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This
mazar is of Hazrat Abi Wakas (R.A) in Guangzhou,
China...
he is a Sahabi Rasool
SAYING OF RASOOL ALLAH HAZRAT MUHAMMAD SAL LAL-LAHU ALAIHI
WO SALAM
"SEEK KNOWLEDGE EVEN AS FAR AS CHINA."
It is about the Echo Tomb in China, housing the sahabi or companion
of the Prophet(ASWS) - Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas (radiy'Allahu Ta'Alaa
anha - Peace and Blessings be upon him), one of the "Ashra
Mubasshira", of the ten Sahabah who The Holy Prophet(ASWS)
gave the joyous tidings of Paradise.
"The earliest trace of Islam in China is embodied in the
Echo Tomb belonging to a Companion of the Prophet Muhammad ?,
Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas ?. His presence there is explained in a
remarkable series of historical accounts, according to which
the Tang Emperor received help from this emissary of the Prophet
against a monstrous evil which had been presaged in the stars.
In these accounts, aspects of the later Muslim contribution
to Imperial China are prefigured, especially chivalric prowess
and expertise in astronomical and mathematical sciences, as
well as in the more hidden sciences of Hermeticism. This emissary's
legendary service recalls the Chinese folktale of Yi the Archer,
whose service to the Heavenly Emperor included his shooting
down of the nine suns that had been monstrously corrupted.
Click
here to know more about Islam in China
The
Mazaar of the uncle of the Prophet(Salla Allahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam),
Hazrat Sa'ad Ibn Abi Waqaas ( Radi Allahu Ta'ala Anhu) is situated
in Canton China.
One
of the Ten to whom Paradise was promised, Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas
? is recognized as the patron saint of archery in the traditions
of Islamic chivalry. Whereas the Imam `Ali ? is popularly regarded
as the model of spiritual chivalry or futuwwah, it should be
observed that he authorized others to be the patrons of various
arts, such as fencing. In the example of Sa`d, the Prophet himself
is held to have invested him as the "Knight of Islam"
and the patron of bowmen. Although unrecognized, his role in
China may therefore extend to the development of its martial
arts, especially since the very Emperor he is recorded to have
assisted was such a strong upholder of the art of archery. It
may also be noted that the shooting techniques of Medieval China
are very similar to those favored by the followers of Sa`d bin
Abi Waqqas.
The
Ottoman chronicler Evliya Efendi (*Evliya Celebi or Dervish
Mehmet Zilli) was personally invested by the spirit of Sa`d
bin Abi Waqqas ?, and though he did not in his wide travels
visit China, he did remark on the several tombs linked to his
patron in other lands, including Egypt. It is of interest, then,
to observe that to the right of the tomb in China is the grave
of another Ottoman traveler, who succeeded in his quest for
this most distant sanctuary."
Hui Legends of The Companions of The Prophet
Fig.
1 Hui midwife, Ningxia [Tao Hong].
The origins of the Hui people have been the subject of popular
legends since the Ming dynasty (1368-1643). These legends have
been crucial to the formation of the Hui as a distinct Sinophone
Muslim community. In a Chinese cultural environment, the presence
of "foreign" religious communities provokes questions
such as "How did they get here?" and "Why did
they stay?".
The most popular of the Hui origin legends concern the Companions
of the Prophet (members of the first Muslim community, in Arabic:
Sahabah), who travelled from Arabia to China during the early
years of Islam. A number of these legends begin with the Tang
emperor Taizong's (r.627-650) dream-vision of the Prophet Muhammad,
the literary use of a dream motif that also appears in legendary
accounts of the origins of Buddhism in China. Other stories
portray the Prophet Muhammad in a manner reminiscent of the
portrayal in Chinese literature of Confucius. The Islamic legends
typically describe the Companions of the Prophet as having been
invited by the Chinese emperor, drawing a connection between
the early Islamic community and the Chinese imperial cult, thereby
helping to define a place for Islam and its prophetic teachings
within orthodox Chinese cultural and political traditions.
Fig. 2 Sixth-generation descendents of the shaykh of the Jahriyya
sufi order and Muslim uprising leader Ma Hualong, in the garden
of the Nanchuan Jahriyya tomb complex, Zhangjiachuan, Gansu.
