Huaisheng Mosque
The Huaisheng Mosque is the main mosque of Guangzhou, located in the Yuexiu District, in the Guangdong Province of China. Rebuilt many times over its history, some historical texts claim that it was first built in the 7th century, but modern scholarship places its foundation at a later period during the Tang or Song dynasties.
The most unusual feature of the mosque is its pointed minaret, the Guangta or Kwangtah. Although this meant the "Plain Pagoda" in reference to its unadorned surface, it is also sometimes taken to mean "lighthouse" and gave the mosque its alternate name. Somewhat similar "minimalist" minarets can be seen outside China, e.g. at the Khan's Mosque in Kasimov, Russia.
The mosque was listed as a Chinese major cultural heritage site. This mosque and the Xianxian mosque are both attributed to the Muslim companion (Sahabi) Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas.
History
Old Chinese Muslim manuscripts say the mosque was built in 627 CE by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, a Companion of the Prophet who supposedly came on to China in the 620s. Although modern secular scholars do not find any historical evidence that Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas actually visited China, they agree that the first Muslims must have arrived to China within the 7th century, and that the major trade centers, such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Yangzhou, probably already had their first mosques built during the Tang dynasty, even though no reliable sources attesting to their actual existence has been found.The minaret measures in height and consists of two storeys. It was the tallest building in the city until the beginning of the 20th century. In the Middle Ages, it served various functions, functioning as a lighthouse, a wind vane, and a control tower.
It is very likely that the mosque existed during the early years of the Song dynasty. In 1349, Ramadan ibn Alauddin, the first named Korean Muslim, was buried in the mosque cemetery. The mosque was rebuilt in 1350 then again in 1695 after being destroyed in a fire. The Huaisheng Light Tower or minaret was built at an earlier period. As late as the 19th century, the minaret tower was one of the major landmarks of Guangzhou.
The Tatar traveler Abdurreshid Ibrahim who was an acquaintance of one of the Mosque's ahongs, Wang Kuan, was dismissive of the claim that this mosque was built by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. He called it a peculiar idea: