By Luqman for TwoCircles.net
We hastily walked across the street adjoining the sprawling Yuanshen Stadium.It was nearing dusk fall. Destiny had it that I should be back to this place where I had been exactly two years ago. It was on a day of Eid, that I first had been to the Pudong Masjid, and had left with no distant thought in mind of ever returning again. As the un-alterable fact is, we set out plans for ourselves, and Almighty God guides us through a firmly charted plan – at times strikingly in contrast with our own…
It was very close to Ifthar time when me and my Chinese companion made it into the neatly laid courtyard in front of this recently renovated mosque built to the Arabian style. The Shanghai Municipality looks after it well, and with the World Expo in full swing, it’s all the more important for them too. At the threshold of the spacious veranda stood an elderly dark man clad in a plain white Jubba. He was accompanied by a young man and both looked of Indian origin. I wished them, to which he returned, and confirmed if I were from India. When I asked back the same question, he paused for a while… His young friend smiled at my question – perhaps a regular affair for the duo – and whispered to me with a wink that he is a Singaporean. I could notice the wrinkles on his neck and forehead and a twinkle in his eyes as he broke the silence and replied: “Well, I don’t know… I was born in undivided India and so, if you ask me I should say that I am from British India. Anyway I have been living in this place for 20 years now” Saying so, he guided us to a neatly arranged hall in the ground floor, where I had a surprise in store.
People of all age, colour and kind sat around square tables with fruits and snacks spread out on them. Elderly Chinese women who appeared 70 or above were distributing dates and water around. Some kind of warmth was in the air, as if we had been admitted to that large family which seemingly transcended all manmade boundaries. No body looked at us as strangers, but just gestured if we needed anything more. The Imam stood up and said out the prayer in Arabic – “Oh Lord! For you we have fasted. And with the means that you have given, we have broken it” and everyone began to help themselves.
In a short time, people rose and washed in preparation for prayer. My friend was struck with awe as he had never really seen or known much of Islam or Muslims. I took him to the rest room and went up to the spacious prayer hall upstairs. We had planned to leave after prayer to go out for dinner.
After prayers, as we were preparing to leave, the Imam called from behind and gestured that we cannot go without having the main course! He led us back to the same hall where a new set of dishes were waiting for us. We had a nice Ifthar-cum-dinner before strolling back to our hotel room about a kilometre across.
The next evening, we had finished our work and ventured to the ‘People’s Square’ which is one of the busiest areas of downtown Shanghai. Tens of thousands of people commute through the subway station here, which has three or four different metro route interchanges running in tiers deep below ground level. Although as a traveller, I had the option of dropping the day’s fast, I had chosen otherwise. As we neared sunset, my friend asked if I had any new surprise for him, to which I suggested the ‘Fu-Yu-Lu Mosque’. ‘Lu’ is the Chinese for ‘Street’, so that will translate to ‘Fu-Yu-Road Mosque’. It was just a subway station away so we could hunt the place out in a short time. This mosque was totally different from the one in Pudong. It exhibited traditional Chinese architecture, with most of the structure built in rich wood and decorational woodwork to add to the grandeur. That was quite natural considering that it was originally built in 1870. They have taken pain to restore its traditional look after it was vandalized during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ of late 1970’s. The interiors reminded me of some of the age old Masjids back home. They shared striking similarities.
Here too, an elderly woman greeted us at the entrance and guided us to a hall with a similar gathering as the one at Pudong on the previous day, Only difference was that I was the only foreigner here. We were led to the table around which the Imam and some others were sitting.
They were very courteous and we could share some direct talk in Arabic and the rest in Chinese with my friend serving as translator. I conveyed my thanks and indebtedness to them to which he replied with a smile: “Waajibun ‘Alaina” (It is our compulsory duty). Again prayer followed with a nice meal which we managed to skip with permission as we had a long way to go. By now my friend who was incidentally a Communist Party (CPC) member had learned to return the Salam: ‘Alaikum Salaam’ he demonstrated with a light Chinese accent and the characteristic smile you can find on most of the people here..
Thus ended a forever unforgettable stint in this mighty city, as we prepared to travel farther into Jiangsu province for the next day’s work.