BANGKOK – The start of Ramadan this Friday, when pious Muslims seek to cleanse their souls and come together in the name of peace, sees mosques in southern Thailand taking center stage in a region racked by recent violence and bloody killings.
The holiest month in the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is a haram time when fighting is discouraged.
The houses of prayer will thus serve as a barometer to gauge the fear plaguing Thai Muslims on account of the violence that has continued unabated in their communities since early January.
The mosques usually overflow with worshippers who come to perform the special night prayer – Tharawih – during the Ramadan month, when Muslims also abstain from food and drink between dawn to sunset as part of their religious obligation to fast.
The buildup to the prayer, which lasts for over an hour, begins soon after they begin eating at sunset to break the fast they had observed. And the atmosphere in and around the mosque at night during Ramadan is usually festive.
"But this year may be different. The Tharawih prayers may be affected," Arong Suthasana, chairman of the Institute of Islamic World Studies, a Bangkok-based think- tank, told IPS.
According to Arong, a member of Thailand’s Muslim minority from the south, the fear of violence in the region may "keep people away from the mosque and at home at night."
Such fear stems from the hostile environment taking shape in that part of Thailand due to martial law that has been imposed by the Thai government, which, according to local and international human rights groups like Amnesty International, has led to intimidation, arbitrary arrests, disappearances and cases of extra-judicial executions.
That, however, is not the only indicator that may reveal the shift away from normalcy for the Malay-Muslims in the five southern provinces – Yala, Patani, Narathiwat, Satun and Songkhla – four of which share a border with Malaysia.
Another, more equally worrying prospect, is the likelihood of the Ramadan being shattered by attacks from assailants.
"If the violence escalates during the Ramadan, it will be more serious than we thought," Arong pointed out.
It would mean, for one, that the alleged Muslim assailants mounting such attacks against the police, army and other symbols of the state are at odds with the views of the government-backed spiritual leader of the Thai Muslims, Sawasdi Sukumalayasak.
In the days leading up to Ramadan, the aging Sawasdi, known by his official title, Chularatchamontri, has been making desperate pleas for calm in the predominantly Muslim southern provinces.
Shortly after returning from a meeting of Muslim leaders held in Saudi Arabia early this month, Sawasdi called on the suspected Muslim militants to stop destroying lives and property in the south.
To lend weight to his views, he declared that such an appeal against violence was endorsed at the 38th session of the Muslim World League’s Constitution Council held in Islam’s holy city of Mecca. Muslim moderates, Sawasdi was quoted in the local press, must distance themselves from terrorism.
Nimu Makaje, vice president of the Islamic Council in Yala, is hoping that this message is upheld, since "Ramadan is a month for fasting and prayer, coupled with charity and good work."
"We will urge people to oppose violence to ensure a peaceful Ramadan," he asserted during an interview.
The Ramadan month earns its special place in the Muslim world because of the first verse of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, being revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.
But Islamic history has also recorded battles that have been waged by Muslims during Ramadan, including one to defend the nascent Islamic community soon after the faith had been revealed.
War-torn Iraq, for instance, saw a rise in the attacks by insurgents on U.S. and coalition forces during Ramadan last year.
The hope among Thai Muslim leaders to avoid such a prospect is up against a clearly emerging divide between the leaders of the Muslim community in Thailand and sections of the Malay-Muslim youth who have been linked to the attacks in the south.
This divide – with some youth displaying a belief in violence to achieve political aims – has shot to the surface following a brazen attack on police and security posts and a standoff with heavily armed Thai troops at a historic mosque in late April.
On that day, 108 Muslim assailants were killed in the bloodiest incident in the conflict. Found on the body of one dead attacker was a book, Fight for the Liberation of Pattani, which urged the Malay-Muslims to confront the Thai state as a religious duty.
Bangkok is accusing the assailants of killing over 200 people, including policemen, soldiers, civil servants, teachers, Buddhist monks and students. Since January, when the assailants stormed an army camp in the south and escaped with military hardware, including 380 M-16 rifles, close to 350 people have died in the conflict.
Security analysts admit that the violence this year has been the worst for over a decade in a region that was witness to a separatist struggle waged by Malay-Muslim militant groups such as the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) during the 1970s and the early 1980s.
Malay-Muslim discomfort toward Bangkok has been shaped by their identity being at variance with the Thai identity being foisted upon them by various governments. Besides religion, these Muslims have a history, culture and language that are different from the one shared by the majority of Thailand.
Over a century ago, the five southern provinces belonged to the kingdom of Pattani, which was annexed in 1902 by Siam, as Thailand was then known.
The Malay-Muslim minority account for 2.3 million of Thailand’s 63 million population, the majority of whom are Buddhists and speak Thai.
A dramatic drop in the number of these Muslims going to the mosques at night during Ramadan may be seen as yet another example of the people "not being able to practice their faith fully," says Arong, the analyst.
"This may have consequences," he added. "The mosque plays an important part for the people during Ramadan."
