CHAPTER
X.
THE
SPREAD OF ISLAM IN CHINA.
tradition ascribes to Muḥammad the saying,
"Seek for knowledge, even unto China."[1]
Though there is no historical evidence for these words having ever been
uttered by the Prophet, it is not impossible that the name of this country may
have been known to him, for commercial relations between Arabia and China had
been established long before his birth. It was through Arabia, in great
measure, that Syria and the ports of the Levant received the produce of the East.
In the sixth century, there was a considerable trade between China and Arabia
by way of Ceylon, and at the beginning of the seventh century the commerce
between China, Persia and Arabia vas still further extended, the town of Sīrāf
on the Persian Gulf being the chief emporium for the Chinese traders. It was at
this period, at the commencement of the T'ang dynasty (618-907) that mention
is first made of the Arabs in the Chinese Annals;[2]
they note the rise of the Muslim power in Medina and briefly describe the
religious observances of the new faith.
The Annals of Kwangtung thus record
the coming of the first Muslims into China :—" At the beginning of the
T'ang dynasty there came to Canton a large number of strangers, from the
kingdoms of Annam, Cambodia, Medina and several other countries. These
strangers worshipped heaven (i. e. God) and had neither statue, idol nor image
in their temples. The kingdom of Medina is close to that of India, and it is in
this kingdom that the religion of these strangers, which is different to that
of Buddha, originated. They do not eat pork or drink wine, and they regard as
unclean the flesh of any animal not killed by themselves. They are nowadays called Hui Hui.[3]
. . . Having asked and obtained from the emperor permission to reside in
Canton, they built magnificent houses of a style different to that of our
country. They were very rich and obeyed
a chief chosen by themselves."[4]
Though direct historical evidence is lacking,[5]
it is most probable that Islam was first introduced into China by merchants who
followed the old-established sea route. But the earliest record we can trust
refers to diplomatic relations carried on by land, through Persia. When Yazdagird, the last Sāsānid king of
Persia, had perished, his son, Firuz, appealed to China for help against the
Arab invaders;[6]
but the emperor replied that Persia was too far distant for him to send the
required troops. But he is said to have despatched an ambassador to the Arab
court to plead the cause of the fugitive prince—probably also with instructions
to ascertain the extent and power of the new kingdom that had arisen in the
West, and the caliph 'Uthmān is said to have sent one of the Arab
generals to accompany the Chinese ambassador on his return in 651, and this
first Muslim envoy was honourably received by the emperor. In the reign of Walīd (705-715), the famous
Arab general, Qutaybah b. Muslim, having been appointed governor of Khurāsān,
crossed the Oxus and began a series of successful campaigns, in which he
successively subjugated Bukhārā, Samarqand and other cities, and carried
his conquests up to the eastern frontier of the Chinese empire. In 713 he sent
envoys to the emperor, who (according to Arab accounts) dismissed them with
valuable presents. A few years later, the Chinese Annals make mention of an
ambassador, named Sulaymān, who came from the caliph Hishām in 726 to the
Emperor Hsuan Tsung. These diplomatic relations between the Arab and the
Chinese empires assumed a new importance at the close of this emperor's reign,
when, driven from his throne by a usurper, he
abdicated in favour of his son, Su Tsung (a.d,
756). The latter sought the help of the 'Abbāsīd caliph, al-Manṣūr, who
responded to this appeal by sending a body of Arab troops, and with their-
assistance the emperor succeeded in recovering his two capitals, Si-ngan-fu and
Ho-nan-fu, from the rebels. At the end of the war, these Arab troops did not
return to their own country, but married and settled in China. Various reasons
are assigned for this action on their part; one account represents them as
having returned to their native land but, being refused permission to remain on
the ground that they had been so long in a land where pork was eaten, they went
back again to China; according to another account they were prepared to embark
for Arabia, at Canton, when they were taunted with having eaten pork during
their campaign, and in consequence they refused to return home and run the risk
of similar taunts from their own people; when the governor of Canton tried to
compel them, they joined with the Arab and Persian merchants, their
co-religionists, and pillaged the principal commercial houses in the city; the
governor saved himself by taking refuge on the city wall, and was only able to
return after he had obtained from the emperor permission for these Arab troops
to remain in the country; houses and lands were assigned to them in different
cities, where they settled down and intermarried with the women of the country.[7]
The Chinese Muhammadans have a legend
that their faith was first preached in China by a maternal uncle of the
Prophet, and his reputed tomb at Canton is highly venerated by them. But there
is not the slightest historical base for this legend, and it appears to be of
late growth.[8]
It doubtless arose from a desire to connect the history of the faith in their
own land as closely as possible with apostolic times—a fruitful source of
legends in countries far removed from the centres of Muslim history.[9]
But of the existence of Muslims in China, especially of merchants in the port towns, during the T'ang dynasty there is clear evidence.
