Mosque visit report

September 2025

1. Visit to the first mosque

   1.1 Context of the visit, the mosque and its activities

The author visited Kowloon Masjid, the largest mosque in Hong Kong, which primarily serves non-Chinese Muslims, on its annual open day, 30 August 2025. For this event, many Chinese Muslims, and Muslims that speak Chinese, including some from other mosques, were present to explain Islam to visitors. On the road outside, a Chinese Muslim held a large bilingual (Chinese and English) sign promoting this event. Inside, many things were arranged for hundreds of visitors, among whom most might have never been to a mosque, and took many photographs/videos besides talking to the Muslims there.

1.2 Displays, activities, and critiques

1.2.1 Written presentation of Islam on banners and boards

Many bilingual banners and boards were displayed showing Islam in the world, in China, and in Hong Kong – Muslims, Islamic organisations, mosques and schools, the five pillars of Islam, the six articles of faith, Islamic clothing and halal and haram food with relevant Quranic verses, explanations and pictures, Allah’s messengers, the last/final messenger – Muhammad, and 25 prophets mentioned in the Quraan, meanings of “Islam” and “Muslims”, differences between humans and other living things, Allah as Creator and His blessings and tests on humans, the three holy mosques – Masjid al-Haram, Masjid an-Nabawi, and Masjid al-Aqsa, the status of women in Islam, Qur’aan, Sunnah and Hadith, and a board on “Free Palestine”.

1.2.2 Several oral presentations of Islam with PowerPoint on screen

These covered the five pillars and six articles of faith, the meaning of Islam as peace, the Quran, the three major mosques in the world, Muslim clothing, halal and haram food, and description of all mosques in Hong Kong.

1.2.3 Many guided tours to the prayer halls

The leader of each tour leads a group of 10-20 visitors and explains the history, functions (e.g., signs showing qibla and Shahada, and minarets), architecture, prayers, and leaders of the mosque. Some tours coincided with prayer times when visitors saw how Muslims prostrated.

1.2.4 Islamic Books

Chinese and English books displayed (that anyone could take) include the Quran, booklets about Islam in Hong Kong, the Quran, Muhammad, and Islam, and dawah literatures (for both “proselytism” and “apologetics”), with some references to Christianity.[1]

There were references to “The 17^th course on Islam (2025)” to be held soon, inviting registration.

1.2.5 Arabic Calligraphy

Several Muslims offered to write in Arabic calligraphy the English names of visitors on paperboards to whoever that asked.

1.2.6 Hijab Try-out

Female visitors could wear the hijab for pictures.

1.2.7 Quran Audio Library

Earphones were provided for visitors to listen to the Quran, said to “heal your heart”[2], in a room.

1.2.8 A halal “Snacks Corner”, where visitors were served snacks

1.2.9 Critiques of the displays

Most displays presented a standard picture of Islam available from textbooks with positive depictions of Islam. Notwithstanding this, some questions could be raised:

(i) A board stated, “[Muhammad] was a descendant of the Prophet Ismaeel, the son of Prophet Ibraheem.” Even from Islamic sources, this is not well-substantiated.[3]

(ii) A board stated “Islam” meant (besides “submission”) “peace” in Arabic, which many Muslims also claimed. Linguistically, this is not quite accurate.[4] Besides, over 100 Quranic verses mentioned “Jihad” as war/fighting or similar,[5] cited by Muhammad, and Muslims throughout history in numerous military conquests. Moreover, the Islamic punishment for apostasy is death.[6]

(iii) The description about Muhammad showed his life up to and including his marriage to Khadijah (“an ideal marriage”) and their children, plus a description of the Quran. The omission of his many marriages (some hardly moral, plus many marriage troubles) after Khadijah[7] and the over 70 battles/fights that he started from Medina was obviously to present him as flawless.[8]

(iv) A board stated, “The Ka’bah was built by the first man on earth, the Prophet Adam, and rebuilt by Prophet Ibraheem with his son, Ismaeel.” The fact that Ismaeel never went to Mecca was inconsistent with this.[9]

(v) A board stated, “[Masjid al-Aqsa] is … built 40 years after the Holy Ka’bah in Makkah by the Prophet Adam. … The Qur’an speaks about the miraculous journey of the Prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Masjid al-Aqsa and his ascension through the heavens.” But the fact is that Masjid al-Aqsa was built in 715 AD, long after Muhammad and of course Adam.[10]

