History

Introduction of Islam in 616-18 AD

Islam in China has a rich heritage. Islam was first introduced in China in 616-18 AD by Sahaba (companions) of Prophet Muhammad namely Waggas (Sad ibn abi Waqqas), Sayid, Wahab ibn Abu Kabcha and another Sahaba.^[5] Sad ibn abi Waqqas is the maternal uncle of Prophet Muhammad. Wahab ibn abu Kabcha (Wahb abi Kabcha) is might be a son of al-Harth ibn Abdul Uzza (known as Abu Kabsha).See the text: "The Prophet was entrusted to Halimah...Her husband was Al-Harith bin Abdul Uzza called Abi Kabshah, from the same tribe".^[6] It is noted in other accounts that Wahab Abu Kabcha reached Canton by sea in 629 CE.

Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas along with three Sahabas namely Thabit ibn Qays, Uwais al-Qarni (594-657) and Hassan ibn Thabit (554-674 went to China from Persia in 637 for the second time and returned by the Yunan-Manipur-Chittagong route, then reached Arabia by sea.<sup>[7]</sup> Some date introduction of Islam in China to 650 AD which is the instance of third sojourn of Sad ibn abi Waqqas to China,<sup>[8]</sup> Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas, was sent as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong which was his third sojourn during Caliph Uthman's era in 651 AD.^[9] Throughout the history of Islam in China, Chinese Muslims have influenced the course of Chinese history.

Tang Dynasty

Earlier visits of Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas were noted in Arab accounts since it was a period of nascent Islam mixed with events of many hectic preaching and warfare. They (Sahabas) were more concerned with writings of verses of the Quran as revealed to Muhammad, and his sayings (hadiths) and ways of life (sunnah). According to China Muslims' traditional legendary accounts, Islam was first brought to China by an embassy led by Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas that was sent by Uthman, the third Caliph, (that was in 651, less than twenty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) which are confusions with Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas's earlier visits. The embassy was led by Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās, the maternal uncle of Muhammad himself. Emperor Gaozong, the Tang emperor who received the envoy then ordered the construction of the Memorial mosque in Canton, the first mosque in the country, in memory of Muhammad.^[8][10]

While modern secular historians tend to say that there is no evidence for Waqqās himself ever coming to China,^[10] they do believe that Muslim diplomats and merchants arrived to Tang China within a few decades from the beginning of Muslim Era.^[10] The Tang Dynasty's cosmopolitan culture, with its intensive contacts with Central Asia and its significant communities of (originally non-Muslim) Central and Western Asian merchants resident in Chinese cities, which helped the introduction of Islam.^[10] The first major Muslim settlements in China consisted of Arab and Persian merchants.^[11] During the Tang and especially the Song eras, comparatively well-established, even if somewhat segregated, mercantile Muslim communities existed in the port cities of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Hangzhou on China's southeastern seaboard, as well as in the interior centers such as Chang'an, Kaifeng, and Yangzhou.^[12] After critical analysis, it is evident that Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas and the three other Sahabas who were preaching from 616-18 were noticed by Emperor Wu-De by 618 AD. Guangzhou is home to four mosques, including the famous Huaisheng Mosque believed to have been built by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, the uncle of Muhammad. The city also has a grave believed to be that of ibn Abi Waqqas (father of Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas).^[13]

Song Dynasty

Tombs of Imam Asim and Mazaar of Zafar Sadiq

"On the foothills of Mount Lingshan are the tombs of two of the four companions that Prophet Muhammad sent eastwards to preach Islam. Known as the "Holy Tombs," they house the companions Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ko-Shun—their Chinese names, of course. The other two companions went to Guangzhou and Yangzhou."^[18] "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 (man of c.1000 CE in Hotan). The shrine site includes the reputed tomb of the Imam, a mosque, and several related tombs."^[19] There is also a mazaar of Imam Zafar Sadiq.^[20]

Yuan Dynasty

During the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), large numbers of Muslims settled in China. The Mongols, a minority in China, gave foreign immigrants, such as Muslims, Christians, and Jews from west Asia an elevated status over the native Han Chinese as part of their governing strategy, thus giving Muslims a heavy influence. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims immigrants were recruited and forcibly relocated from Western and Central Asia by the Mongols to help them administer their rapidly expanding empire.^[2] The Mongols used Persian, Arab and Uyghur administrators, generically known as semu [色目]("various eye color")^[21] to act as officers of taxation and finance. Muslims headed many corporations in China in the early Yuan period.^{[22][page needed]} Muslim scholars were brought to work on calendar making and astronomy. The architect Yeheidie'erding (Amir al-Din) learned from Han architecture and helped to design the construction of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Dadu, otherwise known as Khanbaliq or Khanbaligh, the predecessor of present-day Beijing.^[23] The term Hui originated from the Mandarin word "Huihui" a term first used in the Yuan Dynasty to describe Central Asian, Persian and Arab residents in China.^[10]

