Minister invites China Muslims to study Islam in Turkey

By Fuat Kabakci

SHANGHAI, China (AA) - Turkey's culture and tourism minister on Friday suggested that China's Muslim can study Islam at universities in his country.

"We can send Chinese copies of Quran and books of hadith [record of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad]. Chinese Muslims who want to study Islam can enroll in graduate and postgraduate programs at faculties of theology in Turkey," Numan Kurtulmus said in Shanghai during a meeting with the city's mufti, Musa Cin.

Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism on Friday stressed the cooperation with Muslims in China, proposed education opportunity in Turkey.

"We are the members of a family of more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. We should speak to each other more, we should have more grasp of our respective cultures and heritage,” Kurtulmus told Cin at Xiaotaoyuan Mosque.

The Shanghai mufti, for his part, underlined close relations between the two countries.

There are eight mosques and around 200,000 Muslims in the city, he said.

Muslims comprise 10 of around 56 ethnic minorities in China. Hui (Chinese Muslims), Uyghurs, Kyrgyzs, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Tatars, Uzbeks, Salars, Bao’ans, and Dongshiangs mostly live in northern and northwestern China.