[AHG]
Fig. 3 Hui children in Jiucaiping, Ningxia, outside the fortified
residence of the spiritual head of the Jiucaiping Qadariyya
sufi order. [AHG]
The
Companions of the Prophet who, in Hui legends, overcame many
hardships to bring the Arabic revelation to China, were not
just minor figures from amongst the tens of thousands of Muslims
that lived in the time of Muhammad. Sa'd ibn Waqqas, for example,
who has a tomb built in his honour in Guangzhou, is best known
for leading the Islamic conquest of Persia. Thabit ibn Qays,
who has a tomb in Hami, Xinjiang, was the first of the people
of Yathrib (Medina) to swear allegiance to Muhammad after the
flight of the nascent Muslim community from Mecca, and later
became the orator of the Prophet. Both of these Companions were
amongst the select group of ten whose place in heaven was foretold
by the Prophet, a list that also includes Abu Bakr and the three
other Rightful Caliphs.
The Muslims of eastern China have been followers of Sunni Islam
since the Ming dynasty. Legends of the Companions fall firmly
within the Sunni tradition, whose followers believe in the blessedness
of the community of Muslims that lived during the lifetime of
Muhammad, in contrast to followers of the Shi'i tradition who
revere the family and descendents of the Prophet. As well as
explaining how Islam was transmitted to China, the stories of
the journeys of the Companions to China also help to define
the relationship between Sinophone Muslims and the larger Islamic
community.
Fig.
4 Three akhunds of the Jahriyya sufi order in Wuzhong, Ningxia.
Akhund Yang Wanbao (left) is one of the first group of Islamic
religious professionals trained after the Cultural Revolution.
His predecessor as imam of the Little North Mosque in Wuzhong
(right) retired in 2005. The age difference depicted here reflects
the thirty year hiatus in religious education during the Maoist
years. [AHG]
Fig.
5 A picture taken at a ceremony marking the appointment of a
new akhund at a mosque in Wuzhong. Older male followers of the
Jahriyya sufi order shave the sides of their faces in deference
to the founder of the Chinese branch of the order who, it is
said, had the sides of his face shaved beforebeing
executed in 1781. [AHG]
THREE
STORIES
Fig.
6 The main entrance of the Ashab Mosque, Quanzhou. The surviving
walls were built in 1310. Two Companions of the Prophet are
said to be buried at Ling Shan, a short distance to the east.
Tombs dedicated to four of the Companions of the Prophet are
found in the coastal cities of Guangzhou, Yangzhou and Quanzhou,
the three main trading ports of the Yuan empire. One story of
how these Companions came to be buried on Chinese soil is related
in a late-Ming dynasty gazetteer titled Min shu (Fujian Gazetteer,
1619). The compiler of this gazetteer, He Qiaoyuan, describes
the genesis of a holy site dedicated to two Companions of the
Prophet at the foot of Ling Shan ("Auspicious Mountain"),
several miles to the south of Quanzhou. This story was based
on an interview with a Muslim scholar resident at the Ashab
Mosque in Quanzhou (Mosque of the Companions, in Chinese: Qingjing
si), the walls and entrance of which can still be seen today.
(Fig. 6)
Mazars Of Sahabas ( Companions Of Prophet Sal Lal Lahualaihi
Wo Salam ) In China.
He Qiaoyuan's account reads as follows:
The story of the Four Sages
In the Kingdom of Medina lived a prophet (shengren) by the name
of Muhammad, who was born in the 1st year of the Kaihuang reign
of the Sui dynasty.* On account of his divine qualities and
beauty, the king employed him. Twenty years after assuming his
royal post, a scripture was revealed that exhorted people to
cherish good and abhor sin. He received a mandate from heaven
to propagate this teaching. The hot sun would not burn him,
nor would rain wet his clothes. He could enter fire without
being burned, or water without drowning. Trees would come to
him at his call. Over time, his law was implemented throughout
the land.
Amongst his disciples were four great sages [da sheng]. In the
Wude reign of the Tang dynasty (618-626), they came to China
to propagate the teaching. The first sage became established
in Guangzhou, the second in Yangzhou, and the third and fourth
taught in Quanzhou where they passed away and were buried.
Hence, we can see that these two people were of the Tang. Light
emanated from this mountain after they were buried here, and
when the people noticed this sign they deemed the ground holy.
The site is known as the Tomb of the Sages [sheng mu], that
is, the tomb of the Western Sages. [1]
*That is, 590CE, while the conventional date for the birth of
the Prophet is 570CE or fifty-two years before the flight of
Muhammad from Mecca to Medina that is taken as year 1 of the
Islamic calendar.
