Chinese Muslims: Who Are They?

Dr. Fawzia Mai Tung

How many Muslims are there in China?

• Last pre-Communist census of 1910: • 40,000,000 Muslims

• Out of a total of 439,214,000

• Percentage: 9.1%

• Last census of 2010:• 20,095,872 Muslims (thus a decrease of about 50%)

• Total: 1,339,724,852

• Percentage: 1.5%

122 million Muslims in China

• Use same 1910 percentage (9.1%) as calculator:• Conservative estimate

• Today’s Chinese Muslim population is likely to be:

• 1,339,724,852 x 9.1%

• = 122,011,125

• Muslim minorities are allowed two children.

• Term “Hui” is applied to an ethnic race, not a religion

• Modern (communist) census does not track religions, only ethnicities

• However: loss of practice during Communist era

2010: This would make China the fifth largest Muslim country after:

• 1. Indonesia: 204,847,000

• 2. Pakistan: 178,097,000

• 3. India: 177,286,000

• 4. Bangladesh: 148,607,000

• 5. China: 122,011,125

• 6. Egypt: 80,024,000

• 7. Nigeria: 75,728,000

• 8. Iran: 74,819,000

• 9. Turkey: 74,660,000

• 10. Algeria: 34,780,000

Distribution of Mosques in China (1990)

Distribution of Muslims

• General Misconception: mostly

found in the western provinces

• Confusion of “Hui” ethnicity

and the religion

• Muslims are found in all

provinces and cities in China.

Islam: in Chinese?

• Qing Zhen Jiao: 清真教

• I-S-Lan (transliteration):伊斯兰

• Hui Jiao (religion of the Hui): 回教

Pure & True: 清真

•清真教• pure true religion = Islam

•清真寺• pure true temple = mosque

•清真馆• pure true house = Islamic restaurant

Islam = Purely True

• Qing Zhen jiao 清真教

• (the pure, true religion)

• According to: Ibn Faris al-Qazwini, Ahmad, (fl.10th cent. ) in

• Mu`jam maqayis al-lughah, the meaning of

“Islam” is: “purely true” = 清真

Historical Background

First Muslim on record

• Grave of Sa’ad Ibn Abi Waqqas, at the Huaisheng mosque (Beacon Tower mosque)

• Maternal uncle of Prophet Mohammad SAW

First Mosque

• First reached China in the 7th century during the lifetime of the Prophet Mohammad (SAW).

• Beacon Tower (GuangTa, or Huaisheng) mosque of Guangzhou being built in 627 AD.

Silk Road

• Tang dynasty onward: Mostly Muslim traders

• Some returned home after finishing their business, but others settled permanently in enclaves set aside for them in segregated quarters complete with mosques.

• The Tang emperor also granted lands in the western-most periphery of the empire to Muslim soldiers in 757 as a reward for their help in putting down the rebellion of An Lushan, and fifty years later Muslims were also allowed to settle in Yunnan. In both cases the Muslim settlers were given permission to take Chinese wives, though these women were not allowed to accompany their husbands back to their homelands.8

• By Islamic law, children of a Muslim father are required to be raised as Muslim, which led to the formation of a Muslim Chinese minority in these regions during the Tang period.

• Widely believed to be origin of the 5 million Hui.

Ming Emperors

• Generations of Chinese Muslims have passed on the belief that the Ming founding emperor Zhu Yuan-Zhang was Muslim; as were his companions-in-arms.

• Chinese Muslim scholar Ma Ming-Dao published in 1983 “researching the religion of the Ming Emperors”.

• Used historical evidence to support thesis that Ming emperors were Muslim.

100-Word Praise Written by Emperor HongWuPlaced in mosques he built in Nanjing

• Since the creation of the universeGod had already appointed his great faith-preaching man,From the West he was born,And received the holy scriptureAnd book made of 30 parts (Juz)To guide all creations,Master of all rulers,Leader of the holy ones,With support from the Heavens,To protect his nation,With five daily prayers,Silently hoping for peace,

• His heart directed towards Allah,Giving power to the poor,Saving them from calamity,Seeing through the Unseen,Pulling the souls and the spirits away from all wrongdoings,Mercy to the world,Transversing to the ancient,Majestic path vanquished away all evil,His religion Pure and True,Muhammad,The Noble High One.

