Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide opens the 2024 must-eat list with Niububi Sichuan hot pot, old Beijing halal snacks, Xinjiang cuisine, Tatar food, Chongqing hot pot, suancai fish, roast duck, and Azerbaijani dumplings, all from places the author personally visited.

Friends familiar with my style know that I write about every place I eat. I do not write about shops I have not visited, and I have definitely eaten at every shop I write about. Regardless of whether a restaurant suits my personal taste, I still write about it. My goal is to include as many halal restaurants with different flavors as possible. I generally do not give bad reviews to halal restaurants because I want their businesses to thrive and spread everywhere, making travel easier for us. People often ask me which restaurants in Beijing are worth recommending. As a Beijinger whose family roots in the city go back at least to the Ming Dynasty, I do have a list of high-quality restaurants in my mind. My taste is very down-to-earth, so as long as you are not an extremely picky eater, you will likely find the places I enjoy delicious too.

The variety of halal dining in Beijing is arguably the richest in the world. It brings together halal versions of Chinese regional cuisines as well as halal restaurants from many other countries. I wrote a list of must-eat Beijing-style halal restaurants in 2020 and again in 2022. A few years have passed, and some restaurants on those lists have changed. Below, I present my latest must-eat list of Beijing-style halal restaurants.

The list is in no particular order. I will specifically note if a restaurant does not serve alcohol; otherwise, assume it does.

1. Niububi Hot Pot



Niububi is a halal chain brand from Sichuan. I first ate at Niububi in Chengdu in 2016. That was my first time having authentic halal Chengdu-style hot pot. I waited in line for over two hours, but it was worth it. Later, I ate at their Xining branch (which has since closed) and kept thinking about it after returning to Beijing. Now I can eat those Chengdu flavors right at my doorstep. Since the opening of Subway Line 19, I can go directly from Niujie to Niububi, giving me one less reason to travel to Chengdu.

Today, there is more than one Sichuan-style hot pot place in Beijing. Junbang Hot Pot in the Xinjiang Building is also Sichuan-style. Junbang and Xihan Meatball Soup share the same owner, and the environment and service are excellent, but Niububi remains my number one choice for Sichuan-style halal hot pot.



The restaurant is located on the second floor of Quanpin Jinsha in Mudanyuan. The space is roomy, and the interior design was reportedly created by Hui Muslim designers.



The owner of Niububi is a local Hui Muslim from Sichuan, and the head chef is also a Sichuan Hui Muslim who is skilled at making Sichuan cuisine.



Iced jelly (bingfen)

Iced jelly (bingfen) is a must-have dessert for Sichuan hot pot. It is mainly used to relieve the spiciness and is cold, sour, and sweet.



Duck intestines

Duck intestine and beef tripe are must-order dishes for Chengdu hot pot, and the duck intestine cooks as soon as it hits the water.



Beef tripe

Shabu-shabu beef tripe is a signature dish. Fresh beef tripe only needs a few seconds in the pot, a technique locals call 'seven up, eight down,' or it will get tough.



Crispy fried meat (xiaosurou)

Freshly fried crispy meat is a standard snack for Sichuan hot pot, and the beef is tender and crunchy.



Brown sugar sticky rice cake (hongtang ciba)

Unlike some shops that just heat up pre-made cakes, Niububi makes their brown sugar sticky rice cakes on the spot to ensure the best texture.



The shop is named 'Niububi' because they believe their beef doesn't need to be compared to others. It also sounds like the slang 'niubi' (awesome), and among our friends, the shop really is awesome.



2. Xinjiang Hotan Rose Pilaf (zhuafan)



Hotan Rose is a halal Xinjiang restaurant that only serves pilaf. They have chain stores in Urumqi, and this location just opened recently.



Their signature pilaf is a hit with everyone I know. Besides pilaf, the shop also serves baked buns (kaobaozi), thin-skinned buns (baopibaozi), and three types of free side dishes.





Their free side dishes are especially delicious.



The lamb and oil are both shipped from Xinjiang.



Uyghur staff run the kitchen, and the lamb leg pilaf (zhua fan) at this shop is excellent. I arrived late, so only one lamb leg was left. The meat was very tender and flavorful, and the pilaf was fragrant. It is arguably the best pilaf you can find at a Xinjiang restaurant in Beijing.



3. China-Pakistan Friendship Restaurant



There are at least 10 Indian and Pakistani halal restaurants in Beijing. Samosa is a popular, alcohol-free spot that consistently serves good food. A samosa is a fried triangular snack in Indian and Pakistani cuisine. The owner used to run another Indian and Pakistani buffet called ZamZam, and this Samosa is located in Xibahe.



You can eat various Pakistani snacks here. Besides the buffet, you can order a la carte, and they offer halal Western fast food like pizza and pasta.





This is freshly baked butter naan, one of my favorite Indian and Pakistani treats. I can eat a whole basket of bread with curry.





The buffet includes two desserts and three drinks. I like the green mint drink. They use high-quality ingredients, serve generous portions of meat, and the place is clean and hygienic.



The China-Pakistan Friendship Restaurant opened a new branch in Sanlitun this year, and both locations are currently open.

4. Wanfu Halal Iron Pot Stew



This Harbin-style halal iron pot stew in Daxing tastes very good. I think it is better than Uncle Oyster's. Beijing has another halal iron pot stew place worth recommending called Dunyishou, but it falls a bit short compared to Wanfu because it lacks the Northeast-style stir-fried dishes.



Besides the iron pot stew, the biggest surprise is their sweet and sour pork (guobaorou). They offer it in several styles, using either chicken or beef, and you can choose between a sweet or savory flavor.







This is called sticky roll (nianjuanzi). It is made with unleavened dough and dropped into the pot. After steaming with the stew for 15 minutes, it is ready to eat and tastes delicious.



The owner gave us some stone-ground tofu on the house. They make the tofu themselves, and with the savory sauce and toppings, it feels just like eating tofu pudding (doufunao), which is also very tasty.



We added dried green beans and dried potatoes to the iron pot. These two ingredients taste even better stewed than when they are fresh.



The sweet and sour pork (guobaorou) made by Hui Muslims in Harbin is savory. Their version is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. We finished the whole plate in no time. It is great to finally have authentic savory sweet and sour pork in Beijing again.

5. La Medina Tunisian Restaurant



Beijing once had a Moroccan-style restaurant called Camel Team that was open for many years before closing due to the pandemic. However, a Tunisian-style restaurant opened during the pandemic. Since Tunisia and Morocco are both in the North African Maghreb region and have similar eating habits, this place helps fill the gap left by the Moroccan restaurant.



This shop has moved to a new location in the last two years, growing from a small space to a larger one. The chef is an Arab from Tunisia. We talked and he confirmed it is a halal restaurant, even though they do not display the sign. In China, you must get approval from the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau to apply for halal certification, otherwise, individuals cannot put up the halal sign on their own.





Classic Moroccan bean soup



Couscous (Tunisian millet rice)

The most unique dish in Tunisia is this couscous. It is called millet rice and has the texture of millet, but it is actually made from ground hard wheat grains.



Tunisian pastry (brik)



shakshuka eggs (shasuka) served on a hot iron plate



beef and wheat bun



The spray nozzle in the bathroom; those who know, know what it is for.

6. Niushi Japanese BBQ



Niushi Japanese BBQ has been open in Beijing for about five years. They used to have three locations, but now only the main CBD branch remains.



The owner of Niushi is named Hei and is a Hui Muslim from Beijing. His family has been in the beef business for generations and they have their own cattle farm in Gansu. The owner knows a lot about beef and is even a consultant for the Ministry of Agriculture on beef, so the quality of the beef at Niushi is guaranteed.



The restaurant is on the high-end side. The bottle of non-alcoholic grapefruit juice I drank cost 330 yuan. The average cost per person here is over 200 yuan, and if you order some good beef, the bill can easily go over a thousand.



This 200g piece of marbled Wagyu beef costs 380 yuan. It is not cheap, but it is tender and juicy. Paired with the fruit sauce developed by the restaurant, it is truly a top-tier dish.



Besides expensive beef, the shop also has some affordable snacks. If you only eat meat to get full, your wallet will be empty. I suggest pairing it with staples like udon noodles, grilled meat rice, or ramen. They are not only affordable but also delicious. These portions are small, so they are perfect for one person.



Udon noodles



Grilled meat rice

Niushi does not serve raw food like sashimi. Food safety rules require strict separation between raw and cooked food preparation, which needs a lot of kitchen space, so they cannot make sashimi right now.



The private rooms have a Japanese style where you need to take off your shoes, so remember to make sure your feet are clean before you come. The restaurant moved to a new location this year not far from the old one, so regular customers should take note.

7. Tomato Pizza and Pasta



Tomato is a new fast-food chain created by the owner of the original Xihongmen Speed Pizza. They focus on made-to-order food at affordable prices. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Xueying in Daxing.



The shop became popular as soon as it opened, and you have to wait in line during peak dining hours.



Their specialties are pizza and pasta, which are both made on the spot and served quickly.



They have soda for 3.9 yuan with free refills that kids can enjoy, and Fahim especially loves their tomato pasta.



A pizza there costs just over 20 yuan and pasta is around a dozen yuan, but the quality of the ingredients is guaranteed.



We have been to the Xindongan and Changping Super Hopson One locations, and the taste was great at both. Now they have added locations at the Communication University of China and Raffles City.

8. Sultan Turkish Restaurant



Formerly Kubei Turkish Restaurant, the original team changed the place into Sultan Turkish Restaurant. Sultan is a chain brand. I ate at one in Yiwu once and the taste was excellent. You could say it is the gold standard for Turkish restaurants in China, perhaps even better than what you might eat in Turkey. It was not very crowded when it first opened, but I hear it has become a viral hit recently and you have to wait in line for a long time.



Sultan serves the famous Turkish ice cream brand MADO. It is made from goat milk without adding water, giving it a rich and creamy flavor.



Beijing also has Dardanelles Turkish Restaurant, Desert Rose Turkish Restaurant, and West Court Show Turkish Restaurant, which are all quite good. Desert Rose and Dardanelles do not sell alcohol, but personally, I think Sultan offers the best dining experience.



Sultan offers many types of Turkish-style breakfasts. You can choose a single or double set meal, and you can even order breakfast during regular meal times. Turkish people are used to eating two meals a day—one in the morning and one in the evening—with each meal lasting a long time.







Balloon flatbread (pide)







MADO layered ice cream, with a choice of four flavors.



Just for this MADO ice cream, it is worth a visit. The quality is higher than Haagen-Dazs.



The open kitchen lets you see the chef baking naan bread by the oven.



Various Turkish desserts served with tea.

9. BRBR Syrian Restaurant



This is the only Syrian restaurant in Beijing. It has been open for many years, and I have watched it grow from a small storefront into a larger space by taking over neighboring shops. At lunchtime, people line up to eat here. This year, BRBR opened a new branch in SOLANA, and business continues to boom.



Syrian food is essentially Arabic food. There are quite a few Arabic restaurants in Beijing, such as One Thousand and One Nights and Al Safir, which are both excellent. The staff there are mostly Arabs from Syria and Palestine.



Honey and nut layered pastry (baklava)



Hummus dip with flatbread.





BRBR mixed grill.



Shawarma rice.



SOLANA branch.

Ever since the Syrian restaurant in Wudaokou, Haidian became popular, the owner wanted to open a branch in Chaoyang District. He finally got his wish, choosing a spot on the second floor of the SOLANA mall near McDonald's.



The SOLANA branch is much larger, the decor is very refined, and the private rooms have a wider view than the previous ones.



The menu is exactly the same as the Wudaokou shop, and the flavors are basically the same.





I suddenly realized that Syrian barbecue and Zibo barbecue are the same thing. Syrian barbecue is also eaten by wrapping meat in thin flatbread. The difference is that Zibo barbecue uses green onions inside, while Syrian barbecue uses onions.



Kunafa.



Syria has a deep connection with coffee. The world's first coffee house was opened in Istanbul in 1554 by two Syrians, one from Aleppo and one from Damascus. It wasn't until a hundred years later that France had its first coffee house in Europe.



So, the sand-brewed coffee at BRBR is also worth trying. Next to the Wudaokou shop is a coffee house run by BRBR.





The shop sells beautiful coffee cups. We happened to be there for the opening day celebration, and the owner gave every guest who came to check in a beautiful coffee cup.



10. Yuelangzhai



In Xiguanshi Village, Changping, there is a halal restaurant with a very impressive history. Before I arrived, I learned that the restaurant was once the Imperial Escort Agency (Yuqian Biaoju), named for its role in protecting Empress Dowager Cixi during her escape to Xi'an.

Yuelangzhai Restaurant started in 2014. The Li family ancestors worked as professional escorts (biaoshi). Although that profession no longer exists, the descendants of the Li family have good cooking skills. They decided to open a restaurant, taking advantage of the prime location of their ancestral property.



A screen wall at the entrance is carved with the four characters for Imperial Escort Agency, which research confirms was a gift from the emperor. The Imperial Escort Agency was originally called Xiguangyu Escort Agency. To safely escort Empress Dowager Cixi out of Beijing, the owner, Li Entao, recommended Yang Juchuan to accompany her all the way to Xi'an, and later, they escorted her back to Beijing.



A set of dragon chairs is displayed in the front courtyard with a yellow imperial robe hanging nearby. A plaque reading Yuelangzhai hangs in the center, signifying that this shop once served the royal family.



Walking through the porch into the main hall, the space is wide and open. The interior uses a traditional Chinese style that is simple and elegant. The restaurant has two floors: the first floor is for general seating, and the second floor has private rooms.



Inside a private room, the decor remains traditional Chinese with square tables and wooden stools. Calligraphy and ink paintings hang on the walls, creating an atmosphere that feels like a trip back to the late Qing Dynasty.



Vinegar-stir-fried egg and beef (culiu muxu) is a common Beijing home-style dish found in many restaurants. It should actually be called culiu muxi because the scrambled eggs look like osmanthus flowers. It requires high culinary skill; while it looks simple, it is not easy to make well and the method is very particular.



Manager Li specifically recommended the beef meatballs. He said he is usually cautious about ordering this dish at other restaurants because he often feels they contain too many fillers and not enough beef. At Yuelangzhai, the beef meatballs are made with real, quality ingredients. I picked one up and took a bite. It was just as Manager Li said: full of beef flavor with no taste of starch or other fillers. The beef meatballs were soft, delicious, and melted in my mouth.



Pan-fried tofu (guota doufu) is a classic Beijing-Shandong dish. The tofu is cut into 5-centimeter squares, and shrimp are minced into a paste. The shrimp paste is mixed with egg liquid, and the tofu is dipped in the egg mixture and pan-fried. It is cooked over low heat, and when the oil is about 60 percent hot, the tofu is carefully slid into the pan, fried until golden brown on both sides, and then covered to simmer until the sauce is absorbed.



The main dish is grilled noodles (zhizi kaomian). I had never heard of this before. I only knew about grilled meat (zhizi kaorou), but I had never eaten noodles cooked this way. Manager Li said he invented this dish. He seasons hand-rolled noodles and stir-fries them on a hot iron grill, similar to how you make stir-fried noodles. The high heat of the grill adds a lot of aroma and texture, and it is very popular with diners.

11. Bai Xiaobei Northeast Barbecue



This is the only halal Qiqihar-style barbecue restaurant in Beijing. It has been open for over three years and just opened a second branch in Wangjing. I brought friends here to try it during the soft opening. Northeast-style barbecue is known for small skewers, which is different from Northeast-style stir-fry dishes that come in large portions.



Hot pot beef tripe (shuan niudu)

I actually do not mind small portions because it lets me try more flavors and helps avoid waste.



Stir-fried screw snails (baochao dingluo)

After the tips of the screw snails are knocked off, you just take a quick suck to pull the meat out. The texture is crunchy, tender, and chewy.



Fruit cold noodles (shuiguo lengmian). I have to say, the cold noodles here are quite authentic and taste much better than the halal Yanji cold noodles I mentioned earlier.



The skewers are called 'Five Elements Lack Skewers' (wuxing que chuan). I do not know what that means, but I can tell it is beef, and the yellow part is cheese.



This dish is called 'Wocao Super Big Salad' because it is named after the huge plate it is served on. People from the Northeast love eating raw vegetables, and the owner gave us this cold salad for free.



Grilled oysters and scallops are also a must. The ingredients are very fresh, but the price is not cheap.



Deep-sea flathead fish head (shenhai dieyutou). This fish has sharp teeth and a fierce nature. The more aggressive the fish, the firmer and tastier the meat.



The cold-tossed fish skin has no fishy smell, which shows it is very fresh, and it is crunchy when you eat it. Cold-tossed fish skin is a typical home-style dish in Northeast China. I wanted to try roasted silkworm pupae, but my friend talked me out of it because they were scared.



Shenyang chicken rack is a very famous local specialty in the Northeast. The chicken rack is fried until it is golden and crispy, and you can even chew the bones. This shop has a wide variety of small skewers, covering almost all the specialty barbecue of the Northeast. The prices are a bit expensive, with an average cost of over 150 yuan per person.

12. Dianxinyuan



Dianxinyuan is currently the only remaining halal Yunnan restaurant in Beijing. It has been open for 13 years, and the owner is from Shadian.



Beijing used to have halal Yunnan restaurants like Ayidianchang, Hailiye, and Dalifu, but they have all closed down. It is not easy for this Dianxinyuan to have lasted until today.



You can basically eat all kinds of Yunnan specialty foods here, including Mengzi small-pot rice noodles (xiaoguo mixian), copper-pot boiled fish, Dai-style tofu with sauce (baojiang doufu), Dai-style shredded chicken, Gejiu roasted tilapia, porcini mushroom fried rice, and dried beef (niuganba).



The small-pot beef rice noodles are especially close to the taste I had in Yunnan.









13. Jiasan Steamed Buns



This is the Beijing branch of the time-honored Jiasan soup-filled steamed bun (guantang baozi) shop from Xi'an, and it has been operating in Beijing for over ten years. They sell various halal snacks from Xi'an, including soaked bread in soup (paomo), barbecue, and steamed beef with rice flour (fenzheng niurou).



For the soup-filled steamed buns, you should first take a small bite to drink the soup inside, then eat the bun.



I really like eating this vegetable stew (huicai). For Xi'an food in Beijing, there is also Old Xi'an Restaurant, Xi'an Old Yang Family Restaurant, and Qin Laoda Paomo. Jiasan is an old shop with a very complete selection of Xi'an snacks, and you can even eat halal venison here. Jiasan currently has two branches in Beijing, with the other one located at Yangqiao.

14. KAVKAZ Ruilin Restaurant



This is a Caucasian-style restaurant on Shenlu Street in Chaoyang. There used to be an Azerbaijani restaurant next door called Bakuli with a similar style, but it closed. Another halal Russian-style restaurant called NAIL also closed, so it is not easy for this shop to have lasted until today.



Beet soup (borscht)

Beet soup (borscht) is a famous Russian dish. You drink it before your main meal to whet your appetite.