(vi) The descriptions under “Status of women in Islam” on “Islam gave women the right of inheritance” and “The right to obtain a divorce from her husband on bad grounds” were misleading. Based on the Quran, on inheritance, “The male receives the equivalent of the share of two females.”[11] There are many Quranic references to a husband divorcing his wife.[12] “Under the Hanafi law - … in the greater part of the Muslim world – a husband may divorce his wife for any reason or no reason at all. … a woman can never divorce her husband on any ground whatever, unless she has his permission to do so.”[13] The displays did not present the many Quranic and Hadith references on women having a lower status than men.[14]

(vii) On the Quran, it was claimed that “ the written portions were collected and compiled at the time of Abu Bakr Siddique, the first caliph, and … standardized during the time of Uthman ibn Affan, the third caliph”, and “Today one can find exact copies of the Qur’aan all over the world without any alteration to that of the earliest written version,[15] which can be found in the British Museum.” Actually, Uthman burnt all Quranic materials other than the standardised version. Besides, 26 different Arabic Qurans were found in the Arab world today.[16] The Ma’il manuscript, in the British Library (Ridblatt Gallery), includes only up to Sura 43 (53% of the Qur’an), and differs from the Quran used today. It is not the earliest written version, which is Sana’a Mushaf, dated 705 AD, with two layers of text, both different from each other and much different from the Quran used today.[17]

(viii) 「The board on “Free Palestine” mentioned “ethnic cleansing of Palestine” since 7 October 2023, but did not mention what happened then (Hamas massacred over 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251 hostages). It showed the increase of the area controlled by Israel since 1947, but did not mention the over-3,000-year history of the Jews in Israel, and Arab countries’ expulsion of a million Jews, rejection of the UN accord, and all-out attacks on Jews then.

1.3 Other comments, and mentions of Christianity

This seemed an elaborate, well-prepared publicity event to promote a positive image of Islam as a reasonable and simple religion, aimed at secular Chinese, without overt dawah (left for those who specifically asked, took literature, or registered for the course on Islam).

It was not primarily aimed at Christians, as the displays only showed minor references to Tawraat, Zabur and Injeel, the prophets and Jesus mentioned in the Quran; a few of the booklets on display mentioned Jesus and the Bible. The only time the author heard the Bible mentioned was when looking at a banner on halal and haram food with Quranic references; a Muslim said pork was also prohibited in the Old Testament books of Leviticus and Isaiah.

2. Visit to the second mosque

   2.1 Context of the visit, the mosque and its activities

The author visited the Jamia Mosque as normal visitors in September 2025. It is the oldest mosque in Hong Kong, declared by the government as a monument to be preserved as heritage, with Islamic architectural features (the minaret, pointed arches above coloured glazed windows, octagonal dome, mihrab, and Kufic calligraphic motifs), so some visitors come for a tour.

On both sides of the entrance to the prayer hall are two posters titled “One God, One Humanity, One Religion, Many Prophets) showing a “Family Tree” with Adam and Hawwa (Eve) at the top, and Muhammad, Yahya (John), Isa (Jesus) at the bottom, and lots of mostly Biblical prophets (in Arabic names) plus some Quranic prophets in between, stating that “ALL Prophets were MUSLIM; they taught and practiced ISLAM.”

The author’s critique is that the Quran’s depictions of all (Biblical) prophets differ much from the Bible’s.[18]

 “Guidelines for Da’wah workers” were posted on the wall, including, among others, “Please avoid speaking on any controversial issues.”

This might account for the absence of any mentions of political issues.

2.2 The representative’s presentation of Islam

As the author came near the mosque, a Chinese Muslim, A. (a “Da’wah worker”) came to meet the author and talked about various aspects of Islam almost non-stop until the author left, more than an hour later, except for a 15-minute period when he saw four foreigners (non-Muslims) and went to talk to them in English about Islam.

