Masjid Sunnah in Đa Phước Cham Village, An Giang

Look across the river from Châu Đốc and the village comes into view. This is the Cham settlement closest to town in all of An Giang, and because it is so close, it is also where outsiders first encounter daily Islamic life. Walking along the road through Hà Bao 2 hamlet, visitors pass wooden stilt houses raised on tall pillars, weaving looms set beneath the floors, women in headscarves embroidering on front porches, and two masonry buildings crowned with domes and a crescent moon embracing a star overhead.

Those two buildings are two separate mosques standing 114.5 meters apart along the hamlet road. One is larger and widely mentioned in travel guides, Al Ehsan. The other is smaller and quieter, Masjid Sunnah, which is the subject of this article. Making this distinction clear from the outset is essential because travel writing frequently conflates the two into a single mosque.

IThe second mosque of Đa Phước Cham village

One distinction must be stated plainly from the start because it is so often confused. This is a mosque of orthodox Sunni Islam belonging to the Cham Islam community of the Mekong Delta. It is not a Bàni mosque. The Cham community here has practiced mainstream Sunni Islam from the beginning, performing five daily prayers, fasting throughout the month of Ramadan, and keeping the mosque open year-round.

The name of this mosque appears in a couple of forms in written records. On its signboard and in everyday local speech it is called Masjid Sunnah, whereas Dr. Nguyễn Trọng Nhân's 2022 geographical study of An Giang mosques and the official seal of the Mosque Management Board record it as Jamius Sunnah. Both names refer to the exact same building. The Arabic word sunnah denotes the normative way and practice left by the Prophet alongside scripture.

Regarding place names, in everyday Vietnamese conversation and administrative paperwork, locals refer to the settlement by its hamlet name, Hà Bao 2, or collectively as Đa Phước Cham Village. Within the Cham language and in Dr. Nguyễn Trọng Nhân's 2022 academic survey of An Giang Cham settlements, however, each hamlet in Đa Phước still preserves its indigenous Cham village name or paley, with Hà Bao 2 hamlet called paley Koh Kapoah, alongside Đa Phước hamlet as paley Koh Kakia and Hà Bao 1 hamlet as paley Mat Chruh. Using both the Vietnamese hamlet name and the Cham paley name reflects a community that has lived interwoven with Khmer, Kinh, and Chinese neighbors along these waterways for generations.

According to the tradition

In Islamic teaching, the foundation of faith is belief in the Creator who is beyond form and cannot be depicted in images. Consequently, the mosque contains no statues, no paintings of people or living beings, no incense burners, and no food offerings. Decoration consists solely of geometric motifs and calligraphic verses from scripture.

A believer's duties rest on the Five Pillars, namely the declaration of faith, prayer five times a day, fasting throughout the month of Ramadan, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able. In mainstream Sunni Islam, these five duties are the personal obligation of each individual believer rather than something delegated to a priesthood, so the mosque stays open all year and welcomes worshippers every day.

That explains why a single hamlet needs two places of worship. Since prayers take place five times daily from before dawn until nightfall, the closer a mosque stands to home, the easier it is for residents to attend every service. Religious affairs in each mosque are overseen by a board of clerics headed by the Hakim (chief cleric) and deputy chief clerics, together with the Imam who leads prayer, the Khatib who delivers the Friday sermon, and the Bilal who chants the call to prayer. Each mosque maintains its own clerical board and its own congregation around it.

According to the historical record

In Vietnam, the Vietnamese term for Islam is applied to two traditions whose day-to-day practices differ so markedly that they cannot be described together, and the library records these differences here for comparison.

Orthodox Sunni Islam, the tradition to which Masjid Sunnah belongs, assigns the Five Pillars to every individual believer. The mosque opens year-round for the five daily prayers, the Friday midday service gathers the entire congregation, the community fasts throughout the month of Ramadan according to the Hijri lunar calendar, and the pilgrimage to Mecca is expected of those with the means to undertake it.

Bàni Islam among the Cham of the former Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận region is a localized tradition shaped in central Vietnam through centuries of interaction with indigenous Cham customs and earlier Brahmanical layers. Bàni practice entrusts the daily liturgy and fasting to a dedicated clerical order on behalf of the village, retains ancestral veneration, observes the holy month of Ramưwan according to the Cham calendar, and opens its sanctuary only during festival seasons. Both streams trace back to the same Islamic root but have followed distinct paths for centuries. The library records this as a historical fact without ranking one above the other.

