Convey The Message In Language They Understand

Millions Of Expats Don't Understand A Word Of Friday Sermon
by Mariam Nihal

JEDDAH: Muslim expatriates in the Kingdom say there are no mosques that deliver Friday sermons (khutbah) in their languages.

"The whole point of a sermon is to understand and spread the word of Allah, but it seems no one cares enough to delve into the matter. People repeat verses or utter 'Ameen' without understanding what is being said. It has become a formality that they just want to get over with. That is not the purpose or way of preaching Islam," Indian expatriate Hannah told Arab News.
The khutbah is used to preach about Islamic issues during Friday prayer. The expatriate population in Saudi Arabia was 8.4 million as of August 2010, compared to 18.7 million Saudis, according to General Statistics Department of the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
“Most expatriates do not understand or speak Arabic. No one thinks about these 8.4 million people who are hampered by language barriers. We all want to learn about Islam, the difference is no one wants to walk that extra mile and help us to connect with society,” Indian expatriate Hussein told Arab News.
“At the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), mosques used to be full of knowledgeable and meaningful debates about Islam. The purpose of the khutbah is defeated because most of us do not understand a word but we go (to the mosque) because we are obliged to.”
Other countries in the Middle East where Arabic is the first language have mosques that deliver Friday sermons in English. Shaista, a Pakistani national, said: "When I lived in Dubai, our whole family and children would make it a ritual duty to go to the mosque where the khutbah was delivered in English every Friday. It was enlightening and taught us so much more about Islam."
Middle Eastern society experienced profound changes in the 19th century due to the impact of European expansion. In time, ideas about politics changed as technology advanced and a diverse culture was introduced. Mixed marriages and foreign minds began to infiltrate Arab society.
Bangladeshis, Indians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and Africans started to make their presence felt in the labor force. However, Arabic is not the first language of any of these nationalities. English is a common second language spoken by nurses, assistants and salesmen in contrast to Arabic.
“Society should cater to others’ needs and instill a sense of unity at the mosque, as the purpose of religion is to come together to share the same beliefs and follow them. It is unfair to hear talk about equality and brotherhood at the khutbah when none of the brothers cares to ensure his expatriate brothers even understand what is being said. Islam is not limited to one language,” said Mohammed, a Filipino.
Lubna, a local Saudi said: “We all know the best way to preach Islam is through compassionate dialogue. If the Arabic khutbah has been going on for centuries, we must adapt it to our culture so our Muslim brothers and sisters in the country can also follow the message of Islam.”
Young male expatriates told Arab News most of them do not understand the khutbah but nevertheless attend the Friday prayer because it is an Islamic duty.
“Even though we don’t understand a word, I make sure I go to listen to the khutbah because it’s obligatory and I do not want to miss out on the rewards from Allah. There is no choice. If there was a choice of a few mosques where they deliver the khutbah in Urdu, then it would be up to us to go,” Indian expatriate Faisal said.
Saira, an Indian expatriate, said: “We have a lot of non-Muslim friends who would be interested in listening to the words of Islam. However, they are rather stumped by the fact that we do not have access to a sermon in our language and I wish we had a few mosques specifically for us so even if women hear the sermons at home through loudspeakers, they will gather so much more knowledge and wisdom about."

Source: Arab News - February 5, 2011

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SPEECH BY HJ MOHD ALAMI MUSA
PRESIDENT MUIS
AT THE MOSQUE COUNCIL MEETING
SAT, 16 MAY 2009
AT AL-MAWADDAH MOSQUE