Ming Dynasty

However, during the Ming Dynasty, new immigration to China from Muslim countries was restricted in an increasingly isolationist nation. The Muslims in China who were descended from earlier immigration began to assimilate by speaking Chinese dialects and by adopting Chinese names and culture. Mosque architecture began to follow traditional Chinese architecture. This era, sometimes considered the Golden Age of Islam in China,^[24] also saw Nanjing become an important center of Islamic study.^[25]

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) was not favourable to Chinese Muslims. The dynasty prohibited ritual slaughtering of animals, followed by forbidding the construction of new mosques and the pilgrimage to Mecca.^[26] The Qing rulers belonged to the Manchu, a minority in China. The Muslim revolt in the northwest occurred due to violent and bloody infighting between Muslim sects, the Gedimu, Khafiya, and Jahriyya, while the rebellion in Yunnan occurred because of repression by Qing officials. resulted in five bloody Hui rebellions, most notably the Panthay Rebellion, which occurred in Yunnan province from 1855 to 1873, and the Dungan revolt, which occurred mostly in Xinjiang, Shensi and Gansu, from 1862 to 1877. The Manchu government then committed genocide to suppress these revolts,^[27][28][29] killing a million people in the Panthay rebellion,^{[30][page needed]} several million in the Dungan revolt^[30] and five million in the suppression of Miao people in Guizhou.^[30] A "washing off the Muslims"^{[n 1]} policy had been long advocated by officials in the Manchu government.^{[31][page needed]}

However, many Muslims like Ma Zhan'ao, Ma Anliang, Dong Fuxiang, Ma Qianling, and Ma Julung defected to the Qing dynasty side, and helped the Qing general Zuo Zongtang exterminate the Muslim rebels. These Muslim generals belonged to the Khafiya sect, and they helped Qing massacre Jahariyya rebels. General Zuo moved the han around hezhou out of the area and relocated them as a reward for the Muslims there helping Qing kill other Muslim rebels.

In 1895, another Dungan Revolt (1895) broke out, and loyalist Muslims like Dong Fuxiang, Ma Anliang, Ma Guoliang, Ma Fulu, and Ma Fuxiang suppressed and massacred the rebel Muslims led by Ma Dahan, Ma Yonglin, and Ma Wanfu. A Muslim army called the Kansu Braves led by General Dong Fuxiang fought for the Qing dynasty against the foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion. They included well known Generals like Ma Anliang, Ma Fulu, and Ma Fuxiang. In Yunnan, the Qing armies only massacred the Muslims who had rebelled, and spared Muslims who took no part in the uprising.^[32]

Republic of China

People's Republic of China

During the Cultural Revolution, mosques along with other religious buildings, were often defaced, destroyed or closed and copies of the Quran were destroyed along with temples, churches, Buddhist and Daoist monasteries, and cemeteries by the Red Guards.^{[33][page needed]} During that time, the government also constantly accused Muslims and other religious groups of holding "superstitious beliefs" and promoting "anti-socialist trends".^[34] The government began to relax its policies towards Muslims in 1978. Today, Islam is experiencing a modest revival and there are now ^[35] many mosques in China. There has been an upsurge in Islamic expression and many nation-wide Islamic associations have been organized to co-ordinate inter-ethnic activities among Muslims.^[36]

People

Ethnic groups

Muslims live in every region in China.^[2] The highest concentrations are found in the northwest provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, and Ningxia, with significant populations also found throughout Yunnan province in southwest China and Henan province in central China.^[2] Of China’s 55 officially recognized minority peoples, ten groups are predominantly Muslim. The largest groups in descending order are Hui (9.8 million in year 2000 census, or 48% of the officially tabulated number of Muslims), Uyghur (8.4 million, 41%), Kazakh (1.25 million , 6.1%), Dongxiang (514,000, 2.5%), Kyrgyz (161,000), Salar (105,000), Tajik (41,000), Uzbeks, Bonan (17,000), and Tatar (5,000).^[2] However, individual members of traditionally Muslim ethnic groups may profess other religions or none at all. Additionally, Tibetan Muslims are officially classified along with the Tibetan people. Muslims live predominantly in the areas that border Central Asia, Tibet and Mongolia, i.e. Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai, which is known as the "Quran Belt".^[37]

