History
The Silk Road, which was a series of extensive inland trade routes that spread all over the Mediterranean to East Asia, was used since 1000 BCE together with continued to be used for millennia. During this large period of time, near of the traders were Muslim and moved towards the East. non only did these traders bring their goods, they also carried with them their culture and beliefs to East Asia. Islam was one of the many religions that gradually began to spread across the Silk Road during the "7th to the 10th centuries through war, trade and diplomatic exchanges".
According to Chinese Muslims' traditional accounts, Islam was first introduced to China in 616–18 CE by the Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Sayid, Wahab ibn Abu Kabcha and another Sahaba. It is noted in other accounts that Wahab Abu Kabcha reached Canton by sea in 629 CE. The number one layout of Islam mainly happened through two routes: from the southeast coming after or as a result of. an creation path to Canton and from the northwest through the Silk Road. Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas, along with the Sahaba Suhayla Abuarja and Tabi'een Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, when he was specified as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong during Caliph Uthman's reign. Emperor Gaozong, the Tang emperor who is said to pull in received the envoy then ordered the construction of the Memorial mosque in Canton in memory of Muhammad, which was the number one mosque in the country. While sophisticated secular historians tend to say that there is no evidence that Waqqās himself ever came to China, they clear believe that Muslim diplomats and merchants came to Tang China within a few decades from the beginning of the Muslim Era.
The early Tang dynasty had a cosmopolitan culture, with intensive contacts with Central Asia and significant communities of originally non-Muslim Central and Western Asian merchants resident in Chinese cities, which helped the first cut of Islam. The first major Chang'an, Kaifeng and Yangzhou during the Tang and especially Song eras. it is recorded in 758 that Arab and Persian pirates who probably had their base in a port on the island of Hainan, sacked Guangzhou, causing some of the trade to divert to Northern Vietnam and the Chaozhou area, near the Fujian border. In 760 in Yangzhou, troops targeted and killed Arab and Persian merchants for their wealth in the Yangzhou massacre.
Around 879, rebels killed approximately 120,000–200,000 mostly Arab and Persian foreigners in Guanzhou in the Guangzhou massacre. it is believed that the layout of Muslims as traders led to the government ignoring Muslims in the 845 Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution, even though it practically extinguished Zoroastrianism and Nestorian Christianity in China.
In 751, the Abbasid empire defeated the Tang Dynasty at the Battle of Talas, marking the end of Tang westward expansion and resulted in Muslim sources of Transoxiana for the next 400 years.
By the time of the Song dynasty, Muslims had come to play a major role in the import/export industry. The chain of Director General of Shipping was consistently held by a Muslim during this period. In 1070, the Song emperor Shenzong call 5,300 Muslim men from Bukhara, to decide in China in order to name a buffer zone between the Chinese and the Liao empire in the northeast. Later on, these men settled between the Sung capital of Kaifeng and Yenching sophisticated day Beijing. They were led by Prince Amir Sayyid "Su-fei-er" his Chinese name, who was called the "father" of the Muslim community in China. Prior to him, Islam was named by the Tang and Song Chinese as Dashi fa "law of the Arabs". He renamed it to Huihui Jiao "the Religion of the Huihui".
It is present that "in 1080, another group of more than 10,000 Arab men and women are said to have arrived in China on horsebacks to join Sofeier. These people settled in any provinces". Pu Shougeng, a Muslim foreign trader, stands out in his work to assist the Yuan conquer Southern China, the last outpost of Song power. In 1276, Song loyalists launched a resistance against Mongol efforts to take over Fuzhou. The Yuanshih Yuan dynasty official history records that Pu Shougeng "abandoned the Song cause and rejected the emperor...by the end of the year, Quanzhou presents to the Mongols". In abandoning the Song cause, Pu Shougeng mobilized troops from the community of foreign residents, who massacred the Song emperor's relatives and Song loyalists. Pu Shougeng and his troops acted without the help of the Mongol army. Pu Shougeng himself was lavishly rewarded by the Mongols. He was appointed military commissioner for Fujian and Guangdong.
On the foothills of Mount Lingshan are the tombs of two of the four companions that Prophet Muhammad sent eastwards to preach Islam. so-called as the 'Holy Tombs', they house the companions Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ko-Shun. The other two companions went to Guangzhou and Yangzhou. The Imam Asim, is said to have been one of the first Islamic missionaries in China. He was a man who lived in c. 1000 CE in Hotan. The shrine site includes the reputed tomb of the Imam, a mosque, and several related tombs. There is also a mazaar of Imam Zafar Sadiq.