Stuffed grape leaves (dolma)

Stuffed grape leaves (dolma) use grape leaves for the outer layer with beef filling inside. This dish is also a common specialty in Central Asia.



Dumplings (pelmeni)

These are Azerbaijani dumplings (pelmeni). Historically, people in the Caucasus region have been eating dumplings for a long time, though the ones they make are much smaller. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide covers the middle part of the 2024 must-eat list, including Azerbaijani dumplings, Iranian food, Ghanaian and West African cuisine, halal Peking duck, shabu-shabu, Yunnan flavors, hot pot, and halal Chaoshan beef hot pot.



Caucasian soup dumplings (gaojiaosuotangbao)

These are Azerbaijani soup dumplings. The owner is from Azerbaijan, so most of the servers are too. Their Chinese isn't great, but it has improved over the last few years.

15. Iranian Cuisine



It used to be called Persepolis, but now it is named Iranian Cuisine. The cooking style hasn't changed, but I think it tastes better now than before. This is the only Iranian restaurant in Beijing, excluding the one inside the Iranian embassy.



I like this spot in their courtyard; it is a typical Iranian residential style.



Saffron pilaf (zanghonghuazhuafan)



I have been here many times. They have a buffet at lunch, and for dinner, they serve Western food like grilled meat and burgers, plus coffee and afternoon tea.

16. TRIBE GARDEN African Tribe Garden Restaurant



A new halal restaurant featuring West African specialties recently opened on the first basement level of the Sanlitun SOHO mall, focusing on Ghanaian cuisine. The staff are all Black Muslims who speak fluent Chinese, and one young lady from Kenya is especially lovely.



Ghana is a country in West Africa where about 15% of the population is Muslim, yet their national banknote features a picture of a mosque with a unique style.



Larabanga Mosque

The Larabanga Mosque (Larabanga Mosque) on the banknote was built between the 14th and 15th centuries. It is the oldest mosque in Ghana. Its architectural style is unique to West Africa, built with yellow mud and wood, making it very iconic.



The restaurant decor also has a strong African feel, including the wall hangings.







African goat meat mixed rice

African goat meat is a bit tough, but it has no gamey smell. The mixed rice tastes salty and spicy.



Non-alcoholic mojito and fruit punch



African specialty egusi (egusi)

This dish is meant to be eaten mixed with the cassava flour paste shown in the picture below. Eating the cassava flour paste is just like eating rice cake.





Fufu (fufu)

The white one is called fufu, which translates to rice flour paste in Chinese. It is the staple food for Ghanaians.



Friday special dish

They have a special dish every day. This Friday special is made with beans and rice, served with some noodles and dipping sauce. It tastes sour, salty, and spicy all at once.



Grilled tilapia

This is African-style grilled fish. It tastes great. Don't let the charred skin fool you; the meat inside is white.



A young lady from Kenya recommended this milkshake to us. It is very creamy and delicious. The total for this meal was 530 yuan for four people, which comes to 130 yuan per person.

17. Rongqing Laoman Guizhou Sour Soup Fish Hot Pot



This Guizhou sour soup hot pot restaurant changed its style and is the only halal Guizhou restaurant in Beijing. Their signature dishes are beef hot pot and fish hot pot. When we visited, the business was already starting to take off, and I hear there are long lines now, with an average wait time of over an hour.



The owner originally planned to serve Guizhou-style stir-fried dishes, but the hot pot business became so popular that they stopped making stir-fries. Now, they only serve hot pot.





We had three glasses of homemade prickly pear juice (cili zhi). It was sweet, sour, and icy cold. They only had three of these glasses, so we took them all, and other customers had to order different drinks.



The dipping sauce (zhanshui) is the soul of the meal. I suggest following the guide posted by the shop to mix your sauce. You must try the litsea cubeba oil (mujiangzi you), mint leaves, chili powder (hu lajiao mian), and fish mint (zhe'ergen).





The full beef feast set includes beef and various beef offal. The ingredients are very fresh. If you like fish, choose the river catfish (jiangtuan). One fish weighs about 1.15 kilograms, and the meat is firm with no small bones.





If you save the shop on your map and check in, you get free iced jelly (bingfen). The jelly is just okay, but the signature beef and fish hot pot are worth a try.

18. Xunji Tan Sheep Hot Pot



Xunji is a chain restaurant. There is one in Gulou and another one in Qingnian Road. The two shops have very different decor, but both are high-end and elegant. The Qingnian Road location has a particularly fresh and unique atmosphere. It is much larger than the Gulou shop and has plenty of free parking.



When you enter the courtyard, you first walk through a bamboo grove. Mist floats along both sides of the path, making it feel like a fairyland.





The courtyard is filled with flowers and green plants, including many brightly colored hydrangeas.



The courtyard has open-air seating and tented private rooms. Each tent is equipped with air conditioning, lights, and a sound system.



There is an indoor dining hall, but in the summer, everyone prefers to sit in the courtyard to enjoy the flowers and food.



The dining tables in the tented rooms have microphones. If you speak near the table, you can hear an echo, which makes chatting easier.



This restaurant is a top-tier halal establishment in Beijing. The average cost per person is between 400 and 500 yuan. The restaurant charges per head and currently only serves hot pot. They can host wedding banquets for about 150 people. Wedding banquets are also charged per head, so a wedding for 100 people costs only 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, which is very affordable for Beijing.



Xunji Gulou Courtyard has a different, classical style. You can sit on the terrace and eat hot pot with the Drum Tower behind you.



At sunset, the scene of eating hot pot with the Drum Tower in the background is stunning. Oriental Selection even came here to host a live stream.







All ingredients are fresh and high-quality. You just wait for the servers to bring the dishes in order. Each private room has a dedicated server to provide attentive service. The dishes are served in this order: drinks, cold appetizers, hot pot ingredients, staples, and dessert. You can order extra portions of anything you like without extra charges. It is like paying 300 to 500 yuan for a high-end buffet, so it is not expensive.





19. Baoding beef covered pancake (niurou zhaobing)



I once drove all the way to Miyun just to eat halal covered pancake (zhaobing). When I heard a halal zhaobing shop opened in Baiziwan, I came to try it. The taste is even better than the one in Miyun. Now, this shop has also opened a branch in Daxing.



One cover two means one liang of meat and two liang of flatbread. I chose the single set meal of one cover three, which is two liang of beef and three liang of flatbread. The shop just opened and they are still hiring staff. They only serve covered flatbread (zhaobing) and braised chicken (luzhuji), which is also a specialty of Baoding.



I have eaten covered flatbread in Baoding, and the taste is basically the same as this place.

20. Azerbaijan National Pavilion Maiden Tower Restaurant



A new restaurant opened on the third floor of the Azerbaijan National Pavilion. It is named after the Maiden Tower, which is a tourist attraction in Azerbaijan. This is the only halal Azerbaijani restaurant in Beijing, so it is worth noting.



The restaurant is inside the pavilion, so you can enjoy Azerbaijani folk handicrafts while you eat.











Many Azerbaijani chefs work abroad. Many of the Turkish restaurants we often eat at are actually run by Azerbaijanis.



The dishes here suit our tastes well, including these snacks, which are also good for babies to eat.



Creamy eggplant rolls (xiangnai qiezijuan)



Jeliteme roast chicken (jeliteme kaoji)



Beef rice with chestnut and pomegranate sauce (lizi shiliujiang niuroufan)



Nut cake

The restaurant is near Sanyuanqiao. It costs about 150 yuan per person. It is good for business dinners and dates.

21. Alkhaleej Mandi Kitchen



This is a newly opened Dubai halal restaurant in Sanlitun. The owner is an Arab from Dubai and has another shop there. The staff said the ingredients are imported from the Middle East. After eating here, I can say that is true. It reminds me of the mandi I ate in Makkah last year. It is a perfect recreation of Middle Eastern flavors.



This is a non-alcoholic restaurant. I worry about whether it can stay open for a long time because the owner is spending a lot of money, but the Beijing restaurant market is slow this year. Even in Sanlitun on the weekend, there are not many people.





You can smell the familiar scent of agarwood in the shop.



The small cup of Arabic milk tea the waiter brought tastes exactly like the one I had in Abu Dhabi.



The handmade Yemeni flatbread (khubz) comes with various dips and is delicious. The chefs are all Arabs from the Middle East.





Desert colorful chicken mandi



The special handmade Yemeni flatbread is very tasty, has a strong wheat aroma, and is very large.





Royal pastry, it has a texture like sticky rice and contains banana. This dessert is not sweet at all.



Lamb mandi



Grilled fish served with rice. The fish itself has no flavor, so you need to eat it with three different dipping sauces.





The mandi is amazing. The chicken inside is stewed until it is extremely soft and tender, and the rice gets its color from added spices.

22. Stinky Star Snail Rice Noodle (luosifen) Hot Pot



This halal snail rice noodle shop is on the ground floor of the Golden Street in the West District of Tongzhou Wanda Plaza. The owner is a Hui Muslim from Changchun who used to work at iQIYI before opening this physical shop. The small shop has two floors and mainly serves halal snail rice noodles and clam (huajia) noodle hot pots.



The snail rice noodle hot pot comes with a wide variety of ingredients that you can add to the pot to cook together.



Halal snail rice noodles are rare, but you can find them at the halal canteen of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. However, you need a student or teacher from inside to guide you in. If you don't have any connections, just come to Tongzhou Wanda.





This hot pot set for two costs 78 yuan and is enough for two or three people to eat.



The set comes with Guangxi cassava sweet soup.



Add all the side dishes to the pot and cook for 1 minute to start eating. The taste is quite authentic.

23. Fanshen Lobster Restaurant



A newly opened crayfish restaurant in Baiziwan. The owner is from Langfang, and it is currently only open for dinner until the early morning.



You can eat aquatic products like crayfish. For details, you can check my previous article, How does the Hanafi school view shrimp? They also serve local specialties from Cangzhou, Hebei, like hot pot chicken (huoguo ji) and spicy crab (xiangla xie).







The restaurant has a great atmosphere with plenty of space and wide gaps between tables. There is a large private courtyard at the entrance that serves as a free parking lot.



Write a review, save the shop, and check in to get a free glass of fresh-squeezed juice.



The most popular dish is the garlic crawfish. You can really taste how fresh the shrimp is. The golden sauce from the crawfish is great for dipping the hand-torn flatbread (shoushibing), which is freshly griddled and tastes excellent.





The grilled squid is also delicious. Their ingredients are definitely fresh.



The spicy beef tripe (chanzui niudu) has a numbing and spicy flavor that is very good. Overall, this place has the potential to become a viral restaurant thanks to its service, environment, and taste. It is a bit pricey, with an average cost of over 200 yuan per person.

24. Maimaihong Beef Sliced Noodles



Don't underestimate this noodle shop. I will drive 40 minutes from Niujie to Haidian just for a bowl of these noodles. Maimaihong's beef sliced noodles (daoxiao mian) are definitely worth a visit. If you like this style, you won't be disappointed.



The shop is run by Hui Muslims from Jiaozuo, Henan. Their cold dishes are a specialty, and if you come for breakfast, you can have spicy soup (hulatang) in the Xiaoyao Town style, but with less spice to suit Beijing tastes.



Another specialty is their beef steamed buns (niurou baozi). These aren't pan-fried, but the large steamed kind, which you can also get in the morning.





I had a bowl of the deluxe beef sliced noodles. They give you plenty of meat, the broth is rich, the beef is tender, and the noodles are chewy.



For the cold dishes, you pick what you want, and they take it to the kitchen to add seasoning and mix it, which keeps everything fresh and tasty.

25. Hulun Aile Halal Hand-held Meat (shouba rou)



This shop used to be a hot pot place, but it recently changed into a Mongolian restaurant. The change was very successful.



They get their beef and lamb from Hulunbuir. The meat quality from the Inner Mongolian grasslands is excellent.



What drew us here was their afternoon tea with Inner Mongolian flair.



The milk tea comes with a plate of dairy products. This combination is truly tempting.



The Mongolian-style milk tea contains roasted millet (chaomi) and is served in a thermos to keep it warm.



For the hand-held beef steak (shouba niupai), you cut a piece with a small knife and spread chive flower sauce (jiucaihua) on it. It is delicious, and their three types of dipping sauces are all very authentic.



Buryat steamed buns (Buliya baozi) look like the thin-skinned buns from Xinjiang, but the dough is slightly thicker. They are filled with large chunks of lamb, full of broth, and taste great.



This is the most popular afternoon tea dairy platter of the day. The white part on top is cream, which you eat with the dairy products. The four cups contain concentrated milk; it tastes like ice bock (bingboke), which is milk concentrated by evaporating most of the water.



The Inner Mongolian milk ice cream is simple and bold. It is made of large chunks of milk ice, just like a popsicle, but no extra water is added. The texture is smooth and the milky flavor is rich. It is highly recommended. With the Mongolian food being so good, their hot pot seems plain, so I suggest you stick to the Mongolian dishes here.

26. Sanliujiu Wan Halal Beef Brisket Pot



This shop offers Cantonese-style Qingyuan chicken pot, beef brisket and offal pot, and Tianhu chicken pot, along with Cantonese dim sum. It is currently the only halal Cantonese restaurant in Beijing.



Claypot rice (baozai fan)

Claypot rice (baozai fan) is also a new dish. It must be made to order and takes 25 minutes to prepare. It uses Thai jasmine rice topped with beef sausage, and you can choose how many grams of sausage to add based on your preference.



The curry fish balls are very bouncy. The owner says he developed the recipe himself. He is a Hui Muslim from Shandong and the son of an imam.



Our group of 12 people ate through the new dim sum menu twice, and the cost was about 120 yuan per person.

















After eating this Hong Kong-style dim sum, you could say there are no gaps left in Beijing's halal food scene. You can find a halal version of every major cuisine in Beijing now.

27. Zaizai Niu Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot



This newly opened Chaoshan beef hot pot place in Xiguanshi, Changping, is even better than the one in Pingle Yuan. The Yushanfang restaurant in Pingle Yuan has closed, so this is currently the only halal Chaoshan beef hot pot in Beijing.



We came at noon and it wasn't crowded. There was only one waitress, a kind lady who could help us cook the meat.



Every dish in the three-person set meal we bought was delicious. The shrimp paste gets a thumbs up, and the beef was especially fragrant. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Beijing halal food guide continues the 2024 must-eat list with Xiaoyao hulatang, vegetable flatbread, Doudian barbecue, suancai fish, old Beijing snacks, Xinjiang-style dishes, and several newer halal restaurants worth trying while they are still around.







28. Yuziwei Xiaoyao Spicy Soup



I recommend this newly opened Henan Xiaoyao Town spicy soup (hulatang) shop near Huoying Subway Station. It is more comfortable and easier to enjoy than the version from Fang Zhongshan, which is much spicier. If I wrote about Fang Zhongshan, many of my friends from Henan would surely disagree.



The shop is small with only a few tables, but the service is great. They serve a mix of spicy soup and tofu pudding (doufunao), and the tofu pudding is sweet. They also have pan-fried buns (shuijianbao) and fried dough fritters (youmotou), but the highlight is that you can get vegetable flatbread (caimo) here.



The vegetable flatbread is made to order and served piping hot with plenty of filling.



The spicy soup and beef pockets (niurouhe) are very authentic and taste just like Henan.



29. Yandu Barbecue



This is a barbecue shop in Doudian, Fangshan. The quality is excellent and it offers better value than Qingu in Changying, costing about 80 yuan per person.



Due to various reasons, many Japanese and Korean restaurants are downplaying their origins. While this shop serves Korean-style barbecue, they have added items like sushi to their menu.



The three-person set meal was enough to fill us up, and we had choices like sushi, stone pot bibimbap, and cold noodles.





The bibimbap had a rich variety of ingredients and tasted good, and the staff provided attentive service.





30. Al Safir Arabic Restaurant



This restaurant has been open in Beijing for over ten years and the food quality is always consistent. The owner is Palestinian, speaks fluent Chinese, is a devout Muslim, and the restaurant does not serve alcohol.



Once, I was drinking tea at the shop with the owner and a few Arab friends. One of the Arab guys started to explain why he hadn't performed his namaz on time, but the owner cut him off immediately. He told him not to make any excuses, saying that missing a prayer is wrong and there was nothing more to say.



The owner's mother lives in Jordan, which hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees. He once brought her to live in Beijing for a while, but she wasn't used to it because she couldn't hear the adhan (the call to prayer) five times a day, so she moved back to Jordan.



A foreign restaurant that has stayed open for over a decade without selling alcohol must have great food. It is also one of the more affordable Arab restaurants in Beijing, with an average cost of about 100 yuan per person.







31. Yangfang Hot Pot (Yangfang Shuanrou)



As a food critic for Yangfang Hot Pot, I have visited almost all of their direct-managed stores in Beijing. I can honestly say that Yangfang's service and food quality control are better than any traditional hot pot restaurant in the city. In the current tough restaurant market, Yangfang continues to grow against the trend, which is due to their commitment to excellence in management.



Among the many Yangfang Hot Pot locations, the service at the Yangfang Beitou flagship store is especially detail-oriented and almost flawless.



Before experiencing the high-quality service at Yangfang, I used to ignore the service standards at halal restaurants and only cared about the food. Now, I realize that in China's highly competitive restaurant market, you cannot win over customers without focusing on service.



Yangfang pioneered the 210-day frost-marbled lamb back tip, which is priced at 1.6 yuan per gram, or about 800 yuan for 500 grams.



Hot pot restaurants today can't just rely on meat quality. Just as Jubao Yuan is famous for its sesame flatbread (shaobing) and Manheng Ji for its sugar pancakes (tangbing), Yangfang's handmade beef buns (baozi) and steamed dumplings (shaomai) are excellent. They even sell these as packaged semi-finished products that you can order through their mini-program for home delivery.



The drinks at Yangfang Hot Pot are another highlight. They aim to match the quality of Heytea, and their homemade fruit tea and sour plum drink (suanmeitang) are very popular.



The durian-flavored tiramisu at the flagship store is so good that it rivals any specialty dessert shop.



Their hot pot vegetables look as good as they taste, and the hydroponic vegetables are safe and healthy. My interest in their vegetables, drinks, desserts, and staple foods has actually surpassed my interest in the meat. Yangfang is also very kid-friendly. Fahim gets a toy every time we go, and the quality of the children's bibs they provide is even better than the ones we buy ourselves. You can take them home after the meal, and my son uses his at home now.

32. Merv



Merv is likely the first halal restaurant in Beijing serving Turkmenistan cuisine. Merv is an ancient city in Turkmenistan listed as a World Heritage site, and the restaurant sign features the Turkmenistan flag.



We came to try this restaurant on its very first day of business. The owner is from Turkmenistan and speaks Chinese. This restaurant does not sell alcohol.



The menu is in Chinese, Russian, and English. Besides Turkmenistan specialties, they also serve Central Asian dishes from Russia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan.





The menu calls this borscht (hongcaitang), also known as beef soup. It is made with beef and cabbage and has a light flavor.



This flaky baked bun (kaobaozi) is excellent. It is filled with large chunks of lamb and onions (piyanzi). The crust is crispy, which is a signature of Central Asian baked buns. It comes with pickles, which are very appetizing, and I enjoy eating them.



