A few nice popular worship song images I found:
IMG_2242: Great mosque of Xi’an
Image by Omar A.
The Great Mosque of Xi’an (Chinese: 西安大清真寺), located near the Drum Tower (Gu Lou) on Huajue Lane of Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China, is one of the oldest and most renowned mosques in the country.
It was first built in the Tang Dynasty (reign of Emperor Xuanzong, 685-762), and renovated in later periods (especially during the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty). It remains a popular tourist site of Xi’an, and is still used by Chinese Muslims (mainly the Hui people) today as a place of worship. Unlike most mosques in Middle Eastern or Arab countries, the Great Mosque of Xi’an is completely Chinese in its construction and architectural style, except for some Arabic lettering and decorations, for the mosque has neither domes nor traditional-style minarets.
(from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Xi’an)
Also, here is a piece from Ibrahim N. Abusharif, on nawawi.org/eventsandtrips/ch_travel_log.html:
"Like the Lanzhou experience, the excursion into Xi’an arrested many minds and hearts. It had the aura, history, and people that made it an event to remember. But first something about the city itself. Xi’an was once an ancient capital of the Chinese empire. If you never knew this beforehand, this factoid manifests itself just about everywhere in the city. Nearly all the sights and the general atmosphere leave no doubt that the obvious dignity of the city is closely tethered to a glorious past. If one has never experienced anything imperial, Xi’an offers a memorable measure. Surrounding the city are steep mountains and strategic passes, with the Wei River valley nearby with fertile farm lands. Eleven dynasties established their capital here. The city reached its peak of prosperity in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), becoming a center of cultural exchanges, including that with Muslims.
The most well known and frequently visited sites in the city are the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Tablet Forest, and the nearby Terracotta Warriors. But none of these sites compares with the Great Mosque of Xi’an.
Xian Grand Mosque Courtyard The Great Mosque Complex is a “cup overrun with beauty,” “an oasis of peace,” and other depictions I heard from members of our group. All descriptions being true, the Mosque is also a spiritual project, a system of courtyards and pathways meant to empty one of worldly distractions before finally reaching the Prayer Hall itself. Step one foot beneath the complex’s first arch, you notice an ambience that summons the worshipper to a condition of mind befitting a house of worship. The gardens in the courtyards are laden with pathways, benches, pools of water lilies, and botanical shapes and colors, all accented by the songs of songbirds. Chinese pavilions with ornate beams and ridgepoles mark off the four courtyards of the Mosque grounds. Along the way, you can read the inscriptions on old stone archways, with Arabic and Chinese verses and sayings, exalting “wisdom” and “knowledge” and “God.” It was all a silent “adhan” calling us to Prayer.
Prayer in the Xian Mosque was an experience unlike a typical mosque elsewhere in the Muslim world. Here, you cannot walk out the door and hail a cab. After the prayer, you again experience the peace of the gardens, as if you’re still in the post-prayer litanies. You cannot hear cars zooming in the distance or their annoying honks. To join the world, you must leave the grounds altogether, walking through the courtyards, pavilions, and green and flowered flora that prepared us for Prayer in the first place.
The Mosque was first established 745 CE, during the Tang Dynasty. This was before Muslim Spain and before the Abbasids made their capital in Iraq. It is located in Huajue Lane, which is the hub of the more than 70,000 Muslims of Xi’an. Its narrow corridors outside the Mosque complex are lined with dozens of quaint shops.
The Great Mosque has no domes. It is Chinese architecture and gardens informed by the spirituality of Chinese Muslims. The Mosque grounds cover more than 13,000 square meters. Opposite a tall wall that screens the complex from city culture is a wooden archway through which we enter. The archways is decorated with brick carvings and upturned eaves, and layers of glazed roof-tiles. Engraved Chinese calligraphy reads: "The Court of the Heaven."
In the center courtyard, the “Introspection Tower" serves as the minaret. It is two stories tall and has three layers of eaves and an octagonal roof. On the south side of the minaret is the Reception Hall, in which a hand-written copy of the Quran is kept. It was scribed during the Ming Dynasty and has been preserved ever since and regarded by the Chinese as a treasured work of art.
In the last courtyard before the Prayer Hall one finds the “One God Pavilion" that has a traditional Chinese archway and a pavilion shaped in a hexagon with upturned eaves. The overall look of the architecture is in the shape of a phoenix with open wings. The other buildings flanking the courtyard hold historical and cultural relics of the Miming and Qing dynasties, and large paintings, one with the Ka’ba.
