Aug 12, 2002: (Day 10)

We had a very early start today and OH YESSSS ... the day began beautifully ... with a long missed Continental Breakfast! Everyone treated themselves to the heart and some of us did not mind stuffing some croissants for a snack on our way to Baoji Mountains.

Baoji Mountains: This long visit was primarily to meet Muslims living in a very special setting, i.e. in the Mountains. Imam Abdullah accompanied us to the mountains as our guide for this tour. This is about 200 kms drive slightly past the city of Baoji inthe village of Wanjia. 

Imam Abdullah spoke for few minutes in the bus and welcomed us on behalf of Muslims of Xian with the message that Muslims must come together in the context of love and better understanding toward each other and must realize our collective responsibility. He also read Quran for us and reminded about our ultimate home, the Jannah and that the death is in fact the beginning of a better and eternal life.

Imam Abdullah accepted Islam 8 years ago. He shared the interesting experiences of his life. His father embraced Islam at the time of his marriage to Khadija and his mother embraced Islam when their first child was born. Imam Abdullah asked us to to pray for his brother who is the only non-Muslim left in his family. Imam Abdullah speaks excellent Arabic learnt in China.

With his wife Khadija he visits the mountains in Wanjia twice a week to teach Quran and Salat to the local Muslims. Their students Jameela and Fatima are now trained to assume partial responsibilities and they visit the village every day to teach the community.

Mountain Homes: We parked our bus to the last spot at the foot of the hills. Beyond this point one can go up only by foot. We probably had climbed up at least 2000 or so feet. People literally lives in the caves up here in the mountains. Total population may not be more than 100. These Muslims have NOT seen anyone other than their own kind. Hence they were amazed to see us. It was absolutely fascinating to see their life style and the fact that they were practicing Muslims. A family's entire belongings can easily be packed in the trunk of a mid size car.

Their homes are neatly carved in the mountains. Each home is about 100 or so feet away from the other. All of the people who lives up here in the mountains are farmers. Men and women go out for farming while children tend to sheep and other live stock. They cook using the wood from the forest & eat more organically grown food than the best organic food market can offer in USA.

Up in the hills tucked away is a small Masjid with room barely for about 50 people. We invited some community children and asked them to read Quran for us. It was beautiful to call for Adhan from up above the mountain. The homes are literally made of mud but the Masjid is well kept and constructed with bricks and cement. This shows the community's love for the house of Allah. The masjid inspite of much poverty in the village of Wanjia is very well kept & maintained.

We had climbed up approx 2000 feet or so to reach this mountain village. On our way back an old lady insisted to climb down the mountain with us as a matter of courtesy and her love for us, the guests. It is amazing to see this universal value of Islam practiced as much here in the remotest of the mountains as in any other major cosmopolitan and civilized city, for whatever these terms mean today.

Such destinations offer a unique experience as they are guaranteed to be not part of typical tour operators. IslamiCity is grateful to all the participants for ignoring and overlooking minor inconveniences caused during this part of the tour but each one of us thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a great deal from this experience.

Madrassa & Masjid Soabi: At the foothills there is a Madrassa and a Masjid for the local community. Total population may not be more than couple of hundred Muslims. We met Br. Saleh, a young man in his teens who is originally from Lanzhou and does volunteer teaching to the community. He is only 18 yrs old and speaks good Arabic. He has memorized 8 Juz in its entirety and volunteers 3 hrs every day in the school. Some of the students were Halima - 13 yrs., Ruqayyah - 9 yrs., Salima - 8 yrs., Ali - 7 yrsl., Safiyyah, Aisha, Aasiya, Hawwa and Khadija. This showed their relationship with Islam, MashaAllah.

Br. Saleh had organized a full 30 min program for us. He first gave a welcome speech to us "in Arabic" translated by one of our participants, Sr. Ghada followed later with a Quran recitation and reading program by the students. We were treated with fresh corn-on-the-cob grown in the backyards of some of the local villagers. 

Many Muslims from the local village gathered there to welcome and meet us. In most of these small villages the news of anyone visiting them travels rather fast.  The village of Wanjia is a rural suburb of the industrial city, Baoji with a population of 600,000.

Drive back to the city of Xian: It took us about 3 1/2 hours to reach back to Xian. We made a quick stop at our hotel, refreshed ourselves and hit straight for food that everyone was craving for. We treated ourselves grandly at a fine Muslim Halal restaurant in downtown Xian.

After dinner we visited a neighborhood Masjid known as Dapiyuan Mosque and met many Muslims there. In this particular Masjid, women were not allowed to pray but instead they pray in a separate structure that is a block away. It totally slipped our minds to ask whether the women pray by themselves in their exclusive prayer area or if they somehow follow the Imam of the main Masjid or if there's any other arrangement.

We walked the street that leads to the Mosque. Several men and women said Salams to us and were inviting us to their stores and cafes.

This was our longest day during our two weeks' stay in China. We had started from hotel around 7 am and it was around 11 pm when we reached back our hotel.