Walking along the earthen road that skirts the shore of Búng Bình Thiên, the first thing visitors notice is the open water. The lake remains clear and emerald-blue all year round, in striking contrast to the silt-laden rivers and canals nearby, which is why locals affectionately call it the Heavenly Lake. Lining the lakeshore is a row of wooden stilt houses belonging to the Cham community, and rising above them is a dome crowned with a crescent moon embracing a five-pointed star. That building is Masjid Al Khairiyah of Búng Lớn hamlet.
At midday on Friday, men in the village put on long white high-collared tunics called achuba paired with sarongs and white caps, walking from their stilt houses toward a single gate. Inside there are no statues, no chairs, and no altars. There are only prayer carpets laid out in straight rows, stone-clad pillars, chandeliers, and calligraphic verses from the Qur'an on the walls. The entire hall faces one direction alone, the direction of Mecca.
IThe masjid of the lakeside Cham village
This is a mosque of orthodox Sunni Islam belonging to the Cham Islam community of An Giang. Villagers observe all five daily prayers, gather in the largest numbers for the Friday midday service, and fast throughout the month of Ramadan. It is not a sanctuary of Bàni Islam, the localized tradition practiced by the Cham of the former Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận provinces.
The name Al Khairiyah comes from the Arabic root khayr, meaning goodness, blessing, or beneficence. Vietnamese newspapers and travel pages often transliterate the syllables separately as Mas Jid Khay Ri Yah or Masjid Khay Ri Yahx, while locals commonly name it after the hamlet as Búng Lớn Mosque. Regarding older local place names, local records note that Búng Lớn hamlet was formerly known as Ka Kôi hamlet, called in Cham paley Koh Koi (meaning customs-post islet), situated right beside Búng Nhỏ hamlet, known in Cham as paley Koh Konyi.
What earns this mosque a dedicated entry is not monumental size but its setting and dual role. It is the masjid of a Cham village curving around a natural lake, carrying out two tasks at once as the prayer hall for adults and the schoolhouse for village children.
According to Islamic doctrine, believers worship the Creator who is beyond physical form. For that reason, the mosque contains no statues, no paintings of people or animals, no incense burners, and no food offerings. Interior decoration is limited to geometric patterns, a framed picture of the Kaaba in Mecca, neatly hung prayer beads, and Arabic scriptural calligraphy.
The foundation of the faith rests on the Five Pillars, consisting of the declaration of faith, prayer five times a day, fasting during the month of Ramadan, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able. In orthodox Sunni Islam, these five observances are the personal duty of each individual and cannot be delegated to anyone else. Consequently, the mosque stays open throughout the year and receives worshippers every single day.
Scriptural education grows directly out of that obligation. To recite verses of the Qur'an during daily prayer, children must learn the script from an early age, and the most natural classroom in the village is the mosque itself.
The Cham of An Giang reside across nine commune- and ward-level administrative units. While a general overview on the Người An Phú portal noted nine Cham villages each having a masjid or a small prayer house called a surao, Dr. Nguyễn Trọng Nhân's 2022 geographical study provides an exact count up to 2020 of 12 masjids and 16 suraus across the province. According to figures cited by the Vietnam Records Institute (VietKings), the Cham Muslim community in the province numbers roughly 4,000 households with over 17,000 residents, accounting for nearly 0.7 percent of the provincial population. Within the former Nhơn Hội commune alone, alongside Masjid Al Khairiyah in Búng Lớn hamlet stands a second mosque, Masjid Al Muhajirin, built in 2017 in Búng Nhỏ hamlet.
A remark shared with reporters by the mosque's deputy chief cleric, Salay Mal, has been quoted in many articles, stating that in Cham villages, wherever there is a mosque, there is a school. In Búng Lớn, that statement holds literally true. Once prayers conclude, the hall becomes a classroom where village children learn to recite the Qur'an and write the Cham script, preserving both their ancestral mother tongue and the scripture of their faith.
Within the mosque compound and the surrounding village stand centuries-old settlement relics of the community, including grave steles nearly a hundred years old right in the courtyard as well as the tomb of Tuon Ku Umar who died in 1658 (restored in 1990) and an ancient cemetery founded in 1700 (restored in 2000) recorded in Dr. Nguyễn Trọng Nhân's study. The library notes these relics as tangible evidence that Cham Muslims had settled around this lake centuries before the present mosque building was erected in 1992.
