Stele of Qingjing Mosque in Quanzhou “A study on the architectural history of the Mosque”

The Qingjing Mosque in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, is one of the mosques that no longer exists, and it is considered one of the historical mosques on the southern coast of China, as it dates back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 AD). The al-Ashab Mosque in Quanzhou preserves a stele of a Chinese inscription dated 1350 AD, which documents the reconstruction and renovation processes that occurred on the Qingjing Mosque during the Song and Yuan dynasties. This research paper aims to study the text on the architecture of the Qingjing Mosque within the texts of the stele in 1350 AD, and for that, the study is based on examining the historical text of the inscription on the one hand, and tracing the Chinese and Arab historical texts between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that dealt with the mosque, on the other hand, such as the records of Lin Zhiqi and Zhua Rugua, in addition to the records of Ibn Battuta and the records of the history of the city. In this approach, the study provides an analysis of these texts and comparing them with each other as an attempt to extrapolate and verify their authenticity on the other hand. The analytical approach is to achieve the architectural history of the mosque, as an attempt to extrapolate the inscription and analyze it archaeologically. In this regard, the study aims to trace the history of the Qingjing Mosque, as well as to explore the architectural stages of the mosque, and to identify the sponsors and financiers of its architectural works during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. According to the stele dated 1350 AD, the mosque was built during the Southern Song Dynasty in 1131 AD by Najeeb Muzharuddin, one of the wealthy Muslims in Quanzhou. As for the second architecture of the mosque, it was in the year 1350 AD during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, and Islamic figures in the Muslim community in the city participated in these works, for example, Sheikh Burhanuddin and the merchant Sharafuddin, the stele also recorded the contribution of some prominent Muslim leaders to the court of the Yuan Dynasty such as Jin Ali, as well as the Chinese historical texts introduced us to another leader who contributed to the architecture of the mosque, such as Pu Heri.