Vice President Ma'ruf Amin Admires Pudong Mosque Shanghai

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin delivered a joint statement with the Vice President's Special Staff for Communication and Information, Masduki Baidlowi, at the Shanghai Pudong Mosque, Shanghai, China on Monday (18/9/2023). (ANTARA/Desca Lidya Natalia)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin expressed his admiration when performing prayers at the Shanghai Pudong Mosque located on the side of a large road.

"I see this mosque is good, clean and on the side of a big road, not in the corner," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin at the Shanghai Pudong Mosque, China, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, September 18.

The vice president was at the Shanghai Pudong Mosque after attending the "Meeting of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia with representatives of the MUI LPPOM and Halal Sector Entrepreneurs in China".

The meeting took place at the LPPOM MUI China office which is also the office of Shanghai Al-Amin Consultant, a subsidiary of Shanghai Al-Amin Biotech Co. Ltd.

"We hope that in the future not only the halal certification of food, but their lives as Muslims, for example, carrying out their religion, can also have an open opportunity," said the Vice President.

The vice president assessed that the Chinese government maintains people's freedom to carry out their religion.

"I see that in China this has begun to be given the freedom to embrace religion. Even at the dinner venue there was a pagoda, there was a church, there was a mosque at a banquet with ASEAN country leaders. This means that they show here that religion and even Islam can develop, even inviting me to Xinjiang, to Uighur," he said.

According to the report he received, the Vice President said that during Friday prayers, the congregation was quite full.

Unfortunately, said the Vice President, at the Shanghai Pudong Mosque, there has been no recitation of children. Children recite at home and teach their respective parents.

"But I see that it is clean here, comfortable for prayers and the place is not in public places on the side of the road, strategically. The ablution place is also covered with wood on top. The atmosphere is very clean. Prayer is comfortable, delicious," said the vice president.

For information, the Shanghai Pudong Mosque was built in 1935 and expanded in 1984. The mosque, located near Dongshang Street, Pudong District, offers easy access for Muslims in Shanghai and its surroundings who want to perform congregational prayers.

This mosque has a prayer room, imam room, and a large khutbah hall, with a tower as high as 36 meters standing upright on the outside. The entire area of the mosque reaches 1,650 square meters.