 |
Early Muslim Contacts With China
The following are some notes on early contacts of Muslims with China
read by Dr. M. Ishaq Khalil at the Conference on Islam and China
held at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Zurich, on 23rd Feb. 1992.
The coming of Islam to China is mentioned in the Chinese records of
the earliest centuries of Islam. The Annals of Kwangtung
record the coming of the first Muslims to China thus:
At the beginning of the T'ang dynasty there came to Canton
a large number of strangers, from the kingdom of Annam, Cambodia, Medina
and several other countries. These strangers worship heavens (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 ....
(Mission d'Ollone: Recherches sur les Musulmans Chinois,
1911)
The report adds that they were very rich and obeyed the chief chosen by
themselves.
In fact a Persian King Firuz had appealed for help from China in his
battle against the Arabs, (Chavannes E., Documents sur les Turcs
Occidentaux, St. Petersburgh, 1913) but the Chinese emporer replied
that Persia was far too distant for him to send the required troops. Uthman,
the third caliph of Islam (may Allah be pleased with him) is said to have
sent one of the Arab generals to accompany the Chinese ambassador on his
return in 651 of the Christian calendar.
Later, in the reign of Walid (705-715), almost at the same time as Muslim
generals were heading towards India as well as Spain, the Muslim governor
of Khurasan crossed the Oxus and having subjugated Bukhara and Samarkand
and other cities, carried his conquests to the eastern frontiers of the
Chinese empire. Thus the diplomatic relations were established between
China and the Ummayad Caliphs, which continued until later, especially
during the reign of the Abbaside Caliphs. (Thiersant P., Le Mahomatisme
en Chine, Paris, 1878, Vol. 1 pp. 70-71)
The relations of the Arabs with the Chinese were more commercial and
diplomatic until the period of Mongol conquests in the thirteenth century
when the Muslim Caliphate of Banu Abbas in Baghdad itself had been ransacked
by the Mongols around 1257 A.D. Chinese workmen had settled in Central
Asia in that period, as well as Arabs and Central Asian Muslims were settled
in China, be it as merchants, artisans, soldiers or even as prisoners
of war. It might be recalled that the Mongols, who invaded ruthlessly
the Abbaside Caliphate of Baghdad, had themselves accepted Islam later.
These Mongol rulers in China had Muslims appointed in high posts. These
prominent Muslims were greatly successful in spreading Islam in China
by peaceful means, though intermarriages with the Chinese had also played
an important role. The famous Arab traveler and historian, Ibn Batuta,
well known for his globe trotting journeys in the middle of the fourteenth
century, visited several coastal towns and cities in China and reports
that he received a hearty welcome from the Muslims: They have their
mosques and the Muslims are honoured and respected by the Chinese.
Slowly the Muslim population merged with the Chinese local community
in the later medieval period, and at the same time there was interchange
of embassies between the Timuride princes and the Chinese emporers. One
of the interesting incidents is quoted by Sir Thomas Arnold in his Preaching
of Islam which reveals the zealous missionary spirit of Muslim
dignitaries and scholars:
The King Shah Rukh Bahadur of Central Asia took advantage in
the year 1412 of the establishment of a Chinese embassy at his court in
Samarqand. He included in his answer to the Chinese an invitation to accept
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; Muhammad is the Apostle of God. The Apostle of God, Muhammad
(peace be on him) said: "There shall not cease to be in my community
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 Quran miraculously
that thereby he might put to silence the unbelievers and stop their
arguments 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 on 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 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 truth. To certain of these
prophets,such as Abraham, Moses, David and Muhammad (peace be upon them)
He gave a book and taught a law, and He bade the people of their time
to 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
God-given and prophetic office devolved on the Apostle Muhammad Mustafa
(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. Some years ago, Chingez Khan took up arms and sent his sons
into various countries and kingdoms - Juji Khan to the confines of Saray,
Qrim and Dasht qafchak, where some monarchs, such as Uzbek Khan, Chani
Khan and Urus Khan, became Musalmans and observed the law of Muhammad
(peace be upon him).
Hulaqu Khan was set over Khurasan, Tigris-Emperate and the neighbouring
countries, and some of his sons who succeeded him received into their
hearts the light of the law of Muhammad (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, Ghazan, and Uljaytu
Sultan and the fortunate king, Abu Said Bahadur, until my honoured father,
Amir Timur Gurgan, succeeded to the throne. He too observed the law
of Muhammad (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 Khurasan, Tigris, Ma-wara-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 Yarghu and the institutes of Chingez Khan
have been abolished. Since then, it is sure and certain that salvation
and deliverance on 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 Muhammad, 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.
(Abd-ur-Razzaq al-Samarqandi in Matl'a-al-S'aadain, pp.
60-61)
On recording these historical letters, Sir Thomas Arnold writes further:
It is not improbable that these letters gave rise to the later
legend of one of the Chinese emporers having become a convert to Islam.
This legend is referred to among others by a Muslim merchant, Sayyid Ali
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 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 emporer, 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.
(Zinker, pp. 798-799, Melange Orientaux, Paris, 1883, p.
65 and Schefer, pp. 29-30, quoted by Sir Thomas Arnold, The Preaching
of Islam, London, 1913, p. 302)
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Islam is an expanding religion and its great force is the spiritual communion
with God and the missionary activities of the saints. China is again a remarkable
example of the spread of Islam through missionary efforts and humanitarian
services of pious Muslims.
For more details and bibliography please consult:
The Preaching of Islam by Sir Thomas Arnold, London, 1913.
Transcribed from:
The Review of Religions
April 1992
Vol. LXXXVII No. 4
|
|