The Chinese annalist of this period (a.d.
713-742) says that " the barbarians of the West came into the
Middle Kingdom in crowds, like a deluge, from a distance of at least 1000
leagues and from more than 100 kingdoms, bringing as tribute their sacred
books, which were received and deposited in the hall set apart for
translations of sacred and canonical books, in the imperial palace: from this
period the religious doctrines of these different countries were thus diffused
and openly practised in the empire of T'ang."[10]
An Arab geographer, writing about the year 851, describes these settlements and
the mosques which these merchants were allowed to build for their religious
exercises;[11]
he states that he knew of no Chinaman having embraced Islam, but as he makes
the same remark of the people of India, it may be that he was as ill-informed
in the one case as the other.[12]
But there is certainly no distinct
evidence of any proselytising activity on the part of the Muslims in China,
and indeed very little information about them at all until the period of Mongol
conquests, in the thirteenth century. These conquests resulted in a vast
immigration of Musalmans of various nationalities, Arabs, Persians, Turks and
others into the Chinese
empire.[13]
Some came as
merchants, artisans, soldiers or colonists, others were brought in as
prisoners of war. A large number of them
settled permanently in the country and developed into a populous and
flourishing community, which gradually lost its original racial peculiarities through
intermarriage with Chinese women.
Several Muhammadans occupied high posts under the Mongol rulers, e. g. 'Abd
al-Rahman, who in 1244 was appointed head of the Imperial finances and allowed
to farm the taxes imposed upon China,[14]
and 'Umar Shams al-Dīn, commonly known as Sayyid Ajall, a native of Bukhārā,
to whom Qūbīlāy Khān, on his accession in 1259,
entrusted the management of the Imperial finances; he was subsequently
governor of Yunnan, after this province had been conquered and added to the
Chinese empire.[15]
Sayyid Ajall died in 1270, leaving behind him a reputation as an enlightened
and upright administrator; he built Confucian temples as well as mosques in
Yunnan city.[16]
The
descendants of Sayyid Ajall played a great part in the establishing of Islam in
China; it was his grandson who in 1335 obtained from the emperor the
recognition of Islam as the " True and Pure Religion "—a name which
it has kept to the present day,—and another descendant of Sayyid Ajall was
authorised by the emperor in 1420 to build mosques in the capitals, Si-ngan-fu
and Nan-kin.[17]
The
Chinese historians of the reign of Qūbīlāy Khān make it a ground of
complaint against this monarch that he did not employ Chinese officials in
place of the immigrant Turks and Persians.[18]
The exalted position occupied by Sayyid Ajall and the facilities of
communication between China and the West established by Mongol conquest,
attracted a number of such persons into the north of China, and it was probably
as a result of these immigrations that those scattered Muhammadan communities
began to be formed, which have grown to large proportions in most of the
provinces of China. Marco Polo, who enjoyed the favour of Qūbīlāy Khān
and lived in China from 1275 to 1292, notes the presence of Muhammadans in
various parts of Yunnan.[19]
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, all the inhabitants of Talifu, the
capital of Yunnan, are said by a contemporary historian to have been Musalmans;[20]
and Ibn Baṭūṭah, who visited several coast towns in China towards the middle of
the fourteenth century, speaks of the hearty welcome he received from his
co-religionists,[21]
and reports that" In every town there is a special quarter for the
Muslims, inhabited solely by them, where they have their mosques; they are
honoured and respected by the Chinese." [22]
Up to this period the Muhammadans
appear to have been looked upon as a foreign community in China, but after the
expulsion of the Mongol dynasty in the latter part of the fourteenth century
they received no fresh addition to their numbers from abroad, in consequence of
the policy of isolation which the Chinese government now adopted; and being
thus cut off from communication with their coreligionists in other countries,
they tended, in most parts of the empire, gradually to become merged into the
mass of the native population, through their marriages with Chinese women and
their adoption of Chinese habits and manners. The founder of the new Ming
dynasty, the emperor Hung-wu, extended to them many privileges, and their
flourishing condition during the period that this dynasty lasted (1368-1644) is
shown by the large number of mosques erected.