Number of Muslims in China

Historical estimates

An early estimate of the Muslim population of the then Qing Empire belongs to the Christian missionary Marshall Broomhall. In his book, published in 1910, he produced estimates for each province, based on the reports of missionaries working there, who had counted mosques, talked to mullahs, etc. Broomhall admits the inadequacy of the data for Xinjiang, estimating the Muslim population of Xinjiang (i.e., virtually the entire population of the province at the time) in the range from 1,000,000 (based on the total population number of 1,200,000 in the contemporary Statesman's Yearbook) to 2,400,000 (2 million "Turki", 200,000 "Hasak", and 200,000 "Tungan", as per George Hunter). He uses the estimates of 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 for Gansu (which then also included today's Ningxia and parts of Qinghai), 500,000 to 1,000,000 for Zhili (i.e., Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei), 300,000 to 1,000,000 for Yunnan, and smaller numbers for other provinces, down to 1,000 in Fujian. For Mongolia (then, part of the Qing Empire) he takes an arbitrary range of 50,000 to 100,000.^[43] Summing up, he arrives to the grand total of 4,727,000 to 9,821,000 Muslims throughout the Qing Empire of its last years, i.e. just over 1-2% of the entire country's estimated population of 426,045,305.^[44] Broomhall then uses his numbers for the "Moslem population of China [being]... possibly not less than the total population of Egypt or Persia" as an argument for greater Christian missionary attention to this community.^[45]

According to a population statistics of 1936, there were 48,104,240 Muslims in China, which accounted for 10.5% of the total population. "There are in China 48,104,241 Mohammedan followers and 42,371 mosques, largely in Sinkiang, Chinghai, Manchuria, Kansu, Yunnan, Shensi, Hopei, and Honan."^[46]

Religious practice

Islamic education in China

Muslim groups

The vast majority of China's Muslims are Sunni Muslims. A notable feature of some Muslim communities in China is the presence of female imams.^[47] Islamic scholar Ma Tong recorded that the 6,781,500 Hui in China were predominately members of Sufi groups. According to Tong, 58.2 % were Gedimu, 21% Yihewani, 10.9% Jahriyya, 7.2 % Khuffiya, 1.4% Qadariyya, and 0.7 % Kubrawiyya.^[48] Shia Chinese Muslims are mostly Ismailis including Tajiks of the Tashkurgan and Sarikul areas of Xingjian.

Chinese Muslims and the Hajj

It is known that Admiral Zheng He (1371–1435) and his Muslim crews had made the journey to Mecca and performed the Hajj during one of the former's voyages to the western ocean between 1401-1433.^[49] Other Chinese Muslims may have made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in the centuries followed; however, there is little information on this. The General Ma Lin (warlord), made a Hajj to Mecca.^[50] General Ma Fuxiang along with Ma Linyi sponsored Imam Wang Jingzhai when he went on hajj to Mecca in 1921.^[51]Yihewani Imam Hu Songshan went on Hajj in 1925.^[52] Briefly during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Muslims were not allowed to attend the Hajj, and only did so through Pakistan, but this policy was reversed in 1979. Chinese Muslims now attend the Hajj in large numbers, typically in organized groups, with a record 10,700 Chinese Muslim pilgrims from all over the country making the Hajj in 2007.^[53]

Attitudes toward Non muslims

In their early history, Muslims residing in China had closer interactions with adherents of other various faiths. Muslims treated the works of Confucius with considerable respect, pointing out the harmony between the two doctrines.^[54] Muslims saw their numbers increase in the 17th century with a large number of Chinese Jews embracing Islam.^[54] Muslim General Ma Bufang allowed polytheists to openly worship, and Christian missionaries to station themselves in Qinghai. General Ma and other high ranking Muslim Generals even attended the Kokonuur Lake Ceremony where the God of the Lake was worshipped, and during the ritual, the Chinese national Anthem was sung, all participants bowed to a Portrait of Kuomintang party founder Dr. Sun Zhongshan, and the God of the Lake was also bowed to, and offerings were given to him by the participants, which included the Muslims.^[55] Ma Bufang invited Kazakh Muslims to attend the Ceremony honoring the God.^[56] Ma Bufang received audiences of Christian missionaries, who sometimes gave him the Gospel.^[57] His son Ma Jiyuan received a silver cup from Christian missionaries.^[58]

Representative bodies

Islamic Association of China

The Islamic Association of China claims to represent Chinese Muslims nationwide. At its inaugural meeting on May 11, 1953 in Beijing, representatives from 10 nationalities of the People's Republic of China were in attendance.