Fig.7 The "light tower" at the Huaisheng Mosque,
Guangzhou. The Companion Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas is, in Ming dynasty
legends, said to be buried here. The earliest stele at the Huaisheng
Mosque, from the Ming dynasty, attributes the style of the tower
to central Asia, and is similar to the 18th-century Imin Mazar
in Turfan, eastern Xinjiang. It is likely that the tower was
originally built in memory of a shaykh from central Asia who
came to Guangzhou in the Yuan dynasty.
The
short biography of the Prophet Muhammad presented here is clearly
influenced by the interpreted life of the Chinese sage Confucius.
However, while Confucius roamed in search of a king willing
to employ his talents, Muhammad took his instructions directly
from God and did not serve worldly rulers. The word used here
for the Prophet (sheng ren) is also the same as that used the
Song-dynasty lixue scholars for Confucius. Early Chinese-language
accounts of Islam typically described the life of the Prophet
through an implicit comparison to "Chinese" sages.
This was for the simple reason that Islam was new to the Chinese
written tradition, and no orthodox Chinese vocabulary had yet
been developed to distinguish Islamic prophets from the inspired
teachers of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. Only in the late-17th
century, with the emergence of a corpus of Chinese-language
Islamic books and a systematic Chinese vocabulary of Islamic
terms, did it become possible to write a Chinese biography of
the Prophet Muhammad without constant reference to other Chinese
religious traditions.
In an earlier passage, the compiler of the gazetteer refers
to Muslims by the standard term used from the end of the Yuan
dynasty-Huihui-though his lack of familiarity with Islam is
suggested by the careless manner in which he elides the Four
Rightful Caliphs of the Sunni creed with the four less famous
Companions who made their way to China. Perhaps because of this
lack of familiarity, he appears to have taken his description
of the message and miracles of the Prophet Muhammad directly
from a Muslim informant. The expression "to cherish good
and abhor sin" and the sequence of miracles performed by
Muhammad involving hot sun and walking trees, can all be found
in a famous poetic biography of the Prophet that became popular
in China around the time that the Fujian Gazetteer was compiled.
This is the Qasidah al-Burdah (Ode of the Cloak) by the Egyptian
poet al-Busiri (d.1295), a poem that has been translated into
Chinese many times and serves as a liturgical text in some Chinese
Muslim communities today. The use here of nine four-character
verse phrases in the middle of a prose text suggests that this
passage may have been taken directly from an unknown Chinese
translation of the Burdah provided by He Qiaoyuan's Muslim informant
at the Ashab Mosque.
A number of Ming-dynasty stele inscriptions, as well as oral
traditions recorded in the twentieth century, give the name
of the first of the four "sages" (Companions) as either
Waqqas or Sa'd. Both names refer to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. A tomb
dedicated to Waqqas can be found in the courtyard of the Huaisheng
Mosque in Guangzhou (Fig. 7).
The
plaque in front of this saint's tomb, as recorded in a popular
19th-century guide to major Islamic tomb sites in China, reads
as follows:
The
story of the voyage of Waqqas
The master, who was granted the title Waqqas, hailed from Arabia,
and was a maternal uncle of the Last Prophet. He was sent here
on a mission to deliver the revealed scripture, and arrived
in Chang'an in the 10th year (15 AH/637 CE) of the Zhenguan
reign of the Tang dynasty. When the Tang emperor Taizong saw
that the master was upright in his dealings with people, and
demonstrated a great depth of learning, the emperor made repeated
requests to retain him in the capital.
And so the emperor had a Great Mosque built, and invited the
emissary to live there with his attendants. The master explained
the obscure passages in each book of the Quran, and exhorted
the teachings of the Quran upon all the peoples of the land.
The numbers of his followers and descendents steadily grew.
The Taizong emperor later had mosques built for him in Jiangning
and Guangzhou.
Eventually, at the ripe old age of a hundred, the master embarked
upon a ship and sailed west. [On the way home] he recalled that
he had been sent out on a mission by the Prophet yet was returning
without having accomplished it, and would be unable to rest
at peace. So he turned around and set sail once more for the
South China Sea... . [He] passed away at sea while still engaged
in his mission. His transcendent body gave out the fragrance
of Paradise. His tomb is outside the city wall of Guangzhou.[2]
In
this story, the Prophet's disciple resembles not Confucius,
but Xuanzang, the famous itinerant monk and translator who presented
Buddhist scriptures from India to the Tang emperor Taizong.
In this story, an added level of complexity is introduced when
Waqqas passes away at sea "while still engaged in his mission".