The emperors of this dynasty
cultivated friendly relations with the Muhammadan princes on their western
frontier, and there was a frequent interchange of embassies between them and
the Timurid princes. One of these is of interest in the missionary history of
Islam, inasmuch as Shāh Rukh Bahādur in 1412 took advantage of the
arrival of a Chinese embassy at his court in Samarqand, to include in his
answer an invitation to the emperor to embrace Islam. He sent with his envoy,
who accompanied the Chinese ambassadors on their return, two letters, the first
of which, written in Arabic, was to the following effect:—" In the name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. There is no god save God: Muhammad is the
Apostle of God. The Apostle of God, Muḥammad (peace be on him!) said: ' There
shall not cease to be in my church a people abiding in the commandments of God;
whosoever fails to help them or opposes them, shall never prosper, until the
commandment of the Lord cometh.' When the Most High God purposed to create Adam
and his race, he said ' I was a hidden treasure, but it was my pleasure to
become known; I therefore created man that I might be known; It is manifest
from hence that the divine purpose (great is His power and exalted is His word!)
in the creation of man was to make Himself Known and uplift the banners of
right guidance and faith. Wherefore He sent His Apostle with guidance and the
religion of truth that it might prevail over all other faiths, though the
polytheists turn away from it, that he might make known the laws and the
ordinances and the observances of what is lawful and unlawful, and He gave him
the holy Qur'ān miraculously that thereby he might put to silence the
unbelievers and stop their mouths when they discussed and disputed with him,
and by His perfect grace and His all-pervading guidance He has caused it to
remain even unto the day of judgment. By His power He hath established in all
ages and times and in all parts of the world, in east and west, and in China, a
mighty monarch, lord of great armies and authority, to administer justice and
mercy and spread the wings of peace and security over the heads of men; to
enjoin upon them righteousness and warn them against evil and disobedience and
lift up among them the banners of the noble religion; and he drives away idolatry
and infidelity from among them through belief in the unity of God. The Most
High God thus disposeth our hearts by His past mercies and His ensuing grace to
strive for the stablishing of the laws of pure religion and the continuance of
the ordinances of the shining path. He also bids us administer justice to our
subjects in all suits and cases in accordance with the religion of the Prophet
and the ordinances of the Chosen One, and build mosques and colleges and
monasteries and hermitages and places of worship, that the teaching of the
sciences and the schools of learning may not cease nor the memorials and
injunctions of religion be swept away. Seeing that the continuance of worldly
prosperity and dominion, and the permanence of authority and rule depend upon
the assistance given to truth and righteousness and the extirpation of the
evils caused by idolatry and unbelief from the earth, in the expectation of
blessing and reward, we, therefore, hope that your Majesty and the nobles of
your realm will agree with us in these matters and join us in strengthening the
foundations of the established law." The other letter, written in Persian,
makes a more direct appeal, without the rhetorical embellishments of the
Arabic:—" The Most High God, having in the depth of His wisdom and the
perfection of His power created Adam (peace be upon him !), made some of his
sons prophets and apostles and sent them among men to summon them to the truth.
To certain of these prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, David and Muḥammad (peace
be upon them !) He gave a book and taught a law, and He bade the people of
their timefollow the law and the religion of each of them. All these apostles
invited men to faith in the unity and to the worship of God and forbade the
adoration of the sun, moon and stars, of kings and idols; and though each one
of these apostles had a separate law, yet they were all agreed in the doctrine
of the unity of the Most High God. At length, when the apostolic and prophetic
office devolved on the Apostle Muḥammad Muṣṭafặ (the peace and blessing of God
be upon him !) all other systems of law were abrogated. He was the apostle and
the prophet of the latter age, and it behoves the whole world—lords and kings
and ministers, rich and poor, small and great,—to observe his law and forsake
all past creeds and laws. This is the true and perfect faith and is called
Islam. Some years ago, Chingīz Khān took up arms and sent his sons into
various countries and kingdoms—Jūjī Khān to the confines of Sarāy, Qrim
and Dasht Qafchāq, where some monarchs, such as Ūzbek Khān, Chānī Khān
and Urus Khān, became Musalmans and observed the law of Muḥammad (peace
be upon him!). Hūlāgū Khān was set over Khurāsān, 'Irāq and the
neighbouring countries, and some of his sons who succeeded him received into
their hearts the light of the law of Muḥammad (peace be upon him!), and in like
manner became Musalmans, and honoured with the blessedness of Islam passed into
the other world, such as the truthful king, Ghāzān, and Uljāytū Sulṭān
and the fortunate king, Abū Sa'īd Bahādur, until my honoured father, Amīr Tīmūr
Gūrgān, succeeded to the throne. He too observed the law of Muhammad (peace be
upon him !) in all the countries under his rule, and throughout his reign the
followers of the faith of Islam enjoyed complete prosperity. Now that by the
goodness and favour of God this Kingdom of Khurāsān, 'Irāq, Mā-warā'-al-nahr,
etc., has passed into my hands, the administration is carried on throughout the
whole kingdom in accordance with the pure law of the Prophet; righteousness is
enjoined and wrong forbidden, and the Yarghū and the institutes of
Chingiz Khān have been abolished.