China Islamic Association

In April 2001, the government set up the China Islamic Association, which was described as aiming to "help the spread of the Qur'an in China and oppose religious extremism". The association is to be run by 16 Islamic religious leaders who are charged with making "a correct and authoritative interpretation" of Islamic creed and canon.

It will compile and spread inspirational speeches and help imams improve themselves, and vet sermons made by clerics around the country. This latter function is probably the key job as far as the central government is concerned. It is worried that some clerics are using their sermons to spread sedition.

Some examples of the religious concessions granted to Muslims are:

• In areas where Muslims are a majority, the breeding of pigs is not allowed, in deference to Muslim sensitivities

• Muslim communities are allowed separate cemeteries

• Muslim couples may have their marriage consecrated by an Imam

• Muslim workers are permitted holidays during major religious festivals

• Chinese Muslims are also allowed to make the Hajj to Mecca, and more than 45,000 Chinese Muslims have done so in recent years.^[59]

Culture and heritage

Taking the Mongol Eurasian empire as a point of departure, the ethnogenesis of the Hui, or Sinophone Muslims, can also be charted through the emergence of distinctly Chinese Muslim traditions in architecture, food, epigraphy and Islamic written culture. This multifaceted cultural heritage continues to the present day.^[60]

Islamic architecture

An important feature in Chinese architecture is its emphasis on symmetry, which connotes a sense of grandeur; this applies to everything from palaces to mosques. One notable exception is in the design of gardens, which tends to be as asymmetrical as possible. Like Chinese scroll paintings, the principle underlying the garden's composition is to create enduring flow; to let the patron wander and enjoy the garden without prescription, as in nature herself.

On the foothills of Mount Lingshan are the tombs of two of the four companions that Muhammad sent eastwards to preach Islam. Known as the "Holy Tombs," they house the companions Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ko-Shun—their Chinese names, of course. The other two companions went to Guangzhou and Yangzhou.^[62]

Chinese buildings may be built with bricks, but wooden structures are the most common; these are more capable of withstanding earthquakes, but are vulnerable to fire. The roof of a typical Chinese building is curved; there are strict classifications of gable types, comparable with the classical orders of European columns.

As in all regions the Chinese Islamic architecture reflects the local architecture in its style. China is renowned for its beautiful mosques, which resemble temples. However, in western China the mosques resemble those of the middle east, with tall, slender minarets, curvy arches and dome shaped roofs. In northwest China where the Chinese Hui have built their mosques, there is a combination of east and west. The mosques have flared Chinese-style roofs set in walled courtyards entered through archways with miniature domes and minarets.^[61] The first mosque was the Great Mosque of Xian, or the Xian Mosque, which was created in the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century.^[63]

Halal food in China

Islamic Finance

China and Chinese Muslim economists have a long tradition with Islamic finance. The latest official attempt is Bank of Ningxia; while Hong Kong as financial center is discussing intensively its role.

Calligraphy

Sini

Xiao'erjing

Xiao'erjing (also Xiao'erjin or Xiaojing) is the practice of writing Sinitic languages such as Mandarin (especially the Lanyin, Zhongyuan, and Northeastern dialects) or the Dungan language in the Arabic script. It is used on occasion by many ethnic minorities who adhere to the Islamic faith in China (mostly the Hui, but also the Dongxiang, and the Salar), and formerly by their Dungan descendants in Central Asia.

Martial arts

Literature

The Han Kitab was a collection of Chinese Islamic texts written by Chinese Muslim which synthesized Islam and Confucianism. It was written in the early 18th century during the Qing dynasty. Han is Chinese for Chinese, and kitab (ketabu in Chinese) is Arabic for book.^[67] Liu Zhi wrote his Han Kitab in Nanjing in the early 18th century. The works of Wu Sunqie, Zhang Zhong, and Wang Daiyu were also uncluded in the Han Kitab.

The Han Kitab was widely read and approved of by later Chinese Muslims such as Ma Qixi, Ma Fuxiang, and Hu Songshan. They believed that Islam could be understood through Confucianism.

Education

For some Muslim groups in China, such as Hui and Salars minorities, coeducation is frown upon; for some groups such as Uyghurs, its not.