Mohammed Ahmad 

According to the Qur’an, “All mosques are Allah’s, so pray to Allah and do not pray for anything”. Mosque, also known as worship temple, is one of forms of Islamic architectural groups, where Muslims worship and carry out religious studies. It is also the central place for religious education and propaganda activities. At the same time, it is a forum for Imams to teach doctrines and religious knowledge, a school to train a new generation of religious professionals, an office for religious persons who manage marriage, funeral arrangements and slaughter to handle things in the temple.

As a Pakistani scholar, I’m mainly engaged in the research on the protection of ancient mosques around the world. I visited ancient mosques in various countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and other regions, and collected a lot of research materials, from which I realize the historical and cultural value of the ancient mosques that must be repaired and protected in a timely manner. Recently, I came to China for academic exchanges. During this period, I asked a Chinese Islamic scholar about the protection of ancient Chinese mosques. He said that China follows policies on freedom of religious belief and Chinese government spends a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to repair and protect ancient monuments such as ancient mosques. He suggested that I go to Xinjiang for a field survey and investigation. There are a lot of people who believe in Islam in Xinjiang. As landmarks and landscapes for mission and worship, the mosques in Xinjiang are particularly noticeable and there are many ancient Muslim temples in Xinjiang.

I invited my good Chinese friends to go to Xinjiang together. We went to mosques in Urumqi, Xinjiang to conduct field surveys. Through a large number of investigations, it is known that there are mosques in all the ethnic settlements of Islamic religion in Xinjiang, among which the number of Uyghur mosques is the top one and the Uyghur types are relatively complete including the Etigar Grand Mosque, Cayman Mosque, Alley Mosque, and Bazar Mosque. These mosques are spread throughout the urban and rural areas of Xinjiang. Among them, the Etigar Grand Mosque in Kashi is the largest mosque in Xinjiang and one of the three most influential mosques in Central Asia. It is a group of ancient Islamic buildings with strong ethnic style and religious colors. Sitting west facing east, it consists of four parts: the temple gate tower, the garden, the sutra hall, and the house of worship. This mosque was constructed and expanded respectively in the late 18th and mid-19th centuries and the whole temple layout was re-planned. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government has repeatedly allocated funds for repairing it, thus the Etigar Grand Mosque has formed the scale and momentum today.

We interviewed a local Uyghur Muslim. He said that Urumqi suffered a major earthquake and many local mosques were damaged. Lots of Muslims temporarily lost their places for worship and religious activities. In response, the local government surveyed the situation and took timely repairs and reconstruction measures to the damaged mosques and made the mosques more firmly standing. The local Muslims are very grateful to the country for its care and help thus there stand safe and comfortable mosques for religious activities.

In addition, I was very surprised that there are more than 20,000 mosques in Xinjiang, China. This is a surprise for a country that is predominantly Islamic. The number of mosques in Xinjiang, China is more than that of some Islamic countries. According to the instruction of a local Islamic Imam, the Chinese government is actively repairing and protecting ancient mosques. On the other hand, the country has taken measures to protect mosques and other religious sites. These measures have greatly improved the conditions of local Muslim religious places and ensured Muslims’ normal religious activities.

Through the investigation of Xinjiang in China, I deeply felt that the Chinese government has done a great job in repairing and protecting ancient mosques in Xinjiang. It not only protects numerous mosques with high historical value, but also provides places to local Muslims for their worship and religious studies. Local Muslims are very grateful to the Chinese government for its hard works. They also strongly support the country’s policy on freedom of religious belief. I benefited a lot from this Xinjiang research trip. After returning to Pakistan, at my school, I also held a lecture focusing on the Chinese government’s approaches to protecting ancient mosques. It is really valuable experience that is worth studying.