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Yusuf Ma Dexin

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Yusuf Ma Dexin
Traditional ChineseMã đức tân
Simplified ChineseMã đức tân
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMǎ Déxīn
Wade–GilesMa Te-hsin
Courtesy name( tự )
Traditional ChinesePhục sơ
Simplified ChinesePhục sơ
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinFùchū
Wade–GilesFu-ch'u
Part of aserieson
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In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisMa.

Yusuf Ma Dexin(alsoMa Tesing;1794–1874) was aHui ChineseHanafi-Maturidischolar fromYunnan,[1][2]known for his fluency and proficiency in bothArabicandPersian,and for his knowledge ofIslam.[3]He also went by the Chinese name Ma Fuchu. He used the Arabic name Abd al-Qayyum Ruh al-Din Yusuf (عبد القيوم روح الدين يوسف).[4]He was also styled as "Mawlana al-Hajj Yusuf Ruh al-Din Ma Fujuh" (مولانا الحاج يوسف روح الدين ما فو جوه).

Biography

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Ajall Shams al-Din Omarwas an ancestor in the 25th generation of Ma Dexin.[5]

Hajj

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Ma performed theHajjin 1841, leaving China by a circuitous route; as ocean travel out of China had been disrupted by theFirst Opium War,he chose instead to leave with a group of Muslim merchants travelling overland. After passing through theSipsong Panna,they went south toKonbaung Burma,then took a riverboat along theIrrawaddy RiverfromMandalaytoYangon.From Yangon, they were able to board asteamship,which took them to theArabian Peninsula.[6]

AfterMecca,Ma stayed in theMiddle Eastfor another eight years; he first went toCairo,where he studied atal-Azhar University,then travelled throughout theOttoman Empire,going toSuez,Alexandria,Jerusalem,Istanbul,Cyprus,andRhodes.[7]

Return to China

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As a prominent Muslim in Yunnan, Ma became involved in thePanthay RebellioninYunnanshortly after he returned from the Hajj. The Panthay Rebellion, which flared up in 1856 as part of a wider series of uprisings by theHui(MuslimHan Chinese) and other minorities, was led mainly byDu Wenxiu;though Ma disagreed with Du'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.[8]Ma Dexin said thatNeo-Confucianismwas reconcilable with Islam. He approved ofGeneral Ma Rulongdefecting to the Qing and he also assisted other Muslims in defecting.[9]However, despite his efforts to bring about peace, theQinggovernment still regarded him as a rebel and a traitor; he was executed two years after the suppression of the rebellion.[3]Europeans reported that he was either poisoned or executed.[10]

After his return from travels throughout the Ottoman Empire, Ma Dexin staunchly opposedShiismand Sufism. This view emerged partly due to the growing marginalization of the Hui within China and calls for unity among themselves against the tide of the dominant Han-led society.[11]

Role in the Panthay Rebellion

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Ma Dexin was the most prominent Hui scholar in Yunnan. He used his prestige to act as a mediator between the different Hui factions & "helped orient and validate" the rebellion throughout the province.[12]He was respected by both Du Wenxiu & Ma Rulong as a spiritual leader.[13]In 1860; Ma Dexin sent forces to help Du Wenxiu fight the Qing; assuring him that:

"I have already secretly ordered my disciples [mensheng] Ma [Rulong] as the Grand Commander of Three Directions, with Ma Rong as second in command... to launch a rearguard attack from their base in Yimen."[14]

Ma Dexin possessed a telescope that he had purchased while in Singapore, yet was unable to use it. In late 1867, M. Garnier a member of a French expedition met Ma in Kunming and adjusted the lenses for him. A grateful Ma then agreed to write for them a letter of recommendation to Du Wenxiu. Ma also asked officials along the route to Dali to provide the best service to the French Explorers. Muslim soldiers let the explorers pass due to Ma's letter.[15]