We ordered two types of barbecue: fried lamb chops and grilled beef. Both were quite salty, but the side of roasted fries was delicious and had a unique aroma.





The cheese flatbread (nailaokaobing) is filled with salty cheese. It is delicious and I recommend it.



This is a type of bun similar to a thin-skinned bun (baopibaozi), but the dough is thicker. There is a piece of butter in the center of the plate to dip the buns in, and it comes with a cup of plain yogurt. Turkmen people are used to adding yogurt to their buns when they eat them. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Muslim knowledge guide reviews an interest-free banking book, compares service fees with riba, discusses Islamic finance, dividend insurance, IUL, gold investment, mutual aid systems, and the practical challenge of building an interest-free bank in modern society.



This book is a formal publication available on Taobao. While its main goal is to explain the interest-free financial system proposed by the authors, they are honest enough to mention that such a system does not yet exist in today's society. However, perhaps because the book has two authors, it feels inconsistent throughout. Here are some of my reading notes.

Author 1, Muhammad Muin-ud-Din Khan, graduated from Aligarh Muslim University with a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts. He currently lives in Aligarh and works on Islamic law research.

Author 2, M. H. Syed, is a feature writer for the United Times of India and the Times of India. He holds a Master of Arts, a Master of Philosophy, and a PhD in political science, and he focuses mainly on political research with a wide range of interests.

In the second chapter, when citing examples from Christianity, the authors criticize the way Christians confuse service fees with interest:

With the support of Christian churches, the practice of using service fees to replace interest developed further. At first, following the precedents of ancient Babylonian and ancient Greek temples, they provided interest-free loans. Soon, people found it necessary to charge a small fee for services. Lending institutions that charged service fees were called Montes Pietatis. Before long, these institutions were no different from savings banks. They paid small amounts of interest on deposits and charged high interest on advances, which shows that replacing the concept of interest with this idea is very unreliable. Important concepts that evolved under Christian influence, such as tripartite contracts and perpetual annuities, are also much the same as interest.

However, in the second half of the book, the author proposes an interest-free bank and acknowledges the necessity of service fees. As my previous articles have noted, critics of Islamic finance point out that charging service fees in an interest-free bank is just a way to legalize interest in disguise.

The author also imagines an interest-free bank as a financial institution that protects the principal but offers uncertain returns. This confused me because such institutions already exist. In China, these are called dividend-paying insurance (fenhongxing baoxian), and in the United States, they are called Indexed Universal Life (IUL) insurance. Both types protect the principal but have uncertain future returns. Dividend insurance dates back to the Equitable Life Assurance Society in the UK in 1776, and IUL insurance began in the US in the 1990s.

The author honestly describes the current situation where both Jews and Muslims find themselves helpless regarding the issue of interest:

The role of the Jews: The first interest-free bank, the Egibi Bank, was opened by Jews in ancient Babylon in 700 BC. This bank used a method where borrowers pledged productive assets, such as houses, land, horses, or slaves, to the bank in exchange for interest-free loans. Although the concept of profit and loss sharing was refined, the lack of productive assets limited its application. For example, profit and loss sharing cannot solve the problem of making installment prices equal to cash prices, nor can it solve the issue of cashing bills of exchange without deducting a discount. According to the famous Jewish scholar Maimonides, Jews also faced the difficult problem of how to cash bills of exchange. They solved it by declaring that discounts did not count as interest. This means that even financial geniuses like the Jews could not find a proper way to eliminate interest.

The role of Muslims: Muslims have not found a substitute for interest. Their reliance on partnerships is no different from the profit and loss sharing mechanism created by Hammurabi or the pre-Islamic mudarabah system—neither can be widely applied in most economic practices. They tried hard to find reward-based funding and invented various disguised terms as the basis for Pakistani banking operations, such as fair trade or perfect trade, but these functioned much like interest. It is no wonder why the London-based weekly The Economist calls it an Islamic-style lie. Post-revolutionary Iran, like some other countries that claim to have introduced Islamic banking systems, is playing the same game of pretense. Dr. El-Naggar conducted a small-scale innovative experiment in Egypt by founding the Mit Ghamr Savings Bank based on profit and loss sharing, hoping to attract small savings and support small-scale productive investments. However, its scope of application is very limited, and it requires subsidies to continue operating; if the subsidies stop, the bank would have to close.

Practice has proven that forcibly suppressing interest rates does not work. The lesson we learned from medieval European usury laws is that forcibly suppressing or lowering interest rates only leads to the emergence of a black market for high-interest loans. We have only one choice, which is to find something that can replace interest without having the exploitative nature of interest. Many existing views stem from the profit and loss sharing mechanism in the Code of Hammurabi, and Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all applied this view in turn, but they have all found its feasibility to be limited. So far, a view that can avoid this flaw has not yet been born.

The author is also very clear that none of the Islamic banks operating in the world today are based on interest-free principles:

Any investment bank operating in an Islamic country can advance funds to solvent enterprises on the basis of mudarabah or partnership. However, if the funds are not yet due, no bank will cash them out at their face value. The tragedy is that even though everyone acknowledges the Islamic ban on interest, not a single Muslim bank operates on an interest-free basis. In fact, no one knows how to implement the ban on interest, and when the government puts on pressure, they just find excuses and pretexts to brush it off. However, the Islamic ban on interest is unlikely to end like previous religious policies, because government pressure will not weaken; it will only get stronger.

Both authors are Indian, but they use Pakistan as their research subject. The book also introduces the attitudes of some Pakistani officials toward interest:

In 1981, an international monetary and fiscal conference was held in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and Islamic economists were the main participants. They proposed renaming interest, which was equivalent to abolishing it. The worst part was that everyone agreed to this arrangement without reservation, because it was the best suggestion they could come up with so far.

The late Auditor General of Pakistan set a good example for us. He spent most of his retirement trying to legalize the interest on his welfare fund savings, wanting to prove that Islam does not ban interest, and he even wrote a book to explain this view.

The authors used these two examples critically, but I read the opposite meaning from them. This also echoes Mohammad Omar Farooq's question: Is it a consensus that usury is the same as interest? This article, titled 'Is Interest the Same as Riba Mentioned in the Quran?', shows that there is still no consensus on this issue. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Kuala Lumpur halal food guide issue 3 maps Malay, Chinese, and international halal restaurants, including Arabic grilled meat, laksa, Hakka cuisine, Cantonese-style tea food, seafood, French food, Japanese ramen, hot pot, Chinese dishes, and Paris Baguette.

Kuala Lumpur has a surprising number of halal restaurants. If you do not know where to start, you can choose from the three categories I have divided them into. The first category is Malay food, or Southeast Asian cuisine, which includes Thai food. Malay people are spread widely across Southeast Asia; they live not only in Malaysia but also in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and Thailand. The second category is Chinese food, or Chinese cuisine. This is mainly halal food made by Chinese people who moved south to Southeast Asia, based on Fujian and Guangdong styles with some improvements. The third category is foreign restaurants. The most common ones here are Japanese and Korean food, followed by Western food, South Asian restaurants, and Middle Eastern restaurants. There might be some niche halal restaurants, but they basically fall into these three categories. The number of halal restaurants here definitely exceeds that of Beijing, but in terms of variety, it is still not as diverse as Beijing. Beijing's halal Chinese food and foreign restaurant categories still lead the world.

The restaurant information for this issue is as follows:

1. WRAP'NROLL (Arabian grilled meat)

2. AH CHENG LAKSA (Malay food)

3. Maifenju (Hakka cuisine)

4. FRIDAYS (North American style food)

5. Samtai Yamch'a (Cantonese-style tea restaurant)

6. TWO SONS (seafood, afternoon tea)

7. BACHA COFFEE (coffee shop)

8. TEA ROASTERY (Japanese matcha)

9. Arte 66 Restaurant & Bar (French food)

10. Teppanyaki (tieban shao)

11. Shrimp Noodle Bar (Japanese ramen)

12. The Fish Bowl (light meals)

13. Cili Kampung (Malay cuisine)

14. Fresh (airport light meal fast food)

15. Tengyu (Chinese food, hot pot)

16. Paris Baguette (Western pastries and bread)

1. Wrap'nroll



This is an Arabic fast food restaurant on the B1 floor of Avenue K mall. People call this mall AK. It sits just across the street from the north side of the Petronas Twin Towers. The B1 floor has many halal fast food shops.





You can eat Arabic specialty desserts like kunafa and baklava here.



Address: By the elevator on the B1 floor of AK mall

2. Ah Cheng Laksa



Laksa is a specialty of Malaysia. It is a type of noodle soup that comes in many varieties and flavors. Because many Malay people live in Singapore and Indonesia, you can find laksa there too.



The broth for this noodle soup has many ingredients and a wide range of flavors. I did not quite understand the taste, so I just ordered the signature laksa. I could not finish it after two bites. If you have a conservative palate, be careful when ordering.



Address: AK Mall, B1

3. Ma Fen Ju



This is a small Hakka restaurant. You can probably only find halal Hakka food in Southeast Asia, and this was my first time trying it.









The menu says no pork. In Malaysia, getting an official halal certification costs over 50,000 Malaysian ringgit. Small shops cannot afford that, so they just write no pork instead of paying the fee.





Sambal okra (yangjiaodou) is just okra.



Dried shrimp tofu with minced meat rice, which is a little spicy.



Address: AK Mall, B1

4. FRIDAYS



This is an American-style halal restaurant. You can tell by the decor that it has a Western cowboy vibe.



American restaurants are known for large portions and high calories. I chose this place because my son cannot eat spicy food, but the black pepper in the American dishes still has a bit of a kick.





Fahim took one bite of the salmon and stopped, so I ordered him a kids' meal instead.



Tomato pasta is his absolute favorite.

Address: 4th Floor, KLCC

5. Samtai Yamch'a



This is a halal-certified Cantonese dim sum restaurant.



They have freshly made dim sum available for takeout.



The restaurant is in the newly opened TRX Mall and is very busy with many Malay customers, but I don't think it is as refined as the dim sum in KLCC.



Spicy wontons in chili oil (hongyou chaoshou) and their signature hand-pulled noodles (lamian).





Fresh shrimp rice noodle rolls (changfen).





Custard buns (liushabao).



Chicken barbecue pork buns (chashaobao). I still think the ones from the Hui Muslim restaurant in Guangzhou that split open at the top are better.

Address: Concourse Level, TRX Mall

6. TWO SONS



Two Sons is a seafood afternoon tea restaurant on the third floor of TRX.





You order by scanning a QR code here, and they serve tea and coffee.



The main meals focus on seafood, which tastes fresh and delicious. You often have to queue for a table, but waiting in line to eat is very common in Kuala Lumpur.

Address: 3rd Floor, TRX Mall.

7. BACHA COFFEE



This is a very popular cafe that also has locations in Hong Kong. It is known as the Hermes of the coffee world, but the prices are not actually that high. A pot of coffee costs about 30 to 60 Malaysian Ringgit.



We visited the branch on the ground floor of KLCC, and I also saw one in the TRX mall.



They have hundreds of coffee varieties, and the menu is as thick as a book. I do not have any specific recommendations, but keep in mind that one order is a whole pot, which is enough for two people. We accidentally ordered two pots, but luckily they were not filled to the brim, so we managed to finish them.



You can pair the coffee with cream and desserts, which are of excellent quality.







Address: Ground Floor, KLCC, near the entrance by the musical fountain.

8. TEA ROASTERY CHA-BA-SHI-RA



A new Japanese matcha shop just opened at the entrance of the B1 supermarket in Isetan Department Store.



The owner is Malaysian. He went to Japan to learn the art of matcha, and because he loves it himself, he came back home to open this shop.



I have tasted matcha in Hokkaido, where it was smooth and rich, and the quality at this shop is also very good.



Address: Exit of the B1 supermarket in Isetan Department Store.

9. Arte 66 Restaurant & Bar



This is a very luxurious French restaurant located just a few hundred meters from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.



You can only find this kind of halal French dining in Kuala Lumpur. I saw one in Dubai, but it was ridiculously expensive at 3,000 yuan per person. This place is about 500 RMB per person.







The restaurant is on the 66th floor of the building, offering a panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur with the Petronas Twin Towers visible in the distance.







They charge per person, and you choose your items from the menu. The dishes are served in order, and the whole meal takes about an hour.



They serve TWG brand tea bags, which cost over a hundred yuan online.



The first dish was raw oyster sashimi. The taste was very average and a bit fishy; I still don't like eating raw oysters.



The two of us chose different set menus, and the other one was salmon sashimi.



Seafood soup with scallop meat, large shrimp, and mussels.



Creamy vegetable soup.



This is a French-style duck dish. The meat is quite tender and very lean.



The French-style pan-seared lamb chops taste good. It is a pity I did not get to eat French escargot here; I will have to wait until I am back in Tianjin to eat snails.



The coffee and desserts are high quality, but the main dishes taste very ordinary and a bit rough. They do not seem to match the decor.





Address: Level 66, Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

10. Teppanyaki



A Japanese teppanyaki restaurant. I remember the last time I had halal teppanyaki was in Hokkaido.





A chef cooks the meat for you, then you eat it with vegetables and rice. The meal comes with jelly and edamame.



Address: 52100, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Taman Kepong, Jalan Metro Prima, F28, L1, AEON Mall, Metro Prima

11. Shrimp Noodle Bar



This is a Japanese-style shrimp broth ramen shop.







Their shrimp soup is incredibly rich and authentic, made with real, quality ingredients. The shrimp tails are already peeled, which is a perfect touch.



12. THE FISH BOWL



This is a light meal shop on the fourth floor of KLCC. After living in Malaysia for a while, you will really crave this kind of light, healthy food. This shop is also halal certified.



Their drinks are all fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices.



You order by selecting your ingredients on a piece of paper.



If you cannot read the menu, you can also choose a set meal by looking at the pictures.

13. cili kampung



This is a Malay restaurant on the fourth floor of KLCC. It is a chain store that is very popular, so you will need to wait in line.





The large shrimp and squid are delicious. The salty and spicy flavors go perfectly with rice; the two of us ate a whole bucket of it.











Address: 4th Floor, KLCC

14. FRESH



This is a fast-food restaurant located after the international security checkpoint at Kuala Lumpur Airport.



There are not many good food options after security. Besides McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut, this is the only healthy restaurant worth visiting.



Address: After international security, Terminal 2, Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

15. Tengyu Chinese Hot Pot Restaurant



Tengyu is a hot pot restaurant in Kuala Lumpur opened by Hui Muslims from Xi'an. They also serve stir-fried dishes.





The restaurant has a nice, spacious environment and even includes a prayer room.



They use traditional copper pots with charcoal fire, and the taste is very good.





Their stir-fried dishes are prepared in the Sichuan style and go very well with rice.



Fermented glutinous rice soup (laozao tang)



Shredded pork in sweet bean sauce (jingjiang rousi)



Fish with pickled mustard greens (suancai yu)



Address: 83-G PLATINUM WALK NO 2 JALAN LANGKAWI SETAPAK, KUALA LUMPUR. (Next to the side entrance of Setapak Central)

16. PARIS BAGUETTE



A halal Paris Baguette store in Kuala Lumpur.



They have bread, light meals, and coffee.



Address: Level C, The Exchange TRX mall Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This China mosque travel guide records the author's mosque footprint map as of August 2024, including 709 mosques across 16 countries and regions, more than 200 cities, a long Beijing mosque list, reflections on memory, travel, friendship, and the goal of visiting 1,000 mosques.

In 2017, I counted the mosques I had visited, and the number was 200. A Muslim community website in the UK even reported on it. By 2022, that number reached 454, which you can see in my list of 454 mosques visited. As of August this year, I have visited a total of 709 mosques across 16 countries and regions, spanning over 200 cities. I am getting closer to my goal of 1,000 mosques.



Traveling over these years has given me so much insight. It has broadened my horizons so much that I am no longer surprised by strange or unusual things. When you adopt a solar system perspective, you realize that the issues back home are really not a big deal. You stop looking at any authority with a halo. Of course, the prerequisite for improving your understanding is to have a certain amount of reading, otherwise, travel just becomes a superficial glance.



I think it is very necessary to record my travel experiences. I have found that as I get older, my memory gets worse. To put it nicely, I have a broad mind and do not take things to heart, but the truth is that if I do not write down many people and events, I might forget them after a while. I look back at articles I wrote in the past from time to time. Some content actually feels strange to me, and I cannot seem to remember how I recorded those words and photos at the time.

My number of WeChat friends has also expanded 10 times, but the vast majority can only be considered as stranger-friends. Even for people I have met offline, after a while, if I did not add a note, I might not remember where I met them. After all, a person's social capacity is limited. If any friends feel that I am cold because of this, please forgive me. I just have limited brain capacity, but I prefer to make friends with people who resonate with me. I am not the Chinese currency (renminbi), so I cannot make everyone like me.

