s, Vietnamese baguettes were still strictly French-style, served with mayonnaise or jam. After Vietnam was divided into North and South in 1954, over a million people moved from the north to the south, which changed the food scene in Saigon. In the late 1950s, some northern migrants started selling baguettes on the street, and the modern Vietnamese baguette began to take shape.

After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, baguettes were only sold in state-run restaurants and often served with other dishes, which is how the modern habit of dipping baguettes into rice noodle soup (pho) began. It was not until the socialist market economic reforms in 1986 that baguettes returned to the streets as a common snack.





Vietnamese rice noodle soup (pho) appeared in northern Vietnam in the early 20th century, but it was not very popular in Saigon until the 1950s. After Vietnam was divided into North and South in 1954, over a million people moved from the north to the south. Rice noodle soup (pho) became popular in Saigon and developed a unique flavor different from the north.



Thai basil is served with the rice noodle soup, though the Malay people at the next table did not seem to enjoy it much.



Delicious Vietnamese coffee.



HALAL AMIN restaurant.

HALAL AMIN is another halal restaurant on Malay Street. The words "PHỞ MUSLIM" below mean Muslim rice noodle soup.



How it looks during the day.





Vietnamese spring rolls (Gỏi cuốn) contain rice vermicelli (bún) wrapped in translucent rice paper (Bánh tráng). The rice paper is a bit tough to chew, and it felt strange the first time I ate it.







I ordered wide beef noodles at the last place, but this time I had thin chicken noodles.





Hajah BASIROH Restaurant

I also tried the Malaysian chicken rice at Hajah BASIROH Restaurant on Malay Street.



In tropical countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, or Thailand, restaurants often bring you a big glass of ice first. You pour your own water or drink into it, which feels amazing in the hot and humid weather.







Street-style Malay cake (Kuih)

One morning on Malay Street, I met an uncle selling Malay cake (Kuih).







The uncle specifically showed me the words on his cart. The title KUIH-HALAL means halal Malay cake, and on the right is the Malaysian halal certification logo.

The 'Bingke Ubi Kayu' on the first line, also written as 'Kuih Bingka Ubi Kayu' or 'Bingka Ubi', is a Malay cake made by mixing coconut and cassava with coconut milk and salt. This simple recipe is very common in Malaysia.

The 'Murtabak' on the second line is a vegetable pancake popular across the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The 'Nasi Lemak' on the third line is Malay coconut milk rice.



I bought a piece of Bingka Ubi cake made from a mix of cassava and coconut to eat.



5. Street cold drinks

A cold drink stall on Malay Street sits right in front of a shop selling clothes for Muslim women.



The word 'kopi' written on the stall means coffee.



I bought a cup of rice milk to drink.



Kampung Panda Restaurant

Besides Malay Street, there are many Malaysian restaurants near the Bianqing Market, and the most famous one is Kampung Punda. The word "Kampung" means "village" in Malay.





This restaurant also serves a lot of Vietnamese food.











Start by drinking some coconut juice.



This type of spring roll is called Cuốn diếp. It is popular in northern Vietnam and is made by wrapping chicken, carrots, and other ingredients in lettuce. It tastes quite good.







Stir-fried seafood noodles (Mì xào)



Vegetable and seafood squid rolls



The Daun restaurant

Besides the Malaysian restaurants, there is a halal place near Ben Thanh Market run by Singaporeans. They hire Vietnamese chefs who make excellent halal Vietnamese food.



The man sitting across from us is the owner, and he is very kind and polite.



Menu









Start with an iced coffee!



The noodles with fried spring rolls (bun cha gio) come with a delicious sweet and spicy fish sauce.





Pineapple and mushrooms



In Ho Chi Minh City, besides Malaysian and Singaporean halal restaurants, there are many halal eateries and stalls run by local Cham people. You can see more in my previous diary entry, "Mosques and Cham Muslims in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam." view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Ho Chi Minh City — Mosques and Cham Muslims is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: During the 2018 New Year holiday, I visited the Hui Muslims who speak the Cham language in Sanya, Hainan. The account keeps its focus on Ho Chi Minh City, Cham Muslims, Vietnam Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

During the 2018 New Year holiday, I visited the Hui Muslims who speak the Cham language in Sanya, Hainan. This sparked my interest in the Cham Muslims of Vietnam and Cambodia, so I decided to visit their communities during the Spring Festival holiday. Worried about the language barrier, I decided against going deep into the traditional Cham communities along the Vietnam-Cambodia border or the Vietnamese interior. Instead, I visited the urban Cham community in Ho Chi Minh City. Luckily, I received a warm welcome from the local Cham Muslims in Ho Chi Minh City and learned a great deal.



