ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches the history of Islam in present-day Vietnam and Cambodia from the earliest references to Arab–Persian trade with Cham and Khmer kingdoms in the ninth century to the present. It discusses the Islamization of important parts of Cham society until the late sixteenth century and temporary Muslim dominance in Champa and Cambodia in the seventeenth century. The chapter provides an overview of Cham and Malay Muslim communities in the region until the beginning of their colonial encounter with the French in the mid-nineteenth century. By that time, the Muslim center of gravity in Indochina had already shifted from present-day southern coastal Vietnam to Cambodia and the Mekong Delta. The remainder of the chapter charts the history of the local Muslim communities in the colonial and post-colonial eras by highlighting their political roles as well major developments in the religious sphere and the salience of intra-Muslim diversity in the region. The chapter closes with an overview of the current demographics of Islam in Cambodia and Vietnam.
