Linxia Mosque Culture

Linxia is famous by the name of Chinese Mecca during the middle of Qing dynasty .From that time to 1980s, it had witnessed many events ,but these had not broken it's culture of Islam like in other north-western areas in China in which Islam culture had been broken after the human revolt. Linxia Islam culture always changed itself to fit the social development.This paper is written based on the social research.It describes Linxia's mosque culture from the mosque' religion,building,community,education and economic function. Religion culture is the base of the mosque, which includs pray and lecture.At mosque, the muslims have a sincere commitment to religion;many people pray,especially on Friday. The effect of lecture is important , and muslims have high desires towards the teachers ,the akhongs who must have profound knoedge about Islam, they must teach people about Islam and social question,which indicates the adaptation of the religion to the society.The change of buildings reflects the social development.Today in Linxia mosques show the various styles of buildings and decorations,which reflects the mutual influence of Islam'culture , traditional Chinese culture ,and modernization.Muslim community is important in Linxia' mosque culture ,because it is a part of city community ,but it is defferent from other communities,The belief of Islam is the core of the community, which plays a very important role on people when they are born , ,get marriage, and die, build true friendship and culture.It is beneficial to the society.Education of mosque develops well , religion education began in Ming dynasty , and lasted till now in every mosque. Amateur education provides many people with the chance of learning Islam culture.The economy of mosque dose not affect Linxia deeply.The mosque depends its own limited estate and donations of people to the mosque ,to pay the fee of akhong's salary ,water, electricity, energy ,and other expenditures such as attending to the other mosques' arrangement of akhong,celebration of building accomplishment,religion activitiesand social activities. The mosques' income comes from muslims,and it is also used on them.Mosque culture is a whole system,every part of which affects each other ,and in order to ensure the adaptation of the mosque to the society. As a part of the religion tree ,the mosque has double effects : on the one hand ,it benefits muslims and social stability;on the other hand, as a religion,it may have passive effects: the way of solving the social questions,and treating other sects of Islam in the lecture, may affecte the solidarity of the muslim community;The expense of building mosques exceeds the affordable ability of Linxia because of the expansion of its population. Other than that mosque building should take muslims'demand and affordability into consideration; the community still has many functions to play , which is closely related to governer's ability, and the study of the community.Education is the driving force of social development. Although Mosque can offer teachers, classrooms, and money. If it can be combined with modern education ,it will serve muslims much better ,so it is with the ecomoy.Based on the research of mosque culture in linxia, this thesis reveals that Linxia mosque is well adapted to the society ,and it conbines self-goverance with governmental management very well .If we study its function of serving muslims and society more deeply,we can find more active effects out of it.The paper use the method of The Science of Religion, The Sociologyof Religion and The Psychology of Religion.