Surrender to the Qing

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There is evidence that Ma Dexin, Ma Rulong & the Hui forces with them only pretended to surrender (in 1862) in order to gain access to the city of Kunming. Even after their supposed capitulation to the Qing; Ma Rulong continued to issue proclamations using his seal "Generalissimo of the Three Directions" while Ma Dexin refused to accept the Civil title granted to him; not wanting to be associated with the Qing regime. The Hui rebels taunted the Hui who hadn't joined the rebellion as being fake Hui (jia Huizi). Taiwanese researcher Li Shoukong asserts that many Hui rebels had employed a similar tactic of pretending to surrender in the early years of the rebellion.[16]

To test his loyalty Ma Rulong was sent to pacify the disgruntled magistrate of Lin'an (in Southern Yunnan). A few weeks after Ma Rulong left the city; rebel forces led by Ma Rong and Ma Liansheng stormed Kunming & captured it. Ma Rulong's forces had come to believe that he could no longer be trusted to achieve their goal of uniting under a single rebel government. In 1863 Ma Dexin declared himself "King-Who-Pacifies-the-South (Pingnan Wang)", seized the official seals & stopped using the Qing reign year when dating documents. Ma Dexin hoped to keep the rebel forces united under him until he could hand over control to Du Wenxiu.[17]

Ma Rulong immediately rushed back to Kunming, and attacked the city along with Qing forces;. He ordered Ma Dexin to give up his seals of office & placed him under house arrest.[18]According to a French missionary, Ma Rulong "arrested Lao Baba [Ma Dexin] whose conduct, as you know, has always been very ambiguous, but not any more. This old fox was consigned to the palace in which Ma [Rulong's] family lives."[19]

Ma Dexin opposed Ma Rulong's acceptance of the Qing policy of "using Hui to fight other Hui".[20]When he travelled to Dali to meet Du Wenxiu for their only and final meeting, he told him that:[21]

"The provincial government has given Eastern Hui leaders' official positions so that the Hui will fight each other. This is the cruelest of [the Qing's] furtive plots. So we must turn it around [and use it] against them... why should we fall into their trap?"

He also warned Du that:[21]

"We should, have the [Qing] government fall into a Hui plan, not let the Hui fall into the government's [plan]."

Execution

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The Qing official Cen Yuying disliked Ma Dexin and the Hui. In April 1874 he ordered an investigation into Ma Dexin's activities and charged him along with three others of formenting unrest. Cen claimed that when Ma Dexin was found he was on a hunger strike & on the brink of death, hence he ordered that Ma be "summarily executed". Though few Hui were convinced by Cen's words and knew that Ma had been assassinated.[22]

Works

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Sources say that Ma produced the first Chinese translation of theQur'an,[23]as well as writing numerous books in Arabic and Persian about Islam.[3]His most famous writings compared Islamic culture and theConfucianphilosophy to find a theoretical and theological basis for their coexistence. At the same time, he harshly criticised the absorption ofBuddhistandTaoistelements into the practise of Islam in China. As he is generally regarded as an orthodox Islamic thinker, his writings also demonstrated a positive attitude towardsSufism.[8]In total, he published over 30 books, most of which fall into five categories.

  • Islamic jurisprudenceand philosophy: Tứ điển yếu hội, đại hóa tổng quy, đạo hành cứu cánh, lý học chiết trung, tính mệnh tông chỉ, lễ pháp khải ái cư lý chất chứng,
  • Islamic calendarand history: Hoàn vũ thuật yếu (Description of the World), thiên phương lịch nguyên (History of Arabia)
  • Introduction and analysis of works of other Muslim authors in China, such as Ma Zhu and Liu Zhu: Chân thuyên yếu lục, chỉ nam yếu ngôn, thiên phương tính lý chú thích
  • Qur'an: the first five volumes of bảo mệnh chân kinh trực giải (True Revealed Scripture), the earliest translation of the meanings of the Qur'an into Chinese
  • Arabic grammar:Nạp cáp ngũ (Nahawu), tái nhĩ phu (Saierfu), a ngõa mễ lặc (Awamile)
  • Other: Triều cận đồ ký (Diary of a pilgrimage), a description of his time in Mecca; originally in Arabic, translated to Chinese by Ma's discipleMa Anli[24]

Ma Dexin appears to have picked upanti-Shiaviews from his time in the Ottoman lands and referred to them by the derogatory nameRafida(Nhược phế tử) in his works, which attacked and criticized Shias and some Sufis. Ma, like other most other Hui in China, belonged to theHanafi schoolofSunni Islam.[25]