Since,
then, it is sure and certain that salvation and deliverance in the day of
judgment, and sovereignty and felicity in the present world, depend upon true
faith and Islam, and the favour of the Most High God, it is incumbent upon us
to treat our subjects with justice and equity. I hope that by the bounty and
benevolence of God you too will observe the law of Muḥammad, the Apostle of God
(peace be upon him I) and strengthen the religion of Islam, so that you may
exchange the transitory sovereignty of this world for the sovereignty of the
world to come."[23]
It is not improbable that these
letters gave rise to the later legend of one of the Chinese emperors having
become a convert to Islam.[24]
This legend is referred to, among others, by a Muhammadan merchant, Sayyid 'Alī
Akbar, who spent some years in Peking at the end of the fifteenth and the
beginning of the sixteenth century; he speaks of the large number of Musalmans
who had settled in China; in the city of Kenjanfu there were as many as 30,000
Muslim families; they paid no taxes and enjoyed the favour of the emperor, who
gave them grants of land; they enjoyed complete toleration for the exercise of
their religion, which was favourably viewed by the Chinese, and conversions
were freely permitted; in the capital itself there were four great mosques and
about ninety more in other provinces of the empire,—all erected at the cost of
the emperor.[25]
Up to the establishment of the Manchu
dynasty in 1644 there is no record of any Muhammadan uprising, and the
followers of Islam appear to have been entirely content with the religious
liberty they enjoyed; but difficulties arose soon after the advent of the new
ruling power, and an insurrection in the province of Kansu in 1648 was the
first occasion on which any Muhammadans rose in arms against the Chinese
government, though it was not until the nineteenth century that any such revolt
entailed very disastrous consequences, or seriously interrupted the amicable relations
that had subsisted from the beginning between the Chinese Muslims and their rulers. The official view of the Chinese Government
of these relations is set forth in an edict published by the emperor Yung Chen
in 1731:—" In every province of the empire, for many centuries past, have
been found a large number of Muhammadans who form part of the people whom I
regard as my own children just as I do my other subjects. I make no distinction
between them and those who do not belong to their religion. I have received
from certain officials secret complaints against the Muhammadans on the ground
that their religion differs from that of the other Chinese, that they do not
speak the same language, and wear a different dress to the rest of the people.
