Chinese Muslims and the Global Ummah
Chinese Muslims and the Global Ummah

Author: Alexander Stewart

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1317238478

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The global spread of Islamic movements and the ascendance of a Chinese state that limits religious freedom have aroused anxieties about integrating Islam and protecting religious freedom around the world. Focusing on violent movements like the so-called Islamic State and Uygur separatists in China’s Xinjiang Province threatens to drown out the alternatives presented by apolitical and inwardly focused manifestations of transnational Islamic revival popular among groups like the Hui, China’s largest Muslim minority. This book explores how Muslim revivalists in China’s Qinghai Province employ individual agency to reconcile transnational notions of religious orthodoxy with the materialist rationalism of atheist China. Based on a year immersed in one of China’s most concentrated and conservative urban Muslim communities in Xining, the book puts individuals’ struggles to navigate theological controversies in the contexts of global Islamic revival and Chinese modernization. By doing so, it reveals how attempts to revive the original essence of Islam can empower individuals to form peaceful and productive articulations with secular societies, and further suggests means of combatting radicalization and encouraging interfaith dialogue. As the first major research monograph on Islamic revival in modern China, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Anthropology, Islamic Studies, and Chinese Studies.

Individual Paths to the Global Ummah
Individual Paths to the Global Ummah

Author: Alexander Blair Stewart

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 9781321235609

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The ongoing resurgence of religious practice in China features an Islamic revival characterized by rejection of the traditional association of religion with ethnicity, emphasis on individual understanding and devotion, and the embrace of an imagined transnational community that is both modern and universal. Exploring how this revival influences individual experiences of religion and the status of Islam and the Hui ethnic group of Chinese-speaking Muslims within the Chinese state uncovers profound implications for the relationships among religion, ethnicity and modernity and the role of religion within secular states. This study is based on ethnographic research in and around Xining, Qinghai Province, among participants in the Salafiyya and Tablighi Jama'at movements, converts to Islam, and "reaffirmed Muslims" who have recently embraced more devout forms of Islamic practice without changing their sectarian affiliation. The history of Islam in China contextualizes modern revival movements as the latest in a long line of new ideas Chinese Muslims have brought from the Middle East to revitalize and unintentionally destabilize Chinese Islam. Contrasting nonobservant "ethnic Muslims" with devout "reaffirmed Muslims" illustrates key characteristics of revival that transcend sectarian boundaries to create broader forms of identification perceived to be more modern. Profiling imams from different sects highlights how theological debates underlie differences in religious practice and authority. Describing how individuals withstand social and familial censure to participate in Tablighi Jama'at or Salafiyya, convert to Islam, or embrace more devout forms of practice illustrates how some perceive embracing the universal ummah over devalued local communities as a form of individual empowerment. These individual paths to revival have broad implications for our understanding of ethnic, national, and transnational identities and communities within China and other secular states. Numerous profiles of informants reveal diverse visions of modernity and perceptions of transnational alliances and conflicts within and in relation to the global ummah. Overall, most Chinese Muslims see themselves as a particularly virtuous group within (and usually not wholly opposed to) the predominantly Han and atheist nation. Revivalists tend to emphasize a sense of belonging to an imagined transnational community rather than a parochial ethnic community or a materialist national one.

Ethnographies of Islam in China
Ethnographies of Islam in China

Author: Rachel Harris

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2021-01-31

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0824886437

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In the late 1970s Islam regained its force by generating novel forms of piety and forging new paths in politics throughout the world, including China. The Islamic revival in China, which came to fruition in the 2000s and the 2010s, prompted increases in government suppression but also intriguing resonances with the broader Muslim world—from influential theoretical and political contestations over Muslim women’s status, the popularization of mass media and the appearance of new patterns of consumption, to increases in transnational Muslim migration. Although China does not belong to the “Islamic world” as it is conventionally understood, China’s Muslims have strengthened and expanded their global connections and impact. Such significant shifts in Chinese Muslim life have received scant scholarly attention until now. With contributions from a wide variety of scholars—all sharing a commitment to the value of the ethnographic approach—this volume provides the first comprehensive account of China’s Islamic revival since the 1980s as the country struggled to recover from the wreckage of the Cultural Revolution. The authors show the multifarious nature of China’s Islam revival, which defies any reductive portrayal that paints it as a unified development motivated by a common ideology, and demonstrate how it was embedded in China’s broader economic transition. Most importantly, they trace the historical genealogies and sociopolitical conditions that undergird the crackdown on Muslim life across China, confronting head-on the difficulties of working with Muslims—Uyghur Muslims in particular—at a time of intense religious oppression, intellectual censorship, and intrusive surveillance technology. With chapters on both Hui and Uyghur Muslims, this book also traverses boundaries that often separate studies of these two groups, and illustrates with great clarity the value of disciplinary and methodological border-crossing. As such, Ethnographies of Islam in China is essential reading for those interested in Islam’s complexity in contemporary China and its broader relevance to the Muslim world and the changing nature of Chinese society seen through the prism of religion.

