- The Great Mosque of Guangzhou, known also as Huaisheng Mosque
(Memorial of the Holy Prophet) or the Guangta Mosque (Light Tower
Mosque) is thought to be the earliest surviving mosque in China,
and has the earliest freestanding minaret in China. Manuscripts
from 1206 claim that the mosque was originally built by an uncle
of the Prophet, Abu Waqqas, on the first Muslim mission to China
in the 630’s, during Muhammad’s lifetime.* The mosque
was then rebuilt in 1350 during the Yuan dynasty under the rule
of Zhizheng (1341-1368), and rebuilt again in 1695 under Emperor
Kangzi of the Qing dynasty after it was destroyed in a fire.
The Huaisheng Light Tower, the mosque’s unique namesake
minaret, was built at an earlier period. Like its contemporaries
at Quanzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou, the Great Mosque of Guangzhou
is notable for its integration of the local Han building tradition
with imported Arab styles. I examined this mosque and found it
very difficult to determine if the builders rebuilt on the original
foundations. This mosque
faces 12 degrees north of where the qibla should be, meaning
that it directly faces Petra. Because of its great distance from
Arabia, local Muslims feel that it is close enough to Mecca.
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