A common misunderstanding

Three common misunderstandings deserve to be clarified in a factual spirit without fault-finding.

First, Masjid Sunnah and Al Ehsan are two distinct institutions. Both stand in Hà Bao 2 hamlet, 114.5 meters apart along the hamlet road, and many travel articles lump them together under the generic label of the Đa Phước Cham Village mosque or attach photographs of the larger mosque to the name of the smaller one. In reality, each mosque has its own officiating clerics and its own congregation.

Second, the administrative boundaries have changed. Đa Phước commune was upgraded to Đa Phước town in 2023, and from July 1, 2025, Đa Phước town merged with Vĩnh Trường commune and the former Vĩnh Hậu commune to form the new Vĩnh Hậu commune in An Giang province. The current administrative address therefore no longer lists Đa Phước or An Phú district, even though the name Đa Phước remains alive in everyday speech and in the name of the brocade-weaving craft village.

Third, calling this a Cham pagoda is inaccurate. The Vietnamese word chùa (pagoda) refers to a Buddhist temple with Buddha statues and monastic clergy. Here there are no statues, no monks, and no altars.

IIThe Cham village closest to Châu Đốc

Most Cham villages in the Mekong Delta do not preserve stone steles recording the exact founding year of each mosque, and the library does not invent a date where no inscription exists. However, according to the official dossier published in August 2022 by the Management Board of Jamius Sunnah Mosque and certified by the Representative Board of the Muslim Community of An Giang Province, this mosque has stood for more than fifty years, underwent a major reconstruction in the early 1990s, and entered a full-scale rebuilding phase in 2022. The timeline below traces the milestones of both the village and the verified legal documents of the mosque.

Mid-18th centuryEarliest recorded mosque in the region
Heritage records cite 1750 as the founding date of Mubarak Mosque on the bank of the Hậu River in Châu Giang, the oldest documented mosque in this riverine region.
c. 1840 to 1858Densest settlement waves
According to studies of the Cham community in An Giang, this period saw the densest formation of Cham villages along the Hậu River and its branches, including the Đa Phước area.
Early 1990sRebuilding of Jamius Sunnah Mosque
According to the August 1, 2022 open letter of the Jamius Sunnah Mosque Management Board signed by Chief Cleric Ma Hi Ri, the mosque had existed for over fifty years and was substantially rebuilt in the early 1990s.
2012Land use right certificate issued
On November 28, 2012, the An Giang Provincial People's Committee issued Land Use Right Certificate No. CT05505 to the Management Board of Jamius Sunnah Mosque for plot 75, map sheet 42, covering 669.6 square meters in Hà Bao 2 hamlet.
2020Province-wide mosque survey
A geographical study by Dr. Nguyễn Trọng Nhân published in 2022 recorded that as of 2020 An Giang province had 12 major masjids and 16 smaller suraus serving over 17,000 Cham Muslim believers, with Hà Bao 2 hamlet alone having two masjids, Al Ehsan and Jamius Sunnah.
2022Construction permit for major reconstruction
On July 11, 2022, the An Phú District People's Committee issued Construction Permit No. 122/GPXD-UBND authorizing the rebuilding of Jamius Sunnah Mosque as a three-storey structure on the 669.6-square-meter plot with 1,137 square meters of floor space.
2025Administrative boundary reorganization
After Đa Phước commune became a town in April 2023 under Resolution 721, on July 1, 2025 Đa Phước town merged with Vĩnh Trường commune and the former Vĩnh Hậu commune into the new Vĩnh Hậu commune of An Giang province under Resolution 1654.

According to the historical record

Two points in the documentary record merit explicit explanation for readers comparing sources.

On the age and construction records of this specific mosque. Prior to 2022, travel articles and general surveys simply listed the name Jamius Sunnah in Hà Bao 2 hamlet without a construction date. The 2022 building permit dossier of the Mosque Management Board clarifies that the mosque has existed for over half a century, was rebuilt in the early 1990s, and received a permit in July 2022 for a permanent three-storey reconstruction because the older structure had deteriorated and suffered flooding during the annual high-water season.