According to this account, it was a mission of the Prophet Muhammad,
and dying whilst engaged in such a mission is qualification
for martyrdom. In other versions of the Waqqas legend, he departs
China on a mission from the Chinese emperor to obtain a compete
set of the Islamic scriptures and returns with the six thousand
verses of the Quran, much as Xuanzang had obtained the Buddhist
scriptures for the same Tang emperor. The changed allegiance
of Waqqas from Muhammad to Taizong in this alternative narrative
is important, for by delivering a correct copy of the Quran
to China, Waqqas was satisfying the desire for true learning
of the Chinese sovereign rather than doing the bidding of a
foreign prophet.
Fig. 8 View looking west of the Qays tomb in Hami, Xinjiang.
Both these origin legends assume that Islam was brought to China
by sea. An alternative set of legends emphasises overland connections
between China and the Islamic homeland. One of these is found
in Huihui yuanlai (The Origins of the Huihui), which was the
most widely read Chinese-language account of Muslim origins
in the late-imperial period. A copy of this book was presented
by the Qing Kangxi emperor to one of his Muslim generals in
1697, and it was written at some time in the previous century.
In
the Huihui yuanlai account, the Tang emperor Taizong again welcomes
the teachings of Islam brought to China by Companions of the
Prophet. However, instead of Sa'd ibn Waqqas, this time the
delegation is led by Thabit ibn Qays. A tomb in honour of Qays
is found in Hami (Fig. 8), on the north-western border of Ming
China.
The story of the overland journey of Qays
In the evening of the 18th of the third month, in the second
year of the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty, the emperor
dreamed that a turbaned man came running into the palace grounds,
chasing after a demon. He woke up and was puzzled by the dream,
for he knew not what it foretold. On the following day he assembled
all the officials of the court to discuss the matter.
The diviner of dreams reported, "The turbaned man is a
Huihui from the Western Region, out beyond the Jiayu Pass. The
kingdom of Arabia is ruled by a Muslim king of great knowledge
and virtue. His land is rich and powerful. The demon entering
the palace grounds surely means that there is evil lurking,
which you will only be able to dispel with the help of a Huihui."
The
general reported, "The Huihui are impeccably honest in
their dealings. If you meet with them peacefully, they will
serve you loyally and with no care for reward. You may send
an emissary to the Western Region to see the Muslim king, and
request the services of an enlightened one (zhenren) to keep
the portended evil at bay."
The
Emperor did as was advised, and sent the senior official Shi
Mingtang on a mission to present a letter to the Muslim king.
The
Muslim king was delighted upon receiving the letter, and sent
the senior disciples Qays, Uways and Husayn to China to offer
their services. Husayn and Uways could not adapt to the new
water and climate, and died en route. The sole survivor, Qays,
crossed mountains and rivers, suffering great hardship, to eventually
arrive in China. The Emperor received him with full honours,
and asked what were the ritual and scriptural differences between
his land and China. The turbaned man replied that the revealed
scripture of the Western Region was called the Quran, which
could be likened to the Five Classics of China. He then expounded
the difference between Eastern and Western ritual and teachings.
The
Emperor was delighted, and so selected 3,000 Tang soldiers to
move to the Western Region, in exchange for 3,000 Muslim soldiers
to accompany the turbaned elder in China. These 3,000 Muslims
had countless descendants, and are the ancestors of the followers
of Islam in China today.[3]
Interestingly, the first two entries of the Song dynasty Buddhist
text Gao seng zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks) include many
of the same details as those that appear in this story: the
emperor's dream, the narrative sequence of the dream, and the
interpretations of the ministers that the dream spoke of a prophet
from the Western Region.
The
Companions in this story come overland, rather than by sea as
they did in the two previous stories. This overland connection
with the Islamic homeland of Arabia is supported by the presence
of a tomb dedicated to Qays in Hami, a city on the north-western
border of the Ming empire. While some legends concerning Waqqas
have him coming to China by sea (as the one recounted earlier),
other versions of the Waqqas legend have him travelling by land.
The route followed by the Companions in Hui legends depends
partly on the geographic location of the Muslim community where
the legends developed. Legends from east and south China give
preference to the coastal route between China andArabia,
and those from Shaanxi and Gansu emphasise the overland route
through central Asia.
THE
IDENTITY OF THE COMPANIONS
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas is one of the most famous Companions of
the Prophet. He was from the same tribe as the mother of the
Prophet Muhammad, was one of the first to follow his teachings
and, at the high point of his illustrious military career, led
the Islamic conquest of the Persian Sassanid empire. The details
of his life are found in the canonical Sunni collections of
hadith (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) and histories that
were compiled in the third Islamic century. From these same
texts we also learn that Waqqas retreated from public life after
the conquest of Persia, and passed away in Medina at the age
of eighty.