The Singapore Muslim community is generally homogeneous.  Nearly all of them are from the “Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah” (Sunni) school of thought.  A majority of them embrace the Shafi’e School of Law. Therefore, they share many things in common from the theological and jurisprudential perspectives. This has in many ways contributed to the unity of our local Muslim community in leading their Islamic life.  This spirit of unity is further reinforced as the majority of Muslims share a common language and culture, as they are Malays.
2 Singapore has positioned itself to be a talent magnet in the world.  In other words, Singapore strives to make itself attractive to individuals with the knowledge, expertise and capital to come to our shores to work, operate businesses and eventually make Singapore their home.  Besides these new resident Singaporeans, there is a sizeable force of transient foreign workers who are now contributing to Singapore in several ways, namely, in the construction industry or the domestic work sectors.  There are now about one million of them in Singapore.
3 The local Muslim community is also seeing more foreign Muslims in their midst today.  They attend prayers in our mosques and they participate in our religious events.  We must make them feel welcomed.
4 I am pleased to say that our mosques have been very open to welcoming foreign Muslims who work and reside in Singapore.  In fact, a number of mosques are providing useful services or forging collaborations with them.  Mosques like Khadijah and Hj Mohd Salleh (Geylang) allow religious classes to be conducted in the Bangladeshi language for construction workers.  The Mujahidin and Sultan mosques conduct skills-based training programmes for Indonesian domestic workers.  These are some examples of how mosques in Singapore serve the needs of foreign Muslims in Singapore.
5 I am also glad that a few mosques are forging links with foreign Muslim communities in Singapore.  Assyakirin mosque is working together in cultural programmes with the Turkish community in Singapore (through the Turkish Cultural Centre) while Al-Falah mosque has links and will be working with the Pakistani community (through the Singapore Pakistani Association).  Other mosques will be linking up with other foreign Muslim communities in due course.
6 These are deliberate efforts by our mosques to reach out to foreign Muslim groups through serving them and networking with them.  In this way, we hope that the foreign Muslims will “feel at home” in our mosques and our local Muslims will be at ease with them and embrace the new “jemaah” (congregation).
7 Our mosques are for all Muslims to worship in, regardless of their race or country of origin.  Alhamdulillah, this has always been the mindset of the local Muslim community.  They are open to accept Muslims from other countries.  This is not the situation in many other countries.  That is why mosques in these countries are built and run according to nationalities. This has caused disunity within the larger Muslim community in these countries.  We must avoid this. We must preserve the unity of our local Muslim community, even as there are more non-Singaporean Muslims in our midst.
8 To achieve this, there is a need for our local Muslims to embrace diversity and make it work to our advantage.  This is part of the Islamic ethos.  Muslims see differences and diversity as “hikmah”.  We must therefore be prepared to gradually embrace this diversity and become stronger.
9 Our mosques have shown the way in this. I am glad that more mosques (which have many non-Malays as their jemaah) are now delivering the khutbah (sermon) in English, once a month.  The use of English makes us more inclusive as this is the language well understood by people from all races and nationalities.  Nevertheless, our mosques are mindful of the reality that there are still a large number of the local jemaah, especially the senior citizens, who may not understand English. Hence, Malay is still the main language used in our mosques. Even if English is used, the approach that we recommend to mosques is a balanced approach. This entails a translation of the khutbah in Malay to be flashed on the screen.  Alternatively, a summary of the khutbah in Malay can be delivered in the second part of the sermon.  Furthermore, if the khutbah is in Malay, a translation of it in English can be flashed on the screen or a summary of it in English can be delivered in the second part of the sermon.  Finally, I like to also encourage our mosques to start offering religious classes in English or even other languages if there is a demand for them.
10 In summary, while our mosques must continue to serve the needs of a predominantly Malay jemaah, they must start to find ways to accommodate the new foreign Muslims, whose number is growing steadily over time.  Our mosques must remain open and inclusive so that the unity of Muslims in Singapore, regardless of where they come from, can be preserved.
Thank you.

Source: Singapore Islamic Religious Council

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Some Mosques Using English More 
by Diana Othman

