Kashgar's Id Kah Mosque was basking in tranquility before dawn in the heart of Kashgar. Precisely at 6:20 a.m., a nimble man in a black short jacket scurried into the gate of the mosque and disappeared in front of us.
He is Mamat Juma, the mosque's imam (prayer leader). He comes to the mosque around this time every day to offer Fajr prayer, which takes place before dawn.
After a few minutes, Mamat showed up in his robe and started the prayer.
Kashgar's Id Kah Mosque is located in Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is the biggest mosque in China and one of the most influential mosques in Central Asia, which attracts many Muslims as well as tourists every day.
If you think religious life is slow and contemplative, you have pictured Mamat's life wrong. An imam's job is mainly leading the five prayers throughout the day. The Fajr prayer requires Mamat to get up early regardless of the weather.
After finishing the prayer, Mamat briefly introduced the mosque to us.
The Id Kah Mosque has a history of 550 years. In 2017, the sculpture on the left tower at the mosque entrance was destroyed after a night of strong wind. So Mamat applied for funding from the government of the autonomous region to repair the damage.
During the repairs, he also helped touch up a plaque hanging above the front gate with calligraphed Quranic verses.
"In order to keep it from erosion, from rain and sand, we now hang the plaque under the roof."
The calligraphed plaque used to hang above the front gate. It now hangs under the roof inside Kashgar's Id Kah Mosque to protect it from rain and sand. Wang Yucheng/CGTN
He finished his morning prayer and the city of Kashgar was still asleep. Mamat took his electric bicycle and rushed back to his home 15-minutes away from the mosque to prepare breakfast for his kids.
"My wife has gone to work at the moment. When I come back, she's not home. We have two kids at home," Mamat told CGTN. He needed to take care of them before heading to work.
Besides his role as the imam, Mamat owns a small sugar factory.
It is the only standard sugar factory in Kashgar and has seven employees. Mamat said it used to produce 1 to 1.5 tonnes of sugar on average per day. But his business took a toll due to the coronavirus pandemic this year.
"During the pandemic, we avoided gatherings, so I offered them several days off," Mamat told CGTN. "We have inventories left in the factory, but not many people are there."
As COVID-19 has largely been contained in China, part of the operation in his sugar factory has resumed.
Before working in Mamat's factory, most of the workers were engaged in sugar production at home.
Income was much lower and not stable. Now they can count on the salary of 4,000 yuan each month (about $571). Mamat even paid them during the pandemic when the business was put on hold.
Mamat has developed a close relationship with these workers, and he enjoys the sense of fulfillment by owning a business while helping out people in his community at the same time.