Located at the Jiefang Road of downtown Kashi city (also known as Kashgar), the Id Kah Mosque is the largest of its kind in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and also the center for Islamic activities of the entire Xinjiang region. The Id Kah Mosque is well known all over the world for its long history, grand structure and splendid national features.

First built in 1422, the Id Kah Mosque later experienced rebuilding and expanding and developed into today¡¦s scale. The Id Kah Mosque mainly consists of the Main Entrance, the Lecture Hall, the Worship Hall and the courtyard. The Gate Tower at the entrance is magnificent, making it the most brilliant of the whole architectural complex in terms of its artistic value and unique shape. The gate is 4.3 meters wide and 4.7 meters high. A plaque hangs above the gate and on each side of the gate there stands a 12.5-meter-high column minaret built of yellow bricks, which is called ¡§Xuanli Tower¡¨. On top of the column minaret stands a ¡§calling tower¡¨. The entrance hall has a multi-angled arched roof and on top there is also a small column tower. Looking from afar, the mosque gate tower is solemn, magnificent, simple and unaffected.

On the north and south sides of the mosque, there are a total of 36 doctrine-teaching rooms in two rows where chief imam teaches the doctrine. The Worship Hall is on a platform of the west part of the mosque and consists of the main hall and the side halls. The lower hall is a closed rectangle structure and on the back wall, there is a deep shrine, which is the ¡§direction¡¨ for Muslims to pray. Beside the shrine, there stands a wooden-carving doctrine-teaching platform, with a scepter beside it. At festivals and major services, First Maola, standing on the platform and holding the scepter, explains and publicizes the Koran. The floors both inside and outside the hall are covered with carpets, cloth or reed mats for Muslims to worship and pray on bended knees in religious services. Inside the mosque, there are plenty of trees, dotted with ponds full of clean water. The environment of the mosque is quiet and solemn. On normal days, there are 2,000 to 3,000 people praying in the mosque; but on Fridays, prayers can reach as many as 6,000 to 7,000; and on major festivals, the number of prayers can hit 20,000 to 30,000.

The Id Kah Mosque is the venue for both religious activities and mass celebrations of Corban and Rozah (Lesser Bairam) festivals. On the days of religious services and festivals, tens of thousands of Muslims gather at the mosque and on the square in front of the mosque, and young people of the Uygur nationality, dressed in gorgeous attire, dance the ¡§Sama¡¨, making the festivals enthusiastic, cheerful and bustling.