Vietnam
Located in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, the South China Sea to the south and east, the Gulf of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia to the west. 86% of the country is Vietnamese. There are also 54 different ethnic elements in the country. The main ones are the Khmer, the Cham, the Chinese, the Moung, and the Thais.
The introduction of Islam to the territory of today's Vietnam is quite old. It is said that Muslims reached this region as early as the time of Hadrat Uthman, and it is known that Muslim traders stopped at ports in this region on their way to China from the 8th century onwards. It is estimated that the first Muslim settlements in the region date back to the 11th century, and inscriptions and tombstones dating from this century are found in archaeological studies. From this century onwards, local Muslim settlements were established in the port cities of Champa by Arab, Iranian, Indian, and Chinese Muslims, while Islam gradually expanded in the region as a result of the relations established with Malay Muslims, especially through maritime trade, from the 14th century onwards. Indeed, it is estimated that by the end of the 15th century, the Cham and the Champa Kingdom had largely converted to Islam, and by the end of the 17th century, almost all of the Cham people had become Muslims. The spread of Islam in the region also affected Cambodia, and some Khmer kings converted to Islam, but Muslims lost their influence in the region as of the second quarter of the 19th century. The Cham, who was drawn to the southern regions of Vietnam and some of them migrated to Cambodia, were subjected to assimilation by the Vietnamese and some of them lost their Muslim identity. From the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century, during French colonial rule, the Muslims of the region remained scattered in the countryside.
Nowadays, an estimated 100 thousand Muslims live in Vietnam. Apart from the Cham, Muslims of Indian, Malay, Arab, Paki, and Indonesian origin also live in the country. In recent years, there is no systematic assimilation or oppression policy against Muslims in the country, and Muslims can practice their religion more easily compared to previous periods. In a country where more than 60 mosques are open for worship, about 20 of them are located in Ho Chi Minh City, the most populous city in the country.
The main source of livelihood for Muslims in the country is agriculture, fishing, and trade. The most important problems of Muslims in Vietnam, which has been in a certain recovery process in recent years, are mainly related to learning and living the religion, such as poor communication with the Islamic world due to cultural and geographical distance, problems in preserving the Muslim identity, and the scarcity of materials and educators needed to learn religious knowledge from reliable sources.