Muslim groups in China
Encyclopedia
The vast majority of China
's Muslim
s are Sunni Muslims, though members of other Muslim groups exist, particularly those of Sufi orders.
non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. Its supporters are centered around local mosques, which function as relatively independent units. It is numerically the largest Islamic school of thought in China and most common school of Islam among the Hui. Since the introduction of Islam, first during the Tang Dynasty
in China, it continued to the Ming Dynasty with no splits. At the end of the Ming and early Qing Dynasty
Sufism
was introduced to China.
Its members were sometimes extremely hostile to Sufis, Ikhwanis, and Wahhabis, like the Sufi Jahriyya and Yihewani. They engaged in fights and brawls against Sufis and Wahhabis.
originated from Khorezmians who were transported to China by the Mongols, and that they were descended from a mixture of Chinese, Iranians, and Turkic peoples. They also reported that the T'ung-kan were Shafi'ites, which the Khorezmians were also.
, 7.2 % Khuffiya, 1.4% Qadariyya, and 0.7 % Kubrawiyya.
. All the Han Zhangs and the Hui Zhangs, being of the same family, celebrated New Year together up to 1949.
established the Hua Si; "Multicolored Mosque" school (menhuan) - the core of the Khufiyya movement in Chinese Islam. The name of the movement - a Chinese form of the Arabic "Khafiyya", i.e. "the silent ones" - refers to its adherents' emphasis on silent dhikr
(invocation of God's name). The Khufiyya teachings were characterized by stronger participation in the society, as well as veneration of saints and seeking inspiration at their tombs.
Ma Laichi spent 32 years spreading his teaching among the Muslim Hui
and Salar people in Gansu
and Qinghai
.
The Khuffiya is a Nashqbandi Sufi order.
Khuffiya Sufis were sometimes hostile to the Ikhwan and other Sufis like the Jahriyya and the Xidaotang, engaging in deadly brawls and fights against them. Its members also called the Xidaotang foundeer, Ma Qixi
, an infidel.
is a menhuan (Sufi order
) in China. Founded in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin
, it has been active in the late 18th and 19th centuries in the then Gansu
Province (also including today's Qinghai
and Ningxia
), when its followers participated in a number of conflicts with other Muslim groups and in several rebellions against the China's ruling Qing Dynasty
. Its members later cooled down, and many of them like Ma Shaowu
became loyal to the Chinese government, crushing other Muslim rebels like the Uyghurs.
The Jahriyya order was founded by the Gansu Chinese-speaking Muslim
scholar Ma Mingxin soon after his return to China in 1761, after 16 years of studying in Mecca
and Yemen
.
Jahriyya is a Naqshbandi
Sufi order.
Its adherents were hostile to the other Sufi order, the Khafiya, engaging in fights. The rivalry was so intense that some members took it personally, Ma Shaowu, a Jahriyya had a rivalry against Ma Fuxing
, a Khafiyya, even though they both worked for the Chinese government.
is a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. It was founded by Ma Qixi
(1857–1914), a Chinese Muslim
from Lintan in Gansu
, at the beginning of the 20th Century.Ma Qixi was murdered by Ma Anliang
Their teaching of Islamic faith is relatively strongly fused with traditional culture.
It is mainly distributed in Lintan and Hezheng County in northwest China's Gansu
Province, and also has followers in the province of Qinghai
, the Autonomous Region Xinjiang
and the province of Sichuan
. It is a Hanafi
school of the Sunni tradition similar to Qadim (Gedimu) has included Jahriyya
elements.
Its founder, Ma Qixi, was heavily influenced by Chinese culture and religion like Confucianism, and Daoism, taking heavily from the Han Kitab
, and he even took cues from Laozi
, founder of Daoism.
Khafiya Sufi leaders called the Xidaotang adherents infidels.