Jing Jue Si

• Jing Jue Mosque in Nanjing, then capital of China

• Built by the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Hong-Wu around 1390.

• Burned down; then rebuilt by Zheng He (Muslim navigator) in 1430.

Zheng He

• Chinese Muslim, eunuch, great navigator

• 7 voyages: last one: reached Makkah

• Accompanied Chinese Princess Hang Li Po or Hang Liu as bride to Sultan Mansur Shah (1456-1477) of Malacca.

• Established numerous Chinese Muslim settlements throughout Southeast Asia.

Zheng He’s Influence

The Cakra Donya Bell, a gift

from Zheng He to Pasai, now

located at the Museum Aceh in

Banda Aceh.

The Sam Po Kong Temple in

Malacca.

Ancient Chinese map dated 1418 showing

the Americas

The Zheng Hoo Mosque in Surabaya.

Spread Islam to South-East

Asia.

Muslims during Qing Dynasty

• 1644: Ming Muslim loyalists led a rebellion against the invading Qing.

• The Panthay Rebellion (1855 - 1873): led by Du Wen-Xiu (Yunnan)• nation of Pingnan Guo, meaning “the Pacified Southern Nation”.

• Driving out the Manchus and establishing unity between Han and Hui

• Over a million killed by Qing

• The Dungan Revolt also known as the Hui Minorities War, (1862–77)• series of rebellions by Hui and other Muslim ethnic groups in

• Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang,

• After defeat, and several millions killed, mass emigration to imperial Russia

Spread of Sufism

• In Northwestern provinces

• Mid 17th-18th centuries

• Orders include: Kubrawiyya, Naqshbandiyya, and Qadiriyya.

• Some Sufi orders wear distinctive headgear, a six cornered hat can be found in China.

• Chinese Hui Sufis developed a new type of organization called the menhuan, centered around a lineage of Sufi masters

Muslims during the Republic (early years)

• Sun Yat Sen immediately proclaimed that the country belonged equally to the Han, Man, Hui (Muslim), Meng (Mongol), and the Tsa

• Increased contact between Muslim minorities in China and the Middle East.

• By 1939, at least 33 Hui Muslims had studied at Cairo's Al-Azhar University.

• In 1912, the Chinese Muslim Federation was formed in the capital Nanjing.

• National organizations like the Chinese Muslim Association were established for Muslims.

• 30 journals published between 1911 and 1937.

• Muslims served extensively in the National Revolutionary Army and reached positions of importance, like General Bai Chongxi, who became Defense Minister of the Republic of China.

• Muslims obtained right to not bow to the leader.

Islam in the People's Republic of China

• 1949: founding of the People’s Republic of China

• Cultural Revolution: Islam, like all religions, was persecuted by the atheist Red Guards who were encouraged to smash the Four Olds.

• Mosques were all attacked

• Since Deng Xiaoping (1979), the Chinese government liberalized its policies toward Islam and Muslims. More Chinese Muslims than ever before are allowed to go on the Hajj.

Islam in Taiwan 1

• Muslims immigration to Taiwan:

• 1: 17th century with Koxinga

• 2: after Communist occupation of Chinese mainland in 1949.

• 3: 1980s, descendants of 1949 refugees to Myanmar and Thailand.

• 4: converts and expatriates

• Total: 60,000 + 18,000 = 240,000

Islam in Taiwan 2

• 7 mosques

• Muslim cemeteries: including complex in Taipei to be developed into Muslim cultural and historical park

• Imam Dawoud Ting Started Da’wah activities in 1990 at Grand Mosque in Taipei, breaking centuries of tradition of no-proselytization.

• Chinese Muslim Association, Chinese Muslim Youth League, Chinese Islamic and Cultural Foundation, Taiwan Halal Integrity Development Association, Indonesian Muslim Family in Taiwan

• 5 universities with Muslim student groups

Diaspora of Chinese Muslims

• Largest group left Gansu and Qinghai in 1949, emigrated to Cairo then to Taif, Saudi Arabia.

