Chinese Muslim Association

Chinese Muslim Association
中國回教協會
Zhōngguó Huíjiào Xiéhuì

Founded	1938 (in Mainland China)[1] 1958 (in Taiwan)
Headquarters	Taipei Grand Mosque, Da'an District, Taipei, Taiwan
Origins	Hankou, Hupeh, Republic of China
Key people	Salahuding Ma (Secretary-general)[2]
Area served	Republic of China
Website	www.cmainroc.org.tw

Taipei Grand Mosque.

The Chinese Muslim Association (CMA; Chinese: 中國回教協會; pinyin: Zhōngguó Huíjiào Xiéhuì) is an organization of Chinese Muslims in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It runs the Taipei Grand Mosque.^[3][4] A rival group, the Chinese Muslim Youth League competes with it on Taiwan.^[5]

History

In Mainland China

Chinese Muslim Association was established in 1938 as Chinese Muslim Salvation Association (中國回民救國協會) with the sponsorship from Kuomintang. The organization was renamed to Muslim Association (回教救國協會) in 1939 and was changed to Chinese Muslim Association (中國回教協會) in 1942.^[6] After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to China in 1945, the CMA in Nanking appointed Chang Zichun (常子春), Wang Jingzhai (王靜齋) and Zheng Houren (鄭厚仁) to form the preparatory committee of the CMA branch in Taiwan on 23 December 1947.^[7]

In Taiwan

In 1951 at the end of Chinese Civil War, the association evacuated Mainland China with the Nationalist Government to Taiwan and settled there ever since. It was formally reestablished in 1958.^[8][9]

Activities

The organization is the largest Islamic organization in Taiwan. Its activities spread throughout the island and it has a good reputation among the local Muslims. The mosques have set up their own board of directors which are responsible for the affairs of the mosques. The Foundation of Islamic Culture and Education is responsible for dispatching scholarship and holding lectures on Islam. In additional, they also have a volunteer organization to make up a deficiency of other Islamic organizations in Taiwan. The association regularly send people to visit foreign Muslim detainees (detained for violating foreign worker contract) in several alien temporary detention centers.

CMA sponsors a weekly radio program beamed to Mainland China by the Broadcasting Corporation of China. They supply reading materials for Muslims in the ROC Armed Forces.

Besides providing services for Muslims and helping to improve the welfare of Taiwan society, the association through their Overseas Affairs Commission also actively engages in cultural exchanges with Muslims in 46 countries around the world, many of which the ROC Government does not have any formal diplomatic relation with them. They also receive and entertain many foreign Muslim visitors to Taiwan.^[10][11]

CMA has been sending Taiwanese Muslim students overseas to receive formal Islamic education. To further improve the effort in preserving the Islamic faith among the Muslims, the association has developed a plan to "educating secular educators" and that the Bureau of Education of the Taipei City Government has approve the proposal to hold Islamic courses for primary and secondary school teachers during summer vacations. They also provide authentic Islamic information to public school teachers to eliminate the Islamic stereotyping and misunderstanding.^[12]

In 1980, the CMA donated US$ 50,000 to help Afghan refugees.^[13]

List of CMA leaders

Bai Chongxi

• 1938-1959: Bai Chongxi (白崇禧)^[14]
• 1959-1974: Shi Zizhou (時子周)
• 1977-1990: Xu Xiaochu (許曉初)
• 1990-1996: Wu Huanhong (武宦宏)
• 1996-2002: Ma Jiazhen (馬家珍)
• 2002-2005: Ni Anguo (倪安國)
• 2005-2008: Ma Ruhu (馬如虎)^[15]

See also

• Islam in Taiwan
• List of mosques in Taiwan
• Chinese Muslim Youth League
• Chinese Islamic Cultural and Educational Foundation
• Taiwan Halal Integrity Development Association
• Islamic Association of China

References

External links

• Chinese Muslim Association
• About Taipei
• Islam in Taiwan
• Islam and Muslims in Taiwan
• Islam in Taiwan
• Islam in Taiwan