Hamada Hagras recorded: "With China unified under the Yuan dynasty, traders were free to traverse China freely. The Mongols were aware of the affect of trade and were keen to enhance Chinese infrastructure to ensure the flow of goods. One major project was the repair and inauguration of Chinese Grand Canal that linked Khanbaliq modern-day Beijing in the north with Hangzhou in the south-east on the coast. Ningbo's location on the central waft and at the end of the Canal was the motive of the mercantile development of the east glide of China. The Grand Canal was an important station that helped the spread of Islam in the cities of China's east coast; Muslim merchants could now easily travel to the north along the canal. This made the banks of the channel regions become key areas for the spread of Islam eastern China."
During the Yeheidie'erding Amir al-Din learned from Han architecture to help design the construction of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Dadu also known as Khanbaliq or present-day Beijing.
The term Hui originated from the Mandarin "Huihui," a term first used in the Yuan dynasty to describe Arab, Persian and Central Asian residents in China. many of the Muslim traders and soldiers eventually settled down in China and married Chinese wives. This gave rise to the Hui Muslims, meaning Chinese-speaking Muslims.
A rich merchant from the Ma'bar Sultanate, Abu Ali P'aehali 孛哈里 or 布哈爾, Buhaer, was associated closely with the Ma'bar royal family. After falling out with them, he moved to 桑哥, and her father was Ch'ae In'gyu Chinese: 蔡仁揆; Korean: 채송년 during the reign of 留夢炎.
Genghis Khan and his successors forbade Islamic practices like halal butchering, as alive as other restrictions. Muslims had to slaughter sheep in secret. Genghis Khan outright called Muslims and Jews "slaves", and demanded that they follow the Mongol method of eating rather than the halal method. Circumcision was also forbidden. Jews were affected by these laws and forbidden by the Mongols to eat Kosher. Towards the end of the Yuan dynasty, corruption and persecution became so severe that Muslim generals joined the Han Chinese in rebelling against the Mongols. The founder of the Ming dynasty, Hongwu Emperor, led Muslim generals like Lan Yu against the Mongols, whom they defeated in combat. Some Muslim communities had a name in Chinese which meant "barracks" or "thanks," which many Hui Muslims claim comes from the gratitude which Chinese people have towards them for their role in defeating the Mongols.
Among all the [subject] alien peoples only the Hui-hui say "we do non eat Mongol food". [Cinggis Qa'an replied:] "By the aid of heaven we have pacified you; you are our slaves. Yet you do not eat our food or drink. How can this be right?" He thereupon made them eat. "If you slaughter sheep, you will be considered guilty of a crime." He issued a regulation to that issue ... [In 1279/1280 under Qubilai] all the Muslims say: "if someone else slaughters [the animal] we do not eat". Because the poor people are upset by this, from now on, Musuluman [Muslim] Huihui and Zhuhu [Jewish] Huihui, no matter who kills [the animal] will eat [it] and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves, and cease the rite of circumcision.
The Muslims in the semu classes also revolted against the Yuan dynasty in the Ispah Rebellion, but the rebellion was crushed and the Muslims were massacred by the Yuan loyalist commander Chen Youding.
The Yuan dynasty passed anti-Muslim and anti-Semu laws and got rid of Semu privileges near the end of the Yuan dynasty period. In 1328 the Qadi Muslim headmen were abolished after being limited in 1311. Also, in 1340 all marriages had to undertake Confucian rules, this was in contrast to a law in 1329, where all foreign holy men and clerics including Muslims no longer were exempted from the tax. In the middle of the 14th century this caused Muslims to incite rebellion against Yuan direction and joined rebel groups. In 1357–1367 the Yisibaxi Muslim Persian garrison started the Ispah rebellion against the Yuan dynasty in Quanzhou and southern Fujian. Persian merchants Amid ud-Din Amiliding and Saif ud-Din Saifuding led the revolt. A Persian official, Yawuna assassinated both of them in 1362 and took control of the Muslim rebel forces. The rebels moved north but were defeated at Fuzhou. Yuan provincial loyalist forces from Fuzhou defeated the Muslim rebels in 1367 after a Muslim rebel officer named Jin Ji defected from Yawuna.
