Usually there are no women in that church. The main group in Foshan are Uguir Muslims who came from Xinjiang province for work purposes. Most of them make a living by running restaurants. They will happily welcome you to the restaurant with the greeting ‘Assalamu Alaikum’. The church in Lchong consists of one or two small rooms. You will see mimbar and cleanly spread musallas and Qurans. It is convenient to perform Juma prayer if there are more than 40 people. On Fridays, when Juma prayers are held, armed Chinese soldiers stand guard on the streets without interfering with anything. Duas and Khutba are in Chinese and Arabic. Difficult to understand as it is Mandarin with Mongolian slang. Most of the days except Friday, only the imam is seen for prayer. Women are not prohibited from entering the mosque. However, the church in Lchong does not have such facilities. As there are no madrasah facilities in Foshan, Imam’s wife Fatima used to read and teach the children inside the mosque. Chinese pronunciation of Arabic is very different from ours. Fast food from nearby restaurants run by Turks, Lebanese and Saudis may be laid out inside the mosque. Karaika, Watermelon, Samosa, Kebab and Juice. After the Maghrib prayer, Halim, Kabsa and Manti, which are served by these shopkeepers, are wrapped with a large piece of mutton and given to the people in the mosque. Those who are not satisfied with their hunger can also eat free food as per their requirement if they go to their restaurants. No one is perfect. After that rest for a while and prepare for Taraweeh Namaz. Unlike in our country, the imam recites very short surahs. Greetings very soon. There is no special rule to complete namaz in this time or to close the mosque here. On Friday nights we go to Gongzhou town for prayers. It is more than forty kilometers away from Foshan. It is home to the Huisheng Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in the world, dating back nearly fourteen centuries. Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas is believed to be the founder of this mosque. The church is in a very large compound with lots of trees. There is a vast graveyard amidst the greenery. Shabby Well (Shabby Well) is another wonder of this church. Legend has it that this well, dug in memory of Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas, is more than 1300 years old. There will be water throughout the year. The imam will be a person with knowledge of Arabic and all prayers will be in Arabic. How many night prayers, shoulder to shoulder with tall coffee women, Monchulla Yemenis and English women! Believers prostrate themselves on the soil of China with tears and extreme devotion! It is still pouring rain here as I write this. This time Eid will coincide with the rhythm of rain. Spend some time with the beautiful Kurun girls from Xinjiang with henna-studded fingers and baby muffs. Food should be shared with them. After all, the night of Eid along the Pearl River should be just one. (A short story writer and novelist based in Foshan, China) Read on deshabhimani.com