ALTHOUGH Malay is still the dominant language of instruction in Singapore's mosques, English is increasingly being used in Friday prayer sermons and religious classes at some mosques. According to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), about 30 per cent of the 69 mosques in Singapore are currently giving sermons in English.
Although the number of mosques using English dropped from 28 in 2007 to 22 last year, there has been a 10 per cent increase in the frequency of English sermons delivered at the 22 mosques.
A significant increase in the number of English-speaking Muslims is behind the change, said Muis.
When The Straits Times checked with four mosques, they said they had either increased the number of sermons, religious classes and programmes in English, or were planning to introduce them this year.
Al-Falah mosque in Orchard Road now holds sermons in English every other week compared to just once a month when it first started doing so in 2003.
Its head for Islamic learning and social development, Ustaz Mohd Yusri Yubhi Md Yusoff, said mosque-goers are the main reason behind this decision.
'First of all, we look at our congregation who are mainly office workers from town, Muslim expats, medical tourists and Muslim converts... They are more comfortable speaking in English, and so we have to tailor to their needs,' he explained.
Among those attending the Al-Falah mosque are those from Britain, the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Pakistan, as well as locals such as Indian Muslims and Chinese converts.
Ustaz Yusri added that 'spreading the word in English' meant that the mosque could reach out to both Muslims and non-Muslims alike to educate them about Islam. All of its religious classes, including Quran readings, are also conducted in English.
From next month, the An-Nahdhah mosque in Bishan will hold a number of religious classes on fiqh - Islamic jurisprudence - in English.
The mosque will also give seminars on Islam in conjunction with Muis' Harmony Centre in English. They will be open to visitors of all religions and ethnicity.
Conducted for the first time, the lessons will be delivered in Malay, as well as in English, in separate classes.
Ustaz Leyaket Ali, 32, imam executive of An-Nahdhah, said the mosque is introducing classes in English due to the growing significance of the language here.
'Looking at how it is in Singapore now, English has become an everyday language, for example, when we write documents at work or have telephone conversations and also in schools,' he said.
Ustaz Leyaket said that in this way, the mosque would be able to reach out to more people, especially young people who prefer communicating in English.
Last year, An-Nahdhah also began delivering sermons in English once a month, and there are plans to make this more frequent if the response is good.
The management of Al-Khair mosque in Choa Chu Kang is currently discussing plans to introduce Arabic language classes taught in English on top of its other weekly religious classes for children and adults, already delivered in English.
The chairman of Abdul Gafoor mosque, Mr Rabi Ahmad, said they hope to introduce classes in basic Islamic jurisprudence and theology for youth in English towards the end of the year.
Mr Jahongirbek Burhonov, 26, a customer support staff member at Bloomberg, has been taking classes in reading the Quran and Arabic at Al-Falah for over six months. Originally from Uzbekistan, Mr Burhonov said he can better understand the classes in English.
Madam Azizah Syed Sulaiman, 37, a sales manager, speaks English and Tamil, so she is glad there are religious classes in English.
'I am able to understand my lessons better this way as I don't speak Malay,' she said. 

Source: The Straits Times - January 29, 2009

The Haj - From Japan To Mecca

Road To Hajj - Islam In The Land Of The Rising Sun 

The road to Hajj in the Land of the Rising Sun begins with the little known fact that there are ethnic Japanese Muslims.

Everyday the call to prayer is made in different corners of the predominantly Buddhist country - unobtrusively within the confines of its 50 or so mosques and approximately 100 musollas or communal prayer rooms.

Twenty-six-year-old Kubo-san prays at a small musolla in the agricultural district of Saitama, about two hours outside the capital, Tokyo.

Built 15 years ago by Bangladeshi workers, Kubo is the only ethnic Japanese in the congregation.

"I was born into a very ordinary Japanese family," he says. "We did not have a strong sense of religion."
Kubo's upbringing mirrors that of many Japanese - their attitudes and philosophy towards life shaped by the ancient religion of Shinto.

An ancient polytheistic faith, Shinto involves the worship of nature and is unique to Japan.

While divination and shamanism is used to gain insights into the unknown, there are no formal scriptures or texts, nor a legacy of priesthood that structures the religion.

After the Second World War, Shinto suffered a huge setback when the emperor was forced to denounce his status as a 'living god'.

While many historians would claim that the Japanese people lost their faith after this, recent surveys suggest that at least 85 per cent still profess their belief in both Shintoism and Buddhism.

'Special meaning'

"The first I knew about Islam was in my school days," Kubo says.

"The schools in Japan usually teach history. I knew about Islam in such history classes. Although I knew only a little bit, it shook my soul strongly."

His interest in Islam developed as he read more about it, but it was only when he began to meet expatriate Muslims in Japan that he considered converting.

Now, he is preparing to go on Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, for the first time.

"We Muslims pray five times a day towards Mecca. And pray 'peace be upon Prophet Muhammad'. He was born in this town and started Islam in Mecca. So for Muslims, it has a special meaning to go to Mecca. I feel honoured that I have this opportunity to go there."

'First step'

But just five years ago, Kubo's pilgrimage would not have been possible.

Reda Kenawy is Egyptian but he moved to Japan when he was in his twenties. He worked for a travel agency and decided to branch out to form his own agency specialising in organising Hajj pilgrimages for Japanese Muslims.

