Thailand is a Buddhist country, but Thais are tolerant of other religions and there are large Christian, Hindu and Sikh communities in Thailand. There is even a tiny Jewish community in Bangkok. Thailand's second largest religious community though is Muslim. The Thai government estimates that the Kingdom is more than 90% Buddhist, a little over 4% Muslim with the other religions making up the remaining amount.
I think the government's numbers are a little off. Thailand is certainly overwhelmingly Buddhist, but there are Muslim communities almost everywhere. Bangkok has several large Muslim communities. The three southern provinces are Muslim majority. Western Thailand, along the border with Myanmar (Burma) is home to a sizable Muslim minority. I wouldn't be surprised if Muslims make up just over 10% of Thailand.
I traveled to southern Thailand for the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and then criss-crossed Bangkok photographing Ramadan in Thailand's capital city.
In Thailand's Muslim majority south, the Thai government is battling a Muslim extremist insurgency. Thai Marines provide security at a military public outreach program in Narathiwat before Ramadan.
Muslim women enjoy frozen treats at the military outreach program. The program was sponsored by Thai Marines who gave Muslim civilians rice and staples. It was a part of the military's pacification program.
In Pattani, on the night before Ramadan, Muslim families enjoyed a lively evening out.
Muslims fast during Ramadan - no food or liquids, including water - from dawn to dusk. The food court in a Pattani department store was packed the night before Ramadan.
A woman with her groceries the day before Ramadan started.
A Thai armored car on patrol passes a row of Muslim restaurants in Pattani the night before Ramadan.
A Muslim family has a seafood barbecue dinner in Pattani the evening before the start of Ramadan.
A family on Pattani's "restaurant row" before Ramadan.
Muslim women shop in the market in Pattani the first day of Ramadan.
Women walk into the Pattani Central Mosque for evening prayers during Ramadan.
Women pray in front of the mosque. More than 15,000 people go to Pattani's main mosque for evening prayers during Ramadan.
Men pray in the mosque.
Women pray in separate sections of the mosque.
The end of prayers in the main part of the mosque.
It's so crowded women sometimes pray on the main street in front of the mosque.
Women walk out of the mosque after prayers.
A boy studies the Koran at a private Muslim school in Pattani.
Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, but the markets come alive late in the afternoon when families start shopping for iftar (the meal that breaks the fast). This woman was making roti for people to take home to eat in the evening.
Deserts to take home at a Muslim market in Krue Se, a village outside Pattani.
A man performs ritual ablutions before going into Krue Se Mosque to pray.
Men pray in Krue Se Mosque.
In Bangkok, a class about the Koran before iftar at a mosque in Ban Krua, a community of Cambodian Muslims. The community is more than 200 years old.
At Haroon Mosque, in a community of Javanese (now Indonesia) Muslims, a man prays by himself before iftar.
Pouring fruit juice before the iftar meal.
A man prays before iftar while his dining companions chat.
The iftar meal in Haroon Mosque.
Thai Muslims near Haroon Mosque set up a night market for people to eat after iftar.
Ramadan prayers in Haroon Mosque.
Serving the iftar meal after prayers in Haroon Mosque.
The night market near Haroon Mosque.
Iftar in the mosque in Ban Krua, the 200 year old community of Cambodian Muslims.
The entrance to the mosque in Ban Krua.