) is a Hanafi
,One of the four major schools
of Islam. non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. It is also referred to as "new sect" or "latest sect". It is mainly in Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu (there in Linxia) and distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Henan, Shandong and Hebei. It was the end of the 19th century when the Dongxiang
imam Ma Wanfu (1849–1934) from the village of Guoyuan in Hezhou
(now the Dongxiang
Autonomous County was founded in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province) - who had studied in Mecca and was influenced by the Wahabi movement. After his return to Gansu and he founded the movement with the so-called ten major Ahong.; das Cihai spricht von zehn großen Hadschis (shi da haji 十大哈吉). The school rejected Sufism. It claimed that the rites and ceremonies not stand in line with the Quran and the Hadith
should be abolished. It iss against grave and Murschid (leader/teacher) worship, and advocates against the preaching and da'wa done in Chinese.
The Khafiya Sufi Qing dynasty General Ma Anliang
persecuted and executed Yihewani members, because they were considered part of the outlawed "New Teaching", in contrast to the Sufi Khafiya and Gedimu Sunni "Old Teaching".
Hu Songshan
, a former Sufi who converted to the Yihewani sect, reformed the Yihewani, making it less hostile to Chinese culture, and integrated modern teaching, and Chinese nationalism
into Yihewani teachings.
in China, by the Hanafi
Sunni Gedimu and Sufi Khafiya and Jahriyya
. The opposition is so much so that even the Yihewani Chinese sect, which is fundamentalist and was founded by Ma Wanfu
who was originally inspired by the Wahhabis, reacted with hostility to Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing, who attempted to introduce Wahhabism/Salafism as the main form of Islam. They were branded as traitors, and Wahhabi teachings were deemed as heresy by the Yihewani leaders. Ma Debao established a Salafi/Wahhabi order, called the Sailaifengye (Salafi) menhuan in Lanzhou
and Linxia, a completely separate sect.
Salafis have a reputation for radicalism among the Hanafi Sunni Gedimu and Yihewani. Sunni Hui avoid Salafis, even if they are family members, and they constantly fight.
and Sariqul areas of Xinjiang
. They were called Rafidites (heretics) by their Sunni Kirghiz neighbors and Ghalchas by the Sunni Turki Uyghurs, who fought against them numerous times.
The Shias of the Imami branch are numerous in Yunnan
and Guangxi
provinces. This largely due to the Shia practice of religious dissimulation or Taqiya.
Some Persian and Arab legends record that Zaidi
s fled to China
from the Umayyads during the 8th century ce.
community which led to the Dungan revolt. Sufi groups engaged in violent disputes with each other, and with the "old teaching" (lao jiao), non Sufi Gedimu Sunni Muslims who had been in China for centuries.
Yaqub Beg's Uyghur forces declared a Jihad against Hui
under T'o Ming during the Dungan revolt. The Uyghurs mistakenly thought that the Hui Muslims were Shafi`i, and since the Uyghurs were Hanafi that they should wage war against them. Yaqub Beg enlisted non-Muslim Han Chinese militia under Hsu Hsuehkung in order to fight against the Hui. T'o Ming's forces were defeated by Yaqub, who planned to conquer Dzungharia. Yaqub intended to seize all Dungan territory.
As mentioned in the above sections on each sect, fighting between them is common. It was Muslim inter-sect fighting that led to the Dungan revolt of 1862-1877, the Dungan revolt of 1895
, and other rebellions.
The Qing authorities decreed that the Muslim rebels who were violently attacking were merely heretics, not representative of the entire Muslim population, like the heretical White Lotus did not represent all Buddhists. The Qing authorities decreed that there were two different Muslim sects, the "old" religion and "new" religion, and that the new were heretics and deviated like White Lotus deviated from Buddhism and Daoism, and stated its intention to inform the Muslim community that it was aware that the original Islamic religion was one united sect, before the new "heretics", saying they would separate Muslim rebels by which sect they belonged to.
Different sects used the Chinese legal system to try to sue each other out of existence. The first of these lawsuits came around 1748 by a Gedimu Imam against the Khuffiya Sufis. His lawsuit was dismissed and he left the province. The Dungan revolt (1895–1896) started with a lawsuit when rival Sufi Naqshbandi orders fought against each other. They accused each other of various misdeeds, and filed a lawsuit against each other through the office of the Xining prefect. The Judge decided not to issue a ruling on which group was superior to the other in matters of all Islamic affairs, and urged them to behave. This led to an increase in violent tension which led to the revolt.