First, multiple mosques now share the same commune name. Following the 2025 administrative reorganization, the former Nhơn Hội commune and the former Quốc Thái commune merged into the new Nhơn Hội commune, so Masjid Al Khairiyah in Búng Lớn hamlet beside Búng Bình Thiên Lake and the mosque in Đồng Ky hamlet beside the Bình Di River roughly 3.2 kilometers away now share the same commune name despite being two completely different institutions, with the latter covered in its own entry at Jamiul Muslimin Mosque.
Second, calling this a Cham pagoda is a misnomer. The Vietnamese word chùa (pagoda) denotes a Buddhist temple housing Buddha images and monastic clergy. Here there are no statues, no monks, and no altars. That phrase is merely a casual wayfinding habit used by outsiders, never by villagers themselves.
IIFrom the 1992 building to the 2011 expansion
The current mosque structure is relatively young compared with the long settlement history of the village. Both the Người An Phú portal and the Vietnam Records Institute record 1992 as the construction year of the present mosque, and 2011 as the date of its major expansion. In keeping with the standards of the Places section, the library records only milestones directly tied to construction and religious life.
- Before 1992Ancient Cham settlement by the lakeCham Muslims settled around Búng Bình Thiên centuries ago, as attested by the 1658 tomb of Tuon Ku Umar, the 1700 ancient cemetery, and nearly century-old grave steles inside the mosque grounds.
- 1992Construction of the present mosqueMasjid Al Khairiyah was built in Búng Lớn hamlet, as documented by the Người An Phú portal and the Top 100 religious structures series of the Vietnam Records Institute.
- March 2011Expansion work beginsThe community began adding a 256-square-meter extension to provide a dedicated space for female believers to perform ritual prayers.
- November 9, 2011Completion of the expansionThe new wing was completed and put into service, giving the mosque sufficient space for both men and women in the village.
- 2024Featured in national photojournalism and Top 100 listThe Ethnic and Mountainous Areas Pictorial on September 26, 2024 and the Vietnam Records Institute highlighted the mosque as a center of worship and literacy for the Cham village beside Búng Bình Thiên.
- 2025Administrative boundary mergerThe former Nhơn Hội commune merged with Quốc Thái, part of Phước Hưng, and the remainder of Phú Hội to form the new Nhơn Hội commune from July 1, 2025 under Resolution 1654 of the National Assembly Standing Committee, abolishing the former district level.
The most noteworthy detail in the recent construction history of this building is the purpose behind the 2011 expansion. Both Người An Phú and the Vietnam Records Institute record that the 256 square meters added in 2011 were built specifically so female believers would have a dedicated place to perform Solah prayers. In a village mosque, adding an entire wing for that purpose shows how actively women in the community participate in congregational worship.
There is one point where media accounts appear at first glance to diverge, as one photojournalism report remarks that women do not step into the inner prayer hall. Those two statements do not actually contradict each other, because under mainstream Sunni practice men pray in the main sanctuary while women pray in a separate section or annex wing. The library notes both details so readers can compare them clearly.
IIIThe dome, the prayer hall, and the classroom
The mosque is modest in scale and unpretentious in design. Its unmistakable landmarks from afar are the curved archways of the gate, the broad forecourt, the two-storey oval tower on the roof, and the dome painted in emerald green paired with pure white, topped by a crescent moon and five-pointed star.
A crescent moon and five-pointed star crown the qubba dome and the two-storey oval rooftop tower. As explained in press accounts, the crescent evokes the Islamic lunar calendar while the star symbolizes devotion to the Creator.
Kept intentionally open and unadorned by statues or chairs, furnished only with horizontal rows of prayer carpets, stone-clad pillars, chandeliers, a framed photo of the Kaaba, prayer rosaries, and Qur'anic calligraphy on the walls.
A recessed niche in the western main wall pointing along the qibla axis toward Mecca. The mihrab is neither an altar nor a repository for sacred objects, serving solely to orient the congregation and mark where the imam stands to lead prayer.
Located along the side of the building. Before every prayer service, worshippers wash their hands, mouth, face, forearms to the elbows, and feet in prescribed sequence.
A 256-square-meter addition built to provide female worshippers with a separate prayer area in accordance with Islamic liturgical norms.
