China is a friend of Muslims. China does not believe in interference in other countries' and nations' internal affairs. It believes in friendship, partnership, resource and talent sharing, and pursuing a win-win policy. There is a lot of negative and false propaganda against China by the Indian and Western media. This misinformation led to a lot of misunderstanding about Chinese Muslims and their relationship to the Chinese government and the mainstream Chinese. There is a need to remove this misinformation and false propaganda and to bridge between the Chinese Muslims and the Muslims of the rest of the world. A 12-member delegation of Pakistani Ulema (religious scholars) visited China in the month of July 2025. The most prominent among them was Dr. Mufti Zubair Usmani, son of Grand Mufti, Mufti e Azam Pakistan, Maulana Rafi Usmani (May Allah shower His countless blessings on his grave), Vice President of Darul Uloom Karachi, one of the greatest and most prominent Islamic universities of the world and Barrister Saif adviser to Chief Minister of KP and others
The religious leaders of Pakistan and China held talks in the headquarters of the Islamic Association of Xinjiang Autonomous Region in Urumqi, China, during their visit. The Association of Xinjiang Autonomous Region informed the Pakistani delegation that Muslims in Xinjiang Autonomous Region are freely practicing Islam. Ulemas were also informed that there are hundreds of Mosques and Seminaries in the region that are providing religious education of the Holy Quran and Sunnah to Muslims. They were further informed that there was no more terrorism in the region and no terrorist activities had been held for the last ten years in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif thanked the Chinese government for the hospitality and talked about the religious life of Pakistan and highlighted religious diversity and freedom for minorities in Pakistan. Prof. Mohammad Ziaul Haq briefed the participants about six thousand Pakistani Ulema who endorsed that proactive narrative. It is not only a narrative but a movement for peacebuilding and social reconstruction in Pakistan. Sahib Zada Adnan Qadri, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister for religious affairs, KP minister for social welfare, and Maulana Mufti Dr. Zubair Usmani, deputy president of Darul Uloom Karachi, briefed the Chinese Muslims about the religious life of Pakistan. Both Pakistanis and Chinese Muslims agreed to coordinate and to work together for closer collaboration between Pakistan and China for better religious understanding.
The Pakistani delegation also visited Urumqi Shaanxi Mosque, Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar, High Tech Plant Factory Technology Development, and Yuejin Street South Community, Heijishan Street. It also visited the Xinjiang International Convention and Exhibition Centre to inspect the exhibition on counter terrorism and anti-extremism in Xinjiang. The Pakistani delegation was informed about the efforts of the Chinese government to counter and prevent violent extremism.
According to Chinese officials, China is home to approximately 35,000 mosques, 55,000 imams, and more than a dozen operational Islamic centres. Beijing alone hosts 72 mosques, reflecting the diverse religious fabric of the capital. The Islamic Association of China also runs eight subdivisions across the nation and holds national-level religious competitions regularly.
The briefing further emphasized the availability of Qur’an and Hadith translations in the Chinese language. It was also shared that 10,000 Chinese Muslims performed Hajj this year, and many students are enrolled in religious studies at Al-Azhar University in Egypt.
The Pakistani delegates extended invitations to Chinese Islamic leaders to visit Pakistan, offering free religious education, accommodation, and necessary facilities for Chinese students in Pakistani seminaries. This gesture aimed to foster stronger bilateral religious and academic ties
In addition to formal meetings, the Chinese hosts arranged cultural visits for the delegation, including tours of the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and other iconic landmarks. The visit concluded with a ceremonial exchange of souvenirs, symbolizing the commitment of both nations to deepen religious, educational, and cultural cooperation.
Islam and Muslims are an integral part of China, and there are mainly ten Muslim ethnic groups in China. Besides the Hui, Uyghur minorities, they also include the Kazak, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek. Tatar and Tajik minorities in Xinjiang; the Salar minorities in Qinghai; the Dongxiang minority and the Bonan minority in Gansu.