Japan's small Muslim community is tightly-knit

"All my staff said I was crazy when I wanted to plan the Hajj trip," Kenawy says. "In terms of business aspects, there must be a demand in the market to cover the costs. It would not work if there are no Muslims going."

"So I told them someone has to start, someone has to take the first step, then others could take it from there."

But, it was an uphill task, particularly when dealing with the Saudi Arabian authorities.

Kenawy says they told him: "We've never heard of Japanese Muslims and we've never heard of Hajj trips organised from Japan."

"So I told them there were Muslims in Japan and I was there as a Japanese. I have the Japanese nationality and I was representing Japan and wanted to bring Japanese pilgrims for Hajj.

"They said I couldn't and that my passport was forged and I looked Egyptian."

'Honour and happiness'

Kenawy persisted in his quest to take Muslim pilgrims from Japan to Mecca and five years on, his travel agency is one of only two registered companies that have been sanctioned by the Saudi government to organise Hajj pilgrimages for Japanese Muslims.

The number of pilgrims using Kenawy's agency has grown year on year, but for him the most encouraging development is the increase in ethnic Japanese Muslims.

"Right now, we have 90 per cent foreigners and 10 per cent [ethnic Japanese]. My dream is to have the opposite - to have 90 per cent Japanese or maybe 99 per cent original Japanese and only one per cent foreigners."

Abdullah Taki is a 36-year-old former body-piercer who converted to Islam in 2006. He made his Hajj pilgrimage in 2007.

"For me, the meaning of visiting the Kaabah is not to see a building but to visit God's home, to meet God," he says.

"At first, when we reached the country by airplane, we entered Madina before entering the city of Mecca. Although I could not see the area because I was in the airplane, when I heard the announcement that we [were there], I shed tears unconsciously.

"I felt an indescribable sense of honour and happiness. I was very deeply touched."

Camaraderie

Like Kubo, Taki's contact with Muslims in Japan started mainly with the expatriate community.

Every Friday, Muslims from Turkey, the Middle East, Central Asia, China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Japan pray together in Tokyo's Cami Mosque, which is modeled on Turkey's beautiful Blue Mosque.

Kubo learnt about Islam from Muslim expatriates in Japan

There are no official records of the number of ethnic Japanese Muslims but some estimates put it at 10,000 - about a tenth of the country's total Muslim population.

The community of Japanese Muslims is so small that when they meet new faces for the first time, a sense of camaraderie is immediately established.

Higouch-san is 73 years old and has been a Muslim for more than 45 years. Mahmuda Saito is 63 and converted more than 30 years ago. Both know how difficult it can be to practice Islam in Japan.

When Higouch and Saito became Muslims there were only two mosques in the whole of Japan.

"It was very difficult. We Japanese have our own culture and traditions so it is quite difficult to carry out five prayers a day and fasting for a month," Higouch says.

'Planting seeds'
Saito is preparing to go on Hajj for the first time. As for many other Japanese Muslims, this involves a lot of self-study.

"It is not a normal holiday so I try to start from the preparation of my heart," she says.

"To learn how to prepare my mind to carry out the Hajj rituals, I read the books regarding the Hajj everyday at home. I would like to absorb the knowledge of the Hajj as much possible before the trip.

"It could be my last Hajj ... [so] I visit this holy city to try to feel the life of the Prophet and his companions of a long time ago."

Kenawy will be leaving Japan with 120 pilgrims - seven of whom are ethnic Japanese and going on Hajj for the first time and he is hopeful that this number will continue to grow.

"Like when you plant a seed and watch it grow, it can easily die or grow to be a big tree with many branches which cover everything. But it's not a tree yet. It's very easy to be broken now," he says.

"But with all the people's support, I think 10 or 20 years from now, maybe I'm not here, I can see there will be an organisation like a ministry for Hajis like in Singapore or Indonesia."

Source: AlJazeera

Is Faith Really Working?

