Beijing Imam Li Shuwen thinks the rest of the world has it wrong -- China's Muslims have total freedom of belief.
"This is a socialist country, and uses a socialist system. But the people are still free to believe. It's guaranteed in the constitution," Mr Li told Reuters before the main worship today at his picturesque mosque in a southwestern suburb of the city.
"If you have any doubts about this, have a look and see how many worshippers there are. Look at the community. There's so much been provided for Muslims, like schools," he added, sitting in a small anteroom decorated with Arabic calligraphy.
With the Olympics upon China, the government is keen to show that Chinese enjoy freedom of religion, even as rights groups and US President George W. Bush say the opposite is true.
All visitors are warmly welcomed to the mosque, which is more than 1,000 years old and resembles a Chinese temple, and chirpy Olympic volunteers in blue t-shirts show tourists the way in.
With just over 20 million adherents, according to the government, there are as many Muslims in China as live in Syria, or Yemen, two predominantly Islamic countries.
Many belong to the Hui minority, Chinese Muslims who trace their heritage back to the Middle East and central Asia. Others are Uighur, from the restive western region of Xinjiang, or belong to other Muslim minorities such as the Salar.
In much of China, the Hui have blended in almost seamlessly into the predominant Han culture, all but abandoning Islam except for some traditions such as circumcising male children and avoiding pork.
Yet in an officially atheist country, run with a tight grip by the Communist Party for the last 50 years, it is hard to escape politics altogether, and a whiff of suspicion, despite protestations from worshippers that they can pray as they wish.
For instance, there are some 10 million Catholics in China, divided between an "underground" church loyal to the Holy See and the state-approved church that respects the Pope as a spiritual figurehead but rejects papal control.
And China bans Tibetans from possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959 and whom Beijing considers a separatist. "It's very open in China. We're free to pray," said a Hui from western Qinghai province, who gave his family name as Ma.
Relations between the Hui and majority Han are generally good, though problems do arise. At least seven people were killed and 42 injured in the central province of Henan in 2004 after a car accident involving a Han Chinese and a Hui sparked rioting.
As if to remind Muslims how to behave, noticeboards sit prominently outside the mosque's main core, filled with cutting's from Communist Part mouthpiece newspaper the People's Daily urging believers to embrace the Olympics, and to be patriotic.
"Love your country, love your religion, love the people," the heading on one clipping urges.
Discreetly placed security cameras monitor much of the mosque, and plainclothes security people in dark glasses, shuffling awkwardly but obviously in corners, keep watch.
"We get about 500 to 600 worshippers here on a Friday, much more than in the past," said one mosque elder, who declined to give his name.
"There are less government restrictions now on us," he added, but then checked himself, nervously looking around. "What I mean, of course, is that there are more mosques now. The government has never controlled us."
Still, Imam Li says the mosque has not received as many Olympic worshippers as they had expected. The odd Arab, central Asian or Malaysian -- not much more.
"We thought lots would come. I think their focus is on the competitions," he said. "The mosque is far away from the main stadiums, too."