Currently there are 7 mosques in Shanghai and ten ethnic groups believing is Islam with a total Muslim population of 60,000 in Shanghai.

Islam was introduced into Shanghai in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1644). When the Songjiang Prefecture was established in the Yuan Dynasty, some Muslims were appointed to be local officials by the Yuan Dynasty court and Islam was introduced into Shanghai which was named Songjiang at that time. Between the year 1341 and 1868, the very first mosque in Shanghai, the Songjiang Mosque was constructed.

After the Opium War in 1840, Shanghai became an open port and more and more Muslims came to Shanghai to make their fortune and they built more mosques in Shanghai: Caoxiewan Mosque (locals called it South Mosque), Chuanxinjie Mosque (locals called it North Mosque, Zhejianglu Mosque (locals called it Foreign Mosque, Huxi Mosque and Xiaotaoyuan Mosque.

Since Muslims in Shanghai are mostly immigrants from other parts of China, they brought their own cooking skills and eating habit to Shanghai which combined with local Shanghai cuisine and formed the unique Shanghai Muslim food. The most famous Muslim restaurant in Shanghai is Hong Chang Xing restaurant located at downtown Nanjing Road which was founded in 1891 in the Qing Dynasty. The Hui Feng Lou restaurant located near Chenghuangmiao (City God Temple) is another time-honored Muslim restaurant in Shanghai serving local Shanghai snacks. The Silk Road Hotel which is the Shanghai office of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region serves authentic Xinjiang Uyghur food while the Helanshan Hotel which is the Shanghai office of Ningxia Hui (Muslim) Autonomous Region serves authentic Ningxia cuisine. Since the opening door policy was carried out in 1979, more and more foreign businessmen came to Shanghai and they brought Middle East Food, Indian & Pakistan food, Morocco cuisine to Shanghai.