They are accused of disobedience, haughtiness, and rebellious feelings, and I
have been asked to employ severe measures against them. After examining these
complaints and accusations, I have discovered that there is no foundation for
them. In fact, the religion followed by the Musalmans is that of their
ancestors; it is true their language is not the same as that of the rest of
the Chinese, but what a multitude of different dialects there are in China. As
to their temples, dress and manner of writing, which differ from those of the
other Chinese—these are matters of absolutely no importance. These are mere
matters of custom. They bear as good a character as my other subjects, and
there is nothing to show that they intend to rebel. It is my wish, therefore,
that they should be left in the free exercise of their religion, whose object
is to teach men the observance of a moral life, and the fulfilment of social
and civil duties. This religion respects the fundamental basis of Government,
and what more can be asked for? If then the Muhammadans continue to conduct
themselves as good and loyal subjects, my favour will be extended towards them
just as much as towards my other children From among them have come many civil
and military officers, who have risen to the very highest ranks. This is the
best proof that they have adopted our habits and customs, and have learned to
conform themselves to the precepts of our sacred books. They pass their
examinations in literature just like every one else, and perform the sacrifices
enjoined by law. In a word, they are true members of the great Chinese family
and endeavour always to fulfil their
religious, civil and political duties. When the magistrates have a civil case
brought before them, they should not concern themselves with the religion of
the litigants. There is but one single law for all my subjects. Those who do
good shall be rewarded, and those who do evil shall be punished."[26]
About thirty years later, his
successor, the Emperor K'ien Lung, showed distinguished marks of his favour
towards the Muhammadans by ennobling two Turki Begs who had materially helped
in suppressing a revolt in the north-west and Kashgar, and building palaces for
them in Peking; he also erected a mosque for the use of the Turki Begs who
visited the Imperial court and for the prisoners of war who had been brought to
the capital from Kāshgar. Among these prisoners was a beautiful girl who became
a favourite concubine of the emperor, and it is stated that for love of her he
built this mosque immediately opposite his own palace and erected a pavilion
within the palace grounds, from which the concubine could watch her
fellow-countrymen at prayer and could join in their devotions. This mosque was
built in the years 1763-1764 and contains an inscription in four languages, the
Chinese text of which was written by the emperor himself.[27]
After crushing the revolt in Zungaria,
this same emperor K'ien Lung, in 1770 transported thither from other parts of
China ten thousand military colonists, who were followed by their- families and
other persons, to re-people the country, and they are all said to have embraced
the religion of the surrounding Muhammadan population.[28]
Whether such mass conversions occurred in other parts of the empire also, we
have no means of telling, but the existence of a considerable Muhammadan
population in every province of China can hardly be explained merely by
reference to foreign immigration and the natural growth of population,[29]
though the numbers are larger in those provinces in which foreign Muhammadans have settled.[30]
It is unlikely that the Muhammadans in China during the many centuries of their
residence in this country, in the enjoyment of religious freedom and the
liberal patronage of several of the emperors, should have been entirely devoid
of that proselytising zeal which modem observers have noted in their
descendants at the present day.[31]
To such direct proselytising efforts must have been due the conversion of
Chinese Jews to Islam; their establishment in this country dates from an early
period, they held employments under the Government and were in possession of
large estates; but by the close of the seventeenth century a great part of them
had been converted to Islam..[32] Such
propaganda must have been quite quiet and unobtrusive, and indeed more public
methods might have excited suspicions on the part of the Government, as is
shown by an interesting report which was sent to the Emperor K'ien Lung in 1783
by a governor of the province of Khwang‑Se.
It runs as follows : "I have the honour respectfully to inform your
Majesty that an adventurer Han‑Fo-Yun, of the province of Khwang‑Se, has been
arrested on a charge of vagrancy. This adventurer when interrogated as to his occupation, confessed
that for the last ten years he had been travelling through the different
provinces of the Empire in order to obtain information about his religion. In
one of his boxes were found thirty books, some of which had been written by
himself, while others were in a language that no one here understands. These
books praise in an extravagant and ridiculous manner a Western king, called Muḥammad.
The above‑mentioned Han‑Fo-Yun, when put to the torture, at last confessed that
the real object of his journey was to propagate the false religion taught in
these books, and that he remained in the province of Shen‑Si for a longer time
than anywhere else. I have examined these books myself. Some are certainly
written in a foreign language; for I have not been able to understand them: the
others that are written in Chinese are
very bad, I may add, even ridiculous on account of the exaggerated praise given
in them to persons who certainly do not deserve it, because I have never even
heard of them. Perhaps the above-mentioned Han-Fo-Yun is a rebel from Kan-Su.
His conduct is certainly suspicious, for what was he going to do in the
provinces through which he has been travelling for the last ten years? I intend
to make a serious inquiry into the matter. Meanwhile, I would request your
Majesty to order the stereotyped plates, that are in the possession of his
family, to be burnt, and the engravers to be arrested, as well as the authors
of the books, which I have sent to your Majesty desiring to know your pleasure
in the matter." [33]
This
report bears testimony to the activity of at least one Muhammadan missionary in
the eighteenth century, and the growth of Islam, which the Jesuit missionaries[34]
noted in the eighteenth century, was probably not so little connected with
direct proselytism as some of them supposed. Du Halde, in one of the few
passages he devotes to the Muhammadans in his great work,[35]
attributes the increase in their numbers largely to their habit of purchasing
children in times of famine. " The Mahometans have been settled for more
than six hundred years in various provinces, where they live quite quietly,
because they do not make any great efforts to spread their doctrines and gain
proselytes, and because in former times they only increased in numbers by the
alliances and marriages they contracted. But for several years past they have
continued to make very considerable progress by means of their wealth. They buy
up heathen children everywhere ; and the parents, being often unable to
provide them with food, have no scruples in selling them. During a famine that
devastated the Province of Chantong, they bought more than 10,000 of them. They
marry them, and either purchase or build for them separate quarters in a town,
or even whole villages; gradually in several places they gain such influence that they do not let any one live
among them who does not go to the mosque. By such means they have multiplied
exceedingly during the last century."
