Walking into Phú Nhuận on an ordinary day, visitors will have a hard time spotting the sanctuary from afar without someone pointing it out. There is no large bulbous dome and no tall minaret tower like those of grand masjids. The main building is simply a long, brightly whitewashed hall with flat walls, a two-sided pitched roof, and closed doors, standing right amid the neighborhood like a village meeting house. Those doors stay closed for nearly the entire year.
Yet walking a few hundred steps further within that very same village reveals an entirely different religious life: households following Cham Brahmanism, complete with their own priesthood, festival calendar, and temple towers. Two traditional communities, namely Cham Bàni (Awal) and Brahmanist Cham (Ahier), live side by side in a single village and often share the same matrilineal clans. Among the historic Cham villages of the former Ninh Thuận region, which normally settle in separate single-faith villages, only Phú Nhuận maintains this interspersed coexistence of Awal and Ahier.
IWhat the Bàni religion is and how this village differs
A clear distinction must be stated from the outset, because this is the point most frequently confused, and confusing it misrepresents both sides. Bàni is the localized form of Islam practiced by the Cham people, formed specifically in South Central Vietnam, and distinct from orthodox Sunni Islam followed by the Cham Islam community in the Mekong Delta and Muslims of Malay descent. Both traditions trace back to a shared root, yet they have followed two separate paths for centuries. The library records these differences as factual observations without ranking one practice above the other.
The house of worship of the Bàni community is called a Sang Magik, meaning house of worship, rather than a masjid. Neighboring Vietnamese residents colloquially call it a Bàni pagoda (chùa Bàni), a habitual expression even though it is terminologically inaccurate. The Cham name of Phú Nhuận village is transliterated as palei Bhauh Thơng (also recorded in scholarly surveys as palei Baoh Deng or palei Baoh Hadeng, meaning Ebony Fruit Village), and the village sanctuary is called Magik Haluw Baoh Deng.
According to Bàni doctrine, the supreme being is Po Awluah, namely Allah. Their scripture is the Kuraân, written in a modified Arabic script interspersed with ritual directions in Cham Akhar Thrah script. Alongside Po Awluah, Bàni believers continue to venerate ancestral spirits and retain nature deities within their ritual system. That indigenous layer is the clearest doctrinal distinction from orthodox Islam, which does not practice ancestor veneration.
The second major difference lies in who bears the ritual obligations. The Five Pillars of Islam comprise the declaration of faith, five daily prayers, almsgiving, fasting during the sacred month, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. In orthodox Islam, those are the personal obligations of each individual believer. In the Bàni tradition, they are entrusted to the clerical order to fulfill on behalf of the entire village, while monetary almsgiving is adapted into the ritual of rice exchange offered to the clerics at the sanctuary. Ordinary believers do not perform five daily prayers, and the pilgrimage to Mecca is virtually not practiced.
The clerical hierarchy ascends from Acar, the newly ordained rank, to Katip, to Imâm, and finally to Gru or Po Gru, the Chief Cleric. Detailed ethnographic studies also include the rank of Mưdin (between Acar and Katip), who coordinates ceremonies and teaches scripture, forming a five-tier system. Because published sources vary in spelling and in whether they list four or five tiers across different localities, the library notes both ways of counting. Collectively, the entire clerical body is referred to by believers as the Acar clerics.
What gives Phú Nhuận its own distinct place in the library is the settlement pattern of the village. Across the former Ninh Thuận region, traditional Cham villages are normally segregated by religion (seven Bàni villages and fifteen Brahmanist villages), whereas Phú Nhuận is the only palei where the two traditional communities of Cham Bàni (Awal) and Brahmanist Cham (Ahier) have lived interspersed since ancient times within a single village (unlike Văn Lâm, An Nhơn, and Phước Nhơn, which are traditionally Bàni villages where a segment of residents adopted orthodox Sunni Islam in the 1960s). In Phú Nhuận, one side is Cham Bàni with its Sang Magik, and the other side is Brahmanist Cham with its own priesthood and temple towers. The two groups live in intermingled houses, walk the same lanes, and farm the same fields while keeping two distinct ritual calendars.
