Good news for chinese Muslims

[ahmedabad]

Bright future for Islam in China

Sheikh Saleh En Chui, President of the Chinese Muslim Association and Director of the Islamic Academy in the Chinese capital, Beijing said there are over 30,000 Madrasas for Qur’an memorization attached to Mosques in China, apart from other regular Muslim schools. He said that his association has established nine Islamic institutes, and is now busy trying to build more such institutes in other parts of the country. The purpose is to graduate Imams, teachers, and Da’wah workers from such training centres.

Sheikh Saleh said among the most important achievements of his association is the translation of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an into Mandarin and other languages spoken by Chinese Muslims, such as Hue, Kyrgyz, Kazak, Uzbek, Uigur, and others, and its distribution among Mosques and Islamic schools in the country.

Sheikh Saleh said that Islam entered China in the year 31 AH, during the era of Caliph Othman bin Affan and since then on one has been compelled to embrace the Islamic faith in the country. He further said the number of Mosques built in China over the decades has now reached 40, 372, and declared, “Therefore, our past is a glorious Islamic past and we will preserve it,” adding, “The future of Islam in China is quite bright.” IINA

[Walid]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

30,000 madrasas seems a lot but when you think how big the Muslim empire was over 1000 years ago, that practically over half of china, and the vast majority of asia was muslim, how many more muslims could have embraced Islam, or should it be should have ?

[mehboob]

Alhumdilillah even in China there are Muslim. I was fortunate enough to visit there a few years ago. And to my utter astonishment, we visited an old mosque, only to find the grave of a sahaba! It was Hazrat Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu), a maternal uncle of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).

It is narrated that Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) had first emigrated to Abbysinnia, where he gained favour with the Najashi King of Habash who had allowed him to sail to China.

This tallies with the account of Liu Chih (who wrote a 12-volume Life of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) in Chinese in 1721 A.D.) according to which Abi Waqqas ( Radi Allahu anhu), the Prophet's (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) maternal uncle, arrived in China sometime after 616 A.D. with three other Sahaba (Radi Allahu anhu).

Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) then went back to Arabia to bring the Quran al Karim and returned to China the second time after 21 years. An inscription at Canton dated 1861 A.D. also states that Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) landed in Canton and built the mosque of Holy Remembrance. It is believed that the earliest mosque built in China is the present mosque of Holy Remembrance at Canton. The mosque was built along-side the Smooth Minaret (Kwang Ta) which was built earlier by the Arabs as a lighthouse. The mosque and the minaret exist even today in Canton, and the tomb of Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) as Well as a small mosque are also located in the Muslim graveyard of Canton.

It is believed that two of his companions lie buried in nearby Fukian, said to be the first Muslims who came to South China by sea and propagated Islam in the coastal cities of kwangchow, Chuanchow, Hangchow and Yangchow. There is, however, a difference of opinion about the exact dates because of the difficulties in calculations in the Western Gregorian Calender and the Chinese and Muslim Lunar Calenders.

Chinese mosqes are very unique, in that like other mosqes around the world they incorporate local influences. At the Great Mosque in Xi'an the mosque was set in grounds resembling something out of a Bruce Lee movie. Very relaxing and tranquil. The minaret was set seperate from the main building and resembled a small tower. Inside the walls were adorned with the Arabic caligraphy that had a distinctly Chinese influence and it was accompanied by a Chinese translation.

There were once many muslims in China, in the millions I was told by some local muslims. However, during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the Muslims of China were persecuted along with the Buddhists and Christians, by the ultra-leftists led by Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. The Red Guards made all-out attacks on religious institutions calling them bourgeois and reactionary institutions. They attacked and defaced mosques as well as burned religious books despite government directives that the mosques must be protected.

Even today it is difficult for them, yet Alhumdolillah they kept up thier jihad so that today we can read about them.

[Javed]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

Mashallah, always good to hear news stories like this. I have heard there is a lot of sunnis established in some places in china, Dawat e Islami have a few mureeds based there too!

[Abdul Rafiq]

mehboob said:

Alhumdilillah even in China there are Muslim. I was fortunate enough to visit there a few years ago. And to my utter astonishment, we visited an old mosque, only to find the grave of a sahaba! It was Hazrat Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu), a maternal uncle of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).

