Old
Chinese Muslim manuscripts say the mosque was built in 627
CE by
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, a
Companion of the Prophet who supposedly came on to China in the 620s. Although modern secular scholars do not find any historical evidence that Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas actually visited China, they agree that the first Muslims must have arrived to China within the 7th century, and that the major trade centers, such as Guangzhou,
Quanzhou, and
Yangzhou,
probably already had their first mosques built during the
Tang dynasty (), even though no reliable sources attesting to their actual existence has been found. As late as the 19th century, the minaret tower was one of the major landmarks of Guangzhou. The Tatar traveler
Abdurreshid Ibrahim who was an acquaintance of one of the Mosque's
ahongs, Wang Kuan, was dismissive of the claim that this mosque was built by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. He called it a peculiar idea: ==Transportation==