Mazar
e Shareef Hazrath Syedina Saad bin Waqqas (Razi Allahu Taalahu
Anhu ) in china.
Medina is a much more credible resting place for Waqqas than
Guangzhou. Judging by historical sources, it is unlikely that
Waqqas travelled much further east than Hamidan in western Iran.
Nevertheless, Waqqas is a natural choice for Sunni legendary
accounts of the transmission of Islam to China. He was one of
the favourite Companions of the Prophet, and was best known
for taking Islam into the eastern lands of Persia, an important
step in the journey of Islam to China.
The
other Companions who embarked on missions to China are also
unlikely to have made the journey. Like Waqqas, the historical
details of their lives made them appropriate choices for characters
in legendary accounts of the transmission of Islam to China,
or candidates to be patron saints of the Muslim community in
China. Thabit ibn Qays, like Sa'd ibn Waqqas, was one of the
select group of Companions whose place in Paradise was foretold
by the Prophet Muhammad. He was the first resident of Medina
to declare his loyalty to the Prophet after the Prophet's flight
from Mecca, and became the Prophet's orator. Qays led the Ansar
("Helpers")-the people of Medina who swore allegiance
to Muhammad after the flight from Mecca-at the battle of Najd.
There, he was martyred and was buried where he fell on the battlefield.
A favourite Companion of the Prophet who helped introduce Islam
to a new community in Medina and who had no established tomb
site, the story of Qays could be readily attached to an old
tomb site by the Muslim community of Hami.
According to the story recounted above, the second Companion
who accompanied Qays on his overland journey to China, is Uways
al-Qarani, the famous Yemeni aesthete whose fragrance was carried
by the southerly wind to the Prophet in Medina. There is no
evidence of there being any tomb dedicated to Uways in China,
but he is the reputed founder of a number of the popular Sufi
organisations in central Asia and north-western China today.
The
third Companion is probably Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet,
the second son of Ali and Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, and the
third Imam of the Shi'i line. The presence of a revered figure
of the Shi'i tradition in a Sunni origin legend may seem a little
odd, but his appearance alongside Uways provides a link with
the Sufi tradition of Central Asia. Most of the Sufi spiritual
lineages, such as the Naqshbandiyya, that have been popular
in Central Asia since the 16th century, follow Sunni creed but
acknowledge two separate lines of transmission for their esoteric
knowledge, one through Abu Bakr (the first of the Four Rightful
Caliphs) and another through Ali (the last of the Four Rightful
Caliphs). The Naqshbandiyya and other related Sufi organisations
were pre-eminent amongst the Muslim communities of north-western
China from the beginning of the Qing dynasty, when Huihui yuanlai
was compiled. Within this tradition, Uways and Husayn were amongst
the greatest of the martyred Companions of the Prophet, and
their biographies are included in The Garden of the Martyrs
(Rawzat al-Shuhada) by Husayn Kashifi (d.1505), a Persian collection
of stories of the martyrdom of the Shi'i imams and other early
martyrs of Islam that was popular amongst the Sunni communities
of north-western
China during the Qing dynasty.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUI ORIGIN LEGENDS
Most of the extant Hui origin legends regarding the transmission
of Islam to China achieved their present form in the late-Ming
or early-Qing dynasty. They can be dated by reference to steles
in Chinese mosques and early Chinese Muslim printed texts that
recount origin legends. Evidence of their age can also be inferred
from the language of the earliest of these legends, which employ
an orthodox Chinese vocabulary of Islamic terms that was not
developed until the seventeenth century. However, legends are
the material of oral literature, and the earliest written accounts
represent only the endpoint of a long process of oral narrative
development.
The earliest of the written origin legends is carved on a stele
commemorating the re-establishment of a mosque in Dingzhou,
Hebei. In this 900-character text, a brief mention is made of
Waqqas:
In the Kaihuang reign [581-600] of the Sui, our Companion Sa'd
Waqqas first brought the teaching to China.[4]
The
date given here is similar to the date given in the Fujian Gazetteer
for the first revelation of Muhammad but, unlike the gazetteer
account, no claim is made that Waqqas was buried on Chinese
soil. This is possible evidence that in eastern China during
the late-Yuan dynasty, the legends concerning journeys to China
by Companions of the Prophet were not associated with any tomb
cults.
There is also important evidence regarding the age of the origin
legends in the names of Ashab Mosque in Quanzhou and the Huaisheng
Mosque in Guangzhou, the leading mosques in their respective
cities during the Yuan dynasty and the only surviving examples
of Islamic stone architecture from this period in eastern China.