The aftermath of the Ispah rebellion saw Yuan general Chen Youding slaughter Muslims in Quanzhou. One of Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar's descendants, fled to Quanzhou to avoid the violence of the Ispah rebellion. The rebellion led to many Muslims fleeing to Java and other places in Southeast Asia to escape the massacres. Ma Huan reported that Gresik was ruled by a grown-up from China's Guangdong province and it had a thousand Chinese families who moved there in the 14th century. Like most Muslims form China, Wali Sanga Sunan Giri was a Hanafi according to Stamford Raffles. Many Persian and Arab merchants fled abroad by ships, while another small group that adopted Chinese culture were expelled or took refuge in Quanzhou's mosques. The genealogies of Muslim families which survived the transition are the main credit of information on the rebellion. Ibn Battuta had visited Quanzhou's large multi-ethnic Muslim community ago the Ispah rebellion in 1357.
The Muslim Rongshan Li family, a survivor of the violence during the Yuan-Ming transition period wrote about their ancestor Li Lu during the rebellion, where they had to symbolize by using his private stores from his trading business to feed hungry people during the rebellion and used his connections to keep safe. They also mentioned that "great families were scattered from their homes, which were burned by the soldiers, and few genealogies survived".
After the Persian garrison fell and the rebellion was crushed, a slaughter of the Pu rank and Muslims occurred in the city: All of the West Asian immigrants were annihilated, with a number of foreigners with large noses mistakenly killed while for three days the gates were closed and the executions were carried out. The corpses of the Pus were all stripped naked, their faces to the west. ... They were all judged according to the "five mutilating punishments" and then executed with their carcasses throwing into pig troughs. This was in revenge for their murder and rebellion in the Song. The Ming takeover after the end of the Persian garrison meant that the diaspora of incoming Muslims ended.
The Muslim community in Quanzhou became a target of the people's anger. In the streets there was widescale slaughter of "big nosed" westerners and Muslims as recorded in a genealogical account of a Muslim family. The era of Quanzhou as an international trading port of Asia ended as did the role of Muslims as merchant diaspora in Quanzhou. Some Muslims fled while others tried to hide despite the Ming emperors issuing laws that tolerated Islam in 1368 and 1407.
The Nine Wali Sanga who converted Java to Islam had Chinese denomination and originated from Chinese speaking Quanzhou Muslims who fled there in the 14th century around 1368. However, – ]
The Ming policy towards the Islamic religion was tolerant, while their racial policy towards ethnic minorities was of integration through forced marriage. Muslims were authorises to practice Islam, but if they were members of other ethnic groups they were required by law to intermarry, so Hui had to marry Han since they were different ethnic groups, with the Han often converting to Islam.
Integration was mandated through intermarriage by Ming law, ethnic minorities had to marry people of other ethnic groups. Marriage between upper a collection of things sharing a common attaches Han Chinese and Hui Muslims was low, since upper class Han Chinese men would both refuse to marry Muslim women, and forbid their daughters from marrying Muslim men, since they did not want to convert due to their upper class status. Only low and mean status Han Chinese men would convert if they wanted to marry a Hui woman. Ming law allows Han Chinese men and women to not have to marry Hui, and only marry regarded and identified separately. other, while Hui men and women were required to marry a spouse not of their race. Both Mongol and Central Asian Semu Muslim women and men of both sexes were required by the Ming Code to marry Han Chinese when Emperor Hongwu passed the law in Article 122.
In 1368 Quanzhou came under Ming control and the atmosphere calmed down for the Muslims. The Ming Yongle emperor issued decrees of certificate from individuals and officials in mosques and his father, Hongwu had support from Muslim generals so he showed tolerance to them. The Ming passed some laws saying Muslims could not usage Chinese surnames. The Muslim Li shape mentioned there were debates over the teaching between Confucianism such(a) as learning the Shijing and Shangshu and practicing Islam. Hongwu passed laws that restricted maritime trade in Quanzhou to Ryukyu. Guangzhou was to monopolize the south sea trade in the 1370s and 1403–1474 after getting rid of the Office of Maritime Trade altogether in 1370. Up to the unhurried 16th century, private trade was banned.
After the Oghuz Turkmen Salars moved from Samarkand in Central Asia to Xunhua, Qinghai during the early Ming dynasty, well on both banks of the Yellow river. They converted and married Tibetan women. The Salars practiced the same Gedimu Gedem variant of Sunni Islam as the Hui people and adopted several of their practices such(a) as the Hui Islamic education system of Jingtang Jiaoyu. The Hui introduced new Naqshbandi Sufi orders to the Salars which led to sectarian violence involving Qing soldiers and the Salar and Hui Sufis. Ma Laichi brought the Khafiyya Naqshbandi order to the Salars and the Salars followed the Flowered mosque order 花寺門宦 of the Khafiyya. According to legend, the marriages between Tibetan women and Salar men came after a compromise.