1. Dongsi Mosque, Dongcheng District, Beijing; 2. Andingmen (Daguan) Mosque; 3. Nandouya Mosque; 4. Dongzhimenwai Mosque; 5. Hua'ershi Mosque; 6. Shazikou Mosque; 7. Qingzhen Pushou Mosque, Xicheng District; 8. Dewai Fayuan Mosque; 9. Sanlihe Qingzhen Yongshou Mosque; 10. Zhengyuan (Beigouyan) Mosque; 11. Niujie Mosque; 12. Houheyan Mosque; 13. Huihuiying Mosque; 14. Qianmen Mosque; 15. Nanhxiapo Mosque, Chaoyang District; 16. Changying Mosque; 17. Kangying Mosque; 18. Yangzha Mosque; 19. Xihui Mosque; 20. Wanziying Mosque; 21. Guanzhuang Mosque; 22. Balizhuang Mosque; 23. Songyu Mosque; 24. Haidian Mosque, Haidian District; 25. Madian Mosque; 26. Qinghezhen Mosque; 27. Landianchang Mosque; 28. Anheqiao Mosque; 29. Shucun Mosque; 30. Siwangfu Mosque; 31. Nanyuan Mosque, Fengtai District; 32. Fengtaizhen Mosque; 33. Changxindian Mosque; 34. Huangcun Mosque, Daxing District; 35. Cuizhihuiying Mosque; 36. Liushizhuang Mosque; 37. Xueying Mosque; 38. Dongbaita Mosque; 39. Qingyundian Mosque; 40. Tongying Mosque; 41. Xihongmen Mosque; 42. Langgezhuang Old Mosque; 43. Langgezhuang New Mosque; 44. Tianying Mosque; 45. Lixian Old Mosque; 46. Lixian New Mosque; 47. Xin'anzhuang Mosque; 48. Caiyu Mosque; 49. Yufa Mosque; 50. Nanyanfa Mosque; 51. Majuqiao Mosque, Tongzhou District; 52. Fatoucun Mosque; 53. Tongzhou Town (Nandasi) Mosque; 54. Xiguan Mosque; 55. Yujiawu Mosque; 56. Zaolinzhuang Mosque; 57. Zhangjiawan Mosque; 58. Yongledian Mosque; 59. Beiguan Mosque; 60. Xiguanshi Mosque, Changping District; 61. Nanyicun Mosque; 62. Xiaoxinzhuang Mosque; 63. Changping Town Mosque; 64. Heying Mosque; 65. Nankou Town Mosque; 66. Nankoucun Mosque; 67. Doudian Mosque, Fangshan District; 68. Changzhuang Old Mosque; 69. Changzhuang New Mosque; 70. Xinjie Mosque; 71. Chengguan Mosque, Miyun District; 72. Mujiayu Mosque; 73. Gubeikou Mosque; 74. Chengzi Mosque, Mentougou District; 75. Huiminying Old Mosque, Shunyi District; 76. Huiminying New Mosque; 77. Niulanshan Mosque; 78. Gaoliying Old Mosque; 79. Gaoliying New Mosque; 80. Yangzhen Mosque; 81. Chadao Mosque, Yanqing District; 82. Moshi Kou Mosque, Shijingshan; 83. Hongqiao Mosque, Tianjin; 84. Jinjiayao Mosque; 85. Chenjiagou Mosque; 86. Gexindao Mosque; 87. Yuchang Mosque; 88. Wanxin Mosque; 89. Dazhigu Mosque; 90. Hexi Mosque; 91. Great Mosque; 92. Tianmu Liuhe Mosque; 93. Xiningdao Mosque; 94. Shijiazhuang Mosque, Shijiazhuang, Hebei; 95. Zhengding Mosque; 96. Chengde East Mosque, Chengde; 97. Chengde West Mosque; 98. Baoding North Mosque, Baoding; 99. Dingzhou Mosque; 100. Cangzhou North Great Mosque, Cangzhou; 101. Cangzhou East Great Mosque; 102. Botou Great Mosque; 103. Botou East Mosque; 104. Tangshan Lunan Mosque, Tangshan; 105. Xingtai Mosque, Xingtai; 106. Handan Mosque, Handan; 107. Qinhuangdao Haigang Mosque, Qinhuangdao; 108. Yanjiao Mosque, Langfang; 109. Dachang Mosque; 110. Dachang Beiwu Mosque; 111. Damazhuang Mosque; 112. Luzhuang Mosque; 113. Huogezhuang Mosque; 114. Xiaochang Mosque; 115. Liangzhuang Mosque; 116. Yangxinzhuang Mosque; 117. Nanwangzhuang Mosque; 118. Nansitou Mosque; 119. Xiadian Mosque; 120. Xiadiancun Mosque; 121. Chenxinzhuang Mosque; 122. Weizizhuang Mosque; 123. Manxingying Mosque; 124. Dongchang Mosque; 125. Xinhua Street Mosque, Zhangjiakou; 126. Xiguan Mosque; 127. Xuanhua Middle Mosque; 128. Xuanhua South Great Mosque; 129. Dongguan Mosque; 130. Tu'ergou Mosque; 131. Zhulu Mosque, Zhulu County; 132. Taiyuan Old Mosque, Taiyuan, Shanxi; 133. Datong Mosque, Datong; 134. Shuozhou Mosque, Shuozhou; 135. Yuanqu County Mosque, Yuncheng; 136. Changzhi North Mosque, Changzhi; 137. South Mosque; 138. Middle Mosque; 139. Luze Mosque; 140. Huanan Mosque; 141. Southwest City Mosque; 142. Wuyi Road Mosque; 143. Hohhot Great Mosque, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia; 144. Hohhot Small Mosque; 145. Hohhot East Mosque; 146. Hohhot Northeast Mosque; 147. Hohhot South Mosque; 148. Hohhot West Mosque; 149. Hohhot Xianghe Mosque; 150. Hohhot Tuanjie Mosque; 151. Jining Mosque, Ulanqab; 152. Baotou Qingkun Mosque, Baotou; 153. Baotou Great Mosque; 154. Baotou Middle Mosque; 155. Baotou West Mosque; 156. Chifeng Jingpeng Mosque, Chifeng; 157. Chifeng South Great Mosque; 158. Chifeng North Great Mosque; 159. Ordos Dongsheng Mosque, Ordos; 160. Haibowan Mosque, Wuhai; 161. Huajue Lane Mosque, Xi'an, Shaanxi; 162. Xiaopiyuan North Great Mosque; 163. Sajinqiao Old Mosque; 164. Daxuexi Lane Mosque; 165. Dapiyuan Mosque; 166. Beiguangji Street Mosque, Xi'an; 167. Qingzhen Yingli Mosque; 168. Middle Mosque; 169. Xicang Mosque; 170. Lvshan Mosque; 171. Hongbu Street New Mosque; 172. West Mosque; 173. Dongxin Street Mosque; 174. Jianguo Lane Mosque; 175. Yuanjiacun Mosque, Xianyang; 176.

Hanzhong Mosque, Hanzhong 177

Luling Mosque, Xixiang County 178

Xixiang County South Mosque 179

Xixiang County North Mosque 180

Dingbian Mosque, Yulin 181

Ankang North Mosque, Ankang 182

Ankang West Mosque 183

Nansi Mosque in Ankang, Ningning, 184

Xingwen Mosque in Ankang 185, Huayuan Street Mosque in Zhengzhou, Henan 186, Yuyuanli Mosque in Zhengzhou 187, Xiaolou Mosque at Erqi Square in Zhengzhou 188, Beixia Street Mosque in Zhengzhou 189, Qingpingli Mosque in Zhengzhou 190, Wuyingli Mosque in Zhengzhou 191, Fuminli Mosque in Zhengzhou 192, Beida Mosque in Zhengzhou 193, Jiaozuo Mosque in Jiaozuo 194, Beida Mosque in Qinyang 195, Shuinanguan Mosque in Qinyang 196, Qingzhen Laonan Mosque in Qinyang 197, Xiguan Mosque in Bo'ai County 198, Erjie Mosque in Bo'ai County 199, Huaiqing Mosque in Jiaozuo 200, Sangpo Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 201, Sangpo Qingzhen Zhangsi Mosque 202, Sangpo Xida Mosque 203, Sangpo Qingzhen Shangsi Mosque 204, Xiajie Mosque in Jiyuan 205, Qingzhen Nansi Mosque in Jiyuan 206, Dongda Mosque in Kaifeng 207, Zhuxian Town Mosque in Kaifeng 208, Chaoyangmen Mosque in Yuzhou, Xuchang 209, Pingdingshan Mosque in Pingdingshan 210, Nanyang Mosque in Nanyang 211, Nanguan Mosque in Xinyang 212, Dongguan Mosque in Xinxiang 213, Dengzhou Mosque in Dengzhou 214, Nanguan Grand Mosque in Yinchuan, Ningxia 215, Najiahu Grand Mosque 216, Yuehai Mosque 217, Yongning Mosque 218, Minning Mosque 219, Mingxin Mosque 220, Pingluo Mosque in Shizuishan 221, Zhongjie Mosque 222, Shizuishan Mosque 223, Dawukou Mosque 224, Zhongwei Dongguan Grand Mosque 225, Zhongwei Grand Mosque 226, Xingren Grand Mosque 227, Hongganggangzi Gongbei 228, Tongxin Grand Mosque in Wuzhong 229, Siqiliangzi Gongbei 230, Honglefu Gongbei 231, Shagou Gongbei in Guyuan 232, Jingyuan Chengguan Grand Mosque 233, Yejiacun Mosque 234, Guyuan Xiyuan Mosque 235, Guyuan Jiulong Road Mosque 236, Xiguan Grand Mosque in Lanzhou, Gansu 237, Wulipu Mosque in Lanzhou 238, Gengjiazhuang Mosque in Lanzhou 239, Yuzhong Street Mosque in Lanzhou 240, Nanguan Grand Mosque in Lanzhou 241, Wuxingping Lingmingtang Gongbei 242, Xinguan Mosque 243, Lanzhou Qiaomen Mosque 244, Lanzhou Dongchuan Grand Gongbei 245, Lanzhou Wenzquantang 246, Lanzhou Water Mosque 247, Tiejiazhuang Mosque in Linxia 248, Linxia Laohua Mosque 249, Linxia Xinhua Mosque 250, Linxia Nanguan Grand Mosque 251, Linxia Qianheyan Mosque 252, Linxia Grand Gongbei 253, Linxia Zheqiaowan Mosque 254, Chuimatian Qianzhuang Mosque 255, Linxia Grand Gongbei 256, Beiguan Mosque in Tianshui 257, Houjie Mosque 258, Zhangjiachuan Nanchuan Daotang 259, Zhangjiachuan Xuanhuagang Grand Gongbei 260, Zhaochuan Mosque 261, Labuleng Mosque in Gannan 262, Hezuo Grand Mosque 263, Hezuo Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 264, Lintan Qingzhen Shangsi Mosque 265, Lintan Qingzhen Hua Grand Mosque 266, Galutian Big House 267, Lintan Xidaotang 268, Longnan Wudu Grand Mosque in Longnan 269, Yumen Mosque in Yumen 270, Wuaisi Gongbei 271, Jiayuguan Mosque in Jiayuguan 272, Jiuquan Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 273, Wuwei Mosque in Wuwei 274, Dongguan Grand Mosque in Xining, Qinghai 275, Xining Nanguan Grand Mosque 276, Xining Yudaiqiao Mosque 277, Xining Jianguo Road Mosque 278, Xining Xiadu Avenue Mosque 279, Beimo'eryuan Mosque 280, Nanshan Gongbei 281, Guangdemen Gongbei Mosque 282, Xianmen Gongbei 283, Xining Beiguan Mosque 284, Hualong Kangyang Mosque in Haidong 285, Hualong Shangjiahe Mosque 286, Xunhua Jiezi Mosque 287, Xunhua Caotanba Mosque 288, Mengdashan Village Mosque 289, Quhuxiang Village Mosque 290, Hongshuiquan Mosque 291, Xunhua Zanbuhu Mosque 292, Qunke Grand Mosque 293, Hualong Yisha'er Mosque 294, Imam Mosque 295, Guoshitan Mosque 296, Qingshuihe East Qingzhen Nansi Mosque 297, Qingshuihe East Mosque 298, Mengda Mosque 299, Kewa Mosque 300, Zhangga Mosque 301, Suzhi Mosque 302, Ahetan Mosque 303, Tashapo Mosque 304, Chengguan Mosque 305, Jiezi Gongbei 306, Ladongtai Village Mosque in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 307, Jianzha Maketang Mosque in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 308, Hexi Mosque in Delingha 309, Delingha Grand Mosque 310, Jinfeng Middle Road Mosque in Golmud 311, Shimen Mosque 312, Hedong Grand Mosque 313, Hexi Grand Mosque 314, Huatugou Mosque in Mangya 315, Guangyuan Mosque in Guangyuan, Sichuan 316, Langzhong Baba Mosque in Nanchong 317, Langzhong Qingzhen Ancient Mosque 318, Mianyang Mosque in Mianyang 319, Jiangyou Mosque 320, Xiaoquan Mosque in Deyang 321, Tangjia Mosque in Chengdu 322, Tuqiao Mosque in Chengdu 323, Gulou Mosque in Chengdu 324, Huangcheng Mosque in Chengdu 325, Dujiangyan Mao'gong Mosque 326, Dujiangyan Nanjie Mosque 327, Songzhou Qingzhen Beisi Mosque in Aba 328, Songpan Chengguan Mosque 329, Guangzhaoting Gongbei Mosque 330, Xichang Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque in Xichang 331, Xichang Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 332, Hetaocun Mosque in Panzhihua 333, Huihuicun Mosque 334, Heying Mosque 335, Miyi Guabang Mosque 336, Chongqing Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 337, Chongqing Grand Mosque 338, Chongqing Fengjie Mosque 339, Hechuan Mosque 340, Urumqi Tatar Mosque in Xinjiang 341, Urumqi Shaanxi Grand Mosque 342, Urumqi Erdaoqiao Mosque 343, Urumqi White Mosque 344, Urumqi Guyuan Grand Mosque 345, Urumqi Nanda Mosque 346, Urumqi Shanxi Lane Mosque 347, Urumqi Shaanxi Laofang Mosque 348, Turpan Sugong Pagoda Mosque 349, Yining Shaanxi Grand Mosque 350, Liuxing Street Mosque 351, Khanaka and Saitikamale Mosque 352, Kashgar Id Kah Mosque 353, Abakh Khoja Mausoleum 354, Fragrant Concubine Garden Jiaman Mosque 355, Saheya Community Youbazha Mosque 356, Yusuf Khass Hajib Tomb 357, Wuerdasike Mosque 358, Taxkorgan Xiabazha Mosque 359, Shache Jiaman Grand Mosque 360, Altun Mosque 361, Azini Micheti Mosque 362, Kuqa Grand Mosque 363, Mulan Eshidong Mausoleum 364, Yutian Id Kah Mosque 365, Ruoqiang Mosque 366, Hotan Jiaman Mosque 367, Atushi Wusitang West Road Mosque 368, Zhanqian Mosque 369, Aksu Gulebage Mosque 370, Turpan Tuyugou Mausoleum 371, Hami Gaise Tomb 372, Shaanxi Grand Mosque 373, Zhongshan South Road Mosque 374, Huicheng Town Jianguo Village Tuguluk Buzuerrega Mosque 375, Hami Lingmingtang Branch Hall 376, Shenyang Sujiatun Mosque in Liaoning 377, Shenyang South Mosque 378, Dalian Mosque 379, Changchun Songjia Mosque in Jilin 380, Changchun Shuangyang Mosque 381, Changchun Changtong Road Mosque 382, Jilin City Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 383, Jilin East Mosque 384, Jilin Shipyard Gongbei 385, Jilin Qingzhen Beisi Mosque 386, Harbin Daowai Mosque in Heilongjiang 387, Harbin Tatar Mosque 388, Harbin Acheng Mosque 389, Harbin Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 390, Qiqihar Bukui West Mosque 391, Bukui East Mosque 392, Taicheng Mosque in Tai'an, Shandong 393, Taicheng Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 394, Xijie Mosque 395, Xijie Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 396, Beidaquan Mosque 397, Xihuangcun Mosque 398, Fajialing Mosque 399, Xiawang Mosque 400, Shangwang Mosque 401, Ershilibu Mosque 402, Changjiazhuang Mosque 403, Daxinzhuang Mosque 404, Dasuozhuang Mosque 405, Zhoujiapo Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 406, Zhoujiapo Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 407, Jiajiagang Village Mosque 408, Majiayuan Mosque 409, Nigou Village Mosque 410, Longshan Guanzhuang Mosque 411, Fanjia Anfu Mosque 412, Dawenkou Xinghua Street Mosque 413, Dongshen East Village Mosque 414, Dongshen West Village Mosque 415, Dongjie Village Mosque 416, Houhuangcun Mosque 417, Qianhuangcun Mosque 418, Shengjiazhuang Mosque 419, Beiqiu Mosque 420, Songzhuang Mosque 421, Chahedian Mosque 422, Fenghuangcun Mosque 423, Dawangzhuang Mosque 424, Chenjiabu Mosque 425, Xiaojiabu Mosque 426, Xitaili Mosque 427, Liujiazhuang Mosque 428, Nanyicun Mosque 429, Houlvguan Mosque 430, Zhoucheng Mosque 431, Xicun Mosque 432, Lisuocun Mosque 433, Jinan Luokou Mosque 434, Jinan Xiaojinzhuang Mosque 435, Jinan Qingzhen Nanda Mosque 436, Jinan Beida Mosque 437, Jinan Nanguan Mosque 438, Qingzhou Zhenjiao Mosque in Weifang 439, Qingzhou City Mosque 440, Weifang Mosque 441, Jining Dongda Mosque 442, Jining Liuhang East Mosque 443, Heze Xiguan Mosque 444, Heze Nanguan Mosque 445, Cao County Dongguan Xida Mosque 446, Cao County Dongmenli Mosque 447, Cao County Dongguan Mosque 448, Liaocheng Linqing Mosque 449, Linqing Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 450, Liaocheng Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 451, Dezhou Beiying Mosque 452, Dezhou Nanying Mosque 453, Nanjing Jingjue Mosque in Jiangsu 454, Nanjing Caoqiao Mosque 455, Jizhaoying Mosque 456, Hushu Mosque 457, Zhenjiang Shanxiang Mosque 458, Lianyungang Mosque 459, Huai'an Qingjiang Ancient Mosque 460, Taizhou Mosque 461, Nantong Mosque 462, Yangzhou Lingtang Mosque Ancient Mosque 463, Lingtang Grand Mosque 464, Yangzhou Xianhe Mosque 465, Xuzhou Mosque 466, Wuxi Mosque 467, Suzhou Mosque 468, Hefei Mosque in Anhui 469, Huainan Shou County Mosque 470, Anqing Nanguan Mosque 471, Chuzhou Mosque 472, Wuhan Qiyi Street Mosque in Hubei 473, Minquan Road Mosque 474, Ma Si Baba Gongbei 475, Wuhan Jiang'an Mosque 476, Xiangyang Mosque 477, Laohekou Mosque 478, Shiyan Mosque 479, Yichang Mosque 480, Shanghai Huxi Mosque 481, Xiaotaoyuan Mosque 482, Pudong Mosque 483, Songjiang Mosque 484, Jinshan Mosque 485, Jiangwan Mosque 486, Fuyou Road Mosque 487, Hangzhou Phoenix Mosque in Zhejiang 488, Hangzhou Mosque 489, Jiaxing Mosque 490, Ningbo Yuehu Mosque 491, Shaoxing Keqiao Mosque 492, Kuba Mosque 493, Lishui Mosque 494, Huzhou dua Site 495, Nanxun dua Site 496, Quzhou Mosque 497, Taizhou Huangyan dua Site 498, Wenzhou Dongyu Village dua Site 499, Yiwu Grand Mosque in Jinhua 500, Xiamen Mosque in Fujian 501, Quanzhou Qingjing Mosque 502, Nanchang Grand Mosque in Jiangxi 503, Jiujiang Mosque 504, Shaoyang Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque in Hunan 505, Shaoyang Qingzhen Nansi Mosque 506, Longhui County Taohuaping Mosque 507, Longhui County Shanjie Hui Township Ancient Mosque 508, Longhui County Shanjie Hui Township Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 509, Shaoyang County Qingcao Mosque 510, Shaoyang County Jiugongqiao Mosque 511, Changde Mosque 512, Changde Fengshu Township Mosque 513, Changsha Han-Hui Mosque 514, Changsha Mosque 515, Guiyang Mosque in Guizhou 516, Zunyi Mosque 517, Weining Xiaba Mosque 518, Kunming Shuncheng Mosque in Yunnan 519, Kunming Chongde Mosque 520, Kunming Yixigong Mosque 521, Kunming Dabanqiao Mosque 522, Kunming Yongning Mosque 523, Dali Xiaguan Mosque 524, Dali Ximen Mosque 525, Dali Nanmen Mosque 526, Dali Nanwuliqiao Mosque 527, Dali Xiadui Mosque 528, Dali Zhihua Mosque 529, Dali Fengyi Mosque 530, Xizhou Mosque 531, Shipang Mosque 532, Yousuo Mosque 533, Jiming Mosque 534, Yangbi Xiajie Ancient Mosque 535, Weishan Xiaoweigeng Mosque 536, Huihuideng Mosque 537, Donglianhua Mosque 538, Yanqichang Mosque 539, Daweigeng Mosque 540, Mamichang Mi Surname Mosque 541, Mamichang Ma Surname Mosque 542, Weishan City Mosque 543, Xundian Yuping Mosque 544, Kedu Dangui Mosque 545, Kedu Huihui Village Mosque 546, Ludian Tuogu Mosque 547, Zhaotong Baxian Mosque 548, Zhaotong Maohuojie Ancient Mosque 549, Mojiang Talang Mosque 550, Jianshui Ancient Mosque 551, Kaiyuan Dazhuang Mosque 552, Xinzhai Mosque 553, Gejiu Shadian Grand Mosque 554, Shadian Xiying Mosque 555, Shadian Jinjizhai Mosque 556, Laojijie Mosque 557, Mengzi City Mosque 558, Dehong Ruili Mosque 559, Yuxi Daying Mosque 560, Yuxi City Mosque 561, Najiaying Mosque 562, Najiaying Ancient City Mosque 563, Xishuangbanna Jinghong Mosque 564, Xishuangbanna Mansai Hui Mosque 565, Xishuangbanna Manluan Hui Mosque 566, Xishuangbanna Menghai Mosque 567, Lhasa Grand Mosque in Tibet 568, Lhasa Small Mosque 569, Duodi Mosque 570, Lhasa Kaqilinka East Mosque 571, Lhasa Kaqilinka West Mosque 572, Shigatse Mosque 573, Guangzhou Huaisheng Mosque in Guangdong 574, Guangzhou Haopan Street Mosque 575, Guangzhou Xiaodongying Mosque 576, Guangzhou Xianxian Mosque 577, Dongguan Wanjiang dua Site 578, Zhaoqing Qingzhen Xisi Mosque 579, Zhaoqing Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 580, Shenzhen Mosque 581, Nanning Mosque in Guangxi 582, Guilin Qianjing Mosque 583, Liutang Mosque 584, Shanweicun Mosque 585, Jiucun Mosque 586, Xixiang Mosque 587, Women's Mosque 588, Maping Mosque 589, Chongshan Road Mosque 590, Daxu Mosque 591, Beihai Mosque 592, Kowloon Mosque in Hong Kong 593, Islamic Union Mosque 594, Wan Chai Islamic Centre 595, Jamia Mosque 596, Macau Mosque 597, Haikou Mosque in Hainan 598, Sanya Huixin Nankai Mosque 599, Huixin Qingzhen Nansi Mosque 600, Huihui Qingzhen Dongsi Mosque 601, Huihui Qingzhen Beida Mosque 602, Huihui Qingzhen Xibei Mosque 603, Huihui Qingzhen Ancient Mosque 604, Tokyo Camii in Japan 605, Tokyo ASSALAAM Mosque 606, Nagoya Mosque 607, Osaka Mosque 608, Sapporo Otaru Mosque 609, Sapporo Mosque 610, Phuket ISSATUL Mosque in Thailand 611, Phuket YAMEAY Mosque 612, Sultan Mosque in Singapore 613, Omar Mosque 614, National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 615, Jamek Mosque in Kuala Lumpur 616, Federal Territory Mosque 617, Tabung Haji Mosque 618, Selangor Royal Mosque 619, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque 620, Putrajaya Mosque 621, Ash-Shakirin Mosque 622, Terengganu Crystal Mosque 623, Redang Island Mosque 624, Malacca Chinese Mosque 625, Malacca State Mosque 626, Tranquerah Mosque 627, Kampung Hulu Mosque 628, Kampung Kling Mosque 629, Malacca Straits Mosque 630, Sabah State Mosque 631, Sabah Floating Mosque 632, Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia 633, Yogyakarta Nurul Iman Mosque 634, Nurul Falah Mosque 635, Baitussalam Mosque 636, Single Pillar Mosque 637, Jogokariyan Mosque 638, Gedhe Kauman Mosque 639, Yogyakarta Royal Grand Mosque 640, Mataram Mosque 641, Surabaya Broadway Shopping Center Mosque 642, Al-Akbar National Mosque 643, Sunan Ampel Mosque 644, Cheng Ho Mosque 645, Labuan Bajo Agung Nurul Falah Mosque 646, Saigon Mosque in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 647, Rahim Mosque 648, Vladivostok Mosque in Primorsky Krai, Russia 649, Christchurch Mosque in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand 650, Manhattan Mosque in New York, USA 651, Atlanta Mosque in Atlanta, Georgia 652, Idris Mosque in Seattle, Washington 653, Holiday Inn dua Room in Dubai, UAE 654, Desert Safari Camp dua Site 655, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi 656, Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt 657, Imam Hussein Gongbei 658, Nasir Muhammad Mosque 659, Muhammad Ali Mosque 660, Ibn Tulun Mosque 661, Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque 662, Sulayman Agha al-Silahdar Mosque 663, Al-Hakim Mosque 664, Sultan Barquq Mosque 665, Al-Rifa'i Mosque 666, Masjid Al-Malik Faisal bin Abdulaziz 667, Luxor Abu Haggag Mosque 668, Al-Iman Mosque 669, Jeddah Floating Mosque in Saudi Arabia 670, Airport dua Room 671, Prophet's Mosque in Medina 672, An-Nam Mosque 673, Abu Bakr Mosque 674, Umar ibn al-Khattab Mosque 675, Ali Mosque 676, Uhud Martyrs Mosque 677, Mustaraha Mosque 678, Qiblatain Mosque 679, Fatah Mosque 680, Fatah Ali Mosque 681, Salman al-Farsi Mosque 682, Umar Mosque 683, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh Mosque 684, Quba Mosque 685, Jumu'ah Mosque 686, Masjid al-Haram in Mecca 687, Namirah Mosque 688, Jinn Mosque 689, Aisha Mosque 690, Fiumicino Airport dua Room in Rome, Italy 691, Ottawa Mosque in Ottawa, Canada 692, Toronto Chinese Muslim Community 693, Masjid Qurtabah 694, Islamic Institute of Toronto 695, Islamic Foundation of Toronto 696, Jame Abu Bakr Siddique 697, Islamic Center of Quebec in Montreal 698, Alsalam Mosque 699, Masjid Al Salaam in Vancouver 700, Muslim Association Richmond Branch Sadaqa 701, Ismaili Centre 702, Vancouver Jamea Mosque 703, Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre 704, Baitur Rahman Mosque 705, London Central Mosque in London, UK 706, Heathrow Airport dua Room 707, Crawley Islamic Centre 708, NOOR MOSQUE 709, Sri Lanka Mosque Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Muslim knowledge guide revisits a paper on Islamic banking, focusing on Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks in Malaysia, Sharia compliance, profit maximization, murabaha, riba, manager incentives, banking structure, and whether Islamic banks are truly Islamic in practice.