Similarly,
in the famine that devastated the province of Kwangtung in 1790, as many as ten
thousand children are said to have been purchased by the Muhammadans from
parents who, too poor to support them, were willing to part with them to save
them from starvation; these were all brought up in the faith of Islam.[36]
A Chinese Musalman, from Yunnan, named Sayyid Sulayman, who visited Cairo in
1894 and was there interviewed by the representative of an Arabic journal,[37]
declared that the number of accessions to Islam gained in this way every year
was beyond counting. Similar testimony is given by M. d'Ollone, who reports
that this practice of buying children in times of famine prevails among the
Muhammadans throughout the whole of China to the present day; in the same way,
they purchased the children of Christian parents who were massacred by the
Boxers in 1900, and brought them up as Musalmans.[38]
The
Muhammadans in China tend to live together in separate villages and towns or to
form separate Muhammadan quarters in the towns, where they will not allow any
person to dwell among them who does not go to the mosque.[39]
Though they thus in some measure hold themselves apart, they are careful
to avoid the open exhibition of any specially distinguishing features of the
religious observances of their faith, which may offend their neighbours, and
they have been careful to make concessions to the prejudices of their Chinese
fellow-countrymen. In their ordinary life they are completely in touch with the
customs and habits that prevail around them; they wear the pigtail and the
ordinary dress of the Chinese, and put on a turban, as a rule, only in the
mosque. To avoid offending against a superstitious prejudice on the part of the
Chinese, they also refrain from building tall minarets, wherever they build
them at all.[40]
But for the most part, their mosques conform to the Chinese type of architecture, often with nothing to distinguish
them from an ordinary temple or dwelling.[41]
Every mosque is obliged by law to have a tablet to the emperor, with the
inscription on it, " The emperor, the immortal, may he live for
ever," and the Muhammadans prostrate themselves before it in accordance
with the regular Chinese custom, though with various expedients to satisfy
their consciences and avoid the imputation of idolatry.[42]
Even in Chinese Tartary, where the special privilege is allowed to the Musalman
soldiers, of remaining unmixed, and of forming a separate body, the higher
Muhammadan officials wear the dress prescribed to their rank, long moustaches
and the pigtail, and on holidays they perform the usual homage demanded from
officials, to a portrait of the emperor, by touching the ground three times
with their forehead.[43]
Similarly all Muhammadan mandarins and other officials in other provinces
perform the rites prescribed to their official position, in the temples of
Confucius on festival days; in fact every precaution is taken by the Muslims to
prevent their faith from appearing to be in opposition to the state religion,
and hereby they have succeeded in avoiding the odium with which the adherents
of foreign religions, such as Judaism and Christianity are regarded. They even
represent their religion to their Chinese fellow-countrymen as being in
agreement with the teachings of Confucius, with only this difference, that they
follow the traditions of their ancestors with regard to marriages, funerals,
the prohibition of pork, wine, tobacco, and games of chance, and the washing of
the hands before meals.[44]
Similarly the writings of the Chinese Muhammadans treat the works of Confucius
and other Chinese classics with great respect, and where possible, point out
the harmony between the teachings contained therein and the doctrines of Islam[45]
The Chinese government, in its turn,
has always given to its Muhammadan subjects (except when in revolt) the same
privileges and advantages as are enjoyed by the rest of the population. No
office of state is closed to them; and as governors of
provinces, generals, magistrates and ministers of state they enjoy the
confidence and respect both of the rulers and the people. Not only do
Muhammadan names appear in the Chinese arm; Is as those of famous officers of
state, whether military or civil, but they have also distinguished themselves
in the mechanical arts and in sciences such as mathematics and astronomy.[46]
The
Chinese Muhammadans are also said to be keen men of business and successful
traders; they monopolise the beef trade and carry on other trades with
great success.[47]
They are thus in touch with every section of the national life and have every
opportunity for carrying on a propaganda, but the few Christian missionaries
who have concerned themselves with this matter are of opinion that they are