Outside prayer hours, the hall serves as a schoolroom where village children learn to recite the Qur'an and write the Cham script, embodying the local maxim that wherever there is a mosque, there is a school.
For visitors accustomed to Vietnamese communal houses and Buddhist pagodas, the most striking architectural feature here is that there is no multi-layered longitudinal axis. Traditional temples guide visitors through a triple gate, courtyard, front hall, and rear sanctuary, each chamber more enclosed than the one before. A mosque is open and direct, leading from the courtyard past the ablution faucets straight into a single wide hall. No chamber is more secretive than another because no physical idol is housed inside.
The emptiness of the prayer hall is deliberate. The room is designed so worshippers can stand in straight horizontal rows, shoulder to shoulder, bowing and prostrating in unison toward a single direction. In Búng Lớn, that same open floor takes on a second warm purpose once the congregation departs, becoming the study hall where village children gather around low desks to learn their letters.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
One essential fact must be stated first. Islam does not teach feng shui. The orientation of a mosque is governed by an obligatory rule of the religion, the qibla direction, pointing toward the Kaaba in Mecca along the shortest great-circle route across the Earth's surface. From Búng Lớn hamlet, great-circle geometry places that bearing toward the west-northwest, roughly nineteen degrees north of due west, with Mecca lying about seven thousand kilometers away. The builders have no authority to choose another direction. No geomantic compass, no founder's birth year, and no astrological trigram plays any role in setting that axis, and if a land parcel sits at an awkward angle, the prayer rows inside are rotated rather than the qibla direction.
The reflections below represent the library's reading through the lens of traditional Vietnamese geomancy, not a teaching of Islam nor a consideration used by the community when constructing the mosque. The library offers them solely as a comparative perspective for readers familiar with classical East Asian geomancy.
First is the principle of a single universal orientation. Traditional feng shui aligns a building according to the lie of the land, watercourses, and the occupant's birth year, giving each structure its own facing. Islam does the exact opposite by turning every mosque on Earth toward a single focal point regardless of local terrain. Viewed through classical geomantic eyes, this is a spatial system whose center lies thousands of miles outside the site itself, a concept with no parallel in old geomantic manuals.
Regarding the lie of the land, the most remarkable feature here is the lake. According to An Giang Newspaper, Búng Bình Thiên consists of the Greater Lake (Búng Lớn) covering roughly 193 hectares and the Lesser Lake (Búng Nhỏ) covering about 10 hectares, which merge during the annual flood season into an expanse of several hundred hectares while keeping their calm, clear blue water all year. In lowland geomancy, where mountains are absent, water takes the place of mountain formations. Flowing rivers conduct qi, while still lakes gather qi. A vast, tranquil, crystal-clear sheet of water resting directly in front of the village forms, in traditional terms, a rare and generous bright hall (minh đường) that is expansive without being turbulent.
Regarding architectural form, traditional Five-Phase reading associates the round dome with Metal, the upright tower with Wood, and the flat lake surface in front with Water. Metal generates Water, and Water nourishes Wood, linking the three shapes in a mutually generative cycle. Once again, the dome and minaret are long-standing conventions of Islamic architecture that existed long before and independently of this comparative reading.
Finally, there is the pattern of the village clustering around the mosque. Cham stilt houses line the lakeshore with the mosque standing at their heart. Classical geomancy calls a settlement organized around an unmistakable focal point a configuration of gathering. Here that center was chosen not by a geomancer's compass but by daily religious practice, as families built their homes within easy walking distance of the place they visit five times every day.
VDaily, weekly, and annual rites
Religious life in Búng Lớn unfolds across three layers, consisting of the five daily prayers, the Friday midday congregational service, and the annual festivals reckoned by the Hijri calendar, the lunar calendar of Islam. Because the Hijri year is roughly eleven days shorter than the solar year, annual observances move gradually through the seasons, so the fasting month of Ramadan falls in the dry season in some years and during the rising waters of the flood season in others.