This is another article I translated that critiques Islamic finance. The previous ones got a good response and made many readers think. If you read those, you will see that the contradictions and struggles of so-called Islamic finance were already discussed by scholars decades ago. Solutions exist, but we know very little about them. This has a lot to do with the stance of the people who control the narrative.



Original title: HOW ‘ISLAMIC’ IS ISLAMIC BANKING? A REVISIT

Authors: Eliza Nor, Anwar Allah Pitchi, and Muhammad Usman. It was originally published in the International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business. All three are from the Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the paper was published in 2020.
Main text: Literature widely suggests that Islamic banks and conventional banks do not differ much in terms of regulation, operational expectations, operational dynamics, and organizational structure (Asutay, 2007; Siddiqi, 1999). Considering this argument, this paper tries to discuss these issues by focusing specifically on the Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks in Malaysia. The establishment of Islamic subsidiaries by conventional parent banks has raised many unresolved questions.

Based on an extensive review of theoretical and empirical literature related to Islamic banking and Islamic economics, this study identifies three major challenges facing Islamic banks. These challenges may cause the implementation of Sharia to be limited to a minimum scope.

The first challenge is the different goals between the conventional parent bank and its Islamic subsidiary. The main goal of a conventional parent bank is profit maximization (maximizing shareholder wealth), while the main goal of an Islamic subsidiary (in theory) is to comply with Sharia regulations (profit maximization is only secondary). Managers who are supposed to execute and follow Sharia rulings still need to follow instructions from the senior management of the conventional parent bank.

The second challenge is the profit-maximization motive of Islamic banks. Since an Islamic subsidiary is a subset of a traditional parent bank, its goals must align with those of the parent company.

Finally, if managers lack a deep background in Sharia law, their background can become an obstacle during the Sharia compliance process.

Islamic finance and banking started nearly forty years ago. Even today, despite many ways for Sharia scholars and practitioners to discuss ongoing issues, many unresolved questions and controversies remain around the industry, along with new problems that emerge alongside the development of Islamic banking and finance. One main reason why issues remain unresolved is that there is no clear distinction between Islamic banks and traditional banks, as both systems coexist in the same economy. Although Islamic finance was founded back in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, it has developed much more slowly than traditional finance. Traditional banking and finance have been accepted and practiced by most countries in the world for centuries, so the development of Islamic finance is to some extent benchmarked against traditional banking. In countries like Malaysia where Islamic banks exist, coexistence with traditional banks is almost unavoidable because these banks were originally established as traditional banks. Islamic banking windows were opened to meet the growing public demand and interest in Islamic banking products.

The successful implementation of the Islamic banking system in the Middle East encouraged local consortiums to establish Islamic banking in Malaysia. Therefore, in 1983, Malaysia enacted the Islamic Banking Act and established the first full-fledged Islamic bank, Bank Islam Malaysia. In 1999, the second Islamic bank, Bank Muamalat, was established. To this day, these are the only full-fledged local Islamic banks in Malaysia. Other local Islamic banks operate as subsidiaries of traditional parent companies, including Affin Islamic Bank Berhad; Alliance Islamic Bank Berhad; AmBank Islamic Berhad; CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad; Maybank Islamic Berhad, Public Islamic Bank Berhad; and RHB Islamic Bank Berhad.

In 1993, the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia) gave traditional banks the option to open Islamic windows. These windows offered customers banking products that follow Sharia law through their existing traditional branches. As a result, 21 Islamic banking windows were set up by their traditional bank parent companies. In 2002, the Central Bank of Malaysia allowed traditional banks to open Islamic subsidiaries to replace their existing Islamic windows. These subsidiaries are governed by the Islamic Banking Act of 1983 (Mohamed Ariff, 2017).

Over time, issues related to Islamic banking operations have grown because of conflicts between Sharia goals and commercial goals. The former is built around Islamic concepts, while the latter is built on a capitalist economy. The task of Sharia scholars is to ensure that Islamic banks follow the goals of Sharia law. On the other hand, managers are the people responsible for carrying out Sharia rulings. At the same time, managers also have a duty to meet the business goals set by the board of directors. Because of this, managers are stuck in the middle between reaching Sharia goals and business goals. This conflict can lead to Islamic banks failing to follow Sharia. Beyond the differences between business goals and Sharia goals, the backgrounds of managers and staff also play a big role in making sure Islamic banks follow Sharia.

Since Islamic banking and finance began, the issues and challenges facing the industry have been widely debated by scholars, professionals, and regulators around the world. Many documents discuss how Islamic banking products are similar to traditional banking products (for example, see Dusuki & Abozaid (2007); Kuran (2004); Siddiqi (2006); Yousef (2004)). On the other hand, issues regarding Islamic banking operations have received very little attention in the literature. Some argue that there is not much difference between Islamic banks and traditional banks when it comes to regulation, operational expectations, operational dynamics, and organizational structure (Asutay, 2007); Siddiqi, 1999). To fill this gap in the literature, this article focuses on the operations of Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks based on a newly developed conceptual framework.

There are two reasons for choosing Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks. First, setting up Islamic subsidiaries by conventional banks has become a popular practice not only in Malaysia but also worldwide. Since the birth of Islamic finance nearly forty years ago, Islamic banking has become a profitable business. Many conventional banks have tried to seize this opportunity by establishing their own Islamic subsidiaries. As mentioned above, most Islamic banks in Malaysia exist as subsidiaries of conventional banks. Second, issues and controversies surrounding Islamic subsidiaries are expected to be more severe compared to established Islamic banks, because the former are under the control of non-Islamic conventional banks. On the other hand, for established Islamic banks, issues or conflicts related to Sharia may be less obvious because these banks exist independently and their decision-making processes are not influenced by a conventional parent bank.

Islamic Economics and Capitalist Economics

Before discussing issues related to Islamic banking, it is important to emphasize the differences between capitalist economics and Islamic economics, because Islamic economics and finance are only a small part of the larger capitalist economy.

Therefore, the influence of the former on Islamic economic and financial activities is almost inevitable, as the entire world is governed by capitalist economics. The difference between the two is only clear in theory. In reality, daily activities in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries are influenced by the capitalist economy.

The capitalist economy is built on a neoclassical framework that focuses on individual self-maximization while ignoring the maximization of social welfare (Asutay, 2007, p. 168). This approach contradicts the teachings of Islamic economics, which emphasize a balance between self-interest and social welfare.

Muhammad Zahid (2015) argues that the Muslim world has become a supporter of interest (riba) and secularism, which is the separation of daily life, activities, and education from religion. Muslims have also consistently supported the fiat currency and fractional reserve systems introduced by the Western world, which resulted from the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate in Turkey in 1923, the rise of the Western world, and the spread of secular ideologies.

The differences between capitalist economics and Islamic economics are obvious; the former emphasizes individualism, while the latter focuses on the welfare of both the individual and the entire society. Islamic economics also considers life in the afterlife, whereas capitalist economics only focuses on worldly life.

Similarities between Islamic banks and traditional banks: Islamic banks have two main goals: profitability and social objectives. However, profitability should not be the only goal, because Islamic banks must meet the social objectives set by the goals of Islamic law (Maqasid al Shariah), which is the fair distribution and circulation of wealth. Wealth circulation means that funds in society should flow from the rich (surplus sector) to the poor (deficit sector). Warde (2000, pp. 174-175) summarizes the functions and roles of Islamic banks in society as follows (based on the Islamic Banking Handbook, Vol. 6, p. 293):

(1) Broad social and economic benefits: Investment policies must focus on these sectors: agriculture, housing, and health services.

(2) Create job opportunities, focusing on promising economic sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and technology-intensive activities.

(3) Promote and encourage entrepreneurship: Banks must prioritize small businesses through profit and loss sharing (PLS) mechanisms like mudarabah and musharakah.

(4) Promote social justice, equality, and poverty alleviation.

(5) Regional distribution of investments: (a) Direct funds to areas that lack investment. (b) Invest savings primarily in areas where savings were mobilized, so that people benefit from their own savings.

Based on the functions and roles of Islamic banks mentioned above, it is clear that Islamic banks should provide financing to entrepreneurs starting new businesses in sectors that use new technologies, such as information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. However, these entrepreneurs may lack experience and a track record because their businesses are small and new. They may need a lot of capital to expand, so they might seek funding from Islamic banks. However, due to the nature of these businesses, these entrepreneurs may lack the collateral to offer banks. Entrepreneurs with new businesses, lacking a track record and collateral, are likely to be excluded from getting financing because their businesses are risky and have a high chance of failure. Therefore, their applications might be rejected. This leads to the problem of financial discrimination by Islamic banks. According to Asutay (2007, p. 177), financial discrimination in personal banking has become a major issue. When comparing debt financing in both types of banking, entrepreneurs rejected by traditional banks may receive the same treatment from Islamic banks.

In theory, Islamic banks should provide equity-based financing, such as profit-sharing partnership (mudarabah) and joint venture (musharakah) (M&M). Both mudarabah and musharakah are based on profit and loss sharing (PLS), where both the financier and the entrepreneur share profits and losses according to a pre-agreed ratio. These types of financing are suitable for entrepreneurs with new businesses. However, in practice, Islamic banks have been avoiding M&M financing. Evidence provided by Aggarwal and Yousef (2000), Iqbal and Molyneux (2005), Hasan (2007), and Nagaoke (2007) shows that Islamic banks rarely provide long-term financing to entrepreneurs seeking funds. Asutay (2007) argues that equity financing contributes more to economic growth than debt financing because the former is long-term. The fact that Islamic banks avoid equity financing suggests they are not particularly interested in economic development and social welfare. Islamic banks are more interested in providing financing with fixed returns, such as cost-plus financing (murabaha), deferred payment sale (bay bithaman ajil), and leasing (ijarah), rather than offering PLS-type products.

On the other hand, Islamic banks often operate in ways that mimic traditional banks, where (1) both avoid providing financing to entrepreneurs with risky businesses, and (2) both rely heavily on debt financing to ensure fixed returns (Warde, 2000, p. 22). Therefore, the goal of reaching deep into rural areas to serve them has not been achieved. Most evidence highlights that Islamic banks prefer to invest in short-term commercial deals rather than the manufacturing or agricultural sectors (Warde, 2000, p. 175). As Asutay (2007) and Warde (2000) point out, the main sectors Islamic banks should focus on are agriculture, manufacturing, and technology-intensive industries. Traditional banks are built on a fractional reserve system, which expands the money supply by multiplying loans. In this system, commercial banks use excess reserves from money deposited by savers to make a profit by charging interest to borrowers (for example, see Mishkin, 2016). This system goes against Islamic teachings because the profit comes from riba, and the bank uses other people's money—the money of the savers—to earn that profit.

Islamic banks, just like traditional banks, create money through debt financing (Zaman, 2020). The effects caused by credit expansion in traditional banks and Islamic banks are almost the same. This credit expansion can be linked to artificial scarcity (due to greed and self-interest), trade distortions (due to wealth accumulation, inflation, and the financialization of capital), and inherent boom-and-bust cycles (business cycles); ecological destruction (deforestation) and wealth polarization (wealth concentrated in the hands of a few); income inequality. Because of the nature of the money supply, as global debt increases, the business interests served by that debt allow the rich to become even wealthier. Over the past decade, more and more wealth has been concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people (Jha, 2013, pp. 356-359). Sabirzyanov and Hashim (2015) argue that Islamic banking and finance create bubble economies through debt financing under a fractional reserve system. Like traditional banks, Islamic banks support the expansion of the money supply, which leads to economic inflation. Even though price levels rise, the GDP growth rate does not change because the actual production in the economy likely stays the same.

Empirical evidence supports the argument that there is no major difference between Islamic banks and traditional banks. Chong and Liu (2009) empirically studied the differences between Islamic and traditional banks and found that Islamic banks do not differ much from traditional banking operations. In terms of assets in the Islamic banking industry, only a small portion of financing is based on profit and loss sharing (PLS) principles. In Malaysia, the vast majority of Islamic bank financing is still based on non-PLS models allowed by Sharia, but these ignore the spirit of prohibiting usury. Their research shows that in practice, Islamic deposits are not interest-free. One possible explanation for why Islamic deposits are not interest-free is that depositors' funds are mainly invested in non-PLS financing in practice. Due to increased competition from the traditional banking industry, the return rates on Islamic deposit accounts are linked to the return rates of traditional bank deposits. They concluded that the Islamic banking practiced in Malaysia today is similar to traditional banking, so the benefits of Islamic banking only exist in theory.

