Silkroad re History and Ethnology of Chinese Muslims
It was after the governments of Arabs, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia among others developed diplomatic ties with China and a few exchange of visits between past and present heads of governments then only the local Chinese media accept the fact that Islam also exists in China. Unfortunately, these anti-Islam heretics now apply a different approach they potray Islam as a Hui Religion' meaning only the non-Han people like the Uighurs, Salars, Tajiks, Dongxiang, Mongols and others are Muslims who have nothing to do with the Hans, so as to separate the Chinese here, who are Hans, from Islam. They also emphasised that Islam went to China solely through the Silk Road, a trans-continental passage passing through Turkey in Europe across Asia right into Xinjiang and Ningxia provinces of northwestern China, respectively the homeland of the Uighurs and the Huis.
Ethnic grouping
'Hui' in Mandarin simply means Muslim: however under the communist regime, the term ‘Hui’ has been misused to denote a separate ethnic entity by virtue of the fact that most Han Chinese Muslims who are northerners have Persian, Turkic, Arab and other non-Chinese admixture in them like the other non-Muslim Han Chinese of the North.
When China became 'a republic. President Dr Sun Yat Sen,classified 56 different ethnic groups to 5 major categories ie.
1 The Hans, 'Children of Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang' living south of the Great Wall to the Pacific Ocean and
South China Sea.
2 The Mans, Manchurians of northeastern China.
3 The Mongs, Mongolians of Inner-Mongolia Province of China
4 The Chuangs, Tibetians of Tibet Province of China.
5 The Uighurs.Kazaks, Salars, Tajiks, Tatars etc. along the
Chinese-Russian border in the Xinjiang Province of China
or the west called it the Eastern Turkestan.
Sea farers
Centuries before the advent of Islam in Saudi Arabia, the Arabs were already brave seafarers and navigators. Arab merchants were already trading well with China and Southeast Asia. Therefore they did not always have to toil along the 'Silk Road' going through deserts and mountains, sometimes risking their lives with bandits.
Pioneers
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) knew then that China was among the most civilised and prosperous nations on earth for he advised "Seek knowledge even to as far as unto China"(in Hadith). Therefore Muslims pioneers certainly reached China during his lifetime. During the Caliphate of Usman bin Affan, while China was ruled by Emperor Yung Wei of the Tang dynasty in 651AD, Saad bin Abi Waqqas (one of the 10 Companions who have been guaranteed Jannah) was appointed with 15 others to propagate Islam to China. In fact the first masjid, the Great Mosque of Chang’an (Xian) built outside the land of Makkah was in China. Saad Abi Waqqas died and his tomb is evident till today.
Other Caliphate involvement with China are as follows:
1.The period of Bani, Ummaiyah, Qutaibah bin Muslim.
propagated in the -Northwest of China.
2.Khalifah Al Walid (710-712AD) sent an ambassador to China.
3.Khalifah Hisyam sent Sulaiman to Emperor Hsuan Tsung.
4.Khalifah AL Mansur provide military assistance to Emperor
Su Tsung.
5.Khalifah Harun Ar Rashid (786-809AD).
During the Song Dynasty (960-1279AD) the government was very democratic and tolerant towards outside influences as it was during the Tang Dynasty and Islam expanded into the interior of Southern China though not meeting much success in proletysation. In 1270AD Seyed Adjall Shaams ad-Din Omar, the great grandson of the Prophet (saw) of the 31st generation was made the governor of Yunnan province in Southern China.
Mongol Rule
When China fell to the hands of the Mongolians, the period of Kublai Khan records that 8 out of 12 governors were Muslim. The Mongol Yuan Dynasty were so powerful that the whole Silk Road was under their control.
Reversion to Han Rule: the Mings, China’s first Muslim Dynasty
After only 90 years (shortest dynasty in Chinese history) the Mongol Yuan Dyasty was overthrown by the Hans and named it the Ming Dynasty in 1368AD. Islam continued flourish, as its first emperor Chu Yuan Chang was a Muslim convert himself (he was formerly a Buddhist). Features to support it include:
1. His empress was a well known Turkish Muslim as stated in the
Chinese history. \
2. The empress herself ensured halal meals daily.
3. He wrote a 'One Hundred Word Praise' poem in Chinese to honour the Prophet Muhammad (saw), the first emperor in China to have written such inscription, preserved in the Nanking Masjid until now.
Expansion
Islam expanded further with foreign Muslim settlers easily assimilating into the Han way of life. In every major port and city, the Muslim community set up its own council headed by kadis and imams. According to a Muslim merchant Sayyid Akbar, in the city of Kenjanfu there were 30,000 muslim families. The Muslim charity and welfare homes sheltered and nestled tens of thousands of Han Chinese orphans strickened by devastative famine. They are then brought up as good Muslims. The Chinese military consisted mainly of Han Muslims, military officers converted most of their soldiers who happened to be non-Muslims to Islam. To this day, many wushu forms were developed by Han Muslim generals of the Ming. Thus the number of conversions carried out by Han and other Muslims, both in and outside China were countless. The Emperor even gave Islam a new name ie 'Ching Zhen Jiao' True and Pure Religion alongside the existing 'Hui Jiao'.
