The significance — and even the definition — of 麻扎 (mazar) plays an important role in Abudan Village, as portrayed in Liu Liangcheng’s novel, The Audible Annals of Abudan (《凿空》刘亮程 著).
In its first appearance in the tale, the narrator briefly defines it in brackets:
. . .一块棉花地和一片麻扎（墓地）。
Simply put, mazar = cemetery.
But that equivalency isn’t quite so simple in Abudan, and even less so in Islam worldwide.
A mazar is a Muslim shrine or tomb, usually of a notable religious leader or saint.
As the novel continues, we learn that Abudan’s mazar:
- Originated as a clan burial site for the current Imam Ghupur’s ancestors who arrived centuries ago
- Hosts a distinctive qubba (domed tomb) — the only one in the mazar — that houses the remains of a line of 7 hereditary imams who resided in Abudan
- Since 1949, it has served as a public cemetery for Abudan villagers, and influential persons in the region who pay bribes or pull strings to be buried there
- The locals perceive it as sacred, inviolable land
- The sole adult male Han in the village perceives it as strictly off-limits to his kind
It is never clarified why the mazar/cemetery is considered sacred: Because it is the site of the tomb of an ancient, venerated religious figure, i.e., the first imam to settle in Abudan? Because it is a Muslim cemetery where the souls of deceased believers congregate, and is thus venerated more or less as a Christian cemetery would be among Christians? Or?
What is clear that, for whatever reasons, in the New China it serves primarily as a public cemetery.
Intriguingly, the role of the mazar is viewed negatively by both conservative Muslims and China’s atheist ruling party.
In Central Asia and Xinjiang, the mazar — effectively a mausoleum of sorts — has long been treated as a sacred site, the object of religious pilgrimage and prayer by the masses, i.e., a shrine. This is a Sufi practice, dimly viewed by some mainstream Islamic authorities because Islam forbids idolatry.
In Sacred Routes of Uyghur History, professor Rian Thum elaborates in great detail about the multiple, traditional roles played by Central Asian mazars, which served as pilgrimage destinations, festival sponsors, and most importantly, as gathering places for story-telling about Islamic culture, philosophy and history across the Muslim world, including Arabia, Persia and Central Asia (including present-day Xinjiang). This played a crucial part in spreading Islam and deepening devotion to it, because many of the pilgrims could not read the ancient texts themselves, which might be in Arabic, Persian or Turki.
In a later essay in 2020, The Spatial Cleansing of Xinjiang: Mazar Desecration in Context, Thum also documents the steps taken by the Chinese authorities to restrict access to hundreds of mazar — particularly in the countryside — and even to demolish them. However, it should be noted that this campaign did not really begin in earnest until after 2014 or so, and Liu’s novel was first published in 2010.
The above text is about a Chinese novel,凿空, by Xinjiang-based Liu Liangcheng (刘亮程). The working title is The Audible Annals of Abudan. It is newly translated by Jun Liu (刘浚) and Bruce Humes. To request an excerpt, and for information about foreign language rights, contact Yilin Press’s Ms. Yvonne Wang (王玉强) at wangyuqiang@yilin.com
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