The Chinese government was automatically apprhensive and distrustulf of the Sufi orders, since heterodox Buddhists and Daoists, which were also banned, looked similar to the Sufi orders with their extensive organized structures and chanting rituals all night. Muslims who were not Sufi filed lawsuits against the Sufis, which stated that they were breaking the law by being heterodox and planning conspiracy. These factors help keep Sufi orders away from Lanzhou
.
Other Muslim sects used the legal system to try to crush Ma Qixi
's Xidaotang sect. The defendants in the court case, Ma Qixi and others received floggings before a second investigation was held and the case was dismissed.
Ma Lin (warlord)
assisted the Xidaotang
in filing a lawsuit against Ma Anliang
after his death in 1919, to gain recognition for them as a legitimate Muslim sect.
The Khafiya Sufi General Ma Anliang
, especially hated the Yihewani leader Ma Wanfu
, so much that when the Han general Yang Zengxin
captured Ma Wanfu, Ma Anliang arranged to have him shipped to Gansu so he could execute him. As Qing authority broke down in China, the Gedimu Sunnis and Khafiya Sufis went on a vicious campaign to murder Ma Wanfu and stamp out his Wahhabi inspired teachings. The leaders of menhuans attacked Ma Wanfu, and the Gedimu requested that the Qing governor in Lanzhou inflict punishment upon Ma Wanfu.
The Kuomintang
general Ma Bufang
, a Sufi Hui who backed the Yihewani (Ikhwan) Muslims, persecuted the Salafi/Wahhabis. The Yihewani forced the Salafis into hiding. They were not allowed to move or worship openly. The Yihewani had become secular and Chinese nationalist, and they considered the Salafiyya to be "heterodox" (xie jiao) and followers of foreigners' teachings (waidao). Only after the Communists took over were the Salafis allowed to come out and worship openly. Ma Bufang also repressed his fellow Sufis, including the menhuan he himself belonged to. The Communist regime carries on his policy of favoring the Ikhwan and repressing Sufis to this day. General Ma effectively repressed all non Yihewani groups, including the traditional Sunni Gedimu, the oldest sect of Islam in China, doing things like enforcing Yihewani Imams on them. However, when the Communist party took over, the Gedimu used the Communist party's rules on freedom of religion to ward of the Yihewani practices and Imams.
The Gedimu forbade Yihewani (sunnaiti) from worshipping at their mosques, using knives to threaten them. They accused the other of being non Muslims, and reportedly perceived each other as enemies. Intermarriage between the two were forbidden and family members belonging to either of the two split apart.
The Gedimu and Yihewani (Sunnaiti) accused the Salafis (santai) of being extremist (guoji), opposing their reform.
Jingtang Jiaoyu
is a form of Islamic education, heavily influenced by Chinese culture, which the Gedimu Muslims pride themselves in learning. Jingtang Jiaoyu has been severely criticized for prounouncing Arabic incorrectly. Due to the liminations of Chinese characters, it propagates wrong pronunciation in Arabic. Many Hui who used it said Salaam Aleikun instead of Salaam Alaikum.
The Hanafi Sunni Gedimu cling fiercely to Chinese customs and the Jingtang Jiaoyu method of education, refusing to pronounce Arabic correctly even when learning of the correct pronunciation. Hanfi Sunni Sunnaiti's (Yihewani adherents) criticize the Gedimu for practicing Islamic customs influenced by Chinese culture, including Jingtang Jiaoyu, Sunnaiti's pride themselves on speaking correct Arabic, accusing the Gedimu Muslims of practicing Han and Buddhist customs and "Chinese Arabic". One Sunnaiti Imam said of the Gedimu, "blindly followed the traditions of their ancestors".
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
's Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s are Sunni Muslims, though members of other Muslim groups exist, particularly those of Sufi orders.