Muslim School Helps Out Secular Neighbour
   On the face of it the two schools have nothing in common apart from the city they share.
Tauheedul Islam Girls' School in Blackburn was one of the country's first state-funded Muslim schools, set up by parents who wanted an alternative to the state sector. Ranked as outstanding by Ofsted, it has some of the best exam results in Britain.
Blakewater College has traditionally served a more white working-class Lancastrian community in another part of the city. It has a chequered past, having problems with behaviour and exam performance.
But now Tauheedul is helping Blakewater turn itself round. It is the first time that a Muslim school has been asked to perform a rescue act on a non-faith state school, but the experiment is already paying dividends.
After only eight months the percentage of pupils gaining five A* to C grade passes at Blakewater has risen from 11 per cent to 26 per cent.
Alan Chambers, head of Blakewater College for the past year, said the link with Tauheedul – led by its principal, Hamid Patel – had helped immeasurably. "Hamid is a Blackburn lad and there is no doubt that he wants to put something back into the wider community that both of us serve," Mr Chambers said.
The college now assesses the performance of pupils as soon as they arrive, giving them extra support if they fall short. It has also approached parents to get them more involved in the process – a tactic previously honed by their colleagues across the city.
"At Tauheedul, we get 90 to 95 per cent parental attendance," said Mr Patel. "If they don't come we ring them and say 'Come tomorrow'. We keep doing that until they come." Another of the key challenges, he said, was to raise pupils' aspirations.
Mr Patel has already written to Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, outlining plans for a countrywide network of schools like Tauheedul – using the "free schools" initiative to get them up and running. Tauheedul was run as an independent school for more than two decades in terraced houses, accepting financial contributions from parents.
It joined the state sector in 2006 and has since expanded, now having to turn away more than 200 applicants a year. Mr Patel said that within five years he would like to open the doors to non-Muslim pupils, as white families are already asking for its prospectus on the strength of its exam results.
"Come back in five years and I guarantee [we] will have white families. In some areas of the country there are Church of England schools that are 100 per cent Muslim because they like the ethos of the school," he said.

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An Example Of How Faith Can Work
   The stereotypical Muslim school is an institution that isolates itself from the wider community; an establishment that places more emphasis on religious observance than educational attainment. As we report today, the Tauheedul Islam Girls' School in Blackburn confounds that stereotype. Tauheedul began as an independent faith school and entered the state system in 2006. It has the second-best performance of any non-selective school in the country at GCSE level. And now the local council has asked Tauheedul's management to help turn around another struggling state school in the area – a task the school's head, Hamid Patel, is relishing.

And Mr Patel wants to go further than merely offering advice on engaging parents and monitoring performance. He envisages co-operation between the two schools in sport and other extra-curricular activities. Nor does Mr Patel want Tauheedul to be a school exclusively for Muslims. He has already received interest from non-Muslim parents and expects they will be a growing feature of the school's intake as Tauheedul expands. Mr Patel also points out that half of Tauheedul's teachers are non-Muslims. So much for the religious ghetto.
Critics of faith schools will argue that this is only a single school and that not all the managements of these institutions are as progressive as Mr Patel. True, but what Tauheedul shows is that Muslim faith schools do not necessarily have a separatist mentality. It is not a foregone conclusion that these schools will divide communities.
The Coalition's schools reforms – in many respects a continuation of the direction of the previous government – will mean an expansion in the number of faith schools in Britain. The shift needs to be accompanied by safeguards. If these institutions are to receive state funding, the state must require them to play an active part in their local community. Any covert selection needs to be eliminated.
Tauheedul is an encouraging example of how the new system can work. It should not be an excuse for ministers to neglect their responsibility to ensure schools serve communities. A freeing up of the education sector must not mean laissez-faire.

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But is faith really working?
Read here  if it works with science and sickness too.

The Haj - Chinese Pilgrims, Then And Now

"Chinese?"
Then He was shown the escalator to the second floor, I supposed, when He nodded.

I followed Him from behind, about to escalate, when the guard in Masjidil Haram stopped me.

"Malaysia," he said as he pointed to the straight path ahead on the ground floor.

At that moment, He realised He was mistaken again as a Chinese pilgrim from China.
That was in  2005, when we did our Haj.

 


Way back in 2005, I used to see Chinese pilgrims, after their 'Isyak prayer, on the way back, would carry fresh chickens, vegetables and groceries to cook.
They passed by the place we stay at Habibah, some 300 metres from The Grand Mosque. 
They walked further uphill, not sure their living place, though.

On our part, there were a lot of daily  food wastage  as each pilgrim's portion was the same - men and women. 
To top that, not all Malaysian pilgrims have Johor taste-bud, as the food was prepared by Johoreans.

I told the personnel in charge of food distributions about giving the extras to the Chinese, but complain of not getting food is the thing they did not want to hear.