Islam and China's Hong Kong
Islam and China's Hong Kong

Author: Wai-Yip Ho

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-07

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1134098146

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Hong Kong is a global city-state under the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China, and is home to around 250,000 Muslims practicing Islam. However existing studies of the Muslim-majority communities in Asia and the Northwest China largely ignore the Muslim community in Hong Kong. Islam and China’s Hong Kong skillfully fills this gap, and investigates how ethnic and Chinese-speaking Muslims negotiate their identities and the increasing public attention to Islam in Hong Kong. Examining a range of issues and challenges facing Muslims in Hong Kong, this book focuses on the three different diasporic Muslim communities and reveals the city-state’s triple Islamic heritage and distinctive Islamic culture. It begins with the transition from the colonial to the post-colonial era, and explores how this has impacted on the experiences of the Muslim diaspora, and the ways this shift has compelled the community to adapt to Chinese nationalism whilst forging greater links with the Gulf. Then with reference to the rise of new media and technology, the book examines the heightened presence of Islam in the Chinese public sphere, alongside the emergence of Chinese Islamic websites which have sought to balance transnational Muslim solidarity and sensitivity towards Chinese government’s concern of external extremism. Finally, it concludes by investigating Hong Kong’s growing awareness of the Muslim minorities’ demands for Islamic religious education, and how this links with the city-state’s aspiration to become the new gateway for Islamic finance. Indeed, Wai Yip Ho posits that Hong Kong is now shifting from its role as the broker that bridged East and West during the Cold War, to that of a new meditator between China and the Middle East. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, this book thoughtfully charts a new area of inquiry, and as such will be welcomed by students and scholars of Chinese studies, Islamic studies, Asian studies and ethnicity studies.

Ethnographies of Islam in China
Ethnographies of Islam in China

Author: Rachel A. Harris

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780824886448

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"In the late 1970s Islam regained its force by generating novel forms of piety and forging new paths in politics throughout the world, including China. The Islamic revival in China, which came to fruition in the 2000s and the 2010s, prompted increases in government suppression but also intriguing resonances with the broader Muslim world-from influential theoretical and political contestations over Muslim women's status, the popularization of mass media and the appearance of new patterns of consumption, to increases in transnational Muslim migration. Although China does not belong to the "Islamic world" as it is conventionally understood, China's Muslims have strengthened and expanded their global connections and impact. Such significant shifts in Chinese Muslim life have received scant scholarly attention until now. With contributions from a wide variety of scholars-all sharing a commitment to the value of the ethnographic approach-this volume provides the first comprehensive account of China's Islamic revival since the 1980s as the country struggled to recover from the wreckage of the Cultural Revolution. The authors show the multifarious nature of China's Islam revival, which defies any reductive portrayal that paints it as a unified development motivated by a common ideology, and demonstrate how it was embedded in China's broader economic transition. Most importantly, they trace the historical genealogies and sociopolitical conditions that undergird the crackdown on Muslim life across China, confronting head-on the difficulties of working with Muslims-Uyghur Muslims in particular-at a time of intense religious oppression, intellectual censorship, and intrusive surveillance technology. With chapters on both Hui and Uyghur Muslims, this book also traverses boundaries that often separate studies of these two groups, and illustrates with great clarity the value of disciplinary and methodological border-crossing. As such Ethnographies of Islam in China will be essential reading for those interested in Islam's complexity in contemporary China and its broader relevance to the Muslim world and the changing nature of Chinese society seen through the prism of religion"--

The History of Chinese Muslims’ Migration into Malaysia
The History of Chinese Muslims’ Migration into Malaysia

Author: Ma Hailong

Publisher: King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS)

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 6038206485

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of the Chinese Muslims who moved to Malaysia and explain the different factors that have influenced this migration at different historical stages. I separate this history mainly into two parts, namely, before the twentieth century and from the twentieth century onward. Before the twentieth century, the majority of Chinese Muslims who streamed into Malaysia were Chinese immigrants who became Chinese Muslims by converting to Islam. From the twentieth century onward, however, the majority of Chinese Muslims who came to Malaysia were Muslim Hui from China, who believed in Islam and spoke Chinese, and who constituted an ethno-religious minority group.

