THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN CHINA.
Tradition ascribes to Muḥammad the saying, “Seek for knowledge, even
unto China.” [960] 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 was 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
Tʼang dynasty (618–907) that mention is first made of the Arabs in the
Chinese Annals; [961] 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 Tʼang 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. [962]... 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.” [963] Though direct historical
evidence is lacking, [964] 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, Fīrūz, appealed to China
for help against the Arab invaders; [965] 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 ʻUthmān 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 western 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 ʻAbbāsid 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. [966]
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. [967] 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. [968] But of the existence of Muslims in
China, especially of merchants in the port towns, during the Tʼang
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 Tʼang.” [969]
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; [970] 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. [971]
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. [972] 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.
ʻAbd al-Raḥmān, who in 1244 was appointed head of the Imperial finances
and allowed to farm the taxes imposed upon China, [973] and ʻUmar 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. [974]
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. [975]
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. [976]
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. [977] 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. [978] 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; [979] 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, [980] 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.” [981]
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 co-religionists 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 Hungwu,
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 Tīmūrid 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:
Muḥammad 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 Qurʼān 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
establishing 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 time
follow 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 Muṣṭafạ̄ (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,
ʻIrāq 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 Saʻīd Bahādur, until my honoured father, Amīr Tīmūr Gūrgān,
succeeded to the throne. He too observed the law of Muḥammad (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,
ʻIrāq, Mā-warāʼ-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 Chingīz 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!) 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.” [982]
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. [983]
This legend is referred to, among others, by a Muhammadan merchant,
Sayyid ʻAlī 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. [984]
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.” [985]
About thirty years later, his successor, the Emperor Kʼien Lung, showed
distinguished marks of his favour towards the Muhammadans by ennobling
two Turkī Begs who had materially helped in suppressing a revolt in the
north-west and Kāshgar, and building palaces for them in Peking; he
also erected a mosque for the use of the Turkī 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. [986]
After crushing the revolt in Zungaria, this same emperor Kʼien 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. [987]
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, [988] though the numbers are larger in those
provinces in which foreign Muhammadans have settled. [989] 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 modern observers have
noted in their descendants at the present day. [990] 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. [991] 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 Kʼien 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 named 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.” [992]
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 [993] 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, [994] 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. [995] A Chinese Musalman, from
Yunnan, named Sayyid Sulaymān, who visited Cairo in 1894 and was there
interviewed by the representative of an Arabic journal, [996] 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. [997]
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. [998] 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. [999] 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. [1000] 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. [1001] 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. [1002] 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. [1003] 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.
[1004]
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 annals 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. [1005]
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. [1006] 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. [1007] 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. [1008]
Apparently the Muslims are not allowed to preach their faith in the
streets, as Protestant missionaries do, [1009] but (as we have seen
above) [1010] 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. [1011] The fundamental doctrines of Islam are taught to
the new converts by means of metrical primers, [1012] and to the
influence of the religious books of the Chinese Muslims, Sayyid
Sulaymān attributes many of the conversions made in recent years.
[1013] 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, [1014]
and in upwards of ten provinces centres are said to have been started
where mullās are to be trained for Muslim propaganda. [1015] 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. [1016] 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 (ʻAbd
al-Raḥmān); as a token of his gratitude, he embraced the faith of his
deliverer. [1017]
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. [1018]
In 1867 a Russian writer, [1019] 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. [1020] 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 [1021] 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. [1022]