In Pakistan, research has also been conducted on the similarities between Islamic banks and traditional banks. Hanif (2016) chose five contracts or products to analyze: deposits, cost-plus financing (Murabaha), leasing (Ijarah), diminishing partnership (Reducing Musharaka), and Islamic bonds (Sukuk). The results show that even though these financial contracts look at legal forms, their economic substance matches traditional banking more closely. The study found that despite philosophical differences, the financial results of the Islamic finance system match traditional banking. This happens mainly because pricing is linked to the interbank offered rate (Islamic Bank OR), which ignores market mechanisms or the actual price of goods and services provided. Some also argue that putting Sharia-based financial contracts into practice is more demanding than what the contracts themselves require. Islamic banks prefer Sharia-compliant financial contracts because they are similar to traditional financial products (Hanif, 2018). A recent study on how customers perceive Islamic banks in Malaysia found that most people surveyed do not think Islamic banking is fully compliant with Sharia. This shows how important it is to implement a profit-and-loss sharing (PLS) system in the current financial setup. The results also show there is not much difference between Islamic banks and traditional banks, as both focus on efficiency and keeping their current services running (Rahmi, Azma, Obad, Zaim, and Rahman, 2020).

Evidence shows that Islamic banks currently fail to meet all the requirements set by the El Hawary four-part classification (El Hawary, Grais, and Iqbal, 2004: 5): (1) risk sharing (financial deals must reflect a balanced risk and reward distribution for everyone involved); (2) materiality (financial deals must be linked, directly or indirectly, to real economic transactions); (3) no exploitation (financial deals should not lead to any party involved being exploited); (4) no funding for sinful activities (such as producing alcoholic drinks). Therefore, the argument that Islamic banks offer a different alternative to traditional financing is not supported, because there is no real difference between Islamic banks and traditional banks (Khan, 2010). If Islamic banks do not operate much differently from traditional banks in reality, they will fail to reach their original goals of promoting social justice and equality or reducing poverty if they do not direct funds to the people who need them.

In terms of financing, Islamic banks limit their social role to zakat and other charitable activities like religious endowments (waqaf) and voluntary charity (sadaqah), which overlooks economic development and social justice. Even though the Islamic banking industry has been growing worldwide, the lives of Muslim people have not improved much. From the early days, it was clear that Islamic banks should not be driven by profit maximization, but should instead provide socio-economic benefits to their communities (Warde, 2000, p. 153). In practice, Islamic banks tend to make profit maximization their main goal, which is the same as the goal of traditional banks. In theory, the purpose and foundation for establishing Islamic financial institutions are completely different from those of traditional financial institutions. Islamic banks should follow the goals of Islamic law (maqasid al-shariah) regarding the protection of wealth. According to Islamic law rulings, five dimensions of public welfare (maslahah) must be protected in Muslim society: faith, life, intellect, prosperity, and property (Khairul Mukminin, 2018).

Laldin and Furqani (2012:4) define the goals of Islamic law (maqasid al-shariah) as follows: '...as a way of life, Islam forms standards, guidelines, values, and directions based on divine revelation (wahi) to be applied in daily life to solve human problems and guide the direction of human life.' The principles of goals (maqasid) and public welfare (maslahah) cannot and must not contradict the Quran and the Hadith, as both are the core of all other principles and rules. However, in the current situation, the interpretation of public welfare (maslahah) comes only from practical methods and reasoning, rather than from the Quran and the Hadith. Therefore, some international financial institutions manipulate the interpretation of public welfare (maslahah) and goals (maqasid) to justify their actions and norms (Sabirzyanov and Hashim, 2015). When it comes to mal (wealth), the main goal of Sharia is the legal protection of funds. How funds should be invested is only a secondary goal. However, Islamic banks put profit maximization first. Despite various profitable investments, Islamic banks should prioritize protecting the wealth of depositors instead of investing just to get higher profits. Islamic banks are advised not to engage in normal profit-seeking or maximize their funding sources as financial gains. Some also argue that Islamic banks pay less attention to the overall well-being of society (Khairul Mukminin, 2019). A critical study on the performance of international financial institutions shows a gap between the reality of these institutions and the goals of Islamic economics. Instead of bringing benefits to society, the Islamic banking and finance industry has achieved high profit margins (Sabirzyanov and Hashim, 2015).

From the perspective of Sharia, regarding interests, the rights of Allah must be given supreme status, and human rights will come after all other commitments are fulfilled. In the long run, Islamic banks can protect the value of wealth and other higher values by upholding Sharia, so they should put protection first, followed by establishment and cultivation (Khairul Mukminin, 2018).

Sharia compliance

In the case of Islamic financial transactions, all deals must follow and comply with Islamic law and business transaction rules. Sources of Islamic law include the Quran and Sunnah, along with secondary sources like ijma' and qiyas (Engku Rabiah Adawiah, 2013). The concept of Shariah compliance is often misunderstood as just meeting the minimum legal requirements set by Islamic jurisprudence. Instead, Shariah compliance means growing Islamic finance within the spirit and value system of Islam, and achieving the ideals and goals of Shariah in the financial sector (Laldin and Furqani, 2013a). Maqasid al Shariah is seen as a grand framework that provides guidelines and direction to ensure maslahah (benefit) is achieved and mafsadah (harm) is prevented in all financial contracts (Laldin and Furqani, 2012).

For branch managers, achieving both profit maximization and Shariah compliance is not easy, because in Malaysia, both Islamic and conventional products are offered at the same branch. When this happens, it is clear that there is a mix of lawful and unlawful practices. Although some banks separate the branches that offer Islamic products from those offering conventional ones, it is still questionable whether their daily operations follow Islamic rules. This is not a major issue because the products they offer are Shariah-compliant; it is a micro-level issue. Islamic banks have focused on Shariah-compliant products since they started, rather than products based on Shariah, so the problem is whether daily practices follow Shariah. In other words, do the daily operations of Islamic subsidiaries follow Shariah? In reality, achieving Shariah compliance at a macro level is much harder than at a micro level.

The idea of wealth circulation is a macro goal of Shariah, while the ideas of fair and transparent financial practices relate to the micro goals of Shariah regarding transaction tools and mechanisms. As mentioned before, the role of Islamic banks is to move wealth from the rich (surplus sector) to the poor or those in society who need funds (deficit sector), so that effective wealth circulation can be achieved in society. However, if Islamic banks do not practice what they should and instead act like conventional banks, this goal is hard to reach. If Islamic banks are not much different from conventional banks, the main goal of setting up Islamic banks will remain just a theory.

Islamic Banking: Theory and Reality

In theory, Islamic banking is a subset of the Islamic economic system, aimed at achieving a just, fair, and balanced society, which is written in Sharia (for example, see Ahmed, 1972; Chapra, 1985, 2000; and Siddiqi, 1981). The ban on interest, gambling, and excessive risk is meant to create a fair playing field to protect social interests and promote social harmony (Dusuki and Bouheraoua, 2011).

However, in reality, Islamic banks are a subset of conventional parent banks, and those parent banks are a subset of the capitalist economic system. This conceptual framework was developed based on the arguments presented in the previous sections. This is common in Malaysia and Pakistan, where Islamic banks are often subsidiaries of conventional parent banks. Both the conventional parent bank and the Islamic subsidiary are part (subsets) of the capitalist economy. The CEO, chairman, and board of directors of the conventional parent bank are the parties who may influence the decisions of the CEO, chairman, and board of directors of the Islamic subsidiary. Sharia board members provide advice on Sharia issues and may communicate directly with the boards of Islamic subsidiaries. On the other hand, the Sharia committee may not have direct contact with the general managers and branch managers of Islamic subsidiaries. Because they act as advisors to the boards of Islamic subsidiaries, Sharia board members may not have authority in the decision-making process. Managers may have more power than the Sharia committee during the decision-making process (for example, see Ullah et al. (2016)).

Challenges in implementing Sharia in Islamic banks. The main motivation for choosing Islamic banks is to avoid interest and follow Sharia (Bley and Kuehn, 2004; Haque et al., 2009; Hanif et al., 2012). However, following Sharia has been one of the biggest obstacles for Islamic banks. This section discusses the challenges of implementing Sharia. The main challenges include a lack of understanding among staff and managers of Islamic banks regarding the primary goals of establishing these banks. Customers are willing to pay high prices for products and services that follow Sharia, which helps the high profitability of Islamic banking (Lee and Ullah, 2008, 2011). However, achieving Sharia goals has become one of the biggest challenges for Islamic banks. Ullah (2014) found that Islamic banks in Bangladesh do not follow Sharia well, especially in investment activities, where there are serious Sharia violations. This happens because of a lack of knowledge and seriousness about following Sharia, a lack of proper care in Sharia audits, and a lack of skill and experience among members of Sharia supervisory boards.

Islamic banks face tough competition from traditional banks when creating new products. A simple solution is to rely on a loose interpretation of Sharia, which helps Islamic banks compete faster in profitable markets. The difficult way is to improve management and introduce different products based on profit and loss sharing (PLS) (Warde, 2000, p. 153). The literature shows that many Islamic banks choose the first solution. Because of this, Sharia compliance, which is the pillar of Islamic banking, has to take a backseat.

The main challenges Islamic banks face in following Sharia include: (1) the different goals of Islamic subsidiaries and their traditional parent banks; (2) the goal of Islamic banks to maximize profit; (3) the role of branch managers.

Different goals between Islamic subsidiaries and their parent companies

As Adam Smith proposed in his book The Wealth of Nations, business goals are based on a capitalist economy. Under a capitalist system, individuals are not limited by profit and are allowed to pursue their own interests. Built on Adam Smith's capitalist economy, a company's main goal is to maximize profit and increase market share. In other words, the main goal of a company is to maximize the wealth of the shareholders who contribute to the company and expect to make a profit from their investment. Shareholders appoint managers, who act as agents, to ensure the company's daily operations align with its goals.

The goals of traditional banks align with the economic theory proposed by Friedman (1970). As Friedman (1970) pointed out, company executives or managers are hired by the business owners and have a direct responsibility to those owners, who are their employers. They have a responsibility to run the business to maximize the company's profit while following the basic rules of society, whether required by law or ethics. According to Friedman's (1970) theory, the main goal of a traditional bank's parent company is to maximize shareholder wealth.

On the other hand, the main goal of establishing an Islamic bank is to follow the rules of Sharia, provide benefits to society as a whole (Warde, 2000), and protect the public interest (achieving maslahah). In other words, Islamic banks are built on a religious foundation, and making a profit is only a secondary goal for them. The business side of an Islamic bank works hand-in-hand with religion and the core content of Sharia (Engku Rabiah Adawiah, 2013). Therefore, there are different goals between a traditional parent bank and its Islamic subsidiary.

In an Islamic bank, the goals of the managers and the Sharia board are expected to be the same. In other words, the main goal for both sides is to meet the requirements set out in the Sharia amendment. However, evidence from experience shows this is not the case. For example, in a 2016 study by Ullah and others, these areas were used to check if managers and the Sharia board had the same goals: social welfare, ethical investment, fairness and justice, charity, solidarity, profiteering, secured investment, and traditional mutual benefit. Based on interviews, they found that managers only placed a moderate amount of importance on social welfare, fairness and justice, charity, and solidarity. On the other hand, the Sharia board places high importance on these areas because their main goal is to earn the pleasure of Allah. Regarding profits, managers believe maximizing profit is the main reason for starting an Islamic bank, and they are willing to sacrifice fairness and justice to get high returns. For secured investment, managers prefer financial tools that are convenient, safe, and offer a fixed return. Managers do not like profit-sharing tools like mudarabah and musharakah because these tools are risky and make investment returns uncertain. To compete with traditional banks, managers at Islamic banks choose to offer products similar to those of traditional banks to meet customer needs. Sharia scholars say that managers even ask them to find ways to make all traditional products comply with Sharia. Since managers have more power in decision-making than Sharia scholars, the managers use several pressure tactics to get the scholars to accept the lowest level of Sharia compliance in matters related to Sharia.

For subsidiaries of traditional parent banks, the boards of the Islamic subsidiaries are not independent because they must follow instructions set by the board of the traditional parent bank (see Figure 1). Then, these instructions are passed to the branch managers of the Islamic subsidiary. At the same time, branch managers must follow Sharia rulings passed by Sharia authorities and upheld by the Islamic subsidiary's Sharia board. As mentioned, the parent bank and the Islamic subsidiary have different goals because the former is based on a capitalist economy, which is non-Islamic, while the latter is based on Sharia. To make sure the goals of the parent bank and the Islamic subsidiary align, the Islamic subsidiary only achieves the minimum level of Sharia compliance.

If the parent bank is a conventional bank and the subsidiary is an Islamic bank, how can competition between the two types of banks be achieved when the Islamic bank is just a subsidiary of a conventional parent company? Of course, these subsidiaries do not compete with their parent banks. Instead of competing with or being different from conventional banks, Islamic banks end up imitating the products and practices of conventional banks. This goes against what Dusuki and Abdullah (2014) argued, which is that Islamic banks should compete with conventional banks. Therefore, Islamic banks must realign their goals with the goals of Sharia.

The main challenge for conventional banks transitioning to Islamic banks is the goal of profit maximization while complying with Sharia principles (Shafii, Shahimi, and Said, 2016). Some argue that the operations of Islamic banks are similar to those of conventional banks, except that the former must follow Sharia rulings (Haniff, 2011; 2014). In the current context, Islamic finance tries to gain profitability and efficiency from traditional finance by changing its external structure. Making these changes without altering any substance is not enough, because the goals of the capitalist system are still maintained. For example, current Islamic finance products are modified from traditional counterparts to meet Islamic law requirements (Laldin & Furqani, 2013b, pp. 32-33).

According to Al-Atyat (2007) and Al-Atyat and Hakeem (2010), as cited by Ahmed and Hussainey (2015), the main reason for switching from traditional banking to Islamic banking is to use the profitability of Islamic banks. Many studies prove that Islamic banks are more profitable than traditional banks (for example, see the research by Khediri, Charfeddine, and Youssef (2015), and Ramlan and Adnan (2016)). This also relates to the motivation of managers entering the Islamic banking industry to use the industry's profitability, rather than achieving Sharia goals from the overall business model (Ullah et al., 2016). A study on Islamic banking practices shows that wealth maximization, Sharia rulings (fatwa), the competitive environment, and minimal risk management approaches in the Islamic banking industry push Islamic banks to adopt debt-based financing. Islamic banks defend their practices by adopting Sharia rulings from Sharia scholars to make them comply with Sharia, but they are not based on Sharia. The study concludes that the policies and practices of Islamic banks have deviated from Islamic banking theory and Islamic principles. The focus of Islamic banks has always been on profit maximization rather than social welfare (Ahmed, Akhtar, Ahmed, and Aziz, 2017).

Al-Omar and Iqbal (1999) raised questions about the authenticity of large multinational banks operating in the Islamic banking industry. Their participation in the Islamic banking industry is purely a business activity to use the profitability of Islamic banking operations. Another worrying issue is whether traditional banks strictly follow Sharia regulations and comply with the rules of the Islamic banking industry. Some people think the main factors affecting the shift from traditional banks to Islamic banks are risk and profitability (Al-Alani and Yaacob, 2012).

As previous studies cited by Shafii, Shahimi, and Saaid (2016) show, an environment where Islamic banks operate alongside traditional banks does not fully support Islamic banks in following Sharia principles, because these banks are based on traditional economic systems (for example, see the study by Al-Oqool (2011); Al-Atyat (2007); Al-Martan (2005); Al-Omar & Iqbal (1999); and al-Rabiaa (1989)).

Research in the literature highlights many challenges and obstacles to successfully converting traditional banks to an Islamic banking model. Most studies (for example, Alani & Yaacob, 2012; Al-Oqool, 2011; Al-Atyat, 2007; Al-Martan, 1999) prove that human resources, regulations and legislation, Sharia compliance, and Islamic banking products are the main obstacles affecting the shift of central banking institutions to Islamic banking.

The role of managers

According to Azid, Asutay, and Burki (2007), company managers have two main duties. These are (1) maximizing profit for shareholders and (2) protecting the interests of stakeholders. Stakeholders include not only employees, customers, and suppliers, but also society and the environment. The second role aligns with the goals of Sharia (maqasid), where activities should benefit the entire Ummah, covering human life and well-being. Since Islamic banks often operate as subsidiaries of larger conventional entities, managers are caught between following instructions from top management or the board, and following Sharia rulings passed by the Sharia board, which is a primary requirement for an Islamic entity. In an Islamic subsidiary of a conventional bank, the branch manager is responsible for carrying out instructions set by the board. At the same time, he or she must also follow Sharia rulings passed by the Sharia board. The parent conventional bank aims for profit maximization, which fits a capitalist economic system, while the Islamic subsidiary aims to achieve Sharia goals. This puts the manager in the middle of these two objectives. Because the Islamic bank is just a subsidiary of a conventional parent bank, the goals of both entities must align. Therefore, the goal must be profit maximization.

Another major issue is the background of the managers themselves. Literature widely suggests that managers in Islamic banks lack Sharia knowledge and exposure because they often come from conventional backgrounds. If people who should follow Sharia rules do not clearly understand Sharia principles, then carrying out Sharia rulings will be difficult.

Conclusion and suggestions

The Islamic banking and finance industry started nearly forty years ago. However, many issues remain unsolved today, and new problems keep appearing alongside the growth of Islamic finance. One main reason why issues remain unresolved is that there is no clear distinction between Islamic banks and traditional banks, as both systems coexist in the same economy. Even though Malaysia is known as a center for Islamic banking and finance, there are only two full-fledged Islamic banks; Bank Islam and Bank Muammalat. All other Islamic banks are just Islamic subsidiaries of large conventional banks.

Setting up Islamic subsidiaries for conventional parent banks has caused many unsolved problems. This is likely because the conventional parent banks and their Islamic subsidiaries have different goals. The main goal of a conventional parent bank is to maximize profit for shareholders, while the main goal of an Islamic subsidiary is to follow Sharia rules, with profit being only a secondary goal. Managers who should carry out and follow Sharia rulings still have to follow orders from the top management at the conventional parent bank. The Islamic subsidiary and the traditional parent bank operate out of the same branch. Staff members who work for the traditional parent company also have to handle duties for the Islamic subsidiary. In this situation, conflicts of interest are almost impossible to avoid.

Since most Islamic banks in Malaysia are subsidiaries of traditional banks, and staff often face conflicts of interest between traditional and Islamic banking tasks, the best solution may be to train staff and managers to deeply understand Islamic banking and Islamic teachings. This knowledge helps staff realize why it is important to keep Islamic and traditional banking tasks separate, as there should be a clear distinction between the two.