Hanafi Sunni Gedimu
Gedimu; or Qadim is the earliest school of Islam in China. It is a HanafiHanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. Its supporters are centered around local mosques, which function as relatively independent units. It is numerically the largest Islamic school of thought in China and most common school of Islam among the Hui. Since the introduction of Islam, first during the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
in China, it continued to the Ming Dynasty with no splits. At the end of the Ming and early Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
was introduced to China.
Its members were sometimes extremely hostile to Sufis, Ikhwanis, and Wahhabis, like the Sufi Jahriyya and Yihewani. They engaged in fights and brawls against Sufis and Wahhabis.
Shafi'i Sunnis
Early European explorers speculated that T'ung-kan (hui, called "Chinese Mohammedan") in XinjiangXinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
originated from Khorezmians who were transported to China by the Mongols, and that they were descended from a mixture of Chinese, Iranians, and Turkic peoples. They also reported that the T'ung-kan were Shafi'ites, which the Khorezmians were also.
Sufi Groups
Islamic scholar Ma Tong recorded that the 6,781,500 Hui in China were predominately members of Sufi groups. According to Tong, 58.2 % were Gedimu, 21% Yihewani, 10.9% JahriyyaJahriyya
Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...
, 7.2 % Khuffiya, 1.4% Qadariyya, and 0.7 % Kubrawiyya.
Sufi Kubrawiyya
Kubrawiyya (in Chinese Kuburenye/Kubulinye) was a Sufi sect which is claimed to have arrived in China During the Ming dynasty, evidence shows that they existed since the Qing Kangxi Emperors reign. A descended of Muhammad, Muhuyindeni went to China, reaching the Dawantou village in Dongxiang around Linxia. The village was entirely composed of Han Chinese surnamed Zhang, all of the same clan. He converted several Zhangs in Yinwa to Islam, to his Sufi menhuan in Dawantou, while in Yangwa the Zhang family people did not convert, and continued to practice Chinese ReligionChinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion or Shenism , which is a term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have been a main belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups for most of the civilization's history until today...
. All the Han Zhangs and the Hui Zhangs, being of the same family, celebrated New Year together up to 1949.
Sufi Khafiya
Ma LaichiMa Laichi
Ma Laichi , also known as Abu 'l-Futūh Ma Laichi, was a Sufi master, who brought the Khufiyya movement to China and created the Huasi menhuan - the earliest and most important Naqshbandi order in the history of Islam in China.-Afaq Khoja's blessing:Ma Laichi is a hybrid of Hui and Han Chinese...
established the Hua Si; "Multicolored Mosque" school (menhuan) - the core of the Khufiyya movement in Chinese Islam. The name of the movement - a Chinese form of the Arabic "Khafiyya", i.e. "the silent ones" - refers to its adherents' emphasis on silent dhikr
Dhikr
Dhikr , plural ; ), is an Islamic devotional act, typically involving the repetition of the Names of God, supplications or formulas taken from hadith texts and verses of the Qur'an. Dhikr is usually done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity...
(invocation of God's name). The Khufiyya teachings were characterized by stronger participation in the society, as well as veneration of saints and seeking inspiration at their tombs.
Ma Laichi spent 32 years spreading his teaching among the Muslim Hui
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
and Salar people in Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
and Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
.
The Khuffiya is a Nashqbandi Sufi order.
Khuffiya Sufis were sometimes hostile to the Ikhwan and other Sufis like the Jahriyya and the Xidaotang, engaging in deadly brawls and fights against them. Its members also called the Xidaotang foundeer, Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi , a Hui from Gansu, was the founder of the Xidaotang, a Chinese-Islamic school of thought.-Education and teaching:Ma was born into the family of a Taozhou ahong of the Beizhuang menhuan, a Sufi order. At 11 years of age, he studied with a non-Muslim who was an examination graduate at the...
, an infidel.
Sufi Jahriyya
JahriyyaJahriyya
Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...
is a menhuan (Sufi order
Tariqah
A tariqa is an Islamic religious order. In Sufism one starts with Islamic law, the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and then is initiated onto the mystical path of a tariqa. Through spiritual practices and guidance of a tariqa the aspirant seeks ḥaqīqah - ultimate truth.-Meaning:A tariqa is a...