On the name of the road running through the village. Older local documents state that Đa Phước Cham Village clusters along Provincial Road 956, whereas provincial news reports and the 1-to-200 site location blueprint attached to Construction Permit No. 122/GPXD-UBND in 2022 show the mosque fronting onto National Highway 91C at a distance of 16 meters from the road centerline. In fact, both names refer to the same riverside highway running toward Khánh Bình border gate after Provincial Road 956 was upgraded to National Highway 91C, and the library records both names for convenience.

IIIThe prayer hall, the mihrab, and the stilt-house neighborhood

Mosques in the Cham villages of the Mekong Delta share a readily recognizable template consisting of a rectilinear masonry hall, light-colored walls, pointed-arch doorways and windows, a rooftop dome crowned with a crescent moon and star, and an complete absence of figurative images. In its early-1990s architectural form, the Jamius Sunnah complex comprised a single-storey prayer hall with two small minarets on the left wing joined to a two-storey religious school wing on the right. Under the reconstruction permit granted in 2022, the new building is designed as a three-storey edifice reaching 31.65 meters to the top of its minarets, with a ground-floor footprint of 318.22 square meters and a total floor area of 1,137 square meters. Whatever the scale, the core layout of a mosque revolves around three essential elements, namely a water ablution area, an open hall where worshippers line up together, and a marker indicating the direction of Mecca.

Main prayer hall

A wide, unobstructed hall with a flat tiled floor, without chairs, statues, paintings, or altars. Worshippers stand shoulder to shoulder in horizontal rows without distinction of rank.

Mihrab

A recessed niche in the main western wall indicating the qiblah direction toward Mecca. The mihrab is neither an altar nor a shrine for sacred objects, and its sole function is to orient the rows of worshippers.

Minbar

A stepped pulpit placed beside the mihrab for delivering the Friday sermon. It is the only elevated fixture in the hall, raised for acoustic projection rather than hierarchical status.

Ablution area

Water tanks and rows of faucets near the entrance used for mandatory ritual washing of the hands, mouth, nose, face, forearms to the elbows, head, and feet in prescribed order before entering prayer.

Rooftop minarets and dome

The towers from which the call to prayer is projected, paired in the 2022 reconstruction design with a central dome measuring 8.7 meters in diameter so the call carries across the neighborhood.

Surrounding stilt houses

The neighborhood around the mosque consists of wooden stilt houses raised on tall pillars above seasonal floodwaters, with weaving looms kept beneath the floor. The masonry mosque rises prominently amid these traditional timber homes.

Placed alongside Al Ehsan 114.5 meters to the south-southwest, Masjid Sunnah illustrates something noteworthy about how this community organizes its sacred space. One mosque stands right at the head of the road near Cồn Tiên Bridge and receives many visiting tourists, while the other stands nearby to sustain the five daily prayers and scriptural classes for its immediate neighborhood. Those two roles complement rather than compete with each other, because what matters most is keeping the daily rhythm of prayer rather than displaying monumentality.

Visitors familiar with Vietnamese communal houses and Buddhist pagodas will immediately notice that there is no multi-layered longitudinal axis here. Traditional Vietnamese temples lead visitors through a triple gate, courtyard, front hall, and finally an inner sanctuary, each threshold more secluded than the last. A mosque opens directly into a single expansive hall where everyone stands side by side in equal rows.

IVThe lie of the land and the facing

One fundamental premise must be stated clearly at the outset. Islam does not teach feng shui. The orientation of a mosque is fixed by a single mandatory rule of the faith, the qiblah direction, which points toward the Kaaba in Mecca along the shortest great-circle path across the globe. From this stretch of the Mekong Delta, that bearing falls toward the west-northwest,roughly 19 degrees north of due west. The builders have no discretion to choose otherwise. No geomantic compass, no founder's birth year, and no astrological trigram plays any part in selecting that orientation, and if a land plot sits at an angle to the road, the rows of worshippers inside are aligned to Mecca rather than to the street.

The observations below represent the library's comparative reading through the lens of traditional Vietnamese geomancy for readers familiar with that framework, not a doctrine of Islam nor a calculation made by the community when building.

Terrain and orientation

First is the principle of a single universal axis. Traditional feng shui determines a building's orientation according to the lie of the land, the flow of water, and the birth year of the occupant, so each structure faces its own direction. Islam operates in the opposite manner, as every mosque across the earth turns toward a single point regardless of local topography. In Hà Bao 2 hamlet, two mosques stand 114.5 meters apart along the road, built at different times, yet their liturgical axes run strictly parallel. Seen through traditional eyes, this is a system anchored to an external center thousands of miles away, a concept with no direct equivalent in classical geomancy.