His incessant talk, mostly without the author’s prompting, covered Islam in the world and in China, the meaning of “Islam” as peace, the Quran, Muhammad, female Muslim clothing, details of various Islamic prayers (and the compensatory mechanism for missing prayer times) (and showed us the praying postures), fasting, giving (all the while explaining the reasonableness of the rules), and that Islam was peaceful and not extremist, and worshipped the same God as the Bible. He said the low percentage of Chinese Muslims was due to atheism, the Chinese love of food and alcohol (he explained Islam’s rules for halal and haram food were good for our health), and ancestor worship (he explained the superiority of Islam’s monotheism, even though ancestors can be honoured). He only talked about the mosque, its spectacular architecture, and activities, and surrounding buildings when asked by the author.

A. said he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to Islam 20 years ago after taking the Hajj, soon after his father, a Muslim leader, passed away. His dawah in the last three years led 78 people to Islam. He spent Saturdays and Sundays in this mosque, after previous Pakistani “missionaries” left, and weekdays in other mosques.

Several Muslims were in the mosque then. As the author heard A. talk, a few people came and left. Most were Muslims coming for prayer. Some non-Muslim visitors seemed put off by A.’s aggressive dawah.

Before the author left, he showed a message on “The 17^th course on Islam (2025)” on his phone, and gave the author many pamphlets. [19] Not once did he ask the author about the author’s religion/beliefs. He wanted to add the author as a WhatsApp contact, though the author declined. He gave the author his name card, which listed Islamic websites.

3. Examination and interpretation

3.1 Religious setting in Hong Kong

From a factsheet by the government of this Chinese city,[20] there are about 1 million Buddhists, over 1 million Taoists, about 1.4 million Christians (about 1.04 million Protestants and 392,000 Catholics), about 300,000 Muslims, and 100,000 Hindus, out of about 7.5 million people. Slightly less than half (3.5 million) do not claim any religion. Of the Muslims, most are Indonesians and South Asians; only about 50,000 are ethnic Chinese. (Christian leaders generally quoted much lower figures for the number of Christians; government figures for Christians likely refer to “nominal” Christians.)

Muslims here may assume most Chinese are non-religious with some understanding of traditional Chinese religions and Christianity.

3.2 Muslims’ promotion of Islam

There were differences and similarities in the promotion of Islam in Kowloon Masjid Open Day compared with A., the Muslim “missionary”, in the Jamia Mosque.

Kowloon Masjid Open Day provided an open environment whereby non-Muslims felt relaxed to learn about Islam and ask Muslims, whose ethnicity and/or clothing normally would discourage communication in other settings, questions about their beliefs and practices. In contrast, A.’s approach was direct and passionate; his main concern was dawah, not as a tour guide. Other than these, there were similarities.

To counter the impression of “foreignness” of Muslims, these Muslim “missionaries” were Chinese or could speak fluent Chinese. They mentioned the long history of Islam in China and in Hong Kong. The author considered this a “contextualised” approach.

Their messages addressed usual non-Muslims’ negative perceptions of Islam, e.g., low status of women, violence, too many rules etc. So, they stressed the women’s separation and head coverings were voluntary, for protection and respect, Islamic marriage and inheritance rules were just, “Islam” meant peace (avoiding mention of Muhammad’s battles and historical Islamic conquests), and Islamic rules were considerate and reasonable (e.g., they were keen to show how they prayed). Aiming at secular Chinese, they emphasised the importance of the afterlife in relation to submission to an Almighty God (compared with folk religions or ancestors), and Islam as a major world religion. Aware of Christian influences in society, they presented Islam as coming from the same God as – yet more reasonable than – Christianity, though this was not strongly stressed. They seemed convinced that the writing and chanting of the Quranic Arabic had powerful effects on humans.[21]

3.3 Personal reflection

Taking a cue from these visits, though non-Christians in Hong Kong have more contacts with Christianity than Islam, due to the prevalence of churches and Christian schools and institutions, Christians can hold special events occasionally, and/or open some places in churches during non-worship times, with the presence of Christians well versed in topics that non-Christians may want to know, to encourage interactions with interested outsiders.

Both Islam and Christianity claim absolute divine truth, in contrast with other religions and beliefs. Comparing both is common for anyone in a multi-cultural society with interest in knowing about either or both.

The author advocates equipping Christians with evidence for the positive and negative truths of Islam and Christianity. We should also beware what Muslims avoid in their discussion of Islam.[22] In Western societies, an appropriate understanding of Islam can inform public policies on education, immigration and assimilation, besides missions, which work both ways.