After a short walk, we stood before a wide platform that leads to the Prayer Hall itself. Only worshippers are allowed to go beyond this point. The roof of the magnificent Prayer Hall is covered with the blue glazed tiles. Inside, the magnificence of the sight is a bit overwhelming. Your first impulse is to Pray. After that, your head is looking everywhere: toward the ceilings engraved with letters shaped in the patterns of grass and flowers or toward the walls featuring hundreds of wooden boards engraved with the entire Quran. Some boards are carved with Chinese translations of the Quran’s meanings. The mihrab is also surrounded by engravings. The names of Allah (God) are on plaques along the upper portions of the walls.
Final Verses of Quran in Arabic Final Verses of Quran in Chinese
The Xian Mosque receives tens of thousands of visitors each year. We saw them sitting and strolling in the courtyards, marveling at the beauty and serenity of the grounds, awed at the fact that this is a Mosque. The wordless messages are more powerful than a hundred booklets and speeches.
At one point, we had the privilege to meet with the mosque Imam, an elderly gentlemen who looked stronger than anyone of us. He had a wide face, large eyes, sturdy shoulders, and thick healthy hands that he happily used to feed us handfuls of peanuts that he says are very good for the heart. We sat and spoke through interpreters. He then broke into a true story. During the Cultural Revolution, when thousands of houses of worship were being leveled in an attempt to redefine the cultural edifice of the new China, military officers came to the Xi’an mosque to do their job, that is, knock it down. Before they had come, mosque goers caught wind that demolition was imminent and the crew was on the way. The Mosque men huddled around the Imam and begged him to allow them to fight, but he refused. Calm and sure, he told them that when the officers and soldiers came, he will greet them. And so he did. He told them that before they begin their labor that they may want to hear a story or two. And so the Imam sat them down and told them a narrative that riveted the demolition crew. When he finished, he told them, “Ok. You may begin your task,” or to that effect. They were so enthralled by the story, they begged him for more, to which he responded (again, to the effect): “Sure, but not today. Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you more stories.” The crew left, not a stone was turned nor a flower uprooted. They came back and felt a connection with the Imam that essentially saved the mosque not just from the demolition of a crew, but from a revolution that razed just about everything else. Listening to the Imam tell that story transported us out of time, sitting at the feet of a wise man imparting some ancient wisdom. I see how the crew was so enthralled. Had I not heard the Imam speak, I would have thought the whole event to have been incredulous or apocrypha at best."
Wood Quranic Carvings
Image by Omar A.
The Great Mosque of Xi’an (Chinese: 西安大清真寺), located near the Drum Tower (Gu Lou) on Huajue Lane of Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China, is one of the oldest and most renowned mosques in the country.
It was first built in the Tang Dynasty (reign of Emperor Xuanzong, 685-762), and renovated in later periods (especially during the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty). It remains a popular tourist site of Xi’an, and is still used by Chinese Muslims (mainly the Hui people) today as a place of worship. Unlike most mosques in Middle Eastern or Arab countries, the Great Mosque of Xi’an is completely Chinese in its construction and architectural style, except for some Arabic lettering and decorations, for the mosque has neither domes nor traditional-style minarets.
(from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Xi’an)
Also, here is a piece from Ibrahim N. Abusharif, on nawawi.org/eventsandtrips/ch_travel_log.html:
"Like the Lanzhou experience, the excursion into Xi’an arrested many minds and hearts. It had the aura, history, and people that made it an event to remember. But first something about the city itself. Xi’an was once an ancient capital of the Chinese empire. If you never knew this beforehand, this factoid manifests itself just about everywhere in the city. Nearly all the sights and the general atmosphere leave no doubt that the obvious dignity of the city is closely tethered to a glorious past. If one has never experienced anything imperial, Xi’an offers a memorable measure. Surrounding the city are steep mountains and strategic passes, with the Wei River valley nearby with fertile farm lands. Eleven dynasties established their capital here. The city reached its peak of prosperity in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), becoming a center of cultural exchanges, including that with Muslims.
The most well known and frequently visited sites in the city are the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Tablet Forest, and the nearby Terracotta Warriors. But none of these sites compares with the Great Mosque of Xi’an.
Xian Grand Mosque Courtyard The Great Mosque Complex is a “cup overrun with beauty,” “an oasis of peace,” and other depictions I heard from members of our group. All descriptions being true, the Mosque is also a spiritual project, a system of courtyards and pathways meant to empty one of worldly distractions before finally reaching the Prayer Hall itself. Step one foot beneath the complex’s first arch, you notice an ambience that summons the worshipper to a condition of mind befitting a house of worship. The gardens in the courtyards are laden with pathways, benches, pools of water lilies, and botanical shapes and colors, all accented by the songs of songbirds. Chinese pavilions with ornate beams and ridgepoles mark off the four courtyards of the Mosque grounds. Along the way, you can read the inscriptions on old stone archways, with Arabic and Chinese verses and sayings, exalting “wisdom” and “knowledge” and “God.” It was all a silent “adhan” calling us to Prayer.