) in China. Founded in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin
Ma Mingxin
Ma Mingxin was a Dungan Sufi master, the establisher of the Jahriyya Sufi order in China.-Names:Ma Mingxin's religious name was Ibrāhīm. After returning to China from Arabia he started calling himself 'Azīz.He was also called Muhammad Emin.-Life:A Persian-speaking Muslim from Gansu, Ma Mingxin...
, it has been active in the late 18th and 19th centuries in the then Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
Province (also including today's Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
and Ningxia
Ningxia
Ningxia, formerly transliterated as Ningsia, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Located in Northwest China, on the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River flows through this vast area of land. The Great Wall of China runs along its northeastern boundary...
), when its followers participated in a number of conflicts with other Muslim groups and in several rebellions against the China's ruling Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. Its members later cooled down, and many of them like Ma Shaowu
Ma Shaowu
Ma Shaowu was a Hui born in Yunnan, in Qing dynasty China. He was a member of the Xinjiang clique during the Republic of China.- Family history :...
became loyal to the Chinese government, crushing other Muslim rebels like the Uyghurs.
The Jahriyya order was founded by the Gansu Chinese-speaking Muslim
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
scholar Ma Mingxin soon after his return to China in 1761, after 16 years of studying in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
.
Jahriyya is a Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
Sufi order.
Its adherents were hostile to the other Sufi order, the Khafiya, engaging in fights. The rivalry was so intense that some members took it personally, Ma Shaowu, a Jahriyya had a rivalry against Ma Fuxing
Ma Fuxing
Ma Fuxing was a Hui born in Yunnan, in Qing dynasty China. He was an ex-convict. During Yang Zengxin's reign in Xinjiang, Ma was appointed as a military commander, and then Titai of Kashgar....
, a Khafiyya, even though they both worked for the Chinese government.
Xidaotang
XidaotangXidaotang
Xidaotang is a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. It was founded by Ma Qixi , a Chinese Muslim from Lintan in Gansu, at the beginning of the 20th Century...
is a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. It was founded by Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi , a Hui from Gansu, was the founder of the Xidaotang, a Chinese-Islamic school of thought.-Education and teaching:Ma was born into the family of a Taozhou ahong of the Beizhuang menhuan, a Sufi order. At 11 years of age, he studied with a non-Muslim who was an examination graduate at the...
(1857–1914), a Chinese Muslim
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
from Lintan in Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
, at the beginning of the 20th Century.Ma Qixi was murdered by Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang , a Hui, was born in 1855, in Linxia, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China. His father was Ma Zhanao, and his younger brother was Ma Guoliang...
Their teaching of Islamic faith is relatively strongly fused with traditional culture.
It is mainly distributed in Lintan and Hezheng County in northwest China's Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
Province, and also has followers in the province of Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
, the Autonomous Region Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
and the province of Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
. It is a Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
school of the Sunni tradition similar to Qadim (Gedimu) has included Jahriyya
Jahriyya
Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...
elements.
Its founder, Ma Qixi, was heavily influenced by Chinese culture and religion like Confucianism, and Daoism, taking heavily from the Han Kitab
Han Kitab
The Han Kitab was a collection of Chinese Islamic texts, written by Chinese Muslims, which synthesized Islam and Confucianism. It was written in the early 18th century during the Qing dynasty. Its name is similarly synthesised: 'Han' is the Chinese word for Chinese, and 'kitab' means book in...
, and he even took cues from Laozi
Laozi
Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
, founder of Daoism.
Khafiya Sufi leaders called the Xidaotang adherents infidels.
Yihewani
Yihewani (IkhwanIkhwan
The Ikhwan was the Islamic religious militia which formed the main military force of the Arabian ruler Ibn Saud and played a key role in establishing him as ruler of most of the Arabian Peninsula, in his new state of Saudi Arabia. The Ikhwan were made up of Bedouin tribes...