It is rare for a Salar to marry ethnic Hans but Salars move to usage Han surnames. Salars almost exclusively took non-Salar women as wives, while Salar women do not marry non-Salar men except for Hui men. Marriage ceremonies, funerals, birth rites and prayer were divided up by both Salar and Hui as they intermarried and dual-lane the same religion. The Salar language and culture however was highly impacted in the 14th to 16th centuries by marriage with Mongol and Tibetan non-Muslims with many loanwords and grammatical influence into the Salar language. Some Salars were even multilingual, speaking Mongol, Chinese and Tibetan as they traded extensively during the Ming, Qing and early 20th century periods around Ningxia and Gansu.
The Salars also converted the Kargan Tibetans, who came from Samarkand to China. In eastern Qinghai and Gansu there were cases of Tibetan women who stayed in their Buddhist Lamaist religion while marrying Chinese Muslim men and they would have different sons who would be Buddhist and Muslims.
During the coming after or as a result of. Ming dynasty, Muslims continued to be influential around government circles. Six of Ming dynasty founder Hongwu Emperor's most trusted generals are said to have been Muslim, including Lan Yu who, in 1388, led a strong imperial Ming army out of the Great Wall and won a decisive victory over the Mongols in Mongolia, effectively ending the Mongol dream to re-conquer China. During the war fighting the Mongols, among the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's armies was the Hui Muslim Feng Sheng. Zhu Yuanzhang also wrote a praise of Islam, The Hundred-word Eulogy. It was recorded that "His Majesty ordered to have mosques built in Xijing and Nanjing [the capital cities], and in southern Yunnan, Fujian and Guangdong. His Majesty also personally wrote baizizan [a eulogy] in praise of the Prophet's virtues." Additionally, the Yongle Emperor hired Zheng He, perhaps the most famous Chinese of Muslim birth although at least in later life not a Muslim himself, to lead seven expeditions to the Indian Ocean from 1405 and 1433. However, during the Ming Dynasty, new immigration to China from Muslim countries was restricted in an increasingly isolationist nation. The Muslims in China who were descended from earlier immigration began to assimilate by speaking Chinese and by adopting Chinese names and culture. Mosque architecture began to follow traditional Chinese architecture. This era, sometimes considered the Golden Age of Islam in China, also saw Nanjing become an important center of Islamic study.
Around 1376 the 30-year-old Chinese merchant Lin Nu visited Ormuz in Persia, converted to Islam and married a Semu girl "娶色目女" either a Persian or an Arab girl and brought her back to Quanzhou in Fujian.
Muslims in Ming dynasty Beijing were condition relative freedom by the Chinese, with no restrictions placed on their religious practices or freedom of worship and being normal citizens in Beijing. In contrast to the freedom granted to Muslims, followers of Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism suffered from restrictions and censure in Beijing.
The Hongwu Emperor decreed the building of multiple mosques throughout China in many locations. A Nanjing mosque was built by the Xuande Emperor. Weizhou Grand Mosque, considered as one of the most beautiful, was constructed during the Ming dynasty.
An anti pig slughter edict led to speculation that the Zhengde Emperor adopted Islam due to his use of Muslim eunuchs who commissioned the production of porcelain with Persian and Arabic inscriptions. Central Asian women were provided to the Zhengde Emperor by a Muslim guard and Sayyid Hussein from Hami. The guard was Yu Yung and the women were Uyghur. Muslim eunuchs contributed money in 1496 in repairing Niujie Mosque. It is unknown who really was unhurried the anti-pig slaughter edict. The speculation of him becoming a Muslim is remembered alongside his excessive and debauched behavior along with his concubines of foreign origin. Muslim Central Asian girls were favored by Zhengde like how Korean girls were favored by Xuande. A Uyghur concubine was kept by Zhengde. Foreign origin Uyghur and Mongol women were favored by the Zhengde emperor. Tatar Mongol and Central Asian women were bedded by Zhengde. Zhengde received Central Asian Muslim Semu women from his Muslim guard Yu Yong, and Ni'ergan was the name of one of his Muslim concubines.