Understanding how the two communities live together requires looking at a paired concept in Cham thought. The Cham call the Bàni group Awal and the Brahmanist group Ahier. Awal means before or earlier, and Ahier means after or later. Rather than ranking one above the other, these two words position two halves of a single whole, as in traditional Cham cosmology Awal and Ahier form a yin-yang pair that must coexist for ritual life to be complete. Major communal ceremonies such as the New Year Rija Nagar festival involve ritual specialists connected to both traditions.
Thus in Phú Nhuận, what an outsider might assume to be two competing religions is viewed by villagers themselves as two halves of a single way of life. Here a single village illustrates in daily practice what books need pages to explain.
Three common misunderstandings deserve clarification in a historical spirit, without criticizing anyone.
First, Bàni and orthodox Islam are not identical. The Cham Islam community in the Mekong Delta, in Ho Chi Minh City, and at the four orthodox masjids in the former Ninh Thuận region practices orthodox Sunni Islam, where every believer prays five times daily, the entire congregation fasts throughout Ramadan, and masjids stay open year-round. The Cham Bàni community practices according to the customs described above. Grouping both under the single phrase Muslim Cham is true to their distant historical root, but obscures major differences in religious life.
Second, a Bàni sanctuary is not a Buddhist pagoda. Local Vietnamese residents and even media reports sometimes call it a Bàni pagoda, likely because the building stays closed most of the year and opens only during festivals. Inside a Sang Magik, however, there are no statues, no Buddhist altars, and no Buddhist monks. The proper Cham name is Sang Magik, meaning house of worship.
Third, the two religious communities in the village are not two separate ethnic groups. Both are Cham people sharing the same language, traditional dress, matrilineal kinship system, and in many cases the very same extended families. The difference lies in ritual systems and clerical orders, not in ethnic origin.
IIPhú Nhuận village and its sanctuary
The sources consulted by the library do not record a specific founding year for this sanctuary, and the library leaves that date open rather than offering an unverified number. This is entirely normal for a Bàni Sang Magik, because original structures were built of perishable materials and rebuilt repeatedly over generations, so chronology was remembered by the succession of Chief Clerics rather than stone inscriptions. The milestones below therefore trace the broader history of the Bàni faith and the village rather than individual construction dates.
- 9th to 11th centuryEarly Islamic tracesAccording to one line of scholarship, Islam reached the kingdom of Champa by sea along with foreign merchants and artisans residing along the central coast.
- 14th to 17th centuryFormation of the Bàni faithEarly Islamic currents blended with indigenous beliefs and the existing Brahmanist tradition, forming the Bàni religion with its own clerical hierarchy and festival calendar.
- 17th centuryThe Awal and Ahier pairAccording to Cham tradition, the arrangement placing the Awal and Ahier branches within a shared ritual framework is associated with the reign of King Po Rome (1627 to 1651). This belongs to oral tradition rather than contemporary annals.
- Long-establishedFormation of Phú Nhuận villagePhú Nhuận Cham village, known in Cham as palei Bhauh Thơng (or palei Baoh Hadeng, meaning Ebony Fruit Village), has existed for centuries with Bàni and Brahmanist communities living interspersed.
- Before the mid-20th centurySanctuary of light materialsAccording to scholarly descriptions, Bàni Sang Magik halls were originally built with thatched roofs, bamboo or mud walls, and earthen floors, rebuilt periodically rather than in permanent masonry.
- Second half of the 20th centuryRebuilt in durable materialsMost Bàni sanctuaries were rebuilt with brick walls and tiled or corrugated metal roofs, preserving the traditional layout while upgrading the materials.
- Present dayOne of the seven Sang MagikThe village continues its tradition of Awal and Ahier coexistence, while its sanctuary serves as one of the seven Bàni Sang Magik of the former Ninh Thuận region participating in the triennial Suk Yeng festival cycle.
An additional note on terminology is helpful. Published sources use several different terms for the same community, including Bàni, Cham Bàni, Bàni Islam, Awal, Bani Awal, and Agama Awal. Even among researchers and within the community itself, views differ on which name is most appropriate. The library records all of these usages without taking a side.
