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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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ISLAM IN CHINA
by
Yusuf Abdul Rahman
[The Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China
by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (ra), one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (s)
in 650 C.E. This event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China. The
Chinese emperor Yung-Wei respected the teachings of Islam and considered it
to be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. To show his admiration for
Islam, the emperor approved the establishment of China's first mosque at
Ch'ang-an. That mosque still stands today after fourteen centuries.
Muslims virtually dominated the import/export business in China during Sung
Dynasty (960 - 1279 CE). The office of Director General of Shipping was
consistently held by a Muslim during this period. During the Ming Dynasty
(1368 - 1644 CE), a period considered to be the golden age of Islam in
China, Muslims fully integrated into Han society by adopting their name and
some customs while retaining their Islamic mode of dress and dietary
restrictions.
Anti-Muslim sentiments took root in China during the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 -
1911 CE), which was established by Manchus who were a minority in China.
Muslims in China number more than 35 million, according to unofficial
counts. They represent ten distinct ethnic groups. The largest are the
Chinese Hui, who comprise over half of China's Muslim population. The
largest of Turkic groups are the Uygurs who are most populous in the
province of Xinjiang, where they were once an overwhelming majority.]
Although it may come as some surprise, Islam has survived in China for over
1300 [1400] years. It has done so despite such upheavals as the Cultural
Revolution as well as regimes hostile to it.
Even though there are only sparse records of the event in Arab history, a
brief one in Chinese history, The Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty
describes a landmark visit to China by an emissary from Arabia in the
seventh century. Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (ra), one of the companions of Prophet
[Muhammad (s)], led the delegation [in 650 C.E.], which brought gifts as
well as the belief system of Islam to China. According to the traditions of
Chinese Muslims, this event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China.
Although the emperor of the time, Yung-Wei, found Islam to be a bit too
restrictive for his taste, he respected its teachings and considered it to
be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. For this reason, he gave Saad
complete freedom to propagate the faith among his people. To show his
admiration for Islam, the emperor ordered the establishment of China's first
mosque at Ch'ang-an. The mosque still stands today, after thirteen
[fourteen] centuries.
As time passed, relations between the Chinese and the Muslim heartland
continued to improve. Many Muslim businessmen, visitors, and traders began
to come to China for commercial and religious reasons. [Arabs had already
established trade in the area before Prophet Muhammad (s).] The Umayyads and
Abbasids sent six delegations to China, all of which were warmly received by
the Chinese.
The Muslims who immigrated to China eventually began to have a great
economic impact and influence on the country. They virtually dominated the
import/export business by the time of the Sung Dynasty (960 - 1279 CE).
Indeed, the office of Director General of Shipping was consistently held by
a Muslim during this period.
In spite of the economic successes the Muslims enjoyed during these and
later times, they were recognized as being fair, law-abiding, and
self-disciplined. Thus, there is no record of appreciable anti-Muslim
sentiment on the part of the Han (Chinese) people.
By the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 CE) Islam had been
nourishing in China for 700 years. Up to this time, the Muslims had
maintained a separate, alien status which had its own customs, language, and
traditions and was never totally integrated with the Han people. Under the
Ming Dynasty, generally considered to be the golden age of Islam in China,
Muslims gradually became fully integrated into Han society.
An interesting example of this synthesis by Chinese Muslims was the process
by which their names changed. Many Muslims who married Han women simply took
on the name of the wife. Others took the Chinese surnames of Mo, Mai, and Mu
- names adopted by Muslims who had the names Muhammad, Mustafa, and Masoud.
Still others who could find no Chinese surname similar to their own adopted
the Chinese character that most closely resembled their name - Ha for Hasan,
Hu for Hussein, or Sai for Said, and so on.
In addition to names, Muslim customs of dress and food also underwent a
synthesis with Chinese culture. The Islamic mode of dress and dietary
restrictions were consistently maintained, however, and not compromised. In
time, the Muslims began to speak Han dialects and to read in Chinese. Well
into the Ming era, the Muslims could not be distinguished from other Chinese
other than by their unique religious customs. For this reason, once again,
there was little friction between Muslim and non-Muslim Chinese.
The rise of the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 CE), though, changed this. The
Ch'ing were Manchu (not Han) and were a minority in China. They employed
tactics of divide-and-conquer to keep the Muslims, Han, Tibetans, and
Mongolians in struggles against one another. In particular, they were
responsible for inciting anti-Muslim sentiment throughout China, and used
Han soldiers to suppress the Muslim regions of the country.
When the Manchu Dynasty fell in 1911, the Republic of China was established
by Sun Yat Sen, who immediately proclaimed that the country belonged equally
to the Han, Hui (Muslim), Man (Manchu), Meng (Mongol), and the Tsang
(Tibetan) peoples. His policies led to some improvement in relations among
these groups.
After Mao Zedong's revolution in 1948 and the beginning of communist rule in
China, the Muslims, as well as other ethnic minorities found themselves once
again oppressed. They actively struggled against communists before and after
the revolution. In fact, in 1953, the Muslims revolted twice in an effort to
establish an independent Islamic state [in regions where Muslims were an
overwhelming majority]. These revolts were brutally suppressed by Chinese
military force followed by the liberal use of anti-Muslim propaganda.