• Led by General Ma Bufang, Supreme Commander in Chief of 14 million people in northwestern China (area 13 times as big as Texas.

• Original few hundreds now number a few thousands in Saudi Arabia.

With Egyptian President

Muhammad Naguib

Pilgrims

• 2010: about 13,500 pilgrims from China performed Hajj

• 2012: 33 members of Hajj delegation from Taiwan

Terms and Names

Family names

• Most Chinese Muslims have surnames that are not part of the “100 Family Names” of the Han.

• These surnames are the first or last syllables of Arabic, Turkic or Persian names:• Mahmood: Ma (horse) (“Out of 10 Ma’s, 9 are Muslims”)

• Malik: Mai (to buy)

• Shamsuddin: Ting/ Ding

• Hussein: Huo (fire)

• Hassan: Ha

Islamic terms

• Many Islamic terms are often in Persian transliteration• Imam: akhund 阿訇• Prayer names:

• Some terms transliterated from Arabic• 主麻 = Jum’ah

• 赛俩目= Salam

• Others are mostly in Chinese:• Eid al Fitr: 開齋節• Eid al Adha: 宰牲節 or 忠孝節• Dead body:

Jingtangyu

• Special Chinese “language” in Chinese characters

• Transliterated from Arabic

• Rules govern the transliteration

• Learned by all Islamic students at Islamic institutes

• Examples: 安拉 （An-La) and not 阿拉 (Ah-la)

• Because a double “l” is transliterated as an “n” sound on the previous vowel

Characteristics

Architecture

mosques

• Depending on historical and geographical factors, mosques are built in either Chinese styles of the era, or may exhibit more Central Asian characteristics

Mosque in Tu Lu Fan (Xinjiang) city center

Ox Street Mosque, Beijing

• Built in 996

(Liao

Dynasty),

then razed

and rebuilt

in 1442

(Ming

Dynasty)

Entrance of Men Prayer Hall

Main Prayer Hall

Non-Muslims, please refrain from entering the

prayer hall. Those with tight or short clothing,

please refrain from entering the prayer hall.

Minaret

Moon Observation Tower

Male Ablution Room

Female Mosque

Two female worshippers teaching

each other how to read Qur’an

Female bathroom

North Lecture Hall & Old Entrance

What do you notice on the roofs?

Muslim artifacts in NiuJieMosque

Jing Jue Si, Nanjing

Great Mosque of XiAn

• One of the four great mosques of

China

• One of the oldest mosques

• Built in 742 AD, during the first year

of the reign of Tang Tian Bao

• Mosque area: 6,000+ m2

• Compound area: 13,000 m2

• Four courtyards

Communities

Niu Jie district

• It encompasses not just the main street but a number of side streets as well.

Schools

Ping Liang, Gansu (NW China)

• Many rural Muslim communities are still very poor.

• Many still have “yao dong” in their backyards, or live in them.

Modern Kang

• Elevated “bed” for sitting or lounging, made of bricks and heated with wood/ charcoal.

Welcoming Ramadan

Bathroom, Kitchen

• No flushing system

• Recycled sewage to fertilize home garden

• Poorest have outdoor kitchen

Life for semi-rural Muslims

Mosques in Gansu

LanZhou, capital of Gansu

Ping Liang, smaller town

Clothing

men

Food

Zabiha meats

restaurants

Islamic food

XinJiang restaurants

Hand-pulled noodles

XiAn Muslim Quarter

Halal stores: grocery stores, department stores, convenience stores

Ritualistic food

• You xiang: fried bread

• plain, sweet or beef filling

• Claimed to be based on legend involving Prophet Mohammed PBUH

• Often distributed in mosques on death anniversaries by surviving relatives

decorations

Sini style of Arabic calligraphy

Decorations 2

Decorations 3

Decorations 4

MuKaMu (maqam) music in Tulufan

12 MuKaMu from XinJiang

Cultural integration

Decorations 5

Chinese Islamic cultural integration:

Compare the “Fu” (blessings/ prosperity) paper-cutting

decoration with the new “Barakat” or “Mubarak” paper-

cutting decorations.

Red pockets

Invitation cards

Chinese bridal gown

Traditional

Chinese bridal

gown is red.

Thank you!