The same applies to the village name. Its administrative name is Phú Nhuận hamlet, formerly part of Phước Thuận commune (former Ninh Phước district) and since 2025 part of Ninh Phước commune, Khánh Hòa province. Its Cham name is transliterated as palei Bhauh Thơng, or palei Baoh Deng and palei Baoh Hadeng (meaning Ebony Fruit Village). Both Vietnamese and Cham names refer to the exact same settlement, and in ethnographic studies of Cham villages it is the Cham name that anchors the site alongside sister villages such as Văn Lâm (palei Ram) and Thành Tín (palei Cwah Patih).
IIIWhat a Sang Magik looks like
Visitors who picture an Islamic mosque with a large bulbous dome and a soaring minaret tower will see something quite different here. A Bàni Sang Magik is a long rectangular hall with flat walls and a two-sided pitched roof, lacking both a grand dome and a tall minaret tower, with only the gate or front facade of masonry-rebuilt halls bearing a crescent moon embracing a star alongside Cham Akhar Thrah and Arabic inscriptions. The building stands right amid village homes, without high perimeter walls or a vast prayer courtyard.
A long open room without central dividing columns, its floor left completely clear of chairs, statues, or paintings. Against the western wall stands the minbar pulpit, while clerical seating is arranged by rank in horizontal rows facing the prayer wall.
The main doors typically open to the east, while during services the clerics face the qiblah toward the Kaaba in Mecca, which from Vietnam is due west. Bàni shares this directional rule with orthodox Islam.
Originally built with a thatched roof, bamboo or mud walls, and an earthen floor. From the second half of the 20th century, most halls were rebuilt in brick with tiled or metal roofs and bright whitewash, keeping the old layout while changing the materials.
Beside the main hall stand a kitchen and resting quarters, because during the month of Ramưwan the clerics reside within the compound and take all their meals and rest on site.
The sanctuary remains closed for nearly the entire year, opening only during the month of Ramưwan and Cham calendar festivals such as Suk Yơng. This contrasts sharply with orthodox masjids, which stay open year-round.
In terms of basic building mass, a Bàni Sang Magik and a traditional Cham masjid actually share many similarities, as both blend vernacular Cham construction with Islamic elements and orient their prayer walls westward along the qiblah. The fundamental difference lies in liturgical practice rather than the building shell. A casual observer looking only at walls and roofs might find them similar, whereas anyone asking about opening hours and who observes the fast can tell them apart immediately.
In Phú Nhuận, one further feature of the village layout stands out. Because the Awal and Ahier communities live interspersed rather than in segregated quarters, the Sang Magik does not sit in the middle of an exclusively Bàni enclave, but stands in a neighborhood that also includes Brahmanist Cham homes. Meanwhile, the primary sanctuaries of the Brahmanist community do not lie inside the residential hamlet at all, because their major festivals take place at ancient Cham temple towers outside the village. As a result, the two traditions never compete for physical space within the settlement, which helps explain how they have coexisted for centuries.
IVThe lie of the land and orientation
One premise must be stated plainly before reading further. Islam does not teach feng shui, and neither does the Bàni tradition. The direction of prayer inside a Sang Magik is fixed by the qiblah, pointing toward the Kaaba in Mecca, which from Vietnam is due west. That is a mandatory liturgical rule rather than a geomantic calculation, and the builders have no discretion to choose otherwise.
The observations below are entirely a comparative reading by the library for readers familiar with traditional Vietnamese geomancy, and represent neither religious doctrine nor the intentions of the builders.
First is placement within the village. The Sang Magik does not stand on the village edge, but sits right amid the neighborhood on the same level ground as family homes, without high enclosure walls. Read through traditional Vietnamese eyes, this is a central gathering (tụ giữa) configuration that places the sanctuary at the heart of the residential cluster rather than setting it apart. Northern Vietnamese communal houses (đình) are often sited in a similar way, even though the reasons of the two traditions have nothing to do with each other.