In short, following Sharia at a minimum level is not enough to truly fulfill Sharia. To reach the goals of Islamic banking, the Islamic spirit of sincerity and honesty should be rooted in the hearts of the managers and staff. If managers and staff have a strong Islamic spirit and always aim for maximum Sharia compliance, then the goals of Islamic banking—such as social justice, poverty relief, and preventing exploitation—can finally be achieved. Collapse Read »

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Summary: This London, Oxford, and Cambridge Muslim travel guide continues through Cambridge colleges, campus scenes, Palestine support gatherings, historic sites, airport details, Heathrow prayer rooms, and the author's reflections after traveling through Italy, the UK, and Canada.



Cambridge is a city in Cambridgeshire. It is famous for the University of Cambridge and functions like a university town.



The University of Cambridge has produced 88 Nobel Prize winners. While this number is impressive, we do not need to be overly surprised. The Nobel Prize originated in Europe, and academic connections like mentorships and professional networks are closer here, so it is normal for the number of winners to be high.





I happened upon a Malaysian Chinese restaurant in Cambridge. There are a lot of Chinese people in this area.



The Polar Museum

At the Polar Museum in Cambridge, the owner even built a statue for a dog.



Europeans treat their dogs like people. The Christian world likes to keep dogs, while the Muslim world prefers cats.



The Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge was named after its main donor, Sir Paul Judge. It was founded in 1990 and is a place for MBA training.



















Lawns are for people to sit on, not just for decoration. You can walk on them, not just look at them.



The country paths in Cambridge are quiet. The weather was nice, and I took a walk there at sunset.





Corpus Clock

The Corpus Clock, also called the Grasshopper Clock, is a popular spot for photos. It is set into the outer wall of the library at Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. It consists of a metallic gold disc and a metal grasshopper sculpture. It is called the Chronophage, which comes from the Greek words for time and eating, meaning the time eater. It reportedly cost 1 million pounds, but it is full of craftsmanship. Stephen Hawking attended the unveiling ceremony.

I do not like Hawking because his comments outside of physics were too shallow and felt like publicity stunts. He was basically an internet celebrity. Besides, many in the field think his physics achievements are overrated. In December 1999, Physics World magazine polled top physicists. Out of 130 people asked, they chose five top physicists. Einstein got the most votes (119), followed by Newton (96), Maxwell (67), Bohr (47), Heisenberg (30), Galileo (27), Feynman (23), Dirac (22), and Schrödinger (22). Only one person out of those 130 mentioned Hawking anywhere on their list.



Supporters of Palestine gathered on campus, with someone speaking in the middle.



It happens to be the graduation ceremony at Cambridge today, and many students are wearing their gowns to attend.









Thuluth College is the most powerful college at Cambridge. Both Newton and Bacon came from here. Russell was there too, but I think his influence is far less than the other two. Even Russell's student, Wittgenstein, had more influence than him.





The apple tree in front of Thuluth College is said to be a transplant of the one that hit Newton, but there is no sign on site to prove it. I recommend reading a biography of Newton called The Last Sorcerer. It talks about the origins of his ideas. Newton studied theology his whole life and was a true theologian. His scientific achievements were just a byproduct of his theological research. It is not like some cheap books claim, where he only turned to religion because he was confused in his old age. Newton was a total heretic who denied the Thuluth and insisted the Bible had been tampered with. Because he held such a high position at the Royal Society, the church did not dare to do anything to him.



A miniature sand table model of Cambridge.









Cambridge still keeps its medieval architectural style. I thought universities abroad were completely open to the public, but at least Cambridge and Oxford are not. You need to book tickets in advance to enter some colleges, and some areas are not open to visitors at all.





The Mathematical Bridge designed by Newton.

This bridge and the monument for Xu Zhimo's poem 'Second Farewell to Cambridge' (Zai Bie Kang Qiao) are both closed. You can only look from a distance. Kang Qiao is just another way to translate Cambridge.







The biological garden at Cambridge.

I said goodbye to Cambridge and returned to London that evening to enjoy the night view of Big Ben.





London nights in June are still a bit chilly, and it is windy by the River Thames.



London Eye





I crossed the bridge from Big Ben to find a restaurant on another street. It was already 11 p.m. and not many places were open, but I found this kebab shop.





Two white brothers were grilling meat inside. They spoke Arabic, and when I asked, they said they were from Algeria.









I had a platter of grilled lamb chops and chicken pieces with a side salad and a cola. It cost nearly 200 yuan, but it was delicious.



I set off again the next day, taking a train to Oxford. The one-way trip takes about an hour and a half.



A symbol of the UK: the double-decker sightseeing bus.



Oxford University has an even longer history than Cambridge, dating back over 900 years. Oxford was founded 100 years before Cambridge, which actually split off from Oxford.



However, if you can only choose one, I suggest visiting Cambridge because the scenery is a bit more beautiful.









Christ Church College, Oxford University

Oxford University is the prototype for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Harry Potter and served as a filming location. It is a must-visit spot for Harry Potter fans.



You can see all of Oxford on foot in just one day, and you can finish visiting all the popular spots in half a day.







Oxford Museum





Universities were first built to serve the church, so every college has its own chapel. Even though these chapels are now just places for tourists to take photos, the beauty of their religious art is something secular art can never match.





Radcliffe Camera

This area has also become a place where supporters of Palestine set up tents.





It happened to be Oxford's graduation day. Supporters of Gaza handed out flyers where students and teachers walked, and many police officers arrived to prevent any conflict.



The protesters accused Google of being an accomplice.







It was rare to see an East Asian supporter at the scene. She held flyers to hand out to students and teachers, but I did not see anyone take one, and the police did not stop her.





Bridge of Sighs

This is a popular Oxford spot on Xiaohongshu, but I walked past it and did not see anything special.



I was more interested in the flowers in front of people's homes. I noticed they really love planting flowers at their front doors.



Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History is great fun. You do not need a reservation, and it is free to visit.





Natural science was my favorite subject as a child. I loved these huge ancient creatures, though I did not become a scientist when I grew up.









They put insect specimens of the same color together. I believe every child is interested in these creatures during their childhood.





















Thuluth College, Oxford

Both Oxford and Cambridge have a Thuluth College, but the one in Cambridge is more famous.



My two-day trip to Cambridge and Oxford moved me deeply. I have to admit, this is exactly what a university looks like in my mind.



I walked around Oxford University from morning until noon and basically finished seeing it. Then I went to town for lunch and saw a market here. It opens every Wednesday and Saturday. It turns out British people also go to big markets.



There are several halal stalls at the market. This young man saw me filming him and cooperated by making a gesture.



I also found a halal Northeast Chinese dumpling shop, but I was too full to eat anymore. Otherwise, I would have definitely tried some.



For lunch, I had a standard halal meal at the kebab shop by the market entrance. They really gave a lot of meat.



Back in London, I went to the London Central Mosque and saw this halal Paris Cafe nearby.



They have breakfast, afternoon tea, coffee, and desserts, so I invited my friend from Linxia who lives in London to sit here.





My friend told me that all KFCs in London are now halal. Even if some stores don't have a sign outside, Londoners know it, so you can eat there without worry.



These muffin cakes are also basically all halal, so you can eat them without asking.



We sat by the road and I put my phone on the table. My friend warned me that leaving it there risked it being snatched. Although I wasn't robbed or pickpocketed during this trip to Europe and America, I still couldn't let my guard down because many friends around me have had things stolen or snatched in Europe.



London Central Mosque

This mosque is located in Regent's Park, London. It is one of the most iconic mosques in London and was built in 1978. The land was donated by King George VI of Great Britain in return for King Farouk of Egypt donating land for an Anglican church in Cairo.



As early as the 1920s, Great Britain wanted to build an iconic mosque in London. At that time, British colonies were spread all over the world with large populations. The Churchill government also wanted to use the construction of the mosque to promote British prestige and commemorate the tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers who served under British rule, but it was opposed by many people at the time and construction was delayed.



It wasn't until after World War II, when various colonies gained independence and broke away from Great Britain, that the British government finally decided to start building the mosque to stabilize public sentiment. So, don't be surprised to see so many Muslims in the UK today. This is the immigrant life their ancestors earned through blood and struggle; immigration from colonies to the mother country is an internal family matter.





















I flew back home on Tianjin Airlines, which is part of HNA Group. I saw a lady wearing a hijab at the check-in counter and decided to queue at her line.



There are prayer rooms at London Heathrow Airport, one before security and one after. However, I didn't see any halal restaurants in Terminal 3.



This side is for Christians, and the other side is for Muslims.



Although it is shared by six major religions, it is mainly used by Muslims. I haven't seen any other believers use it. After performing my travel namaz, I boarded the flight back home. This 15-day trip to Europe and America took me through Italy, the UK, and Canada. I took a total of 10 flights. It was safe and sound, and I am grateful to Allah. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Muslim knowledge guide translates and explains Mahmoud A. El-Gamal's discussion of an Al-Azhar fatwa on bank interest, fixed investment profits, riba, mudaraba, jurist disagreement, historical context, and whether bank returns can be treated as lawful investment income.

I posted a screenshot of a book written by Imam Chen Yufeng on my social media. At the end of the book, Imam Chen shares a personal experience regarding interest. He mentions that issue 168 of the Al-Azhar Journal once ruled bank interest as lawful. A friend later found the original source of this fatwa, along with a commentary article explaining the background of the ruling, titled

“The recent Azhar fatwā:Its logic, and historical background”

I will not post the link here, so please search for it yourself. The original text is in English and includes the Arabic version. I have translated the article below for your reference, as it complements the post I shared earlier.

You cannot buy Imam Chen's book, and there is no digital version, so please stop asking me how to purchase it.







“The recent Azhar fatwā:Its logic, and historical background”

Author: Mahmoud A. El-Gamal

Rice University, USA
Author's Preface:

I am not a jurist, but an academic researcher. Therefore, I am not qualified to endorse or reject this fatwa. The purpose of this article is only to explain and summarize the ruling. To explain what this fatwa says? It says nothing. How scholars view it and the logic behind it.

What does this religious ruling (fatwa) say?

It is perfectly fine to deposit your money in a bank and appoint the bank as your agent for investments in exchange for an agreed-upon profit. Neither the Quran nor the Hadith forbids this kind of deal where profit or payment is set in advance, as long as both sides agree to it.

There is no doubt that both sides agreeing to a set profit beforehand is allowed under Islamic law. It also makes logical sense so that each party knows exactly what their share will be.

As everyone knows, a bank only sets these profits or returns for clients after carefully studying global and local markets, economic conditions, the specifics of each deal, the type of investment, and the average expected profit.

This set profit rate can go up or down over time. For example, an investment project might start with a 4% return, grow to over 15%, and then recently drop back to near 10%.

The people who set these rates and manage their changes must follow government rules. Setting a fixed number in advance—especially in these times when honesty is rare—benefits both the investors and the bank.

Investors benefit from stable profit rates, which helps them plan their lives. Bank managers benefit from performance incentives, which push them to work harder to maximize profits and keep the bank profitable even after paying the investors their set returns. What if the bank loses money during that time? How can it set a profit rate in advance? The answer is that a bank might lose money on one investment but make a profit on many others, which covers the loss.

In short: it is allowed for someone to invest money through an institution into a bank or other financial firm with a pre-set profit. There is nothing suspicious about it. This type of transaction is judged by its benefits and is not considered associating partners with Allah (shirk). Therefore, investing money in a bank with a pre-agreed profit or return is allowed and causes no harm. Allah knows best.

What does this religious ruling (fatwa) not say?

Please note that this fatwa does not explicitly state that all bank interest is halal.

Dr. Tantawi has clearly stated elsewhere that interest on bank deposits is riba, and interest on bank loans is also riba. (See Mucamalat al-Bunuk..., 2001, pp. 139-142)

There are three points of contention here.

First, are funds held for business operations considered deposits?

Second, are funds borrowed for business operations considered loans?

Third, is it forbidden to pre-determine the profit for one party in an investment activity?

There is little disagreement regarding deposits.

There is substantial disagreement regarding loans:

Abdullah Al-Najjar explains Dr. Tantawi's position as follows:

Funds given to a bank cannot be seen as a form of loan because the bank has no need, and only those in need apply for loans. Anas ibn Malik reported that the Prophet said: 'On the night of the Ascension, I saw written on the gate of Paradise: Charity is rewarded tenfold, and a loan is rewarded eighteenfold.' I said: 'O Jibril!' Why is borrowing more expensive than giving charity? The angel Jibril said: 'Because a beggar asks when they still have something, but a borrower only asks when they are in urgent need.' — Sunan Ibn Majah

Therefore, if a transaction is not a loan, bank customers must be seen as investors who intend to seek profit from the bank (the bank announces the return rate they pay, and customers choose the bank they prefer).

Jurists believe that once deposit funds are used, they are promised, and because holding a guarantee (like a loan) is more reliable than holding a trust (like a deposit), the deposit contract becomes a loan, and any increase is forbidden interest (riba).

the 'preset profit' in profit-sharing (mudaraba) is the core of what this Islamic law forbids.

Al-Qaradawi and many others believe that the hadith regarding sharecropping (muzara'ah) provides the basis for the prohibition. The Sharia committee mentioned the claim of 'consensus' put forward by Ibn Qudamah in Al-Mughni and confirmed that this 'consensus' is as binding as the classical texts.

The 14th session of the Fiqh Academy, January 2003, Decision #133 (7/14), pages 20-24.

Religious law and secular law describe the relationship between a depositor and a bank as a loan relationship, not an agency relationship. In contrast, an investment agency is where an agent invests funds on behalf of a principal in exchange for a fixed wage or a share of the profits. In this regard, religious scholars have a consensus that the principal owns the investment funds and therefore has the right to receive investment gains and is responsible for losses, while the agent has the right to receive a fixed wage under the conditions set by the agency. Therefore, a traditional bank is not an investment agent for the depositor. The bank receives funds from the depositor and uses them, thereby guaranteeing said funds and making them a loan. In this regard, the loan must be repaid at face value without any increase.

For centuries, jurists from all schools have agreed that you cannot pre-set investment profits in any partnership, whether as a fixed amount or a percentage of the capital. This ruling is based on the idea that pre-setting profits guarantees the principal, which goes against the nature of a partnership where you must share both profits and losses. This consensus is well-established and has no reported disagreements. In this regard, Ibn Qudamah wrote in Al-Mughni (Volume 3, page 34): All scholars agree that if one or both parties set a known amount of profit, the partnership (qirad or mudaraba) becomes invalid. The consensus of religious scholars is itself a legal proof.

Pre-specifying profits

Dr. Tantawi and his supporters rejected the loan issue and held a long discussion on the problem of pre-set profits. Dr. Tantawi cited Abdul-Wahhab Khallaf and Dr. Ali Al-Khafif to support his view that it is inappropriate to limit investment institutions to traditional mudaraba, which has profit sharing but no specific profit amount.

The main argument for fixed profits

Tantawi (2001, page 131) quoted Khallaf (pages 94-104), Al-Khafif (pages 165-204), and others (pages 204-211) word for word, saying: In this era of corruption, dishonesty, and greed, not fixing profits as a percentage of capital would leave the principal at the mercy of the agents managing the investment funds, whether they are banks or other institutions.

Therefore, he and earlier scholars turned to the well-known issue of moral hazard, which is unrelated to profit distribution.

Second, once the loan or deposit argument is rejected, the remaining issue is how to handle the consensus theory in Al-Mughni and the hadith it is based on.

Is the claim of consensus accepted? Is it binding?

Does this decision have a basis in the Quran and Sunnah, or can it be overturned?

If a partnership is considered flawed because the profit margin is predetermined, does this make it forbidden interest (riba), or is it a permitted lease (ijara), such as whether a mutually agreed upon (though uncertain) wage payment is legal?

Hadith on tenant farming.

Hanzalah ibn Qays narrated: I asked Rafi ibn Khadij about renting land for gold and silver. Rafi replied: 'There is no harm in this. In the time of the Prophet, people rented land for the crops and straw that grew along the waterways. Sometimes there was a harvest, and sometimes there was none. People rented land this way, so the Prophet forbade it. As for rent that is fixed and guaranteed, there is no harm.'

— Sunan Ibn Majah

This hadith shows that it is forbidden to pre-arrange any geography, time, or quantity for land rented to tenant farmers. Jurists concluded that because of uncertainty, predetermined compensation for either party is not allowed. This ruling on tenant farming applies to other partnerships, including profit-sharing partnerships (mudaraba). Therefore, Ibn Qudamah believed that jurists reached a consensus that it is not allowed to pre-specify profits in a mudaraba.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Najjar wrote a detailed discussion on this hadith and the conclusions drawn from it. He argued that the prohibition does not stem from the condition of pre-specifying profit itself, but from the uncertainty (gharar) that could lead to disputes (citing the narrative and analysis in Al-Shawkani's Nayl Al-Awtar). On the other hand, he argued that this type of partnership is essentially an employment contract with an unknown reward, and is therefore full of uncertainty. However, a consensus ruling actually permits this contract (including profit sharing) despite the uncertainty (as Ibn Qudamah stated). Therefore, this type of partnership belongs to a category of contracts where uncertainty (including that caused by pre-specifying profit) is ignored, as long as it does not lead to legal disputes.

Dr. Al-Najjar presented many other arguments based on the analysis of Al-Shawkani and Ibn Qudamah. He said: This might be Rafi's own non-binding conclusion; it might be limited to specific types of tenant farming; Zayd ibn Thabit disagreed with this hadith, claiming it related to a specific incident where one person killed another (recorded by Abu Dawud); the hadith narrated by Ibn Umar suggests that renting land is permitted (recorded by Bukhari), which challenges the hadith; other companions of the Prophet, including Ibn Abbas and others, disagreed with Rafi's view. Ibn Qudamah said that some of Rafi's narrations differ from the consensus of the companions and must therefore be discarded.

At the Al-Azhar conference, Dr. Muhammad Rif'at Uthman presented a counter-argument. According to Al-Nawawi, the hadith does not forbid renting land for a fixed rent (which was the focus of previous arguments), but it does forbid pre-specifying profits.

Most jurists believe that a profit-sharing partnership (mudāraba) that is known to be flawed or invalid from the start is not allowed. Dr. Tantāwī focuses on the consensus view that when a mudāraba is considered flawed, such as when an investor's profit is specified in advance, the contract becomes an employment contract ('ijara). Under this, the entrepreneur or worker is entitled to a market wage, as noted by ibn al-Humām in Fath Al-Qadīr and Al-Shaficī in 'um. He summarizes this (2001, p. 133):

Therefore, we say that a bank investing for a pre-specified profit becomes an employee of the investor. The investor accepts the amount the bank gives them as their profit, and any excess profit, whatever it may be, is treated as the bank's wage. Thus, this type of transaction is free of interest (Ribā). In short, we cannot find any canonical text or convincing analogy that forbids specifying profit in advance as long as both parties agree.

Quotes from early jurists

Dr. Tantāwī (2001, p. 95) quotes Dr. Khallāf, who in turn quotes Muhammad Abduh's 1906 article in Manār (#9, p. 332): When a person gives their money to another for investment and receives a known profit, this does not constitute clearly forbidden Ribā, regardless of the pre-specified profit rate. This is because legal rules that disagree on forbidding pre-specified profit do not constitute the clear type of Ribā that ruins families. This type of transaction is beneficial to both the investor and the entrepreneur. In contrast, Ribā for the borrower is only due to need and is not their fault, while for the lender, Ribā leads to greed and a hardened heart. These two types of transactions cannot have the same legal status (hukm).

