Lin and his 40 classmates, all of them Moslems, also became the first group of Islamic theology students to be honored with a bachelor's degree in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, where nearly one fourth of the entire Chinese Moslem population are located.

Founded in 1985, the Islamic theology institute where Lin and his classmates spent four full years is the second of its kind in China. Originally a place for advanced studies by Islamic religious figures, the institute began to formally enroll students seeking bachelor's degrees in theological studies in 1999.

According to institute President Yan Zhengqing, these diligent students, all with a background of high-school education plus three-year study experience in mosques, are mostly from needy families and therefore hardworking.

Over the past four years, they would get up at four a.m. every day to worship, and apart from a heavy load of theological studies, they also took more than 30 courses including Chinese, English, Arabic, Islamic culture and computer studies.

While the special Moslem ceremony to mark the acquisition of the Imam qualification was going on, Lin was accompanied by a group of his townspeople, who came to welcome him back to the local mosque to serve as the Imam, which means the leader in Arabic.

Though Moslems make up about one third of Ningxia's population, never before had they had an Imam with a bachelor's degree.

Traditionally, many Moslem families would send their boys to mosques at an early age to receive lessons from teachers, who would use an archaic Chinese language originally used to translate their sacred book, the Koran, from Arabic.

"As one of the first university-degree Imams, I cannot only explain the Koran in plain language, but integrate it practically into the lives of the followers and use my knowledge to help them get better off," said Lin, full of confidence.

"Religion should also develop along with the passage of the time, so as to enable believers to keep pace with the times," echoed institute President Yan.

Traditionally, Yan noted, an Imam was supposed to offer religious services and spiritual guidance to disciples and followers only, but nowadays, Imams also seek to help people through practical means apart from preaching.

As highly-educated people familiar with three languages, computer skills and profound Islamic religious knowledge, these students have turned out to be more competitive than graduates from other colleges on the local labor market.

Some of Lin's classmates will go to work in Jordan, Libya, Syria and other Arab countries, and some others have found jobs in Guangdong, Zhejiang and other economically advanced coastal areas.

"Some of the graduates, however, have given up their high-income jobs and joined Chinese medical teams to central Asian countries to help the needy Islamic followers," said Yan. "They are the pride of our institute."

Also worthy of pride, Yan acknowledged, is that the number of candidates applying to the institute for entry this year has increased by a large margin.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2003)