Gladly, at least after that, dinner not taken at the cut-off time was finally brought down to be distributed to the Chinese pilgrims or any passers-by.

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In 2005, the China Islamic Association established the Haj Working Office.
Aside from the establishment of the provincial religious and ethnic administrations, it also organises and serves ethnic Muslim pilgrims in China.

The number of Chinese pilgrims increased significantly, thus their presence were felt and seen, projecting its economic stability, ethnic unity and the international image of China.
With the growing number of pilgrims, China Islamic Association began to study, thus gradually improving the management system of the Chinese Haj affairs and formed the regulated, institutionalised and regular mechanism of Haj work.

On the invitation of Saudi Arabia and working together with the Saudi Haj Ministry and other supervising and service agencies, the association, summarised the service of the previous Haj and makes plans for the coming year, to ensure that the Chinese can accomplish their pilgrimage.
The association set a target of the “safe, orderly and well-conducted Haj”.

It was in 2005 too, the Chinese government, to shorten the travel duration and reduce the cost of Haj, launched the pilgrimage direct flight from Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu Province, Yinchuan and Kunming, Beijing, and Urumqi too.
In the same year, it was said, about 2,000 Kyrgyzstan places were taken by the Chinese using Kyrgyz passports

Bodies removed in Mena January 12, 2006. Photo: Reuters

In 2005 too, pilgrims tripped over luggage in Mina that caused tramplings resulting in at least 345 death - four were confirmed to be Chinese nationals. Several Chinese pilgrims were injured in the tragedy.
All the four were from Qinghai Province in western China - 62-year old Ma Taishan, 61-year old Ma Delin, 58-year old Sha Tianlu and a 49-year old woman Ru Geya.

About 20,000 Muslims gathered in Xining, capital of Northwest China's Qinghai Province prayed for the four deceased after religious leaders informed the Friday crowd of their identities.

Families of the four Chinese pilgrims, regarded such deaths predestined, were handed 50,000 yuan (US$6,200) each, from the China Islamic Association.

About 7,000 Chinese performed their Haj in 2006, 10,700 in 2007, 11,000 in 2008 and 12,700 in 2009.

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The earliest Haj visit recorded in the historical literature of the Chinese ethnic Muslims was in the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) when the famous Chinese navigator Zhen He (Cheng Ho 1371–1435), led his fleet to Mecca to perform Haj during one of his seven marine adventures.

The Chinese used to follow two routes to Mecca: the sea and the land.

The land route passed through the Hexi Corridor in Gansu - the most important route from North China to Central Asia for traders - passed Xinjiang, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt before crossing the Red Sea and reaching the Jeddah port.

The marine route started from Hong Kong and passed Myanmar and India until arriving at Jeddah port.

These travellers encountered difficulties in their efforts to reach Makkah for Haj - financial constrain, long journey and backward transportation means: They had to walk, carriage or horse-ride, or take another ship before reaching home.

The trip often took months, or even years that led to sufferings and death for many Chinese pilgrims.

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After the People’s Republic of China was founded and with more liberal religious freedom policy, China Islamic Association, with its missions and duties of assisting the people's government in the implementation of the policy of freedom of religion, was formed in July 1952.

The national organisation represent Muslims of all ethnic groups, unifying them in participating in the socialist construction of the motherland and to cherish it.

Its establishment placed a bridge between China's Muslims of different ethnicities.

The association's main tasks, beside The Haj Office being responsible for bringing together people of different nationalities to perform Haj,

- its Academic Department involved in implementing Islamic regulations within the context of service activities, to hold training of teaching personnel to attend the masses religious issues.

- to meet the requirements and interpretation of social development and - The Offices Operational Agencies promote Islamic associations and mosques around the country and serve the community.

- The Research Department identifies and colllects Islamic historical data and the cultural heritage beside books compilation and publication, and

- The International Department is task with relationship promotion with Muslim countries.

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The Office of Haj's team of 16 pilgrims set off for Saudi Arabia in 1952.

For some reason, they returned home after reaching Pakistan.

In 1955, the late Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai (1898 -1976), after meeting with Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia (1904 - 1975) in Bali, a 20-member Chinese team were approved of their Haj visas, thus accomplished their Haj mission.

Between 1955 and 1964, China organised 10 Haj trips to Mecca attended by altogether 132 pilgrims.