Second is a feature unique to Phú Nhuận. In a village where two traditional religious communities live interspersed, a practitioner of classical geomancy would immediately ask how the two houses of worship are positioned relative to each other. Traditional geomancy pays close attention to having two sanctuaries within the same settlement, often worrying about mutual clashing bearings, competing orientations, or one structure pressing upon the other. Here that problem never arises, because the two communities do not place two buildings face to face inside the hamlet: the Brahmanist community conducts its major temple ceremonies at the Cham towers outside the village, leaving only the single Sang Magik inside the settlement. What classical geomancy would treat as a difficult spatial puzzle is resolved naturally here not by a compass, but by ritual custom.
Third is the western orientation seen through traditional eyes. In classical five-element theory, the West belongs to the Metal element, corresponding to autumn and inward contraction, and vernacular Vietnamese houses rarely favor facing west because of the harsh afternoon sun. Here the westward prayer orientation is maintained neither for climate nor for topography, but solely because Mecca lies in that direction. It is a clear illustration of a religious precept taking precedence over all terrestrial calculations.
Finally, there is the empty interior. Traditional Vietnamese geomancy evaluates interior arrangement, from the position of the incense altar and the depth of the inner sanctum to how qi flows from the doorway to the altar. Here there is nothing to calculate, because the interior hall is left completely empty. That emptiness is intentional, as this space venerates no physical object, exists solely for turning toward a single direction, and for most of the year does not even host that act because its doors remain closed.
VThe ritual calendar of a two-religion village
In Phú Nhuận, the annual ritual calendar must be read in two columns. One column belongs to the Bàni community, reckoned by the Cham calendar and centered on the month of Ramưwan and the Suk Yơng festival cycle. The other column belongs to the Brahmanist Cham community, also reckoned by the Cham calendar but centered on festivals at the temple towers such as Katê. The two columns do not overlap, and the entire village is accustomed to living with both.
| Observance | Community | Practice and location |
|---|---|---|
| Before Ramưwan | Bàni community | Families visit their clan cemeteries for grave-sweeping, then offer meals at home to welcome ancestral spirits. This is an indigenous ritual layer absent from orthodox Islamic Ramadan. |
| Month of Ramưwan | Bàni community | Clerics perform ritual purification and move into the sanctuary for the month, observing ascetic rules and praying on behalf of the entire village. Only during this month does the sanctuary stay open continuously. |
| Suk Yơng (Suk Yeng) festival | Bàni community | A rotating Friday festival held at the sanctuary on a three-year cycle across the seven Bàni villages, presided over by the Chief Cleric and Acar clergy, featuring ceremonial drumming, scripture recitation, offerings, and vegetarian and meat meal trays. |
| New Year Rija Nagar | Both communities | The Cham New Year ceremony held in each village, where Maduen officiating priests and Baranưng drum masters perform rituals serving both Awal and Ahier traditions. |
| Katê festival | Brahmanist community | The largest annual festival of the Brahmanist Cham, beginning at the temple towers outside the village and continuing in clan houses and individual homes. |
| Funerals and clan rites | Each community separately | Each group observes its own funerary rites (burial among the Bàni, cremation with frontal bone collection among the Brahmanist Cham) and clan ceremonies under its own clergy, marking the clearest boundary between the two sides. |
One point where published sources diverge must be stated openly by the library, namely the length of the strictest fasting phase observed by the clerics during the month of Ramưwan. Some sources record that the clerics observe a strict fast for the first three days of the month before shifting to a lighter regimen, whereas other sources state that the strict phase lasts for fifteen to sixteen days. What all sources agree on is that the clerics reside inside the Sang Magik for the entire month to pray and keep the fast on behalf of the whole community rather than leaving it to each lay believer. The library records both accounts without forcing a single number.
The name of the Suk Yơng festival is also transliterated differently across sources, appearing most commonly in recent press reports as Suk Yeng. Both spellings refer to the same rotating Friday festival held once every three years across the seven Sang Magik of the former Ninh Thuận region. During the 2025 festival season, the Suk Yeng ceremony at the Phú Nhuận sanctuary took place on November 14, 2025, serving as the third stop immediately after Thành Tín and Văn Lâm.
