Masha'er Train project workers have now become Muslims Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH – Twenty senior Chinese engineers working on the Al-Masha'er Train project have embraced Islam by pronouncing Shahada. These engineers have now joined 2,000 workers on the project who have become Muslims; there are 6,000 engineers and workers building the transportation system. A place for prayer has been established at the project. Okaz/Saudi Gazette attended a lesson given to new Chinese Muslims by Makkah's Cooperative Office for Call and Community Guidance's supervisors of the Chinese Community Guidance Division. Supervisors said they prepared a special program for the 20 engineers, which included an explanation, stating the Shahada, practical teaching and explanation of ablution, teaching Arabic and a speech by a Chinese Muslim scholar who works in Dawah (Call). Muhanna Al-Harbi, a supervisor at the Chinese Community Call office in Arafat, said he and his colleagues need “learning resources to help us teach new Muslims matters of the religion and the Arabic language.” The organization, which hopes to get help in founding a center inside the project, also needs books translated into Chinese and interpreters, he added. The office serves 400 Iftar meals every day so people can have breakfast in their workplaces and has enabled 550 new Chinese Muslims to perform Haj, he added. “Chinese people love order and honesty, and they have beautiful innate characteristics, as a result of which Islam has spread among them,” said Dr. Setr Al-Juaid, the office's Director, who is also a professor at Makkah's Umm Al-Qura University. “As the project is near the office in Al-Sharaye' area, we used interpreters to call the Chinese company's workers to embrace Islam. Allah blessed our efforts, despite our lack of resources,” he said. __