Prayer in the Xian Mosque was an experience unlike a typical mosque elsewhere in the Muslim world. Here, you cannot walk out the door and hail a cab. After the prayer, you again experience the peace of the gardens, as if you’re still in the post-prayer litanies. You cannot hear cars zooming in the distance or their annoying honks. To join the world, you must leave the grounds altogether, walking through the courtyards, pavilions, and green and flowered flora that prepared us for Prayer in the first place.
The Mosque was first established 745 CE, during the Tang Dynasty. This was before Muslim Spain and before the Abbasids made their capital in Iraq. It is located in Huajue Lane, which is the hub of the more than 70,000 Muslims of Xi’an. Its narrow corridors outside the Mosque complex are lined with dozens of quaint shops.
The Great Mosque has no domes. It is Chinese architecture and gardens informed by the spirituality of Chinese Muslims. The Mosque grounds cover more than 13,000 square meters. Opposite a tall wall that screens the complex from city culture is a wooden archway through which we enter. The archways is decorated with brick carvings and upturned eaves, and layers of glazed roof-tiles. Engraved Chinese calligraphy reads: "The Court of the Heaven."
In the center courtyard, the “Introspection Tower" serves as the minaret. It is two stories tall and has three layers of eaves and an octagonal roof. On the south side of the minaret is the Reception Hall, in which a hand-written copy of the Quran is kept. It was scribed during the Ming Dynasty and has been preserved ever since and regarded by the Chinese as a treasured work of art.
In the last courtyard before the Prayer Hall one finds the “One God Pavilion" that has a traditional Chinese archway and a pavilion shaped in a hexagon with upturned eaves. The overall look of the architecture is in the shape of a phoenix with open wings. The other buildings flanking the courtyard hold historical and cultural relics of the Miming and Qing dynasties, and large paintings, one with the Ka’ba.
After a short walk, we stood before a wide platform that leads to the Prayer Hall itself. Only worshippers are allowed to go beyond this point. The roof of the magnificent Prayer Hall is covered with the blue glazed tiles. Inside, the magnificence of the sight is a bit overwhelming. Your first impulse is to Pray. After that, your head is looking everywhere: toward the ceilings engraved with letters shaped in the patterns of grass and flowers or toward the walls featuring hundreds of wooden boards engraved with the entire Quran. Some boards are carved with Chinese translations of the Quran’s meanings. The mihrab is also surrounded by engravings. The names of Allah (God) are on plaques along the upper portions of the walls.
Final Verses of Quran in Arabic Final Verses of Quran in Chinese
The Xian Mosque receives tens of thousands of visitors each year. We saw them sitting and strolling in the courtyards, marveling at the beauty and serenity of the grounds, awed at the fact that this is a Mosque. The wordless messages are more powerful than a hundred booklets and speeches.
At one point, we had the privilege to meet with the mosque Imam, an elderly gentlemen who looked stronger than anyone of us. He had a wide face, large eyes, sturdy shoulders, and thick healthy hands that he happily used to feed us handfuls of peanuts that he says are very good for the heart. We sat and spoke through interpreters. He then broke into a true story. During the Cultural Revolution, when thousands of houses of worship were being leveled in an attempt to redefine the cultural edifice of the new China, military officers came to the Xi’an mosque to do their job, that is, knock it down. Before they had come, mosque goers caught wind that demolition was imminent and the crew was on the way. The Mosque men huddled around the Imam and begged him to allow them to fight, but he refused. Calm and sure, he told them that when the officers and soldiers came, he will greet them. And so he did. He told them that before they begin their labor that they may want to hear a story or two. And so the Imam sat them down and told them a narrative that riveted the demolition crew. When he finished, he told them, “Ok. You may begin your task,” or to that effect. They were so enthralled by the story, they begged him for more, to which he responded (again, to the effect): “Sure, but not today. Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you more stories.” The crew left, not a stone was turned nor a flower uprooted. They came back and felt a connection with the Imam that essentially saved the mosque not just from the demolition of a crew, but from a revolution that razed just about everything else. Listening to the Imam tell that story transported us out of time, sitting at the feet of a wise man imparting some ancient wisdom. I see how the crew was so enthralled. Had I not heard the Imam speak, I would have thought the whole event to have been incredulous or apocrypha at best."
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