not animated with any particular proselytising zeal.[48]
Still, many recent converts are to be met with, and the fact that a large
number of Chinese Muslims can cite the name of the particular ancestor who
first embraced Islam points to a continuous process of conversion.[49]
Apparently the Muslims are not allowed to preach their faith in the streets, as
Protestant missionaries do,[50]
but (as we have seen above)[51]
they do not fail to make use of such opportunities as present themselves for
adding to the number of their sect. One of their religious text-books, " A
Guide to the Rites of the True Religion " (published in Canton in 1668),
commends the work of proselytising and makes reference to such as may have
recently become converts from among the heathen.[52]
The fundamental doctrines of Islam are taught to the new converts by means of
metrical primers,[53]
and to the influence of the religious books of the Chinese Muslims, Sayyid
Sulayman attributes many of the conversions made in recent years.[54]
The Muslim seminary at Hochow in Kansu is said to train theological students
who return to their several provinces, at the completion of their studies, to
promulgate their faith there,[55]
and in upwards of ten provinces centres are said to have been started where mullas are to be trained for Muslim
propaganda.[56]
Military officers convert many of the soldiers serving under them, to Islam,
and Muslim mandarins take advantage of the authority they enjoy, to win
converts, but as they are frequently transferred from one place to another,
they are not able to exercise so much influence as Muslim military officers.[57]
Conversions may also occasionally occur, which are not the result of a direct
propagandist appeal, e. g. a Turkish traveller who visited Peking in 1895 reported
that he found thirty mosques there, among them one that had originally been a
temple; this had been the family temple of a wealthy Chinaman, whose life had
been saved during the Boxer insurrection by the Mufti Wa-Ahonad ('Abd
al-Rahman); as a token of his gratitude, he embraced the faith of his
deliverer.[58]
Turkish and other Muslim missionaries
have in recent years been visiting China and endeavouring to stir up among the
Chinese Muslims a more thorough knowledge of their faith and to awaken their zeal,
but their efforts seem so far to have borne but little fruit.[59]
In
1867 a Russian writer,[60]
in a remarkable work on Islam in China, expressed the opinion that it was
destined to become the national faith of the Chinese empire and thereby
entirely change the political conditions of the Eastern world. Nearly half a
century has elapsed since this note of alarm was sounded, but nothing has
occurred since to verify these prognostications. On the contrary, it would
appear that Islam has been losing rather than gaining ground during the last
century, since the wholesale massacres that accompanied the suppression of the
Panthay risings in Yunnan from 1855 to 1873 and the Tungan rebellion in Shen-si
and Kan-su in 1864-1877 and 1895-1896,reduced the Muhammadan population by
millions.[61]
The establishment of the new Republic has given to the Chinese Muslims a
freedom of activity unknown under any preceding government, but it is too early
yet to discover how far they are likely to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by the altered conditions of life.
The proselytism that still goes on, restricted as its sphere may be, indicates
a still cherished hope of expansion. Though four centuries have elapsed since a
Muslim traveller[62]
in China could discuss the possibility of the conversion of the emperor
being followed by that of his subjects, it was still possible for a Chinese
Muslim of the present generation to state that his co-religionists in that
country looked forward with confidence to the day when Islam would be
triumphant throughout the length and breadth of the Chinese empire.[63]
[1] Kanz al-'Ummāl, vol. v.
p. 202.
[3] On the origin of this
name, see Deveria, p. 311; Mission d'Ollone, p. 420 sqq.
[4] De Thiersant, vol. i.
pp. 19-20.
[5] D'Ollone gives the
following warning as to the uncertainty of our knowledge of Islam in China:— '
Or rien n'est moins connu que 1'Islam chinois. On ne sait exactement ni comment
il s'est propagé dans 1'Empire, ni combine-d'adeptes il a réunis, ni si sa
doctrine est pure, ni quelle est son organisation, ni s' il possède des
relations avec le reste du monde musulman." (Mission d'Ollone, p. i.) The
references to China in Arabic and Persian writers have been collected by
Schefer, " Notice sur les relations des peuples musulmans avec les Chinois."
[6] Chavannes, p. 172.
[7] De Thiersant, vol. i.
pp. 70-1.
[8] This legend has been
exhaustively discussed by Broomhall: Islam in China, cap. iv, vii.
