Written by: Mahnoor Fatima
Posted on: March 04, 2021 | 
| 中文
Prayers Taking Place at Niujie Mosque
Tourists who visit Beijing are often taken aback by the history and diversity of culture housed in the country’s capital city. Particularly, practicing Muslims and Islamic scholars are often surprised and fascinated by Beijing’s historic Niujie or ‘Ox Street’ mosque, a thousand-year-old mosque that boasts an incredible synthesis of Chinese design and Islamic aesthetics. This mosque is located in the city’s largest Muslim district, home to more than 200,000 practicing Hui Muslims.
The history of mosques in China is very closely attributed to the spread of the Silk Road, and the way merchants adapted to the existing culture. According to Professor Nancy Steinhardt, the first practicing Muslims who sought worship space in China were immigrants or temporary settlers, who began to build houses in the area during times of great prosperity for their community. By that time, the Chinese architectural style had been well-established and mosque builders had to build around the Chinese traditions, due to logistical and social issues of acceptance.
The Stele Pavilion
Niujie Mosque was built in 966 CE during the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) by an Arab trader Nasuluding (Nasir al-Din), who is also buried in the premises. The present façade was built during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722), after Mongol invasions destroyed the original structure. The mosque has undergone many renovations, even during the present day, the most recent of which was a 10 Million Yuan package to ready the mosque for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Nijuie Mosque sits east to west covering over 6000 square meters, with an exterior that is unmistakably Chinese in its design. According to Lloyd Ridgeon, a professor of Religious Studies, the style of the mosque is mid-Qing imperial architecture, much like the Buddhist and Taoist temples across the city. Recognizable Chinese roofs with ridges, flying eaves and timber beams cover the buildings, similar to other Chinese mosques. What is special here is the bold use of color, from the top to the bottom of the structures. Depictions of Chinese trees, bridges, chrysanthemums and lotus flowers are abundant. Even the roof of the structures feature dragons and gargoyles, which people believe are permissible because their eyes are closed. Such imagery is attributed to early Confucian thought, which linked all existence to a coherent whole, and colors to the spectrum of human emotion.
Details on the Building
However, entering inwards, one sees more Arabic inscriptions and aesthetics. For example, the Big Screen Wall is a beautiful 30ft long marble wall typical in Chinese design to ward off evil spirits entering the premises. But it is adorned with plants, geometric lines and Arabic characters, as opposed to animals and figures. Breathtaking gold calligraphy work covers the walls of the buildings, featuring not just Quranic verses but also statements of Islamic belief and doctrine. One particular statement on the minaret borrows from a Taoist tradition, “All the principles (or truth) are from one origin, all paths follow the same vein.” This helps people of different faiths to understand and relate to the sentiment of Islam, though they may not be Muslim.
Old Quran Manuscripts in the Mosque
The main areas of the mosque are the Main Prayer Hall (where non-Muslims cannot enter), the Moon Watching Tower, the Minaret, Tablet Pavilion and the Wash Room. The mosque also houses important Chinese Muslim relics like two stele pavilions (a tomb annex that records an emperor’s merit), ancient ceramics dated to the 1st Century AD, handwritten Quranic scriptures and various printing plates with calligraphy. The Main Prayer Hall can house up to 1000 worshippers, and is usually full during important religious holidays. Inside the front gate is the Moon Watching Tower, where the Imams determine the time of Ramadan, based on the waxing or waning of the moon. This resembles more of a pagoda than a minaret. The actual minaret itself is quite small, most likely because it was quite difficult to call for prayer during periods of persecution in the past.
The Moon Watching Tower
While Nijuie Mosque sees about 100 worshippers a day, it also welcomes the largest number of non-Muslim visitors to a mosque in China. The mosque has been an important place for tourists to learn about Islamic customs and traditions, and it has been vital in China’s cultural exchanges with other Muslim countries. After visiting the mosque, tourists often venture to Ox Street, which is surrounded by halal butcher shops and restaurants with incredibly sought-after dishes like sticky rice, stir-fried Tofu and Beef steaks.
A Muslim Supermarket in Ox Street
The Mosque and Ox Street represent a unique space, worth exploration and study. It represents the history and sensibilities of the Hui Muslims in China as they reconcile both their ancient Chinese traditions and important Islamic beliefs. The result is a dazzling, unusual and transfixing collection of art and architecture that represents the diversity of China and its people.
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