At present, there are over 34,000 mosques (Masjids) in China. This indicates that in China, for every 600 Muslims of the 20 or 21 million Muslim community, there is a masjid. Many of these mosques were restored or newly built in the 1980s. The Islamic Association of China was founded in Beijing in 1953, serving as a nationwide organization of Islam in China; its association journal, Chinese Muslims, is published in both Chinese and Uyghur. Some provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities where Muslims live in compact communities all have their own Islamic associations as well as publications. China now publishes the Quran in ten languages to meet the needs of Muslim readers among various ethnic groups. China has eleven Islamic academies for mosque education. China Islamic Institute, founded in Beijing in 1955, is the highest institution of learning in Chinese Islam. China has more than 50,000 Akhunds, a Persian title for the leaders of Mosques who are called” Imams” in Arabic. Every year 10, 000 Muslims go to perform Hajj (Pilgrimage to Makkah). Over the past thirty years, about 12,000 Muslim students have completed their Islamic Studies abroad, and another 100,000 have studied Islam in the religious schools in China. All these facts and figures show that Islam is not a significant issue for contemporary China’s political and social landscape. Islam is one of the officially recognized religions in China others are with Buddhism, Taoism, Protestantism, and Catholicism. Whether wearing their long robes, turbans, or hijabs Muslims can be seen all over China; from the big Cities of Beijing and Shanghai to the Island of Hainan, from Inner Mongolia in the north to Yunnan in the south, from the western border of Tibet to the eastern coastal region. However, more than half of the Muslim population lives in Northwest China, particularly in the Uyghur autonomous region of Xinjiang, the vast region where 23,000 mosques serve ethnic communities, including Uyghur, Kazak, Kirghiz, Tajik, Uzbek, Salar, Hui, Dongxiang, and Baoan. Islam is also flourishing in the academic world. There are more than sixty Islamic periodicals, and Muslim professors and scholars teach and conduct research on Islam in various universities and research institutes.
Three Islamic institutions form the backbone of this network. Firstly, the mosque plays a central role in the Chinese Muslim Community. Besides its religious functions, such as administrative management, festival celebration, social mobilization, economic enterprises, cultural education, and even daily life affairs. Hence, the mosque is a stronghold that binds its local community, while stretching out its external relations with communities in other areas, to establish the Ummah (Muslim nation) in the context of an unreactive environment. Secondly, the maktab (primary level Islamic school) and madrassah (Islamic college or university) provide the Chinese Muslim community with education in Islamic knowledge, faith reinforcement, and pass on Islamic tradition to the next generation. Most Maktabs and Madrassahs in China are attached to the mosques; however, there are also quite a few madrasas set up independently and open to all Muslims in society. They are not only responsible for the maintenance of Islam and cultivating young Muslims, but also for strengthening and reviving the Islamic consciousness of Muslims of all ages. Maktabas and madrassas often regenerate the vitality of the community that is in perpetual competition with a non-Muslim Chinese community over the limited economic resources, and has to survive in a context of social and cultural tension. Islamic education is like the soul of the community, binding all Muslims into a strong organization, regardless of their social, economic, or political background. Thirdly, the Qubba (Tomb of a Muslim Scholar or elderly) forms the nexus of the Sufi Community of Islamic Mysticism. More than one-third of the Chinese Muslims are affiliated with one or another Sufi order. Many Qubbas do not merely function as the burial place for the Sufi saints or Sufi leaders, bare places of pilgrimage for Sufi followers, turning them into a religious complex that combines the functions of a mosque, maktab, madrassah, and tomb. The Qubba thus plays a comprehensive role in the Sufi societal network. Thus, Chinese Muslims have strategically formed a religious, social, and cultural network that has made Islam in China an institutionalized entity, binding the widely dispersed and ethnically diverse Muslim communities or enclaves into a considerably coherent, partly unified Muslim Ummah.
Government Designated Ethnic Groups that Traditionally Practice Islam (Adults only)
No of Muslim People
Adults % of all Muslim ethnic groups % of All Chinese Adults
Hui 8,291,749 66 0.75
Uyghur 7,717,361 43 0.69
Kazakh 1,094,518 6 0.10
Dongxiang 466,976 3 0.04
Kirgiz 140,601 1 0.01
Salar 101,781 1 0.1
Tajik 35,771 <0.5 <0.01
Baoan 14,703 <0.5 <0.01
Uzbek 8,766 <0.5 <0.01
Tatar 2,646 <0.5 <0.01
Total 17,874,872
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