The name "Ashab Mosque", which translates as Mosque
of the Companions (of the Prophet), is found in a large Arabic
inscription on the inside of the main entrance of the mosque.
The
full inscription translates as follows:
This was the first mosque of the people of this land. This auspicious
mosque is named the Mosque of The Ancient and The Old, is called
the Mosque of the Congregation and the Street, and is titled
the Mosque of the Companions. It was built in the year 400 AH
(Song dynasty; 1009CE). Three centuries later, Ahmad bin Muhammad
Quds, the renowned Hajji, the "Foundation", of Shiraz,
built this soaring dome, widened the entrance, redecorated the
doors and renovated the windows, completing the works in the
Hijra year 710 AH (Yuan dynasty; 1310CE). May the Almighty God
be pleased by this act, and grant him mercy, and have mercy
upon (the Prophet) Muhammad and his family.[5]
This
inscription tells us that the name "Mosque of the Companions"
dates back at least to the beginning of the 14th century, and
possibly to the beginning of the 11th century. There is no mention
of there being a tomb of one of the Companions in the vicinity.
Further, it is plain from this inscription that the Muslims
who renovated the mosque in 1310 believed that an Islamic community
was not established in Quanzhou until several centuries after
the time of the Companions. Moreover, despite the name of the
mosque, no direct connection is made between any of the Companions
and China. Its title is simply a reflection of the Sunni affiliation
of its congregation, an affiliation that is borne out in the
two less formal names for the mosque and in the place of origin
of its renovator, Shiraz, which in the 13th century was a Sunni
town.
The
Chinese name of the Yuan dynasty mosque in Guangzhou, huaisheng,
can be understood as "devoted to the Prophet", or
else "devoted to the sage" who is supposedly buried
there. This is how the name is usually explained in texts from
the Ming dynasty. However, the name may have originally been
a direct translation of the Arabic word for "Companions
of the Prophet" (huai "to cherish" for the Arabic
"sahabah"). Muslims in Yuan dynasty China used Arabic
and Persian as their written language. This mosque would have
mainly been known by its Arabic name during the Yuan, and this
may have been identical to that of the main Sunni mosque in
Quanzhou, the "Ashab Mosque" or "Mosque of the
Companions."
This
is an appropriate title for the leading mosque of a Muslim community
of the Sunni creed. Sunni Muslims hold in high esteem the Companions
of the Prophet, whom they regard as having shared in the special
qualities of the Muhammad, rather than the line of Imams (descendents
of the Prophet through Ali) regarded by Shi'i Muslims as having
passed on these qualities for many generations after Muhammad's
death. The Hui origin legends that developed in the Ming dynasty,
such as the stories of the Four Sages and of the journey of
Waqqas, provided a new explanation for the name of Sunnimosques
built during the Yuan dynasty in honour of the Companions. [AHG]
Notes
1. See Zhang Xinglang (ed.), Zhong Xi jiaotong shiliao huibian
(Historical documents on East-West relations), 4 vols, Beijing:
Zhonghua Shuju, 2003 edition, p.749.
2. Lan Xu, Tianfang zheng xue (The true learning of Arabia),
Beijing: Niujie Mosque, 1925 edition (first edition 1852), juan
7; quoted in Zhang Xinglang, op. cit., p.744.
3. Zhang Xinglang, op. cit., pp. 741-42.
4. Feng Jinyuan, "Guangzhou chongjian huaishengsi ji"
(A record of the reconstruction of the Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou),
in Bai Shouyi ed., Zhongguo Huihui minzu shi (A history of the
Huihui Nationality in China), Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2003,
p. 520.
5. Wu Wenliang, revised by Wu Youxiong, Quanzhou zongjiao shike
(Religious inscriptions of Quanzhou), Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe,
2005, plate 7.
References
Chen Dasheng, Quanzhou Yisilanjiao shike (Islamic inscriptions
of Quanzhou), Yinchuan: Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe, 1984.
Feng Jinyuan (ed.), "Zhongguo Yisilanjiao beiwen xuanzhu"
(A selection of Chinese Islamic stele inscriptions), in Bai
Shouyi ed., Zhongguo Huihui minzu shi (A history of the Huihui
Nationality in China), Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2003, pp. 461-533.
Lan Xu, Tianfang zheng xue (The true learning of Arabia), Beijing:
Niujie Mosque, 1925 (1852).