Let me first introduce the history of the Cham people. Champa, also known as Zhanpo, was a country established by the Cham people in southern Vietnam in 192 AD. The Cham people were originally an Austronesian-speaking group that moved from Borneo to the Indochinese Peninsula. After the 4th century, they were strongly influenced by India, using Sanskrit and practicing Brahmanism and Buddhism. Because their land was narrow and fragmented, the Champa Kingdom focused on maritime trade. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, it became an important trading port on the Maritime Silk Road. Chinese merchant ships sailing from Guangzhou or Quanzhou, as well as Arab and Persian ships coming from the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, all chose to stop in Champa. Because of this, many Arab and Persian merchants lived in Champa during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Two stone tablets with Arabic Kufic script were discovered in the cities of Phan Thiet and Phan Rang in southeastern Vietnam. The first tombstone belongs to a road worker named Abu Kamil, who passed away on November 20, 1039. The other stone is a notice about how Muslims lived with the local people. It uses a mix of Kufic and Naskh scripts and is thought to date from 1025 to 1035. The inscription suggests that Arab and Turkic merchants lived here.



Rubbings of the two inscriptions, taken from Cultural Exchange Between Champa and the Malay World.

After the 12th century, Champa fell into long-term warfare, and many Cham people fled to Cambodia and Malacca. From the mid-to-late 15th century, the Malacca Sultanate (1400–1511) became the most important Islamic nation in Southeast Asia, and Champa maintained close ties with it. In 1511, the Portuguese occupied the Malacca Sultanate, causing many Malays to move away, with some settling in areas where the Cham people lived. These Malay Muslims integrated with the Cham people, who also spoke an Austronesian language, through trade and marriage, leading many Cham to convert to Islam.

Western missionary M. Mahot MEP began living in Champa in 1676, and his records are considered the earliest and most reliable Western accounts of Champa's conversion to Islam. In a letter written in July 1678, he noted: 'Regarding the Champa religion, Malay Muslims are more vigilant than we are; they have immigrated to Champa in large numbers and have brought the Champa king and his court into Islam.' In 1685, M. Feret, a missionary from the Paris Foreign Missions Society who tried to preach in Champa, recorded: 'The King of Champa is a Muslim, and he even obtained a Quran from the Paris Foreign Missions Society for his own use.' According to the 19th-century Cham document Ariya Tuen Phaow, a Malay Islamic leader named Tuen Phaow led a large group of Cham and Malay people back from Cambodia to the Panduranga Kingdom in 1793. They joined forces to resist Vietnam. During this time, many Cham people converted to Islam, and this struggle is known as the final peak of the Islamization of the Cham people.

Starting in the 18th century, some Cham Muslims from Cambodia moved to the Mekong Delta on the Vietnam-Cambodia border. The Mubarak Mosque in An Giang was built in 1750 and is one of the oldest mosques in Vietnam.



A photo of the Mubarak Mosque at the Vietnam History Museum.

In 1862, France and the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam signed the Treaty of Saigon, which officially gave France control of Saigon. From then on, Saigon gradually grew into a French commercial hub in Southeast Asia. During French rule in Vietnam, the government gave the Cham people a relatively loose policy of self-governance, which led many Cham Muslims from Cambodia to move to the Mekong Delta. Most of these Cham people worked as manual laborers or small vendors. At the time, the most influential Muslims in Saigon were those from Malaysia and Indonesia who came to trade. The first mosque in Saigon, the Al Rahim Mosque, was built by Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims in 1885.

Tamil Muslims from South India began arriving in Saigon to trade in the late 19th century. Between the 1930s and 1950s, they built the Saigon Central Mosque in the city center, the Niamatul Islamiyah Mosque next to the Indian Muslim cemetery in the northwest suburbs, the Jamiul Islamiyah Mosque in the southwest suburbs, and the Cholon Mosque in the Chinese district of Cholon to the west.

In 1954, Vietnam was divided into North and South, and Saigon came under the rule of the South Vietnamese government. The South Vietnamese government maintained good diplomatic relations with the Federation of Malaya at the time and later with the Malaysian government. Many Cham mosques in Vietnam were built with help from Malaysia in the 1950s and 1960s. In Ho Chi Minh City, these include the Haiyat Al Islam mosque built in 1962, the Alsa Adah mosque built in 1968, and the Jamiul Anwar mosque built in 1969, among several others.