Dr. Khallāf, in Liwā' 'Islām (1951, #4 (11)), continues (quoted in the same, pp. 95-6): There is no evidence that profit cannot be specified in advance. Just as profit can be shared between two parties, the profit for one party can also be specified in advance. Such a condition might not align with the views of jurists, but it does not contradict any canonical text in the Quran or Sunnah.

Core argument

Dr. Khallaf summarizes the basis for the current Al-Azhar ruling as follows: The only objection to this type of transaction is the validity of mudāraba, which requires that profit must be set as a percentage share rather than a specific capital amount or percentage. My response to this objection is as follows: First, there is no evidence for this condition in the Quran or the Sunnah. We live in a very dishonest time now, and if we do not set a fixed profit for the investor, his partner will swallow up his wealth.

Second, if a mudāraba is considered flawed because it violates one of its conditions, the entrepreneur becomes an employee, and what he takes is considered a wage. There is no difference in calling it mudāraba or 'ijāra: it is a valid transaction that benefits the investor who cannot invest funds directly and benefits the entrepreneur who receives the funds. Therefore, this is a transaction that benefits both parties without harming either side or anyone else, and banning such a beneficial transaction will harm the Ummah.

Key points

Recent academic journals from Al-Azhar do allow certain types of bank interest to be used as investment profit.

This fatwa is at least a century old.

Most jurists oppose this fatwa.

A minority have questioned the authenticity, authority, and applicability of the hadith regarding sharecroppers.

A minority have questioned the logic of prohibiting the pre-specification of profit.

Can we still claim that a consensus exists?

If this issue is controversial, should we proceed with caution? Should we follow the view of the majority? Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Kuala Lumpur halal food guide issue 4 continues the city series with airport Pizza Hut, nasi lemak, Indian meals, beef roti, Thai food, Japanese supermarket snacks, coffee, yong tau foo, Italian food, Dragon-i, and practical halal dining notes around KLCC and the airport.

Since my son started kindergarten in Kuala Lumpur, I have to travel back and forth between Beijing and Kuala Lumpur. Because of this, my Kuala Lumpur Halal Food Series will keep updating.

Kuala Lumpur Halal Food Map (Part 2)

Kuala Lumpur Halal Food Map (Part 3)

The restaurant information for this issue is as follows:

1. Pizza Hut (American-style pizza fast food)

2. Nasi Lemak Royale Kedah (Malay coconut milk rice)

3. Amman Mess (Indian main meal)

4. Beef Roti (beef flatbread)

5. Thai Cuisine (Thai food)

6. Don Don Donki (Japanese supermarket)

7. Jardin Coffee (coffee and desserts)

8. Yong Tau Foo (spicy hot pot)

9. NATALINA ITALIAN KITCHEN (Italian food)

10. Dragon-i (Chinese food)

1. Pizza Hut (American-style pizza fast food)



Just like in Singapore, international fast-food chains in Kuala Lumpur are 100% halal. Some people ask why I didn't list McDonald's or KFC. It's because those shops are everywhere, so I don't need to recommend them. However, these American brands, especially Starbucks, don't do very well in Kuala Lumpur. They face widespread boycotts in the Islamic world due to their Jewish background and public support for the LGBT community.

I personally don't boycott any products, but I don't oppose those who do. I just feel that boycotting is a bit like a child throwing a tantrum and rarely achieves much. First, most employees of these companies in Islamic countries are Muslims, so you end up hurting your own people while trying to hurt the enemy. Second, the global economy is interconnected. Even without considering that boycotts don't have much effect, there are always ways to bypass economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. I think it is better to improve our own skills and defeat our opponents with real strength.



This is the Pizza Hut in the international departure dining area of the airport. Their pizzas are baked to order and take about 10 minutes. The fresh pizza is delicious and the price is not expensive. Keep in mind that at Kuala Lumpur airport, you go through security right before boarding, not before entering the gate area. You also cannot bring water through security, so leave enough time to walk to your gate to avoid missing your flight.

2. Nasi Lemak Royale Kedah (Malay coconut milk rice)



I have been to this shop so many times that I pass by almost every day to buy a glass of fresh fruit juice. A glass only costs 6 RM, while it would cost at least 20 back home.



The staff here are almost all of South Asian descent and know me well. Even though their wages aren't high, they live happily every day. They greet me when we meet and love to joke around. This optimistic personality is easy to catch.



This Pakistani brother can speak a little Chinese, and when he serves my food, he always saves the biggest shrimp for me.

Address: Ground floor shop at Wisma Centre.

3. Amman Mess (Indian main meal)



This is probably the most Indian-style restaurant I have ever visited. It is located on Little India street near Kuala Lumpur Sentral. This street has a strong Indian vibe, is quite clean, and you can find all kinds of Indian snacks here.





The restaurant displays photos of the Malaysian royal family and is halal certified.



All the servers are Indian, and they wear the traditional red dot on their foreheads.



If you are familiar with Western society, you will have a lot of respect for Indian people. They often do better abroad than Chinese people. Many top companies in the U.S. have Indian CEOs, which is something worth thinking about.



There was a pot on the table. To avoid any misunderstanding, I specifically asked the server if the water inside was for washing hands, and I learned that it was drinking water.



They serve Indian milk tea and curry. One server walks around with a curry pot, specifically to add curry dipping sauce for diners. The food is served on banana leaves. Most of the customers here are Indian, and they eat directly with their hands.



There is a slight difference between Indian food and Pakistani food. Indian food is spicier, while some Pakistani food incorporates characteristics of Arab cuisine.



I specifically ordered this curry shrimp dish, which was very spicy. I mentioned in a previous post that it is very common for Hanafi Muslims in South Asia to eat shrimp. This was confirmed in Malaysia, as every Indian restaurant I have seen in Malaysia sells shrimp. See details in: How do Hanafis view shrimp?



After the meal, I strolled over to Little India street to buy some crispy snacks called panipuri. These are street snacks and are not sold inside the restaurant.



Address: The ground-floor shops on one side of the large archway at the entrance to Little India.

4. Beef Roti (beef flatbread)



There is a beef pancake (niuroubing) shop in the food court on the third floor of NU Sentral Shopping Mall near the central station. It sells the kind of beef pancakes you find in Northwest China for 6 RM each, and there is often a long line.



Address: The food court on the third floor of NU Sentral Shopping Mall.

5. Thai Cuisine (Thai food)



Next to the beef pancake shop is a Thai food stall. Thai food feels a bit fresher than Malay food.



I ordered a beef fried rice and tom yum soup, and both were quite tasty.



This mall is a few hundred meters from Little India and close to the train station, making the area great for walking around.

Address: The food court on the third floor of NU Sentral Shopping Mall.

6. Don Don Donki (Japanese supermarket)



The Japanese supermarket inside NU Sentral Shopping Mall has mostly halal products, and they are clearly marked on the shelves. We bought some cookies and chocolate here, which Fahim loves to eat.



Many Japanese goods in Southeast Asia are halal and very popular with the locals.

Address: GF floor, NU Sentral Shopping Mall

7. Jardin Coffee (coffee and desserts)



There are many coffee shops in NU Sentral Shopping Mall, including some domestic chains, but I find this one has a better vibe, and the desserts and coffee are good too.



This shop is right at the entrance of the Japanese supermarket, so it is a perfect place to sit and rest when you are tired from shopping.



Address: GF floor, NU Sentral Shopping Mall

8. Yong Tau Foo (spicy hot pot)



This shop is called Yongtaifeng in Chinese. It is a spicy hot pot (malatang) chain that mixes in Southeast Asian flavors. You grab a bowl, pick your own ingredients, and the staff will cut the vegetables for you, weigh them to calculate the price, cook them, and then ask which soup base you want.



I could not recognize many of the ingredients. It felt like there were a lot of soy products and gluten, but not much meat, so it leans toward vegetarian.



I chose a tom yum soup base. The sour and spicy flavor is very appetizing, and I think girls who dislike greasy food will like this place.



Address: Food court on the second floor of the KLCC Twin Towers

9. NATALINA ITALIAN KITCHEN (Italian food)



This is a very charming Italian restaurant located in AK Mall.



I feel a sense of familiarity with Italian restaurants now because my son loves pasta. When I worry about what to feed him because he is a picky eater, the safest choice is always pasta.



He ate the whole bowl of noodles, so I didn't get a single bite and cannot comment on the taste.



This dish is called GNOCCHI TARTUFO, which you can think of as Italian potato dumplings. I originally wanted to order pizza, but the waiter misunderstood me. I decided to just go with it and try them, but the texture was sticky and I don't think many people would like it.



The octopus salad tasted pretty good, and it is certainly healthier than eating fried food.

Address: 4th Floor, AK Mall.

10. Dragon-i (Chinese food)



This is a Chinese restaurant serving southern cuisine. It is positioned as a mid-to-high-end spot, specializing in various soup dumplings (tangbao) and also serving Beijing roast duck.



It is also a pork-free restaurant.





The white fungus and poria jelly (yin'er fuling gao) is light and healthy.



This bowl of noodles is called Shanghai ramen. It looks very light, and it tastes very light too.



Their custard buns (liusha bao) and soup dumplings (tangbao) are truly delicious. The skins are thin, the fillings are generous, and the broth is savory. The taste is just as good as Din Tai Fung.





The fried chicken cutlet served with the ramen is also delicious. This shop is worth recommending; it is not crowded and the service is great.

Address: The food court on the second floor of the KLCC Twin Towers. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: This Penang Muslim travel guide covers train travel from Kuala Lumpur, George Town heritage hotels, Nyonya culture, halal breakfast, mosque and city walks, beaches, seafood, Malay-Chinese history, and why Penang can feel more fun, beautiful, and affordable than Singapore.

Penang is a popular tourist city in Malaysia, especially among Chinese travelers. The local Chinese speak with an accent very similar to Taiwan, with a soft and pleasant Mandarin. There are two ways to travel from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. I recommend taking the train. A ticket costs about 90 Malaysian Ringgit, and children under 4 travel for free. Prices vary by train, and the trip takes between three and a half to four and a half hours, depending on the specific schedule, just like high-speed rail in China.

Flying to Penang takes one hour. Although tickets cost only one or two hundred RMB, when you add the time and cost of getting to and from the airport, it is not faster than the train. Flights are also often delayed. I have tried taking the train there and flying back, but my flight was delayed by two hours. If train tickets were not so hard to get, I would never fly. You must book train tickets to and from Penang at least three days in advance on the KTMB app. The departure station is KL Sentral and the destination is Butterworth.

After getting off the train, you take a 10-minute ferry ride across the sea. The ferry runs every half hour, costs 2 RM, and you can use your Kuala Lumpur transit card.



George Town in Penang is a World Heritage site. There are many heritage hotels here, meaning the buildings themselves are historical artifacts with distinct local character. We chose the George Hotel because it is a five-star hotel that reopened in 2022, so the rooms are quite new.



The piano in the lobby is free for anyone to play. The staff invited Fahim to play, unlike the piano at the Radisson Hotel in Brunei, which is just for decoration.



The hotel lobby displays history about King George III and George Town, with notes provided in Chinese. King George III was the third monarch of the House of Hanover and King of Great Britain and Ireland. He was the first monarch born in England to speak English as his first language. He reigned from 1760 to 1820. Under his rule, Penang Island was claimed by Britain and used as a naval base, governed by naval officer Francis Light.



Two things about King George III are memorable: he lost the American colonies, and he had mental health issues. Rumors suggest he suffered from hereditary porphyria, which caused his mental instability.



The hallway introduces local Nyonya traditional cuisine. Nyonya food is a fusion of Chinese and Malay cooking.





The best part of the hotel is the restaurant. The breakfast is especially rich, and you can eat all kinds of local specialties.



Penang is affordable, and the hotels offer great value. In a cultural town like this, the most relaxing way to spend your time is to find a comfortable hotel, sit by the window with a coffee during the day, and wait until the sun goes down to go out for a stroll, otherwise it is really hot during the day.









PENANG ROAD FAMOUS LAKSA

Less than 1 kilometer from the George Hotel, you can find this locally famous laksa. It has both halal certification and a Michelin recommendation. Since Penang is a Chinese-majority city with simplified Chinese signs everywhere and many restaurants selling pork, local snacks with halal certification are rare.



However, there is a catch. This shop only sells laksa, but you will meet two other servers inside holding different menus for you to choose from. These two other businesses do not share the same owner as the laksa shop, so you have to scan codes to pay different servers. Only the laksa is the signature dish here, and the other snacks are just riding on its popularity.



Since we wanted to try different snacks anyway, we did not mind much. It turned out my attempt was a failure, as these snacks were not good.



This is Penang-style white coffee. It actually tastes like instant coffee and is not worth recommending.



The taste of this Michelin-rated laksa is the same as the one I had at the AK mall in Kuala Lumpur. It looks like hot and sour noodles, but it is mixed with the flavors of lemongrass and mint. I tried it a few times but could not really get into it, though my wife thought it was quite tasty.







Among the items here, only the Japanese pan-fried dumplings (jiaozi) tasted okay. The others were not good, and I do not think you would like the salty and sweet flavors.







Not far from the laksa shop, you can find the oldest Chinese mosque in Penang.



MASJID JAMEK TITI PAPAN

This mosque was first built in 1860. The surrounding area used to be a swamp, and people laid down wooden planks to walk to the mosque for namaz, which is how it got its Malay name, Titi Papan.



In 2014, the Penang state government and the Penang branch of the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association held an inauguration ceremony for this mosque, marking the first mosque for Chinese people in Penang.



At first, it was a wooden structure with jewelry and diamond merchants Haji Mohamed Gumbong and Saiboo Merican as the main donors. The George Town World Heritage Incorporated set up an information plaque for it, and it was not rebuilt as a brick building until 1893.



The two main donors later disagreed over who should manage the mosque. After decades of ups and downs, the mosque closed from time to time. In 1986, Yusof Latiff was appointed as the mosque's chairman. To make the mosque more popular, he asked the Penang government to approve Friday Jumu'ah prayers there, but the request was rejected because Penang already had too many Jumu'ah mosques.



The mosque has copies of the Quran with Chinese translations.

The mosque was not approved as a Jumu'ah mosque until 1991. In 2001, the government expanded the mosque, and the regional office covered the costs.



On August 16, 2014, the state government officially designated this mosque as the first Chinese mosque in Penang, naming it MASJID CINA TITI PAPAN.



The halal bird's nest museum.





MASJID MELAYU LEBOH ACHEH

This mosque is called the Acheen Street Mosque (Masjid Melayu Leboh Acheh). It was built by the Acehnese in 1808. The graves of the donor and his family are right next to the mosque.



This mosque was once an Islamic academic center in Penang, bringing together merchants from the surrounding Malay Archipelago, Arabia, and India.



It was once a gathering place for pilgrims heading to Mecca, which is why it was called the Second Jeddah.



The area gradually became quiet after the Hajj Pilgrimage Fund Board was established in Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s.



This is a wudu pool, which is common in Southeast Asian mosques.



MASJID KAPITAN KELING

Kapitan Keling Mosque is a mosque built by Indians in Penang in 1801. It is located in the Tamil Muslim community of Penang and is part of the George Town World Heritage Site. George Leith, the then Lieutenant Governor of Penang, appointed an Indian man named Cauder Mohudeen as the captain of the South Indian Keling community. He received a piece of land and used it to build this mosque. People called this Indian captain 'Kapitan Kling,' so 'Kapitan' means captain, and 'Kling' is the Malay term for Indians, which now carries a derogatory meaning.



This mosque is also the largest mosque in Penang and a must-visit spot for tourists.





You can see various religions living in harmony in Penang. The picture below shows an Indian mosque not far from the mosque.





You can eat pork-free Nyonya cuisine at the Yeng Keng Hotel restaurant in George Town's old city. Yeng Keng Hotel is also a heritage hotel. Its price is similar to the George Hotel, around 1,000 yuan per night, but its facilities are clearly much older than those at the George Hotel.







The menu prices are quite reasonable, and the restaurant is very busy. When we arrived for dinner, there was only one empty table left, and guests who came after us had to wait in line.





We ordered signature Nyonya dishes. The taste was very authentic and similar to the Nyonya food I had in Malacca.



Beef rendang (rendang yangrou)



Nyonya sambal shrimp with stink beans (niangre sanba xia chao choudou)



Hainan fried rice (hainan chaofan)



Fish maw curry (yudu gali)

The waiter was an Indian man. I wanted to order a few more dishes, but he suggested that we had already ordered enough.



A must-visit place in George Town is Penang Hill to see the panoramic view of Penang. Take a taxi directly to the Penang Hill ticket office. Hiking up is free, but if you want to take the funicular train up the mountain, a round-trip ticket costs 30 RM, and a fast pass costs 80 RM. With a fast pass, you can skip the line for the train; otherwise, you have to wait for nearly an hour.

Try to sit in the front of the small train when going up the mountain, and in the back when coming down. This gives you the best views for photos.



If the weather is good, you can wait for the sunset. The sun sets on the other side of the mountain, so you will see the fiery clouds from the peak, and the night view is also beautiful.



The temperature at the peak is cool, even a bit cold. You can sit in the cafe at the top and enjoy the panoramic view of Penang. The cafe serves simple Western-style meals that taste pretty good, though they are slightly more expensive than down in the city.







There is a small mosque at the top of Penang Hill, and there is also a church on the mountain.



There is a hiking trail at the peak that goes through the tropical rainforest, where you can also see monkeys.



Penang Floating Mosque

It takes about 20 minutes by taxi from George Town to reach the Penang Floating Mosque. Built in 1967 on stilts, the mosque looks like it is floating on the water from a distance when the tide comes in.







The Shangri-La Golden Sands resort in Penang is about 3 kilometers away from the floating mosque.



There are two Shangri-La hotels by the beach in Penang: one is Golden Sands and the other is Rasa Sayang. Both hotels share the same beach and swimming pools, but they have different lobbies. Rasa Sayang is slightly more expensive than Golden Sands, but the public facilities are the same, so Golden Sands is a better value.



Shangri-La is the best hotel for families in Penang. The children's water park here is great for younger kids, and Fahim had a lot of fun playing there.



There are restaurants near the beach at the hotel where you can eat Western or Southeast Asian food at reasonable prices.







The sunset at Golden Sands beach is beautiful. It has the most stunning sunset views in all of Penang.



The server at the restaurant was a Chinese lady who kindly helped us look after our children.



The breakfast buffet had so many choices that it reminded me of our trip to Atlantis in Dubai last year. However, the Shangri-La in Penang costs only one-third of the price. Being able to eat every halal food at a five-star hotel breakfast buffet makes for a wonderful start to the day.











We ordered a seafood barbecue set for two at the seaside restaurant and waited quietly for the sunset. That made our trip to Penang complete.





Fahim is not even three years old yet, but he has already been to five countries. He does not know how to appreciate this beautiful sunset yet. To him, it does not matter where we go; any place with sand, stones, and puddles is a paradise.

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