Interpreting Islam in China
Interpreting Islam in China

Author: Kristian Petersen

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0190634340

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During the early modern period, Muslims in China began to embrace the Chinese characteristics of their heritage. Several scholar-teachers incorporated tenets from traditional Chinese education into their promotion of Islamic knowledge. As a result, some Sino-Muslims established an educational network which utilized an Islamic curriculum made up of Arabic, Persian, and Chinese works. The corpus of Chinese Islamic texts written in this system is collectively labeled the Han Kitab. Interpreting Islam in China explores the Sino-Islamic intellectual tradition through the works of some its brightest luminaries. Three prominent Sino-Muslim authors are used to illustrate transformations within this tradition, Wang Daiyu, Liu Zhi, and Ma Dexin. Kristian Petersen puts these scholars in dialogue and demonstrates the continuities and departures within this tradition. Through an analysis of their writings, he considers several questions: How malleable are religious categories and why are they variously interpreted across time? How do changing historical circumstances affect the interpretation of religious beliefs and practices? How do individuals navigate multiple sources of authority? How do practices inform belief? Overall, he shows that these authors presented an increasingly universalistic portrait of Islam through which Sino-Muslims were encouraged to participate within the global community of Muslims. The growing emphasis on performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, comprehensive knowledge of the Qur'an, and personal knowledge of Arabic stimulated communal engagement. Petersen demonstrates that the integration of Sino-Muslims within a growing global environment, where international travel and communication was increasingly possible, was accompanied by the rising self-awareness of a universally engaged Muslim community.

Muslims in China
Muslims in China

Author: Sheila Hollihan-Elliot

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781590848807

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Although they constitute a small minority of China's 1.3 billion people, approximately 20 million Muslims live within the borders of the world's most populous country. About 9 million of them belong to the Hui minority, which has largely assimilated into China's dominant Han culture. But some 8 million Chinese Muslims are Uyghurs, members of a Turkic-speaking group who have more in common with peoples in Central Asia than with the Han Chinese. In recent years, nationalism has bubbled up in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, where the Uyghurs are concentrated. This has raised concern among, and provoked a crackdown from, China's Communist government in Beijing. Muslims in China examines this development as well as more general economic, political, and social issues facing China today. It also provides up-to-date information about China's geography, history, society, important cities and communities, and more. Book jacket.

China's Muslim Hui Community
China's Muslim Hui Community

Author: Michael Dillon

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9780700710263

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This is a reconstruction of the history of the Hui Muslim community in China (known as the Chinese Muslims as distinct from the Turkic Muslims such as the Uyghurs). Traces their history from the earliest period of Islam in China up to the present day.

The War on the Uyghurs
The War on the Uyghurs

Author: Sean R. Roberts

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-01-25

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0691234493

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How China is using the US-led war on terror to erase the cultural identity of its Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region Within weeks of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Chinese government warned that it faced a serious terrorist threat from its Uyghur ethnic minority, who are largely Muslim. In this explosive book, Sean Roberts reveals how China has been using the US-led global war on terror as international cover for its increasingly brutal suppression of the Uyghurs, and how the war's targeting of an undefined enemy has emboldened states around the globe to persecute ethnic minorities and severely repress domestic opposition in the name of combatting terrorism. Of the eleven million Uyghurs living in China today, more than one million are now being held in so-called reeducation camps, victims of what has become the largest program of mass detention and surveillance in the world. Roberts describes how the Chinese government successfully implicated the Uyghurs in the global terror war—despite a complete lack of evidence—and branded them as a dangerous terrorist threat with links to al-Qaeda. He argues that the reframing of Uyghur domestic dissent as international terrorism provided justification and inspiration for a systematic campaign to erase Uyghur identity, and that a nominal Uyghur militant threat only emerged after more than a decade of Chinese suppression in the name of counterterrorism—which has served to justify further state repression. A gripping and moving account of the humanitarian catastrophe that China does not want you to know about, The War on the Uyghurs draws on Roberts's own in-depth interviews with the Uyghurs, enabling their voices to be heard.