Regarding the lie of the land, the village sits on an alluvial strip where multiple river channels meet directly across the water from Châu Đốc, on flat terrain that experiences an annual flood season. In lowland geomancy, where mountains are absent, watercourses take the place of mountain dragon veins (long mạch), with flowing channels conducting vitality and river confluences holding it. A junction where several waterways converge is read as a place of water gathering (thủy tụ), which classical texts classify as open land suited to trade and constant movement rather than seclusion. Village life matches that reading closely through brocade weaving, embroidery, small commerce, and a steady stream of boats and travelers crossing from the town opposite.

Regarding stilt houses on tall pillars, classical geomancy contains a parallel observation for a different reason. Traditional manuals advise against setting living floors directly on damp ground in low-lying terrain so that air and qi can circulate freely underneath. The Cham of the Mekong Delta raise their houses on stilts to stay above the seasonal floodwaters rather than out of geomantic theory, yet the practical outcome looks much the same. Two traditions look at the same house pillar and explain it in entirely different ways, which the library notes to show the limits of cross-cultural comparison.

Finally, there is the western orientation in traditional eyes. In classical Five-Phase theory, the West belongs to Metal, corresponding to autumn and inward convergence, and traditional Vietnamese houses rarely favor a westward facing because of the hot afternoon sun. Here the west-northwest orientation is chosen neither for climate, nor for the lie of the land, nor for anyone's birth year, but solely because Mecca lies in that direction and the prayer hall must align with it. It offers a clear illustration of a religious principle taking precedence over every calculation of terrain.

VDaily, weekly, and annual rites

The liturgical rhythm of the mosque unfolds on three levels, namely prayer five times each day, the congregational prayer every Friday, and the annual festivals reckoned by the Hijri calendar, the Islamic lunar calendar. Because the Hijri year is roughly eleven days shorter than the solar year, these religious observances shift gradually through the seasons rather than staying fixed like Vietnamese lunar festivals.

What makes Đa Phước striking is that this Islamic rhythm runs right alongside a completely different religious calendar. Just across the river lies the pilgrimage hub of the Lady of the Realm Temple (Miếu Bà Chúa Xứ), which draws huge crowds during the first months of the Vietnamese lunar year. Two calendars, two liturgical worlds, and two communities sit separated only by a stretch of river. Residents of the Cham village maintain their own steady rhythm unchanged, a remarkable feature for a neighborhood located right beside such a busy pilgrimage town.

All annual observances follow the Hijri lunar calendar rather than the Vietnamese lunisolar calendar, so their Gregorian dates shift each year. Source: Studies on the religious life of the Cham Islam community in An Giang and geographical surveys of Cham mosques in the province..
Hijri timing	Observance	Description
Every day	Five daily prayers	Five prayer times determined by the position of the sun across the day. Before each prayer, worshippers perform ritual ablution with water at the entrance faucets.
Every Friday	Jumu ah prayer	The principal congregational service of the week, featuring a sermon delivered from the minbar followed by collective prayer in rows. It also serves as a weekly gathering for the neighborhood.
12th of Rabi al Awwal	Maulid festival	Commemoration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, listed in studies of the An Giang Cham community among the three largest annual observances.
Entire month of Ramadan	Month of fasting	The ninth month of the Hijri calendar. Believers abstain from food and drink from dawn until sunset, gathering at the mosque in the evening to break the fast and perform night prayers.
1st of Shawwal	Roya Idil Fitri	The festival marking the end of the Ramadan fast, known internationally as Eid al Fitr. The entire community attends morning prayers at the mosque before visiting relatives and family graves.
10th of Dhul Hijjah	Roya Haji	The festival of sacrifice, known internationally as Eid al Adha, coinciding with the pilgrimage to Mecca. Livestock is ritually slaughtered and shared among community members and those in need.

Beyond formal worship, the mosque fulfills two enduring communal functions of a masjid, namely teaching scripture to children in the hamlet and organizing charitable almsgiving, including the obligatory annual alms-tax called zakat and voluntary charity known as sadaqah.