The Golden age of Islam in China lasted for one millenium from Sui Dynasty, to the Tang Dynasty, the Song and the Yuan Dynasty till Ming Dynasty. In 1644AD it fell to the Manchurians.
Manchu Rule
The Manchu upsurpers named themselves the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911AD). They adopted the divide and rule policy by creating hatred among Southern and Northern Chinese, most of the latter have been Muslims for centuries. The Manchus regarded the Muslims as the lowest caste of people in China. They raised sensitive religious issues and kindled quarrels among the Northern and the mainly Taoist Southern Chinese. The Manchus also tried to impose Confucianism which is not a religion at all as state religion, many Muslims and Buddhists were butchered in the process. So the Han Muslims had to live in silence and even camouflaged themselves for the sake of safety in the conflicting years. When the Qing government got corrupted and weak, the Opium Wars and the Boxers Uprising caused the seige of the capital Beijing by the eight powerful countries, Russia US, GB, Austria, Germany, France, Italy and the Japanese. Vast lands had to be surrendered. When the Western preachers went, they brought along their milk-powder, white powder(drugs) and gun powder. Since the westerners hated Islam from the time of the Crusades, they wanted to sweep Islam out of China, the Muslims of Han stock were their prime targets.
Republic & Nationalists
In 1912 China was free again, Dr Sun Yat sen, proclaimed China as a Republic, one of his 'Doctrine of Nationality' stated that as most Muslims in China are of Han stock different from other Hans only in religious beliefs, they should not receive discriminative treatment and be persecuted as they were during the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, ' he died before his wise and just decision could materialise.
Later on the ruling Nationalists government which was dominated by Westernized Southern Chinese came under increasing Western pressure, they suppressed Islam directly or indirectly so as to please their Western masters. With foreign interferences and influences even the Chinese Constitution Article 135, was amended in 1946 to differentiate and isolate Han Muslims from the rest of the Hans. Therefore many Han Muslims were driven out of their own people. So They lived like outcasts in their own land.
The Communists
After the Communists took over China in 1949, all religious activities were banned because they considered that these were the opiate of the people. In the Agrarian Reform, all temples, monasteries, masjids, churches were confiscated and redistributed the land to the peasants. Later due to external political influences. Premier Zhou En-Lai allowed Islam to be practiced again. But this only allow the non-Han Muslims and Han Muslims classified as Huis to do so and not the others, because they had passed a bill in 1-954 enforcing that Muslims in certain regions of China (particularly in the Northwest) must be called ^Hui mins' (Hui people). With this Red ultimatum ^Hui min' capped on many if not most Han Muslims in China, the term "Han Muslims" was completely wiped off. At this juncture Muslims of the Han stock had no choice, either, they forget about the Holy Quran and read the Mao's Quotations or be denied their Han Chinese identity be the communist regime. In spite of this, the Southern Chinese-dominated communist regime failed to make the Han Muslims lose their roots, in spite of having sufferred cruel persecutions, discriminations and eliminations three centuries.
Modern China
In 1980 Deng Xiao-ping whose policy -on modernisations in Agriculture, Industtry, Science and Technology and Military, China recovered very fast to be a real world super power. He allowed the revival of all religions and the sun shines on Islam again.
The Number of Muslims in China
Official statistics:
In 1910, Ministry of Interior of the Qing government reported,a figure of 20M.
In 1938, "The Year Book of China printed a figure of 50M.
In 1950, The China Handbook printed a figure of 50M again,
In 1957, The Year Book of China quoted 18M!
The latest being-200M, its/breakup as follows:
Uighurs (inclusive of Turkic stock) ' 5,OOOK
Kazaks 500K
Kirgizs, Tadjiks, Uzbeks, Tatars 400K
Dongxiangs, Bao'ans, Mongolian Muslims 400K -
Salars (Tsinghai province) 100K
Tibet & Manchuria 50K
Hui Muslims of Han -"stock in China & Taiwan 293,350K
After 5 decades the Muslims have decreased instead of' increased. The reason being, some has fled to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Kashmir, Pakistan and other. neighbouring countries. There are still many Han Chinese Muslims who are too frightened to expose their real identity to the communists. Unofficial tallies indicate up to over 400 million Han Muslims, most of whom live in Northern China. This makes China home to the largest Muslim community in the world, something which the communist regime is afraid to come to terms with.
Monday, October 01, 2001 at 21:56:11 (PDT)