Ninth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Islam has played very important role in Malay Muslim communities, the rules of belief and the rules of praxis, framed their ways of life. Moreover, Islamic principles also use as norm to strengthen the relationship among their members. Therefore, in this incident research attempts to explaining the social-functional structure of the Muslim community and to explore how religion plays in a part in development in a Malay Muslim communities which can be seen as minority group in Thailand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 key informants (Imam and village administrative board in Malay Muslim communities in Pattani province of Thailand) in collecting data. The study found that Malay Muslim communities use “Mushawarah,” means the consultation in different matters, to solve the solutions for any problematic affairs, by setting the Shura or Mushawarah council to give advice which conformed Islamic principles. Thus, Mushawarah is so called “community development process” where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems within community.