<Special Feature 2 "Inquiry into Coexistence Based on the Idea of‛Asian Islam'">After Criticism of Ma Dexin against Veneration of Saints: Rethinking Chinese Elaboration of Islam

Abstract

Hui Muslim scholars' efforts to refine their beliefs and practices in consonance with the Chinese cultural and social milieu have played an important role in building amicable relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in China. However, these scholars' activities sometimes promoted division among Hui Muslims. It is important to shed light on the dark side of Hui Muslims' pro-Chinese elaborations of Islam to learn about multicultural symbiosis from their historical experiences. This paper focuses on how sectarian rivalry among Chinese-speaking Muslims was enlarged by reinterpretations of Ma Dexin (d. 1874), a prominent Hui scholar in Yunnan province, on critical discourses against the veneration of saints from West Asia; these reinterpretations were aimed at resolving feuds between followers of Islam and Chinese polytheists. First, this paper establishes how Ma Dexin or his disciples and adherents of the Jahrīya Sufi order disagreed with and fought each other. Second, it discusses the measures taken to repair this fissure. Finally, it examines how the tension between Muslims and non-Muslims worked as a backdrop to the discord and compromise among Hui Muslims.