In a special journey to one of the most historic and ancient civilizations in the world, a prominent American Muslim scholar visited the Great Masjid of Xi’an, known as the largest and oldest mosque in China.

In this YouTube video, he tours the active place of worship within Xi’an Muslim Quarter. The courtyard complex is also a popular tourist site. The majority of the mosque was built during the early Ming dynasty.

Constructed completely out of wood, one of the most amazing thing what makes this masjid unique in the entire world is that it has the entire holy Quran carved on its wooden walls along with Chinese translation.

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It has 30 panels and each panel has one ‘para’ or ‘juz’ inscribed on it. There is Chinese translation underneath each panel.

The 700-year-old mosque now houses more than twenty buildings in its five courtyards and covers 12,000 square meters (130,000 square feet).

Chinese Muslims have been in China for the last 1,400 years of continuous interaction with Chinese society.

Muslims are a minority group in China, representing between 0.45% to 2.8% of the total population, according to the latest estimates.

This article is from our archive, originally published on an earlier date, and highlighted now for its importance