HAROONTHE OLDEST MUSLIM COMMUNITY

FACULTY OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN

90550101 PIYARAT ROQUE90550201 SIRAYUTH TARAMAS

SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

ContentsIntroductionHistoryCommunityPeople

Praying

Daily LifeIndian Tailors

ElderPriest Bilan

Washing & PreparingPraying

New Wave

Muslim is one of the oldest re-ligions in the world. There are tonnes of people around the world who believe in Muham-mad’s dogmas. Thailand is main-ly a Buddhist country , but it is also home to many Mosques in

every province. This is a docu-mentary about the Muslim com-munity in Bangrak, Bangkok, a uniquely antique area. As we explored inside this particular area and observed the lifestyle of these people in the small com-

Introduction

munity, we started to know things about Muslims and their ways of living in a Buddhist country.

This documentary reveals how they live in the oldest Muslim community since King Rama V,

how their lifestyles could blend in. Most importantly, it reveals how they honor and hallow the dogma.

Since the reign of King Rama V., Haroon Community is locat-ed next to Chao-Praya River, a place once a guava farm. King Rama V saw the place around the community near the river and was pleased with it that he asked

if he could use this place and let the community moved to the guava farm. Since then, the com-munity moved to this place and have stayed there for approx-imately 200 years ever since.

For years, this community thrives in this small section in Bangrak. Outsiders and foreign-ers are welcome in this place and the people treat them with good hospitality.

Haroon mosque community is the second oldest mosque in Thailand that honored the father of Hug Yee Yu sup. There was a village located on west of Chao Phaya side called Thon Sum Loong village. There was mosque that was built from wood, which call Ton Sloong mosque (The name might come from the kind of trees that locate around there). Thon Sum Loong was the origin of Haru mosque and had come from Vittaya Resly researcher.

More than 150 year, Thon Sum Loong village and Thon Sum Loong mosque have one male name Muza Bafaded who was an Indonesian and came from Panti-yana south of Borneo Island. He was a merchant trader and used boat for transporting goods and products between Siam, Mala and Indonesia. He was interest-ed in Siam and traded for many years, while trading along the Chao Phaya River he was look-ing for the location to build his fu-ture and Islam community. At the end, he chose the East of Chao Phaya River, which call Thon Sum Loong village.

While trading between four coun-

tries, Muza Bafaded brought his three daughters with him. He wanted to train his daughters the knowledge in trading business to follow his footsteps. After his children had learned how to use their merchant skills from their father. They were going out and built their own business.

Ousma one of Muza daughter go to Malaysia, which was near Siam. Ishak went to Burma and Haru went to Mala and Siam, which his father takes care of this country. While he trade between Bangkok and Ayutthaya he had met his wife Aumdangpoom and they have one daughter, her name was Muhummudyusup.

DailyLife

In this community, every house-hold live a simple, happy life and everybody is friendly. You can see women doing their chores right in front of their property and people passing by to help them. During the daytime when they’re not praying, they are like other ordinary people. People walking around talking to their friendly neighbors and enjoy their days in the pleasant community. Some stay in their own homes doing house chores or just re-laxing after a hard day of work.

There are many different varie-ty of businesses going on in this small community. In one particular house near the Mosque is a tailor business. The owner hired the peo-ple outside to help them do their business. It is quite an astonish-ing sight to see these men weav-ing clothes and sewing fabrics.

IndianTailors

Generation through generation, there are many range of ages in this couminty.

Fara, the girl who really welcome us, and offered us beverages

NewWave

Those who live in this community range from small children to elder people. Almost every day, you can see children enjoying the day playing around with their friends or even have a nice bowl of sweet ice. There’s also a small tutor-ing school in the small commu-nity where the children focus on their studies with their teachers.

ElderWe also see lots of elders around the community relaxing around the neighbourhood. They sit around watching people passing by or even have a small chat with their peers.

At night, there are a small group of young volunteers of firemen to watch out for any fire in the com-munity. They bring their equip-ment and truck loaded with all the necessary tools, ready to use in case of any emergencies. They usually park their truck beside the main office and can be found sit-ting around enjoying themselves if nothing bad happens.

VolunteersFireman

PriestBilan

In one community, there are three important people who are in charge; they are the Imam, the Kotep and the Bilan. These three people are the ones who lead the followers in prayers each day. They are considered the ‘chosen ones’ to lead the fol-lowers until they die. There will be people to take their place and continue their duties after

they die. Bilan is the person who calls everyone to the Mosque to pray. Kotep and Imam are the people who will lead the prayer. When it isn’t time for praying, we usually see them greeting everybody in the community.

Bilan is name P’Vut. He is kind of the guide who has brought us arond the community.

PreparingBefore any Muslim goes inside the praying room, they have to wash themselves. They have to be clean from head to toe. Men and women will not share the same washing place. Right after they finish washing, they will go to the praying room and start pray-ing when Imam starts the leading prayer.

PrayingThere are five praying times in one day. The praying usually takes place in their Mosque or in their own house if they could not come to the mosque. Bilan is normally the one who call for the praying times, while Imam is the one who usually lead the prayers. The first praying time is during the early morning. While most of the people are sleeping and before the sun rises, they have to pray. The second time is the midday when the sun is above the head. The third time is around the late afternoon. The fourth time is dur-ing the evening and the fifth time

is at night. The praying position for the Muslim is important. Men are always in front to have a full concentration in prayer. Young followers or children are in the middle to observe and pray like the men. Women are at the back to watch the children in the mid-dle line to keep them in line and correct them if the children are praying the wrong way. There is an interesting fact. Any woman who is having menstruation must not enter the Mosque. They must wait until their period is over be-fore they can enter the Mosque to pray.

If there are some conditions like if the three important people are not around to lead the prayer or could not come for whatever reasons, those who can pray can come up and led the prayer temporary until they come back.

Once they are inside the praying room, no one is allowed to leave until the prayer is done.

Profiles

Sirayuth Taramas Piyarat Roque

Date of birth 22 / 09 / 91 CapabilityPhotoshop, Illustrator, inDe-sign, Drawing, Photography ProfileI could use Photoshop and Illustrator for work process-ing and develope them on my drawing and photograph skill. And I know basically on in-Design. So I could make this portforlio by it.

Websitec4pound.deivantart.com twitter c4pound

Date of birth 10 / 11 / 93 CapabilityDrawing, Photoshop, Writing ProfileI usually sketch my work through drawing and writing concepts. I can use Photo-shop to edit some artworks as well.

WebsiteMultifreak99.deviantart.com