| Yusuf Ma Dexin | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 馬德新 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 马德新 | ||||||||
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| Courtesy name (字) | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 復初 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 复初 | ||||||||
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| Islam in China |
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History
History
Tang Dynasty • Song Dynasty |
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Major figures
Chang Yuchun • Hu Dahai • Mu Ying • Lan Yu • Yeheidie'erding
Hui Liangyu • Ma Bufang |
Yusuf Ma Dexin (also Ma Tesing) (1794-1874) was a Hui Chinese scholar of Islam from Yunnan, known for his fluency and proficiency in both Arabic and Persian, and for his knowledge of Islam.[1]
Contents |
Ma performed the Hajj in 1841, leaving China by a circuitous route; as ocean travel out of China had been disrupted by the Opium War, he chose instead to leave with a group of Muslim merchants travelling overland. After passing through Xishuangbanna, they went south to Burma, then took a riverboat along the Irrawaddy River from Mandalay to Rangoon. From Rangoon, they were able to board a steamship which took them all the way to the Arabian Peninsula.[2] After his time in Mecca, he stayed in the Middle East for another eight years; he first went to Cairo, where he studied at Al-Azhar University, then travelled throughout the Ottoman Empire, going to Suez, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Cyprus, and Rhodes.[3]
As a prominent Muslim in Yunnan, Ma became involved in the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan shortly after he returned from the Hajj. The Panthay Rebellion, which flared up in 1856 as part of a wider series of uprisings by Muslims and other minorities, was led mainly by Du Wenxiu; though Ma disagreed with Du Wenxiu's revolutionary methods, he also encouraged his followers to aid in the uprising; later, he would try to act as a peacemaker between the central government forces and the rebels.[4] However, despite his efforts to bring about peace, the Qing government still regarded him as a rebel and a traitor; he was executed two years after the suppression of the rebellion.[1]Europeans reported that he was either poisoned or executed.[5]
Sources say that Ma produced the first Chinese translation of the Qur'an, as well as writing numerous books in Arabic and Persian about Islam.[1] His most famous writings compared Islamic culture and the Confucian philosophy in an effort to find a theoretical and theological basis for their coexistence. At the same time, he harshly criticised the absorption of Buddhist and Taoist elements into the practise of Islam in China. As he is generally regarded as an orthodox Islamic thinker, his writings also demonstrated a positive attitude towards Tasawwuf, or Sufi mysticism.[4] In total, he published over 30 books, most of which fall into five categories.