However, the trips came to a stop after the Cultural Revolution in China but the pilgrimage resumed again, after a lapse of fourteen years.

The Chinese government used to allocate part of the foreign currency quota for Haj pilgrims, even when the country was faced with foreign currencies shortage.

It facilitated visits to their relatives in Saudi Arabia too.

Despite forbidden to perform pilgrimage during the Cultural Revolution, the persistent Chinese still attended to the callings through Pakistan, until the reverse in policy in 1979.

When the 80s came, Chinese pilgrims paid their own expenses. They were responsible for their own fare, no more allocations from the Chinese government.

Despite the self-funded Haj trips, the number of Chinese pilgrims grown considerably to 2,200 in 1985.

In 1986, the government gave its support for the organised Chinese Haj team - The organisation has been incorporated into the government management tasks. 

To help Muslims perform their pilgrimage and striving towards excellent management of the pilgrims, it provided all-round service for the Chinese.

China Islamic Association sent its first Haj Team on the field, in the same year.

It helped the pilgrims with Haj visa application, ticketing, traffic, accommodation and all formalities in Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan, and Jeddah, Mecca and Madinah in Saudi Arabia as diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia was not established, then.

In 1989, China and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement to set up business offices in each other’s capital city. To facilitate the Haj for its Muslims, the Chinese government once arranged six chartered flights directly to Jeddah and helped 900 Chinese pilgrims get visas on arrival.

In July 1990, the two countries established diplomatic relations, thus laying the foundation to cooperate in politics, economy and culture and making it easier for pilgrims to perform Haj and get consular protection.

April 2001, the government set up the China Islamic Association, described as aiming to "help the spread of the Qur'an in China and oppose religious extremism". It is run by 16 religious leaders, in charge of making "a correct and authoritative interpretation" of Islamic creed.

With the awareness, in 2003, more than 3,000 people in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region alone, performed their religious call - contrary to 1988 when only 15 pilgrims made their journey.

The mostly farmers pilgrims - along with imams from some mosques - paid more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,627) for the pilgrimage.

By then, more than 45,000 Chinese had done so. Beside direct flight, they were provided with Arabic interpreters and health workers too.

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In 2004, more than 4,000 Chinese performed their Haj. 

30 Chinese pilgrims from Gansu were pushed to the ground in a stampede that took away 244 lives - five were from China.

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In 2004, the government - working with China Islamic Association - to safeguard the interests and legitimate rights of the Haj pilgrims and facilitating the trips, issued the Regulations on Religious Affairs - the first comprehensive decree regulating the religious affairs.
In accordance with the Article XI in the Regulations, “The national Islamic organisation is responsible for organising the Chinese citizens holding Islam as their belief to go on Haj overseas.”
The article conveyed two messages: Clarifies and protects the basic rights of the Muslims going on Haj, which are not be infringed on by any organisation or individual, and designated the China Islamic Association as the main body of organising, managing and serving the teams and regulates that "no other organisation or individual" can organise the Haj teams as there were still illegal organisers that deceived pilgrims and some were forced out of their hotels to the streets - The legitimate rights and interests of the pilgrims, while abroad, are not guaranteed.

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China, with official statistics recorded of around 23 million Muslims in more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, is seeing a steep jump in the number of its Haj pilgrimage.

 The last 980 Chinese pilgrims for 2010, left Beijing on Wednesday evening aboard three chartered flights headed for Saudi Arabia.
 

Gathering in front of a mosque before leaving for Mecca in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

The first 2010 chartered flight from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to Mecca took off on October 18, marking the start of pilgrims' annual journey from China's largest Hui community.

2,250 people from Ningxia, had left by seven chartered planes from Yinchuan, Ningxia's capital 
- An official with the regional religious bureau of Ningxia, 71 personnel, including doctors and interpreters, accompanied the pilgrims, helping them in the foreign country. 
- Fourteen imams, or senior and revered Muslims, accompanied them too, to help solving religious and Haj issues. 

The pilgrims, mostly farmers, paid 30,000 yuan (US$4,412). 
Ningxia, known as China's "Muslim province" has more than one third of its population - 2.1 million - are from Hui ethnic minority.

The number of Chinese pilgrims coming for Haj is seeing the ever increasing number.
This year, around 13,500* pilgrims had their spiritual callings answered.

*** 13,500* - Many papers claim the figure of 24,000. One of them is  here.


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