After Vietnam unified in 1975, the government began seizing and collectivizing all private property in South Vietnam, almost always without any compensation. Indian Muslim merchants in Saigon were hit hard and lost all of their property. Fearing further persecution, most Indian Muslims left. The mosques they left behind later became places of worship for Cham Muslims.

There are currently 15 mosques in Ho Chi Minh City. I visited 8 of them on this trip, but since 2 were closed, I actually went inside 6. I will share my experiences with you below.



A 1968 map of Saigon.

1. Saigon Central Mosque.

Saigon Central Mosque was built by South Indian Tamil Muslims in 1935 and is the most important mosque in Saigon.

After Vietnam was unified in 1975, Muslims in Saigon faced a huge shock. The Vietnamese Muslim Congregation was closed, and its founding members fled to the United States. Saigon Central Mosque and its religious school were both occupied. Many Muslim leaders were detained and their whereabouts became unknown, while a large number of Muslims were imprisoned or fled the country.

It was not until 1978 that Vietnam lifted a series of bans on Muslims. After 1979, the Saigon Central Mosque reopened thanks to the efforts of Muslim diplomats. However, for Friday prayers (Jumu'ah), the mosque had to sign a written agreement with local police and administrators every week. They had to list the number of attendees, their names, and their addresses before they could pray, and they had to re-register every single week.

Besides this, Islamic books had to be translated into Vietnamese before officials decided if they could enter the country. Books in Arabic and Malay were almost impossible to bring in.

After 1986, Vietnam began allowing mosques to teach Islamic knowledge and Arabic. They also allowed the formation of mosque management committees, which helped Vietnamese Muslims slowly get back on track. Today, the Saigon Central Mosque is the most important mosque in Ho Chi Minh City. Besides the local Cham people, business people from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan, as well as Muslim travelers from all over, come here to pray.



A 1945 map of Saigon.

The entire building has a strong South Indian style.











The official name of the Saigon Central Mosque is the Indian Jamia mosque.



Noorul Imaan Arabic school is an Arabic school, and Haji JMM Ismael Library is an Islamic library.













The pool used for wudu.



Typical clothing for Cham Muslim men.







A Cham Muslim uncle sells durian ice cream, and it tastes great.









The homemade bicycle bell on the uncle's bike.



2. Saigon Green House Restaurant

Saigon Green House is the best Cham Muslim restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. It is a bit pricey, but the food is delicious and has a wide variety. The menu on their official website looks very tempting. Official website: https://halalsaigongreenhouse.com/menu







Eat phở first!





Pineapple fried rice





Fried spring rolls





Drink iced tea



Bitter melon served with fish balls made from a fish called featherback (xilin gongbei yu).



The mosque in the picture is Jamiul Aman Mosque, located in Chau Phu District, An Giang Province, Vietnam. It was built in 1965.



The mosque in the picture is Jamiul Azhar Mosque in Phu Tan District, An Giang Province, Vietnam. It was reportedly built in 1425 and is the most important mosque for Cham Muslims in Vietnam.



3. Al Rahim Mosque

Al Rahim Mosque was the first mosque in Saigon. It was built by Malay and Indonesian Muslims in 1885.



A map of Saigon from 1895



A 1945 map of Saigon.















I ate a local street snack, a Vietnamese baguette (Bánh mì), right outside the mosque.

The baguette arrived in Saigon after the French occupied the city in 1861. Early on, baguettes were seen as a luxury item because the price of imported wheat was very high.

During World War I, wheat imports stopped, so more cheap rice flour was mixed into Vietnamese baguettes, which made them much fluffier. As prices dropped, the baguette (phap-ban) started to become a part of the everyday diet for Vietnamese people.

Before the 1950s, Vietnamese baguettes were still made in a classic French style, spread with mayonnaise or jam. After Vietnam was divided into North and South in 1954, over one million people moved from the north to the south, which greatly changed the food scene in Saigon. In the late 1950s, some northern immigrants began selling baguettes on the street, and the modern Vietnamese baguette started to take shape.

After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, baguettes were only sold in state-run restaurants and were often served with other dishes, which is the origin of today's practice of dipping baguettes into rice noodle soup (pho). After Vietnam started its socialist market economy reforms in 1986, the baguette (banh mi) became a common street food again.











Every morning until noon, there is a small shop selling rice noodle soup (pho) right by the mosque entrance.







Chicken rice noodle soup (pho ga)









4. Niamatul Islamiyah Mosque

Niamatul Islamiyah Mosque is tucked away, so most tourists have a hard time finding it. I first heard about this place from an article on the Saigon website titled "Take a Tour of D10’s 64-Year-Old Mosque."