Daily life in the village follows Islamic precepts closely. Food is prepared according to halal rules, alcohol is avoided, and women wear headscarves. Villagers earn their living through brocade weaving, embroidery, livestock raising, and small trade, with many households displaying woven textiles right on their front porches for passing visitors. Precisely because the village is both a residential community and a tourist stop, the quieter Sunnah Mosque plays a distinct role in sustaining everyday worship and classes for neighborhood families while the larger mosque nearby receives the bulk of visiting tour groups.

VILocation And How To Get There

Address: Ấp Hà Bao 2, thị trấn Đa Phước cũ, nay là xã Vĩnh Hậu, tỉnh An Giang
Getting there: The mosque stands in Hà Bao 2 hamlet, former Đa Phước town, now Vĩnh Hậu commune, An Giang province, directly across the river from Châu Đốc along National Highway 91C (former Provincial Road 956). Standing 114.5 meters to the south-southwest in the same hamlet is Masjid Al Ehsan.
Coordinates: 10.7258, 105.1247

Directions View on the map

When you arrive

This is an active place of worship situated amid family homes rather than a tourist attraction, so local religious customs must be respected. Remove shoes before stepping into the prayer hall. Dress modestly, with men wearing long trousers and sleeved shirts and women covering their hair, arms, and legs. The main prayer hall is reserved for men. Do not walk directly in front of anyone who is praying, speak loudly, or photograph worshippers during prayer. The stilt-house neighborhood around the mosque is a residential area rather than an open-air museum, so please be considerate and ask permission before photographing residents in their homes.

Nearby places in the library

Hayatus Sunnah MosqueAn Giang · One of three mosques standing within Phum Soài (Phũm Soài) hamlet, a Cham weaving village adjoining Châu Giang along the Hậu River.Jamiul Azhar MosqueAn Giang · A major orthodox Sunni mosque of the Cham community in Châu Giang along the Hậu River, distinguished by its oval dome and white-and-turquoise palette.Mubarak MosqueAn Giang · An orthodox Sunni mosque of the Cham community on the bank of the Hậu River, first built in the mid-18th century and reconstructed in 1965 to a design by the Indian architect Mohamet Amin.

VIIContribute To This Page

Contribute photos, information or video for Sunnah Mosque, Da Phuoc

Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Thánh đường Masjid Sunnah

Everyone 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.

Send photos · Gửi ảnh Send information · Gửi thông tin Send video · Gửi video

Once published, your name is credited right here on this place's page. Sau khi được đăng, tên bạn sẽ được ghi công ngay tại mục địa điểm này. Photos and videos must be your own or shared with permission.

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 Đa Phước Masjid Sunnah located

It stands in Hà Bao 2 hamlet (known in Cham as paley Koh Kapoah), former Đa Phước town, now Vĩnh Hậu commune, An Giang province, across the river from Châu Đốc. It is one of the two mosques in Hà Bao 2 hamlet of Đa Phước Cham Village, located 114.5 meters north-northeast of Masjid Al Ehsan along National Highway 91C.

Are Masjid Sunnah and Al Ehsan the same mosque

No, they are two separate institutions standing 114.5 meters apart in Hà Bao 2 hamlet, each with its own clerical board and congregation. Travel articles often conflate the two or pair photos of the larger mosque with the name of the smaller one, so they should be clearly distinguished.

When was Masjid Sunnah built

According to the 2022 dossier of the Jamius Sunnah Mosque Management Board, the mosque has existed for over fifty years, was substantially rebuilt in the early 1990s, received Land Use Right Certificate No. CT05505 on November 28, 2012, and was granted Construction Permit No. 122/GPXD-UBND on July 11, 2022 for a three-storey reconstruction on its 669.6-square-meter plot.

Which commune does Đa Phước Cham Village belong to today

Đa Phước commune became a town in 2023, and on July 1, 2025 Đa Phước town merged with Vĩnh Trường commune and the former Vĩnh Hậu commune to form Vĩnh Hậu commune, so its current administrative address is Vĩnh Hậu commune, An Giang province. The name Đa Phước remains in everyday use and in the name of the brocade-weaving craft village.

Can non-Muslims visit the mosque

Yes, provided they observe the rules of the mosque by removing shoes, dressing modestly with women covering their hair and limbs, never walking in front of someone praying, and not photographing worshippers at prayer. The main prayer hall is for men. Friday midday is the busiest service, so visitors wishing to view the architecture should wait until prayer concludes.

Masjid Sunnah, Đa Phước