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 !