) is a Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
,One of the four major schools
Madhhab
is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
of Islam. non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. It is also referred to as "new sect" or "latest sect". It is mainly in Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu (there in Linxia) and distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Henan, Shandong and Hebei. It was the end of the 19th century when the Dongxiang
Dongxiang
Dongxiang may refer to:*China Dongxiang, a sportswear company in China*Dongxiang language, a Mongolic language*Dongxiang people, an ethnic group of China who speak the Dongxiang language*Dongxiang Autonomous County in Gansu, China...
imam Ma Wanfu (1849–1934) from the village of Guoyuan in Hezhou
Hezhou
-Administration:Hezhou has 2 urban district, 2 counties, and 1 autonomous county.Urban District:*Babu District *Pinggui District Counties:*Zhongshan County *Zhaoping County -Administration:Hezhou has 2 urban district, 2 counties, and 1 autonomous county.Urban District:*Babu District (八步区)*Pinggui...
(now the Dongxiang
Dongxiang
Dongxiang may refer to:*China Dongxiang, a sportswear company in China*Dongxiang language, a Mongolic language*Dongxiang people, an ethnic group of China who speak the Dongxiang language*Dongxiang Autonomous County in Gansu, China...
Autonomous County was founded in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province) - who had studied in Mecca and was influenced by the Wahabi movement. After his return to Gansu and he founded the movement with the so-called ten major Ahong.; das Cihai spricht von zehn großen Hadschis (shi da haji 十大哈吉). The school rejected Sufism. It claimed that the rites and ceremonies not stand in line with the Quran and the Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
should be abolished. It iss against grave and Murschid (leader/teacher) worship, and advocates against the preaching and da'wa done in Chinese.
The Khafiya Sufi Qing dynasty General Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang , a Hui, was born in 1855, in Linxia, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China. His father was Ma Zhanao, and his younger brother was Ma Guoliang...
persecuted and executed Yihewani members, because they were considered part of the outlawed "New Teaching", in contrast to the Sufi Khafiya and Gedimu Sunni "Old Teaching".
Hu Songshan
Hu Songshan
Hu Songshan , a Hui, was born in 1880, in Tongxin County, Ningxia, China. His father was a Gansu ahong belonging to the Khafiya menhuan, a Chinese-style Sufi order. When he was 18 he joined Wang Naibi of Haicheng. At age 21, he became imam of the Yihewani sect, which was founded by Ma Wanfu...
, a former Sufi who converted to the Yihewani sect, reformed the Yihewani, making it less hostile to Chinese culture, and integrated modern teaching, and Chinese nationalism
Chinese nationalism
Chinese nationalism , sometimes synonymous with Chinese patriotism refers to cultural, historiographical, and political theories, movements and beliefs that assert the idea of a cohesive, unified Chinese people and culture in a unified country known as China...
into Yihewani teachings.
Wahhabi/Salafi
Wahabbism is intensely opposed by HuiHui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
in China, by the Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
Sunni Gedimu and Sufi Khafiya and Jahriyya
Jahriyya
Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...
. The opposition is so much so that even the Yihewani Chinese sect, which is fundamentalist and was founded by Ma Wanfu
Ma Wanfu
Ma Wanfu was a Dongxiang-Imam of the village Guoyuan in Hezhou...
who was originally inspired by the Wahhabis, reacted with hostility to Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing, who attempted to introduce Wahhabism/Salafism as the main form of Islam. They were branded as traitors, and Wahhabi teachings were deemed as heresy by the Yihewani leaders. Ma Debao established a Salafi/Wahhabi order, called the Sailaifengye (Salafi) menhuan in Lanzhou
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
and Linxia, a completely separate sect.
Salafis have a reputation for radicalism among the Hanafi Sunni Gedimu and Yihewani. Sunni Hui avoid Salafis, even if they are family members, and they constantly fight.
Shias in China
Shia Chinese Muslims are mostly Ismailis including Tajiks of Xinjiang of the TashkurganTashkurgan
- Karakoram Highway :Today Tashkurgan is on the Karakoram Highway which follows the old Silk Road route from China to Pakistan. Accommodation is available and it is a recommended overnight stop for road travellers from China to Pakistan in order to have the best chance of crossing the snow-prone...
and Sariqul areas of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
. They were called Rafidites (heretics) by their Sunni Kirghiz neighbors and Ghalchas by the Sunni Turki Uyghurs, who fought against them numerous times.