Ma Kuangyuan, Huizu wenhua lunji (Essays on Hui culture), Beijing:
Zhongguo Wenlian Chuban Gongsi, 1998.
Wu Wenliang, revised by Wu Youxiong, Quanzhou zongjiao shike
(Religious inscriptions of Quanzhou), Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe,
2005.
Zhang Xinglang ed., Zhong-Xi jiaotong shiliao huibian (Historical
documents on East-West relations), 4 vols, Beijing: Zhonghua
Shuju, 2003.
Ackmnowledgements
My gratitude to Dr. Muhammad Deyghani of the Persian Languages
and Literature Department of Tehran University for help in translating
the Arabic transcription from the Ashab Mosque.
******************** *********************
One of Islam's main entry points into China was the Pearl River
Port of Quanzhou.
The majority of China's Muslims are Turkic peoples living in
the vast Xinjiang region of northwest China. The rest are mainly
Hui - either descendants of Chinese converts to Islam or the
offspring of Chinese intermarriages with Muslim immigrants whose
appearance is distinctly Chinese. They live in sizeable communities
in the former Silk Road oases of western and central China,
in the southern province of Yunnan, and in the industrial cities
and ports of the east.
Contacts
between Muslims and Chinese began very early. Arab merchants
traded in silk even before the advent of Islam, and tradition
has it that the new religion was brought to their port-city
trading colonies by Muslim missionaries in the seventh century.
In
755, a contingent of 4000 soldiers, mostly Muslim Turks, was
sent by the Abbasid caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansur to help the Chinese
emperor Su Tsung quell a revolt by one of his military commanders,
An LuShan. Following the recapture of the imperial capital,
Ch'angan (today's Xian), these soldiers settled in China, married
Chinese wives and founded inland Muslim colonies similar to
those established by the traders on the coast.
Islam
made its first real inroads into what is now western China in
the middle of the 10th century, with the conversion of Sultan
Sutuq Bughrakhan of Kashgar and his subsequent conquest of the
Silk Road oases of Yarkand and Khotan in southwest Xinjiang.
During
the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), China experienced spectacular
economic growth. This stimulated expansion of the Muslim
mercantile communities - particularly in Ch'ang - an, the eastern
terminus of the Silk Roads, and in the port cities of Quanzhou
and Guangzhou, where Muslims largely governed the internal affairs
of their own neighborhoods, building mosques and appointing
qadis to adjudicate according to Islamic law.
But
although some Chinese merchants involved in international trade
did become Muslims, other converts were few, and Islam in China
was confined largely to Muslim immigrants and their descendants.
Until, that is, the Mongol invasion overthrew the Song Dynasty
and ushered in what Chinese Muslims regard as the "golden
age" of Islam in China.
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Sufi
Tomb in Dongxiang county of linxia, China
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here to know more about Islam in China
There
are several historical versions relating to the advent of Islam
in China. Some records claim Muslims
first arrived in China in two groups within as many months from
al-Habasha Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
Ethiopia was the land where some early Muslims first fled in
fear from the persecution of the Quraysh tribe
in Makkah. Among that group of refugees were one of Prophet
Muhammads daughters Ruqayya, her
husband Uthman ibn Affan, Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and many
other prominent Sahabah (Companions) who
migrated on the advice of the Holy Prophet. They were successfully
granted political asylum by al-Habashi
King Atsmaha Negus in the city of Axum (c.615 CE).
However, some Sahabah never returned to Arabia. They may have
travelled on in the hope of earning their
livelihood elsewhere and may have eventually reached China by
land or sea during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE). Some records
relate that Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas and three other Sahabah
sailed to China in c.616
CE from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) with the backing of the king of
Abyssinia. Sad then returned to Arabia,
bringing a copy of the Holy Quran back to Guangzhou some
21 years later, which appropriately coincides
with the account of Liu Chih who wrote The Life of the
Prophet (12 vols).
One of the Sahabahs who lived in China is believed to have
died in c. 635 CE and was buried in the western urban part of
Hami. His tomb is known as Geys Mazars and
is revered by many in the surrounding region. It is in the north
western autonomous province of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) and about
400 miles east of the latters capital, Urumqi. Xinjiang
is four times the size of Japan, shares its international border
with eight different nations and is home to the largest indigenous
group of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs.
Hence,
as well as being the largest Islamised area of China, Xinjiang
is also of strategic importance geographically.
The Quran states in unequivocal words that Muhammad was
sent only as a Mercy from God to all peoples
(21:107), and in another verse, We have not sent thee
but as a (Messenger) to all Mankind (34:28). This universality
of Islam facilitated its acceptance by people from all races
and nations and is amply
demonstrated in China where the indigenous population, of ethnic
varieties of Chinese Muslims today is
greater than the population of many Arab countries including
that of Saudi Arabia.