The clearest contrast between Ramưwan and orthodox Islamic Ramadan thus comes down to two points. First is who observes the fast, which in orthodox Islam is every adult believer, whereas in Bàni practice it is the clerical order fasting on the village's behalf. Second is the layer of ancestor veneration, as grave-sweeping and welcoming ancestral spirits home form the mandatory opening of Ramưwan. Those two features sum up the centuries-long localization that shaped the Bàni faith.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Thôn Phú Nhuận, xã Phước Thuận cũ, nay là xã Ninh Phước, tỉnh Khánh Hòa
- Getting there
- The village is located in Phú Nhuận hamlet (known in Cham as palei Bhauh Thơng or palei Baoh Hadeng), former Phước Thuận commune, now Ninh Phước commune, Khánh Hòa province, on the coastal plain south of Phan Rang. Because the sanctuary sits amid the residential neighborhood rather than on the village edge, visitors should ask local residents for directions.
- Coordinates
- 11.5848, 108.9495
This is the house of worship of a specific community rather than a tourist attraction, and the sanctuary remains closed for almost the entire year. Visitors are expected to ask local residents before entering the compound, dress modestly, remove shoes before stepping into the hall, and refrain from bringing food or drink inside. During the month of Ramưwan and the Suk Yơng festival, rituals inside belong to the clerics, so visitors should remain outside and not take photographs without permission. Because the village is home to two communities following two different religions, customs of one side should not be conflated with those of the other.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Phu Nhuan Bani Temple
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Thánh đường Bàni Phú NhuậnEveryone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
Thầy Ưng Khiêm mời cộng đồng cùng làm giàu trang này. Ảnh chụp tận nơi, một chi tiết lịch sử chưa được nhắc, một đoạn video ngắn: mọi đóng góp đều được đọc và trả lời.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first. Chưa có đóng góp nào từ cộng đồng. Bạn có thể là người đầu tiên.
?Quick Questions
How does the Bàni religion differ from orthodox Islam?
Bàni is the localized form of Islam practiced by the Cham people. The three clearest differences are that Bàni believers worship Po Awluah (Allah) while continuing to venerate ancestors, the religious obligations are fulfilled by the clerical order on behalf of the entire village rather than by each individual believer, and the sanctuary opens only during festival seasons rather than year-round like a masjid.
Where is palei Bhauh Thơng?
It is the Cham name of Phú Nhuận village (also recorded as palei Baoh Deng or Baoh Hadeng, meaning Ebony Fruit Village), now part of Ninh Phước commune, Khánh Hòa province, and formerly part of Phước Thuận commune. It is the only Cham village in the former Ninh Thuận region where the two traditional communities, Cham Bàni (Awal) and Brahmanist Cham (Ahier), live interspersed within a single village.
What is a Sang Magik?
It is the Cham term for a Bàni house of worship, meaning house of worship, with the sanctuary in Phú Nhuận specifically called Magik Haluw Baoh Deng. Neighboring Vietnamese residents colloquially call it a Bàni pagoda, even though there are no statues, no Buddhist altars, and no Buddhist monks inside. The Cham Islam community calls its house of worship a masjid.
Who fasts during the month of Ramưwan among the Bàni?
The clerical order, comprising the Acar, Mưdin, Katip, Imâm, and Chief Cleric (Po Gru), observes the fast on behalf of the entire community. They take up residence inside the sanctuary and conduct rituals throughout the month, while lay believers perform grave-sweeping, offer meals to ancestors at home, and keep village taboos. Published sources differ on the length of the strictest fasting phase, recording either the first three days or the first fifteen days.
How do two religions coexist within a single village?
In Phú Nhuận, Cham Bàni and Brahmanist Cham families live in intermingled homes and share village lanes and rice fields while keeping two separate festival calendars. In traditional Cham thought, the two groups are called Awal and Ahier, meaning before and after, forming a yin-yang pair that must coexist for ritual life to be complete, and communal ceremonies often involve ritual specialists connected to both sides.