Ramadan is one of the most significant times in a Muslim’s year. During this 30-day period, Muslims fast during daylight hours and feast at night, all the while praying for spiritual favor. This prayer guide was put together by believers who love and serve the Hui, DongXiang, Salar and Bonan – all of whom are Chinese Muslim people groups. Join us during these 30 days and pray that as Chinese Muslims set aside time to intentionally seek spiritual truths, they will come to know the saving power of Jesus Christ who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life!
Day Eleven: The Hui of Beijing and Tianjin
Most workers, when they think about moving overseas, envision living in a forest or jungle, hiking around looking for villages and people groups that no foreigner has ever seen. But those who come to Beijing and Tianjin find themselves instead in two cities whose populations dwarf those of most countries!
Day Ten: It is Difficult to Live in China
Sometimes living in China can be difficult – and there are several ways you can define ‘difficult.’
One of those is that your basic daily activities take a lot more time and energy than in the United States, which can easily be called the land of convenience. My kitchen here is narrow and small, and my refrigerator looks more like my college mini-fridge than the beautiful machine my mother used when I was growing up
Day Nine: Taste and See that the Lord is Good
There are lots of differences between China and America. (This may perhaps be the understatement of the century!) I remember learning during my first visit to China that many families live apart from one another; husbands and wives often work in different cities, and children often live with grandparents in laojia, or their hometowns.
Day Eight: A Trip to Western China
There are millions of Muslims in China, but I didn’t realize this until a trip to a city in Western China where half of the population is Hui. One of the first things I noticed in this city was the prayer caps on many of the men’s heads. In the city where I live, I rarely see anyone wearing those hats unless they’re working in an ethnic restaurant.
Day Seven: A Hui Brother
One day, I found myself eating breakfast at a local Muslim restaurant, and I prayed before my meal. Noticing this, the restaurant owner came to me and asked if I was a believer. I told him that I was and then asked him about his family, a natural conversation topic in most any culture. As we talked, we began discussing the fact that our two faiths share many of the same prophets, and we enjoyed discussing many of the Old Testament stories.
Day Six: How the Han See the Hui
“Unfriendly.” “Poor.” “Not Good.”
These are a few words my Han Chinese friend has used to describe the Hui people group as a whole, and unfortunately, this is a very common view; most Han share in her opinions of the Hui. My friend has also said things like, “If somebody stole something, it was probably a Hui person.”
Day Five: The Salar People
In the Eleventh Century, two brothers led a group of Salar people from the Oghuz Turks tribe, fleeing from persecution in their hometown in Samarkand, which is located in today’s Uzbekistan. As they searched the desert for a new place to settle, the group suffered great hardships, but they all believed Allah would guide them to their final destination; these people were all Muslims.
Day Four: Henna
Leslie, Erica, Emery and Jordan are a few friends who live in China, and they’ve noticed that young college ladies in China are usually very busy. When the weekend comes, however, these ladies don’t often feel like studying any more; they much prefer to get together and have fun, which is great for His workers, because they like to have fun, too.
Day Three: Foreign Workers
Here I am seven years later and that phrase still echoes in the dark recesses of my brain. Adventure? Is my life an adventure? I feel like I can say that there have been moments along this path that have definitely felt adventurous. Taking a train across the country to live in my friend’s hut and shoo the chickens out of her bathroom so I can use her squatty potty – That’s an adventure. Not a glamorous one, but it makes for a good story to tell in my newsletters back home.
Day Two: The Observance of Sawm
Maliki is a 45-year-old Imam that I met during a class in a mosque. Once, I shared with him that a righteous God must punish sins rather than just forgive without retribution. In response to this, he said Allah’s forgiveness is always granted if men repent, to which I said that justice and forgiveness must work together to address sin in order to reflect Allah as both a just and merciful God.