The Niamatul Islamiyah mosque dates back to a cemetery built by South Indian Tamil Muslims in the late 19th century. The site still preserves a graveyard and an old horse-drawn carriage used to transport the deceased.

In 1952, Indian Muslims built the mosque next to the cemetery to use when visiting graves to remember the dead. After 1975, most of these Indian Muslims returned to their hometowns, and the mosque continued to be used by Cham Muslims.

According to my online research, there are now over 40 Muslims of "Hoa" (Vietnamese Chinese) descent who pray here. From what I saw on the spot, the Muslims here look very different from the Austronesian-speaking Cham people and actually look a lot like the Han Chinese from the Chaoshan and Minnan regions. But when I chatted with everyone, they all just said they were Cham people who returned to Vietnam from Cambodia.





The young man on the far right is named Hakim, and he acted as our translator because his English is very fluent. When the older men heard I was from China, they talked to me a lot about the country. They knew there are many Muslims in Xinjiang and even asked me how far it is from here to Xinjiang.



The older man on the right is the imam of the mosque.



Everyone drinks coffee and hot tea, though they say young Cham people rarely drink hot tea these days.









It is almost time for namaz, so the imam changes into his formal sarong (longyi), puts on his white robe and turban, and gets ready to lead the prayer.







Start the prayer.













An older man here treated me to rice noodles (fen) and pastries (gaodian).





Behind the mosque is a cemetery dating back to the late 19th century. Brother Hakim gave me a detailed explanation.



The horse-drawn carriage for transporting the body (maiti).





786 is a symbol for halal used in South Asia and Southeast Asia. You can also see it in southwest Yunnan and among the Hui Muslims in Lhasa. If you assign a number to each letter of the phrase Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful) based on the Arabic abjad system, the sum of all the numbers is 786.





5. Jamiul Islamiyah (Nancy) Mosque

Jamiul Islamiyah Mosque, also called Nancy Mosque, was built by South Indian Tamil Muslims in 1950. After the Indian Muslims left in 1975, it became a mosque for Cham Muslims. The mosque was rebuilt twice, in 1980 and 2004. It is now an Arabic-style building designed by a Vietnamese architect.

There is a barbecue shop next to the mosque and a famous Vietnamese noodle soup shop (pho) called Pho Muslim in the alley behind it. Unfortunately, both were closed for the Tet holiday when I visited.













6. Jamiul Anwar Mosque

Jamiul Anwar Mosque was built with aid from Malaysia in 1968. Currently, 240 Cham Muslims pray here.



When the mosque was first built, the area around it was still a watery countryside on the edge of the city. But as the city grew, the area is now full of residential neighborhoods. The mosque is tucked away inside a maze of complicated alleyways.



On the way to the mosque, there is a halal snack shop.



The lady there speaks English, and we had a great time chatting.



Delicious desserts.













Duck noodle soup (yaruofen).



The Cham Muslims, Kinh people, and Chinese people live together here in great harmony.







Keep walking into the alley and you will see several Halal signs. This area has the highest concentration of halal snack shops among the few mosques in Ho Chi Minh City.







Finally, I arrived at the mosque.



A group of Cham Muslim uncles are chatting.





The drum inside the mosque looks like it has been used for many years.





The classroom on the first floor.



The prayer hall on the second floor.



The photos on the wall show mosques in traditional Cham Muslim communities near the border of Vietnam and Cambodia.



7. Cholon Mosque

The Cholon Mosque was originally named Cholon Jamial Mosque and was built by South Indian Tamil Muslims in 1935. After 1975, all the Indian Muslims left, and today 80 Cham Muslims pray here.

Cholon is the most famous Chinese community in Vietnam, located about 5 kilometers from Saigon. Cholon was formed in 1782, and Cholon City was officially established in 1879. Everyone except the Chinese calls this place Cholon.

For more on the scenery of Cholon, see my diary entry Old Dreams of Cholon. Duras’s novel The Lover is set here.



Right next to the Cholon mosque is a local market.



Next door is a halal shop, but it is closed for the Spring Festival holiday. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Ho Chi Minh City — Mosques and Cham Muslims is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: There is a herbal tea stall (liangcha) parked in the mosque courtyard. The account keeps its focus on Ho Chi Minh City, Cham Muslims, Vietnam Mosques while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.















There is a herbal tea stall (liangcha) parked in the mosque courtyard.



Outside the mosque view all