The Shias of the Imami branch are numerous in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
and Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
provinces. This largely due to the Shia practice of religious dissimulation or Taqiya.
Some Persian and Arab legends record that Zaidi
Zaidiyyah
Zaidiyya, or Zaidism is a Shi'a Muslim school of thought named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī. Followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shi'a...
s fled to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
from the Umayyads during the 8th century ce.
Infighting between sects
It is claimed by some scholars that the intrusion of Sufism into China caused massive tensions in the HuiHui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
community which led to the Dungan revolt. Sufi groups engaged in violent disputes with each other, and with the "old teaching" (lao jiao), non Sufi Gedimu Sunni Muslims who had been in China for centuries.
Yaqub Beg's Uyghur forces declared a Jihad against Hui
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
under T'o Ming during the Dungan revolt. The Uyghurs mistakenly thought that the Hui Muslims were Shafi`i, and since the Uyghurs were Hanafi that they should wage war against them. Yaqub Beg enlisted non-Muslim Han Chinese militia under Hsu Hsuehkung in order to fight against the Hui. T'o Ming's forces were defeated by Yaqub, who planned to conquer Dzungharia. Yaqub intended to seize all Dungan territory.
As mentioned in the above sections on each sect, fighting between them is common. It was Muslim inter-sect fighting that led to the Dungan revolt of 1862-1877, the Dungan revolt of 1895
Dungan Revolt (1895)
The Dungan Revolt was a rebellion of various Muslim ethnic groups in Qinghai and Gansu against the Qing Dynasty.-Revolt:Rival Sufi Naqshbandi orders fought against each other. They accused each other of various misdeeds, and filed a lawsuit against each other through the office of the Xining prefect...
, and other rebellions.
The Qing authorities decreed that the Muslim rebels who were violently attacking were merely heretics, not representative of the entire Muslim population, like the heretical White Lotus did not represent all Buddhists. The Qing authorities decreed that there were two different Muslim sects, the "old" religion and "new" religion, and that the new were heretics and deviated like White Lotus deviated from Buddhism and Daoism, and stated its intention to inform the Muslim community that it was aware that the original Islamic religion was one united sect, before the new "heretics", saying they would separate Muslim rebels by which sect they belonged to.
Different sects used the Chinese legal system to try to sue each other out of existence. The first of these lawsuits came around 1748 by a Gedimu Imam against the Khuffiya Sufis. His lawsuit was dismissed and he left the province. The Dungan revolt (1895–1896) started with a lawsuit when rival Sufi Naqshbandi orders fought against each other. They accused each other of various misdeeds, and filed a lawsuit against each other through the office of the Xining prefect. The Judge decided not to issue a ruling on which group was superior to the other in matters of all Islamic affairs, and urged them to behave. This led to an increase in violent tension which led to the revolt.
The Chinese government was automatically apprhensive and distrustulf of the Sufi orders, since heterodox Buddhists and Daoists, which were also banned, looked similar to the Sufi orders with their extensive organized structures and chanting rituals all night. Muslims who were not Sufi filed lawsuits against the Sufis, which stated that they were breaking the law by being heterodox and planning conspiracy. These factors help keep Sufi orders away from Lanzhou
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
.
Other Muslim sects used the legal system to try to crush Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi , a Hui from Gansu, was the founder of the Xidaotang, a Chinese-Islamic school of thought.-Education and teaching:Ma was born into the family of a Taozhou ahong of the Beizhuang menhuan, a Sufi order. At 11 years of age, he studied with a non-Muslim who was an examination graduate at the...
's Xidaotang sect. The defendants in the court case, Ma Qixi and others received floggings before a second investigation was held and the case was dismissed.