[9] Thus the people of
Khotan claim that Islam was first brought to their land by Ja'far, a cousin of
the Prophet (Grenard : Mission Dutreuil de Rhins, t. iii. p. 2), and the Cham
of Cambodia ascribe their conversion to one of the fathers-in-law of Muhammad.
(R. du M. M., vol. ii. p. 138.)
[10] De Thiersant, voL i. p.
153.
[11] Reinaud : Relation des
Voyages faits par les Arabes et lea Persans dans 1'Inde et a la Chine, i. pp.
13, 64. (Paris, 1845.)
[12] Id. p. 58.
[13] That there was some
migration westward also of Chinese into the conquered countries of Islam, where
they would come within the sphere of its religious influence, we learn from the
diary of a Chinese monk who traveled through Central Asia to Persia in the years
1221-4; speaking of Samarqand, he says, "Chinese Workmen are living
everywhere." (Bret-schneider (I), vol. i. p. 78.)
[14] Howorth, vol. i. p. 161.
[15] For Chinese biographies
of Sayyid Ajall, see R. du M. M., viii. p. 344, sqq, and xi. p. 3 sqq.; Mission
d'Ollone, p. 25 sqq.
[17] Mission d'Ollone, pp.
435-6.
[18] Howorth, vol. i. p.
257.
[21] VoL iv. pp. 270, 383.
[22] Id. p. 258.
[23] Abd al-Razzaq al-Samarqandi:
Maṭia' al-sa'dayn, foll 60-1. (Blochet, pp. 249-52.)
[24] Zenker, pp. 798-9.
Melanges Orientaux, p. 65. (Publications de 1'Ecole des Langnes
Orientates Vivantes. Sér. ii. t. 9.)
(Paris, 1883.)
[25] Schefer. pp.
29-30. Zenker, p. 796.
[26] De Thiersant, tome i.
pp. 154-6.
[27] Broomhall, p. 92 sqq.
Devéria : Musulmans et Manicheens chinois. (J. A. gme Ser., tome x. p.
447 sqq.)
[28] De Thiersant, tome i.
pp. 163-4.
[29] The Muhammadans are
said to be more prolific than the ordinary Chinese, and the Chinese census,
which counts according to families, estimates six for a Muhammadan family and
five for the ordinary Chinese. (Broomhall, pp. 197, 203.)
[30] Broomhall, in chap. Xii.
of his Islam in China. gives the total as between five and ten millions. D' Ollone
puts it as low as four millions. (p. 430).
[31] Vide infra,
pp. 309‑310.
[32]
Clark Abel: Narrative of a journey the interior of China, p. 361.
(London, 1818).
[33] De Thiersant, tome ii.
pp. 361-3.
[34] One missionary, writing
from Peking in 1721, says, " Le secte des Mahométans s'étend de plus en
plus," (Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, tome zix. p. 140.)
[35] J. B. du Halde:
Description geographique, historique, chronotogique, politique et physique de
1'Empire de la Chine, tome iii. p. 64. (Paris, 1735.)
[36] Anderson, p. 151. Crosier, tome iv. p. 507.
[39] Broomhall, p. 226.
Grosier, tome iv. p. 508.
[40] Vasil ev, p. 15.
[41] Broomhall, p. 237.
[44] Vasil’ev, p. 16.
[46] De Thiersant, tome i.
p. 247. Thamarat al-Funūn, 28th Sha'bān, p. 3.
[47] Broomhall, p. 224.
[49] Mission d'Ollone, pp.
210, 431.
[50] Broomhall, pp. 274,
282.
[51] p. 307.
[52] Broomhall, pp. 231-2.
[53] W. J. Smith, p. 175.
Mission d'Ollone, p. 407 sqq.
[54] Thamarāt al-Funūn, loc.
cit.
[55] Broomhall, p. 240.
[56] The Missionary Review of
the World, vol. xxv. p. 786 (1912).
[57] Mission d'Ollone, p.
431.
[58] R. du M. M., iii. p.
124 (1907).
[59] Broomhall pp. 242, 286,
292 sqq.
[62] Sayyid 'Alī Akbar : Khitāy
Nāmah, p. 83. " If the emperor of China embraces Islam, his subjects must
inevitably become Muslims too, because they all worship him to such an extent
that they accept whatever he says, and when that light coming from the West
grows in strength, the unbelievers of the East will come flocking into Islam
without showing any contention, because they are free from all fanaticism in
matters of religion'
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