Mission and Revolution in Central Asia - Svenska Missionskyrkan

e able to represent a large number of relatives. These relatives would later on have the
privilege to live near this holy man. Very often everything a person owned was sold to make
possible this pilgrimage for oneself or to give someone else the chance to go. For he who
could not travel himself but who helped in equipping some-body else for the trip could expect
all the blessing bestowed on the pilgrim. 168 Still, there were quite a few pilgrims leaving from
Eastern Turkestan. Raquette mentions that several hundred Muslims left for Mecca from
Jarkand every year. 169 Sometimes husband and wife would travel together.
It also happened that Muslims converted to Christianity made the pilgrimage. Törnquist
knew of a Christian man from Kashgar who travelled to Mecca and who died there. Nobody
knows if he kept his Christian faith until the end, but to his Muslim friends this pilgrimage
was interpreted as a return to Islam. 170
Those who were unable to go to Mecca had to be content with the numerous saints’ shrines
in the country. Just outside Kashgar, for instance, there was a famous shrine where many
people went on a pilgrimage. 171 The last request of a Muslim was to be buried somewhere
next to a saint. But this was reserved for the rich only, since such a burial-place was very
expensive. 172
Gunnar Hermansson once saw some 7 000-8 000 people gathered around the shrine of a
local saint. He understands this saint cult as people’s need for a mediator. Allah was so far
away and so indifferent to the needs of ordinary people! People were looking for a link,
someone close to them who could also reach God. 173
According to the popular beliefs, the demons, or the “jinns” in the local language could
sometimes appear in human forms. They were recognized by the way their eye slits were
vertical, not horizontal as is the case with normal human beings. 174 The missionaries also
mention people who were possessed by evil spirits.
All boys were circumcised. It was usually the barber who was asked to perform the
circumcision. It did happen, though, that parents came to the Mission clinics to have this
operation done. Raquette mentions that he performed this operation on several occasions. The
reason why parents turned to the missionaries in such an important and holy matter was
according to Raquette, that the operation at the Mission would be done in a painless way and
that the subsequent very common inflammation could be avoided. 175 The very fact that
Muslims contacted the missionaries in this important matter proves that the contact between
them was very good. It was, of course, surprising that a Muslim could allow this rite to be
handed over to “an infidel” and, moreover, a Christian missionary. It also gives evidence of
freedom from prejudice among the missionaries. The circumcision was a ritual celebration
within a religion that the missionaries had come to abolish. But in this particular matter they
met people half way, although it took a lot of will-power to do it.
Eastern Turkestan Muslims were fatalists. This could be observed everywhere. Writing
about Jarkend in 1901 Albert Andersson says that it was “repulsive in its ugliness …. I have
never seen such a lot of jerry-built crow’s nests.” He believed that the decay had to do with
the Muslims being held down by their faith. They felt that their fate was poverty and misery;
168 Ibid., p. 29.
169 Broomhall, 1910, p. 251.
170 Törnquist to Sjöholm, February 19th, 1908.
171 Palmaer, 1942, p. 29.
172 Lundahl, 1917, p. 227 f.
173 Ungdomsvännen, 1929, p. 562 and 1930, p. 230.
174 Raquette, 1935, p. 135.
175 Ibid., note, p. 129 f.
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