Ma Lin (warlord)
Ma Lin (warlord)
Ma Lin, , chairman of the government of Qinghai ; brother of Ma Qi. A Muslim born in 1873, Linxia, Gansu, China, he mainly succeeded to the posts of his brother, being general of southeastern Gansu province, as well as councillor of the Qinghai provincial government and acting head of the...
assisted the Xidaotang
Xidaotang
Xidaotang is a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. It was founded by Ma Qixi , a Chinese Muslim from Lintan in Gansu, at the beginning of the 20th Century...
in filing a lawsuit against Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang , a Hui, was born in 1855, in Linxia, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China. His father was Ma Zhanao, and his younger brother was Ma Guoliang...
after his death in 1919, to gain recognition for them as a legitimate Muslim sect.
The Khafiya Sufi General Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang , a Hui, was born in 1855, in Linxia, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China. His father was Ma Zhanao, and his younger brother was Ma Guoliang...
, especially hated the Yihewani leader Ma Wanfu
Ma Wanfu
Ma Wanfu was a Dongxiang-Imam of the village Guoyuan in Hezhou...
, so much that when the Han general Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin , born in Mengzi, Honghe, Yunnan in 1859, was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until his assassination in 1928.-Life:...
captured Ma Wanfu, Ma Anliang arranged to have him shipped to Gansu so he could execute him. As Qing authority broke down in China, the Gedimu Sunnis and Khafiya Sufis went on a vicious campaign to murder Ma Wanfu and stamp out his Wahhabi inspired teachings. The leaders of menhuans attacked Ma Wanfu, and the Gedimu requested that the Qing governor in Lanzhou inflict punishment upon Ma Wanfu.
The Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
general Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general...
, a Sufi Hui who backed the Yihewani (Ikhwan) Muslims, persecuted the Salafi/Wahhabis. The Yihewani forced the Salafis into hiding. They were not allowed to move or worship openly. The Yihewani had become secular and Chinese nationalist, and they considered the Salafiyya to be "heterodox" (xie jiao) and followers of foreigners' teachings (waidao). Only after the Communists took over were the Salafis allowed to come out and worship openly. Ma Bufang also repressed his fellow Sufis, including the menhuan he himself belonged to. The Communist regime carries on his policy of favoring the Ikhwan and repressing Sufis to this day. General Ma effectively repressed all non Yihewani groups, including the traditional Sunni Gedimu, the oldest sect of Islam in China, doing things like enforcing Yihewani Imams on them. However, when the Communist party took over, the Gedimu used the Communist party's rules on freedom of religion to ward of the Yihewani practices and Imams.
The Gedimu forbade Yihewani (sunnaiti) from worshipping at their mosques, using knives to threaten them. They accused the other of being non Muslims, and reportedly perceived each other as enemies. Intermarriage between the two were forbidden and family members belonging to either of the two split apart.
The Gedimu and Yihewani (Sunnaiti) accused the Salafis (santai) of being extremist (guoji), opposing their reform.
Jingtang Jiaoyu
Jingtang Jiaoyu
Jingtang Jiaoyu literally meaning "scripture hall education", refers to a form of Islamic education developed in China or the method of teaching it, which is the practice of using Chinese characters to represent the Arabic language.-Islamic Education:...
is a form of Islamic education, heavily influenced by Chinese culture, which the Gedimu Muslims pride themselves in learning. Jingtang Jiaoyu has been severely criticized for prounouncing Arabic incorrectly. Due to the liminations of Chinese characters, it propagates wrong pronunciation in Arabic. Many Hui who used it said Salaam Aleikun instead of Salaam Alaikum.
The Hanafi Sunni Gedimu cling fiercely to Chinese customs and the Jingtang Jiaoyu method of education, refusing to pronounce Arabic correctly even when learning of the correct pronunciation. Hanfi Sunni Sunnaiti's (Yihewani adherents) criticize the Gedimu for practicing Islamic customs influenced by Chinese culture, including Jingtang Jiaoyu, Sunnaiti's pride themselves on speaking correct Arabic, accusing the Gedimu Muslims of practicing Han and Buddhist customs and "Chinese Arabic". One Sunnaiti Imam said of the Gedimu, "blindly followed the traditions of their ancestors".