Eidgah Mosque in Kashgar

By: Mamutjan Abdurehim

Being one of the oldest mosques in China, the Eidgah Mosque in Kashgar, also known as

Eidgah Jami (Aitigaer Qingzhensi in Chinese), was officially built in 1442 AD by

Shakesirmirza, the ruler of Kashgar at that time, though some oldest structures of the

mosque date back to the 8th century. The Eidgah Jami (a typical Uyghur structure) is the

largest mosque in China and the religious center of Kashgar. The ornate structure of the

Eidgah Jami today has been renovated and expanded several times throughout its history,

but its style and size have been kept as that of the original one. The mosque, 140 meters

long from south to north and 120 meters from east to west, covers an area of 16,800

square meters and consists of a main prayer hall, a religious-teaching hall, a pond, three

entrances, the main gate and some other auxiliary structures. The yard of the mosque is

graced with trees and gardens with flat praying sections outside the main prayer hall. The

hall's ceiling, with wooden carvings and colorful flower painting patterns, is supported by

one hundred carved wooden columns. In the middle part of the wall in the main hall,

there is a deeper shrine in which a stepped throne is placed where the Imam leads

prayers.

Constructed of yellow bricks, the Eidgah Jami is easily recognizable from its

dominant spot on the western side of Eidgah Square. On both sides of the main gate are

two high round brick columns half embedded in the wall. On the top of the columns

stands a tower where the Mu’ezzin calls out loud at dawn every day to wake up the

Muslims and summon them to attend prayers. The call can be heard in almost everywhere
of the city center, especially at Fajr prayer. I used to hear the voice of the Mu’ezzin when

he calls at dawn, though I don’t live that near to the mosque. After the old well-known

prayer caller of the Eidgah Jami, whom we call Rozi Mu’ezzin (Rozi is his first name)

with a loud and beautiful voice, has passed away a few years ago (may Allah bless him), I

felt that the voice of prayer calls has been lowered than it was before.

Like other Eidgah mosques in many other Muslim countries, such as India,

Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the mosque is called Eidgah due to the fact that almost all

the Kashgarians gather here to serve their both Eid prayers (Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha)

together. The estimated 100,000 people perform Eid prayers in the mosque, about 10,000

people gather in the Friday Prayer alone. The celebration of the Eids in the Eidgah Square

is very special to Uyghurs. After every Eid prayer, people flock out to the square in front

of the mosque and perform a type of Uyghur dance called Sama overflowing clockwise

and vice versa to the music which is played with drums and trumpets on the top of the

mosque tower. People dance with such an enthusiasm that they sweat while they are

dancing. Sometimes there would be a few circles in which youngsters and elders dance

separately. But this is not always the case. It depends on the size of the main circle. If it is

small and can not be expanded because of the crowd, people make other circles besides

the main circle so that more dancers can be accommodated. I myself remember dancing

Sama many times with my friends on the Eid days when I was in Kashgar promising each

other not to stop until we sweat. There were always elder people among the Sama dancers

when I was a teenager, but nowadays most of the people who dance are the younger men.
 It is worthy to introduce Kashgar (Qeshqer in Uyghur pronunciation) a bit, where the

Eidgah Jami is situated. Kashgar is among the oldest Islamic centers in Central Asia and

is called by many “Second Bukhara”. It used to be an important spot on the Silk Road

due to its strategic position in the region being situated at the foot of the Pamir

Mountains, commanding access into Central Asia, India and Persia. It borders with

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, India, Kashmir and Pakistan.

More than 90 percent of Kashgar Prefecture’s population of over 3,000,000 are Uyghur,

which is one of the Turkic ethnic groups in Central Asia. The population of the Kashgar

city is around 300,000. As one of the historical cities in Xinjiang and Central Asian

region, Kashgar has a history of more than 2000 years and had witnessed many kingdoms

and dynasties serving as their capital. Among them, the Qarakhanid Dynasty is the most

prominent one during which several famous Uyghur scholars were born and lived in

Kashgar, like Mahmud Qeshqeri and Yusup Hass Hajib. First king of the Qarakhanid of

Kashgar was Sutuq Bughra Khan, a Sunni Muslim, and he was the one who spread Islam

among Uyghurs by carrying on many Jihads against rebellious Buddhist kingdoms of

Yarkant and Hotan, which are other two historical cities of what it is called Xinjiang

Uyghur Autonomous Region nowadays.

There is a saying among people that goes: without visiting Kashgar, you are not counted

as the visitor of Xinjiang. Without visiting the Eidgah Jami, you are not counted as the

visitor of Kashgar. So be sure to visit Xinjiang and Kashgar if you plan to visit China !