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CAIRO \u2013 Charging their spiritual batteries, a record number of Chinese Muslim pilgrims are embarking on hajj this year, seeking forgiveness in the soul-searching journey. <\/p>\nCAIRO \u2013 Charging their spiritual batteries, a record number of Chinese Muslim pilgrims are embarking on hajj this year, seeking forgiveness in the soul-searching journey. <\/p>\n
“Going to Makkah is something every Muslim dreams to accomplish in their lifetime,” Zhao Wenqi, an imam from Xi’an, told The Global Times.<\/p>\n
Making his pilgrimage in 2010, he described the experience as “dreamlike” and “deeply spiritual.”
“We met Muslims from around the world and talked about what it’s like to be a Muslim in China,” Zhao said.<\/p>\n
Wenqi was among Muslims who gathered to bid farewell to thousands of Chinese pilgrims who were granted the chance to fulfill their life-time journey of hajj.<\/p>\n
The trip, including lodging and flight tickets, could cost 30,000 yuan ($4,786).<\/p>\n
“More people are now able to afford the trip,” Ma Zhongping, deputy director of the China Islamic Association, said.<\/p>\n
Muslims from around the world pour into Makkah every year to perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.<\/p>\n
Hajj consists of several rituals, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.<\/p>\n
Every able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.<\/p>\n
Hajj starts on the eighth day of the lunar month of Dhul Hijjah, which falls this year on October 24.<\/p>\n
Most pilgrims come earlier to visit the holy mosques in Makkah and nearby Madinah, where Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) was buried over 1,400 years ago.<\/p>\n
Record Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n Marking the largest convoy from China, the numbers of pilgrims this year show a gradual increase in hajj figures. The number of Chinese Muslims making the pilgrimage first exceeded 10,000 in 2007.<\/p>\n In 2010, it climbed to 13,300. This year 13,800 Muslims will make the pilgrimage.<\/p>\n “China currently forbids its citizens to travel to Makkah on their own, following the request by the Saudi Arabian government,” said Ma, adding that 3 million Muslims are expected to visit Makkah this year.<\/p>\n “We had around 1,000 people in Shaanxi Province applying for the trip, but only 279 people ended up going,” Wenqi, the imam from Xi’an, added.<\/p>\n According to official data, China has 20 million Muslims, most of them are concentrated in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai regions and provinces.<\/p>\n More than 2.25 million Hui live in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, accounting for more than one-third of the total population of the region.<\/p>\n Smaller Muslim communities can also be found throughout interior China.<\/p>\n Unofficially, Muslim groups say the number is even higher, stating that there are from 65-100 million Muslims in China \u2014 up to 7.5 percent of the population.<\/p>\n Source: OnIslam & Newspapers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CAIRO \u2013 Charging their spiritual batteries, a record number of Chinese Muslim pilgrims are embarking on hajj this year, seeking forgiveness in the soul-searching journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
“There has been a gradual increase in the number of Chinese pilgrims over the past years,” Ma, the deputy director of the China Islamic Association, said.<\/p>\n