| Timing | Observance | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Every day | Five daily prayers | Performed before sunrise, at midday, in the late afternoon, after sunset, and before retiring for the night as noted by the Ethnic and Mountainous Areas Pictorial, corresponding to the five specific prayer times recorded in field surveys at Búng Lớn of 4.30 a.m., 12.35 p.m., 3.46 p.m., 6.30 p.m., and 8.00 p.m. Ritual water ablution precedes each prayer. |
| Friday midday | Jumuah prayer | The largest weekly gathering around 12.00 noon, when nearly all men in the village assemble at the mosque to hear scriptural recitation and a sermon for about an hour before praying together in rows. |
| 12th of Rabi al Awwal | Maulid festival | Commemoration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, one of the major annual religious observances of the An Giang Cham Muslim community. |
| Entire month of Ramadan | Month of fasting | The ninth month of the Hijri calendar. Believers abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset, returning to the mosque in the evening to break the fast and offer night prayers. |
| 1st of Shawwal | Festival ending the fast | Known internationally as Eid al Fitr. The entire village gathers for morning prayer at the mosque before visiting family homes and ancestral graves. |
| 10th of Dhul Hijjah | Festival of sacrifice | Known internationally as Eid al Adha, coinciding with the pilgrimage to Mecca, featuring the ritual slaughter of livestock shared among villagers and those in need. |
Alongside formal prayer, the mosque sustains two core communal duties of a masjid by teaching scripture and Cham literacy to village children and administering charitable almsgiving, including the obligatory annual zakat tithe and voluntary sadaqah contributions.
On major festival days, Cham residents of Búng Lớn dress in traditional attire, with women wearing modest hijab headscarves and men wearing high-collared white achuba tunics paired with sarongs and caps. On those mornings, the earthen lakeside road fills with neighbors walking together toward the mosque gate.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Ấp Búng Lớn, xã Nhơn Hội (xã Nhơn Hội cũ, huyện An Phú cũ), tỉnh An Giang
- Getting there
- The mosque stands in Búng Lớn hamlet (paley Koh Koi), Nhơn Hội commune (former An Phú district), An Giang province, right beside Búng Bình Thiên Lake, roughly 25 to 30 kilometers north of Châu Đốc depending on the route. Asking for directions to Búng Bình Thiên Lake leads straight to the village.
- Coordinates
- 10.9153, 105.0635
This is an active house of prayer, so visitors must follow the rules of the sanctuary. Remove shoes and sandals before stepping into the prayer hall. Dress modestly, with men wearing long trousers and sleeved shirts and women wearing a headscarf and covering arms and legs. Men and women pray in separate areas. Do not walk across in front of worshippers at prayer, speak loudly, or take photographs of people praying. Friday midday is the busiest service of the week, so visitors should wait until the congregation finishes praying before entering.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Al Khairiyah Mosque, Nhon Hoi
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Thánh đường Masjid Al KhairiyahEveryone 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
Where is Masjid Al Khairiyah located
It stands in Búng Lớn hamlet (known in Cham as paley Koh Koi), Nhơn Hội commune, An Giang province, in the former An Phú district, right on the shore of Búng Bình Thiên Lake. It is the orthodox Sunni mosque of Búng Lớn Cham Village, about 25 to 30 kilometers north of Châu Đốc.
When was Khay Ri Yah Mosque built
The current mosque building was erected in 1992 on lakeshore land where Cham Muslims had settled centuries earlier. Starting in March 2011, the community added a 256-square-meter extension to provide a separate prayer space for women, completing the expansion on November 9, 2011, as documented identically by Người An Phú and the Vietnam Records Institute.
What is special about Búng Bình Thiên Lake
It is a natural freshwater lake comprising the Greater Lake (about 193 hectares) and the Lesser Lake (about 10 hectares), which merge during the flood season into an expanse of several hundred hectares. Because its water stays clear and blue all year, locals call it the Heavenly Lake, and its shore is lined by the Cham stilt-house village and Masjid Al Khairiyah.
What religion do the Cham of Búng Bình Thiên practice
They practice orthodox Sunni Islam, praying five times daily, fasting throughout the month of Ramadan, giving alms, and making the pilgrimage to Mecca if able. This differs from Bàni Islam in the former Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận provinces, where sanctuary rites are performed on the community's behalf by a clerical order.
What etiquette should visitors follow at the mosque
Remove shoes before entering the prayer hall, dress modestly, and for women wear a headscarf. Do not walk in front of worshippers who are praying, speak loudly, or photograph people during prayer. Friday midday is the most crowded service of the week, so visitors should wait until the service ends before entering.