It is narrated that Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) had first emigrated to Abbysinnia, where he gained favour with the Najashi King of Habash who had allowed him to sail to China.

This tallies with the account of Liu Chih (who wrote a 12-volume Life of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) in Chinese in 1721 A.D.) according to which Abi Waqqas ( Radi Allahu anhu), the Prophet's (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) maternal uncle, arrived in China sometime after 616 A.D. with three other Sahaba (Radi Allahu anhu).

Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) then went back to Arabia to bring the Quran al Karim and returned to China the second time after 21 years. An inscription at Canton dated 1861 A.D. also states that Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) landed in Canton and built the mosque of Holy Remembrance. It is believed that the earliest mosque built in China is the present mosque of Holy Remembrance at Canton. The mosque was built along-side the Smooth Minaret (Kwang Ta) which was built earlier by the Arabs as a lighthouse. The mosque and the minaret exist even today in Canton, and the tomb of Abi Waqqas (Radi Allahu anhu) as Well as a small mosque are also located in the Muslim graveyard of Canton.

It is believed that two of his companions lie buried in nearby Fukian, said to be the first Muslims who came to South China by sea and propagated Islam in the coastal cities of kwangchow, Chuanchow, Hangchow and Yangchow. There is, however, a difference of opinion about the exact dates because of the difficulties in calculations in the Western Gregorian Calender and the Chinese and Muslim Lunar Calenders.

Chinese mosqes are very unique, in that like other mosqes around the world they incorporate local influences. At the Great Mosque in Xi'an the mosque was set in grounds resembling something out of a Bruce Lee movie. Very relaxing and tranquil. The minaret was set seperate from the main building and resembled a small tower. Inside the walls were adorned with the Arabic caligraphy that had a distinctly Chinese influence and it was accompanied by a Chinese translation.

There were once many muslims in China, in the millions I was told by some local muslims. However, during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the Muslims of China were persecuted along with the Buddhists and Christians, by the ultra-leftists led by Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. The Red Guards made all-out attacks on religious institutions calling them bourgeois and reactionary institutions. They attacked and defaced mosques as well as burned religious books despite government directives that the mosques must be protected.

Even today it is difficult for them, yet Alhumdolillah they kept up thier jihad so that today we can read about them.

Subhanallah, I read about that recently somewhere else. Hazrat Abi Waqqas Radi Allahu anhu is the only sahaba to have settled in the east, and Maulana Abul Hassan Ashrafi recently did a speech at the masjid next to his shrine.

[suhayb]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

Allahu Akbar,

Alhamdolillah, that's amazing. Show's the strength of Islam that it has survived the cultural revolution in China, I guess having a Sahaba resting there helps.

Even more evidence that Islam is the religion for the whole world.

Fi Amanillah ;D

[Sohail]

History of Islam in China


Muslims in China have managed to practise their faith in China, sometimes against great odds, since the seventh century. Islam is one of the religions that is still officially recognised in China.

Origins

It is believed that Islam began in China during the Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan, the third Caliph of Islam.

The Caliph sent a deputation to China in 29 AH (650 CE, eighteen years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The delegation was headed by Sa’ad ibn Waqqas a maternal uncle of the Prophet. Sa’ad Ibn Waaqas invited the Chinese Emperor (Yung-Wei) to embrace Islam.

To show his admiration for Islam the Emperor ordered the establishment of China’s first Mosque. The magnificent Canton Mosque is known to this day as the "memorial mosque" and it still stands after fourteen centuries. In Arab records there are only sparse records of the event, but there is a brief mention in the ancient records of the Tang dynasty. Chinese Muslims consider this event to mark the birth of Islam in China.

Trade

Many Muslims went to China to trade, and these Muslims began to have a great economic impact and influence on the country. Muslims virtually dominated the import/export industry by the time of the Sung dynasty (960-1279).

www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/china/index.shtml

[Shiraz Ashrafi]

Subahanallah, Inshallah one day we will all hopefully get to see all Islamic influence on every corner of this this earth before we die