Azahar Mosque

The Azahar Mosque ( Lao: ມັສຢິດອາສາຮາຣcode: lao promoted to code: lo ), also called the Cambodia Mosque, Masjid Cambodia, or the Cham Mosque, is a Sunni Islamic mosque that worships in the Shafi'i school tradition, located in an obscure part of the Chanthabuly district of Vientiane, Laos.

Azahar Mosque
The mosque in [2025]
Religion
Affiliation	Sunni Islam
Sect	Shafi'i school
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Mosque
Leadership	Musa Abu Bakr (Imam)
Status	Active
Location
Location	Chanthabuly, Vientiane
Country	Laos
Location of the mosque in Laos
Coordinates	17°58′52.2″N 102°36′02.1″E
Architecture
Type	Mosque architecture
Founder	Shafi'i Laotian Chams
Established	1976 (as a congregation)
Groundbreaking	1976
Completed	1986
Site area	700 m2 (7,500 sq ft)

History

The construction of the mosque started in 1976 and was completed in 1986. It was founded by the Shafi'i adherents of the Laotian Chams who fled Democratic Kampuchea in the 1970s. The Cham community is small, numbering only a few hundred, and is relatively poor. Many of the Chams were persecuted by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime from 1975, when their mosques were destroyed, they were forbidden to worship or to speak in the Cham language, and many were forced to keep pigs. They fled to Laos to avoid persecution.

Architecture

The mosque consists of two main buildings, which are the prayer hall and the kuttab (education room). The mosque is painted gold in color for its dome and cream for its wall. The mosque sits in a complex with a total area of 700 m² (7,500 sq ft).

See also

• Islam in Laos
• List of mosques in Laos

External links

• "GROUP 3 - ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN LAOS". online.anyflip.com. Retrieved 15 July 2025.