Imrana?s image ? black burqa with folded hands ? seems a world apart from that of the Muslim women in China. In the South, you rarely see any who can be recognized as Muslim. So, to see a street full of Muslims in Xian, the ancient former capital of China, was an eye-opener. Xian?s Muslim food street, a tourist must-see, comes alive at night. It?s amazing how, all over the world, old Muslim quarters in historical cities have retained their original character.

In Xian too, the smells, the colours, the lights, the festive atmosphere...you could be in any Muslim city, except for the very visible presence of the Muslim women here. The white scarves tied slightly across their foreheads, covering their hair, and the long-sleeved tunics some wear, are the only signs of Islamic identity that these jeans-clad women of all ages display. Taking orders from tourists, turning the meat on the tawaas, serving their customers seated on pavement tables, sitting behind mountains of dates ? the women run the show equally with their men.

Chinese Muslim women are known to be imams and run their own mosques, but the only Muslim women to be seen inside Xian?s Great Mosque, were a cap-and-Quran seller at its entrance, a lone woman seated outside the prayer hall, and a young, jeans-clad tourist with a scarf. It was time for the Friday afternoon namaz, and one by one, men started trickling inside. A few wore elaborate turbans and brocade jackets, others simply slipped on a loose long kurta over their everyday clothes as they neared the prayer hall.

Rare sight

?Allah o Akbar? called out the muezzin, but there was no loudspeaker. Nor did there seem to be any sermon, but for a few lines of prayer. As the men did namaz inside the prayer hall, tourists stood outside the hall, taking pictures. To see the Chinese praying ritualistically is a rare sight. The normal mode of worship in Chinese temples, Buddhist or otherwise, is to light long incense sticks and kneel, eyes closed, in front of giant golden statues of Buddha and other Chinese deities, repeatedly bowing your head to meet the tips of your folded hands.

For Indians, it comes as a shock to see worshippers with shoes on inside these temples. In Xian?s Great Mosque, therefore, it was a relief to see the namazis leave their shoes outside the prayer hall. As if to complement the voyeurs, who had no qualms about invading a private moment of prayer, were a couple of rotund Muslim men who ambled into the mosque complex, and proceeded to get themselves photographed with every foreigner.

Freedom of religion

The Great Mosque in Xian is one of the country?s oldest, built originally in 742 AD, about 100 years after Arab, Persian and Afghan merchants travelling on the Silk Route settled down in North China. It underwent many reconstructions and its present form, rather like a Chinese temple, is said to date back to 1392. It exudes serenity, comprising a series of low, Chinese-looking structures sprawling across courtyards within a garden. Some Arabic inscriptions can be seen on the structures, but the entire Quran is said to be inscribed in Chinese and Arabic characters on the walls of the main prayer hall, which is closed to non-Muslims.

Interestingly, this mosque was declared a site of historical importance very early under Mao, in 1956. It is one of China?s largest (12,000-plus square metres) and best-preserved mosques, advertised as a tourist attraction, its brochure proclaiming the official policy of freedom of religion for the Chinese minorities. It caters to the 60,000-strong Hui minority in Xian. Interestingly, the mosque complex was the only place we saw anti-Bush graffiti ? in English.