Some call this the oldest mosque in China, and its minaret may once have guided ships.
This is the Huaisheng Mosque, the Lighthouse Mosque, in Guangzhou, China.
One tradition says it was founded in 627 by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, be pleased with him, a Companion of the Prophet, peace be upon him. Modern historians have not found evidence that he travelled to China, and they place its beginnings in the Tang or Song dynasty.
Guangzhou was a great seaport on the Pearl River, and Muslim traders settled here from early times.
Beside the street rises the minaret, called the Guangta, or Light Tower. It is a round brick tower, about 36 metres tall, with two spiral staircases inside. Many sources date it to the Tang dynasty.
From its balcony the call to prayer was given, and it is said a lamp at its top once guided ships along the river at night. Sources say it was the tallest building in Guangzhou until the early twentieth century.
Behind a gate on Guangta Road, a gateway built like a Chinese tower opens onto a courtyard facing the prayer hall. The mosque was rebuilt in 1350, and again in 1695.
Old Chinese Muslim manuscripts say the mosque was built in 627 CE by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, a Companion of the Prophet who supposedly came on to China in the 620s. Although modern secular scholars do not find any historical evidence that Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas actually visited China, they agree that the first Muslims must have arrived to China within the 7th century, and that the major trade centers, such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Yangzhou, probably already had their first mosques built during the Tang dynasty (r. 618–690), even though no reliable sources attesting to their actual existence has been found.
The minaret measures 36 metres (118 ft) in height and consists of two storeys. It was the tallest building in the city until the beginning of the 20th century. In the Middle Ages, it served various functions, functioning as a lighthouse, a wind vane, and a control tower.
It is very likely that the mosque existed during the early years of the Song dynasty. In 1349, Ramadan ibn Alauddin, the first named Korean Muslim, was buried in the mosque cemetery. The mosque was rebuilt in 1350 then again in 1695 after being destroyed in a fire. The Huaisheng Light Tower or minaret was built at an earlier period. As late as the 19th century, the minaret tower was one of the major landmarks of Guangzhou.
The Tatar traveler Abdurreshid Ibrahim who was an acquaintance of one of the Mosque's ahongs, Wang Kuan, was dismissive of the claim that this mosque was built by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. He called it a peculiar idea:
This history is indisputable to the Chinese and it would seem to be impossible to persuade them that this was not the case ..... Sa’d bin Vakkâs was a famed person among the Noble Companions and the ten companions who were promised Paradise, and his biography is well known to Muslims. If Vakkâs had been an envoy [from the Arabs to China], the great Hadith scholars would have recorded it ... because some of them would have understood that anything that happened in the era of our Prophet Muhammad would have to be written down, without ignoring the slightest detail. If an envoy had been dispatched to China like this, Hadith scholars should have recorded it."
More to know
The mosque is accessible within walking distance south east of Ximenkou Station of Guangzhou Metro.
The History, Architecture and later sections are adapted from the Wikipedia article “Huaisheng Mosque”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article. Text has been shortened.
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