More
than 1000 years old historic Mosque in Sian Fu, Western China
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Hazrat
Abbas Abul Bakar's Mazar is also present in China. He Converted
More than 10,000 Chinese to Muslims, and brought the Flying
Lamas to the Ground which made them accept Islam and the full
village reverted to Islam.
Hazrat
Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) came from Arab to China
for spreading islam, He was a normal alim with out any wilayat,
but was a true muslim, He started preaching Islam to the people
of china and very soon many people start converting from Buddhism
to Islam.
When the
lamba(Budhist Monk) came to know about this, they all challenged
Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih), They all said if
your religion is true then fight with us that time Hazrat Abbas
Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) was a normal Muslim without any
powers, but he was a true muslim, Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah
alaih) accepted the challenge, The Monks said Hazrat Abbas Abul
Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) to meet near some mountain tommorow
where the fight will be held.
Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) accepted the challenge
and went back to his house, All the way home he was thinking
how will he defeat the lamba they are very powerfull people,
Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) prayed to Allah
to help him, next morning Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah
alaih) woke up and started walking towards the mountain where
the challenge was held, Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah
alaih) heard a voice from back, there was a man He adressed
him with his name Hey Abbas Abul Barkat liste, Hazrat Abbas
Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) was shocked to hear his name
from a stranger becoz in china no one was nowing his original
name, Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) asked him
who he was and how does he know his name.
The man
replied i am Riyadul Gayb and i am send to you by Allah, come
embrace me, as Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) emraced
Riyadul Gayb, He was blessed by many things which Allah knows
the best.
Hazrat Abbas
Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) worry were gone by know as soon
as he reached the place where the fight was held, He saw all
the lamba's were sitting in the air with out any support and
on seeing Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) they started
laughing.
Hazrat Abbas
Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih) just took his shadat fingure
and said " Saab Niche" means " Come Down"
as soon as these word were said by Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah
alaih) all the lamba fell down, they were shocked to see the
result they were not expecting this.
All the
lambas ran towards Hazrat Abbas Abul Barkat(rehmatullah alaih)
and said that this sitting in the air is the last stage of our
power, your 1 small fingure brought us down, when this fingure
has so much power how much power will u have, You are true and
your Deen is true, Plz make us all follow your religion.
The Father Of my Bade Nana who is also my Peer Sahab Hazrat
Afzalur Rehman urf Janab Bhole Miyan Sahab(rehmatullah) Whose
Mazar Sharif is in Gunjmuradabad Sharif next to the mazar sharif
of his father Hazrat Rehmatullah Miyan Sahab(rehmatullah alaih)
who was a abdal of his time.
He has stopped
the sun once while he wanted to offer the namaz as the time
of namaz was going .
Once Hazrat
Rehmatullah Miyan Sahab(rehmatullah alaih) who was a abdal of
his time was traveling with his mureed, It was during the time
of winter, Hazrat Rehmatullah Miyan Sahab(rehmatullah alaih)
offered the namaz asar at some mureed house and moved further
to meet some other mureed, the distance from that place to reach
the mureed house was 2 hrs, all the mureed who were with Hazrat
Rehmatullah Miyan Sahab(rehmatullah alaih) objected and said
ki "huzoor sardi ka waqt hai adhe ghante main magrib hojayge
hum nahi pahunch paynge wahan tak"
On Hearing
this Hazrat Rehmatullah Miyan Sahab(rehmatullah alaih) replied
" Ary aj hum bhi dekhtain hai ki Suraj Kaise Dubta hai..
chalo "
It took
more than more than 2hrs to reach the mureed house but the Sun
was still there, The mureed were surprised to see the miracle,
when they reached the destionation then only the Sun went down.
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Tomb
of Hazrat Al Shaikh Bahauddine (rehmatullah alaih)(china)
The central
tomb at this Song dynasty Muslim graveyard belongs to Hazrat
Al Shaikh Bahauddine (rehmatullah alaih) chinese name Puhading,16th
descendant of the prophet Muhammad(sal lal laho tala alihi
wasalm), who visited Yangzhou to help spread Islam. He built
the Crane Masjid (Xian E Si) in town, and was buried in this
graveyard in 1275 in a simple, stepped stone grave enclosed
in a rectangular structure with a vaulted roof. Also here
are the tombs of Muslim traders and other Arabs from the Yuan
to the Qing dynasties
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