Id Kah Mosque

Meaning of Eid Kah in our Uyghur language is Place for festival. It is located in the center of Kashgar city. Id Kah Mosque is a great magnificent Islamic building. It has a history of more than five hundred years old.

Id Kah mosque was built for the first time in 1442 by Saksimirza, who was a ruler of Kashgar at that time, then the Id Kah mosque was extended and repaired last few centuries, and finally taken its present shape and size. The length of the mosque from south to east is 140meters, and the width of the mosque from east to west is120meters. The Id Kah mosque consists of Praying Hall, Doctrine Teaching Hall, Gate Tower, Islamic washing room, pond and some other accessory structures. The total covered an area of Id Kah mosque is 16,800 square meters. The Id Kah Mosque is considered the biggest mosque in China. The second biggest mosque in China is the mosque on Huimin Street in Xi’an.

The gate of the mosque is built of yellow bricks with the joints pointed with gypsum, it has distinct lines. On either side of the gate is an eighteen meters high round column with a half embedded in the wall behind it. In Kurban (sacrificing) Festival and Fastbreaking (Ramidan) Festival are the two most important Islamic festivals in the world. The Uyghur people gather in the square in front of the mosque to celebrate the festivals by dancing. In that occasion, Uyghur young men in their holiday celebrating suit, and dances “Sama” dance with great enthusiasm and cheerful drumbeats. The Sama dance usually maintains about seven days from the morning till late in the afternoon.

Nowadays in this mosque holds five times praying a day, Friday praying, and two big festival praying each one is once a year. None Muslim visitors not allowed to visit the mosque while the people attending service. Before you start your visit after you you bought the ticket, please read the notice board carefully then start you tour in the mosque.