Today, the Muslims of China number some 20 million, according to unofficial
counts. The government census of 1982, however, put the number much lower,
at 15 million. These Muslims represent ten distinct ethnic groups. The
largest are the Chinese Hui, who comprise over half of China's Muslim
population and are scattered throughout all of China. There is also a high
concentration of Hui in the province of Ningsha in the north.
After the Hui, the remainder of the Muslim population belong to Turkic
language groups and are racially Turks (except for the Mongol Salars and
Aryan Tajiks). The Turkic group is further divided between the Uygurs,
Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kirgiz, Tatars and Dongshiang. Nearly all of the Turkic
Muslims are found in the western provinces of Kansu and Xinjiang. The
largest of these Muslim groups are the Uygurs.
The Uygurs are most populous in the province of Xinjiang, where they make up
some 60% of the total population. This relatively small percentage is due to
the massive influx of non-Muslim Chinese into the province in recent times,
a situation that has brought problems of assimilation and raised concerns
about the de-Islamization of one of China's predominantly Muslim regions.
[Muslims in Central Asia, under the USSR, were subjected to a similar
population management, Russification of Central Asia].
Muslims, and the Uygur in particular, suffered tremendously under the regime
of Mao Zedong and his "Cultural Revolution." During the communist reign of
terror, there was a violent campaign to eradicate all traces of Islam and of
the ethnic identity of all non-Chinese. The Uygur language, which had for
centuries used Arabic script, was forced to adopt the Latin alphabet. The
Uygurs, as with most believing Muslims, were subjected to forced labor in
the some 30,000 communes set up in the predominantly Muslim provinces. The
imams and akhunds were singled out for humiliating punishments and
tortures....[and were forced to] tend to pig farms, which were sometimes
kept in government-closed mosques.
Under the pretext of unification of national education, Islamic schools were
closed and their students transferred to other schools which taught only
Marxism and Maoism. Other outrages included the closing of over 29,000
mosques, the widespread torture of imams, and executions of over 360,000
Muslims.
Since the death of Mao and the end of his hard-line Marxist outlook nearly
fifteen years ago, the communist government has greatly liberalized its
policies toward Islam and Muslims. And despite the horrors of the Cultural
Revolution, Islam has continued to thrive in China.
Today the campaign for assimilation started during the Cultural Revolution
has slowed somewhat and the Turkic Muslims have greater freedom to express
their cultural identity. The government has, for instance, allowed the
reinstatement of the Arabic alphabet for use with the Uygur language. There
is, however, continued discrimination against the Turkic Muslims by the
immigrant Chinese (favored by the government) who have settled in the far
western province of Xinjiang. This immigration has posed a problem as Han
Chinese are migrating to Muslim areas at the rate of 200,000 a year. In many
places where Muslims once were a majority, they are now a minority.
Since religious freedom was declared in 1978, the Chinese Muslims have not
wasted time in expressing their convictions. There are now some 28,000
mosques in the entire People's Republic of China, with 12,000 in the
province of Xinjiang. In addition, there is a large number of imams
available to lead the Muslim community (in Xinjiang alone there are over
2,800).
There has been an increased upsurge in Islamic expression in China, and many
nationwide Islamic associations have been organized to coordinate
inter-ethnic activities among Muslims. Islamic literature can be found quite
easily and there are currently some eight different translations of the
Qur'an in the Chinese language as well as translations in Uygur and the
other Turkic languages. The Muslims of China have also been given almost
unrestricted allowance to make the Hajj to Mecca [Reflections from the
Hajj]. In 1986 there were some 2,300 Chinese Muslims at Hajj. (Compared to
the 30 Soviet Muslims allowed to make the same pilgrimage, this number seems
quite generous, considering that the Soviet Muslim population outnumbers
China's by nearly four times).
China's Muslims have also been active in the country's internal politics. As
always, the Muslims have refused to be silenced. Several large
demonstrations have been staged by Muslims to protest intrusions on Muslim
life. Last year, for instance, Muslims staged a massive protest rally in
Beijing to demand the removal of anti-Islamic literature from China's
bookstores. The Turkic [group] Muslims have also held demonstrations for a
greater voice in the running of their own affairs and against the continued
large-scale immigration of non-Muslims into their provinces. In the news
this spring are more reports of demonstrations and struggles by Chinese
Muslims to regain their rights. Insha'Allah they will be successful.
Another Article: China's Islamic Connection
Allah: Allah is the proper name in Arabic for The One and Only God, The
Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is used by the Arab Christians and
Jews for the God (Eloh-im in Hebrew; 'Allaha' in Aramaic, the mother tongue
of Jesus, pbuh). The word Allah does not have a plural or gender. Allah does
not have any associate or partner, and He does not beget nor was He
begotten. SWT is an abbreviation of Arabic words that mean 'Glory Be To
Him.'
s or pbuh: Peace Be Upon Him. This expression is used for all Prophets of
Allah.
ra: Radiallahu Anhu (May Allah be pleased with him).
Copyright © Al-Basheer, Vol. III, No. 1.
Copyright © 1997 Web version prepared by Dr. A. Zahoor.
Islam in Peninsular Malaysia
Quotations on Islamic Civilization
Biography of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
What Non-Muslims Say About Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
Muslims in China and South-East Asia
Back to Home Page
(http://salam.muslimsonline.com/~azahoor/islchina.htm)
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