Imam Asim Shrine and Ancient Tomb

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Imam Asim Shrine and Ancient Tomb

The Imam (Islamic Holy Man) Asim is said to have been one of the first Islamic missionaries in the region. His name is also spelled Imam Hashim. The shrine site includes the reputed tomb of the Imam, a mosque, and several related tombs.

Y5 Entry. Best on Thursday for the bazaar and festival. Can be visited any day at any time, and photos are allowed. Respect, however, should be shown for the sacred nature of the site and for worshippers. One must walk several hundred meters along a sandy path into the desert past the road, so this is also a good site to see dunes in the Taklamakan Desert.

The public buses stop some kilometers short of the shrine, so you would need to take a taxi or a long walk past Don't let your taxi leave you at the tiny Jiya mosque in town!

This is a mazar or shrine and a pilgrimage site. In May, more than 10,000 pilgrims are said to visit this tomb to pray.

Next to the shrine is the site of a festival and market every Thursday. More than a hundred busloads of vendors and buyers from the region descend on the area every week, as well as by donkey cart, motorcycle and tractor.

Around the main grave is a wooden fence, in the traditional Uyghur style, followed by a wall plastered with clay and mud. Nearby is a mosque.

Like the Mazar (shrine) of Imam Jafar Sadiq, this tomb is said to be of a Muslim Imam and general at the time that Muslim forces defeated Buddhist forces in Hotan near the year 1,000 C.E. More likely, however, is that this has been a Buddhist holy site for a thousand years before the coming of Islam, and perhaps even a shamanistic sacred site from the time before Buddhism. In any case, the physical tomb is of much more recent vintage.