The Chinese Muslim Arabic writing scholars Ma Lianyuan mã liên nguyên 1841-1903 was trained by Ma Fuchu mã phục sơ 1794-1874 in Yunnan[26]with Ma Lianyuan writing books on law 'Umdat al-'Islām (عمدة الإسلام), a grammar book on ṣarf (صرف) called Hawā, and Ma Fuchu writing a grammar book on naḥw (نحو) called Muttasiq (متسق) and Kāfiya (كافية).Šarḥ al-laṭā'if(شرح اللطائف)Liu Zhi'sThe Philosophy of ArabiaThiên phương tính lý (Tianfang Xingli) Arabic translation by (Muḥammad Nūr al-Ḥaqq ibn Luqmān as-Ṣīnī) (محمد نور الحق ابن لقمان الصيني), the Arabic name of Ma Lianyuan.[27]Du'a,ghusl,salah,and other ceremonies were taught in theMiscellaneous studies(Zaxue) tạp học whileayatfrom the Qur'an were taught in theKhatm al-Qur'an(ختم القرآن) (Haiting).[28]Ma Fuchu broughtal-Būṣīrī'sQaṣīdat al-Burda(Cách tùy đức tập chú) to China.[29][30][31]

See also

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Sources

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Notes

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  • This article incorporates text fromThe history of China, Volume 2,by Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger, a publication from 1898, now in thepublic domainin the United States.
  1. ^"الماتريدية وآثارها في الفكر الإنساني بدول طريق الحرير.. الصين نموذجًا".Alfaisal Magazine.
  2. ^"الحنفية الماتريدية في بلاد الصين".midad.com. 4 January 2020.
  3. ^abc"Laluan-laluan Mubaligh Islam ke China dan Empat Ulama terkenal di China (Islamic missionaries to China and four famous Muslim scholars in China)".China Radio International. 2005-12-02.Retrieved2007-02-16.
  4. ^"Mã đức tân - CDSIA".kias.sakura.ne.jp(in Japanese).Retrieved2017-11-30.
  5. ^Muslim Public Affairs Journal.Muslim Public Affairs Council. 2006. p. 72.
  6. ^Dillon, Michael (1999).China's Muslim Hui Community: Migration, Settlement, and Sects.United Kingdom: Routledge.ISBN0-7007-1026-4.
  7. ^MA Dexin ( mã đức tân ); MA Anli ( mã an lễ ), translator; NA Guochang ( nạp quốc xương ), editor (1988).Triều cận đồ ký (Diary of a Pilgrimage)(in Chinese). Ningxia People's Publishing House.ISBN7-227-00233-0.{{cite book}}:|author2=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^abYANG Guiping ( dương quế bình ) (December 2004).Mã đức tân tư tưởng nghiên cứu (Research into Ma Dexin's Ideas)(in Chinese). Religion and Culture Publishing House.ISBN7-80123-660-2.
  9. ^John King Fairbank (1978).The Cambridge History of China: Late Chʻing, 1800-1911, pt. 2.Cambridge University Press. pp. 213–.ISBN978-0-521-22029-3.
  10. ^Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger (1898).The history of China, Volume 2.Publisher W. Thacker & co. p.443.Retrieved2010-06-28.like ma julung panthay.
  11. ^Wang, Jianping."The Opposition of a Leading Akhund to Shi’a and Sufi Shaykhs in Mid-Nineteenth-Century China."Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review,vol. 3 no. 2, 2015, p. 518-541. Project MUSE,https://doi.org/10.1353/ach.2015.0015.
  12. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. pp. 105–106, 108.
  13. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. p. 120.
  14. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. pp. 117–118.
  15. ^WEI, ALICE BIHYUN GAN (1974).The Moslem Rebellion In Yunnan, 1855 - 1873.pp. 235–236.
  16. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. pp. 125–126.
  17. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. pp. 127–128.
  18. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. pp. 129–130.
  19. ^G. Atwill, David (1999).Rebellion south of the clouds: Ethnic insurgency, Muslim Yunnanese, and the Panthay rebellion.p. 314.
  20. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. p. 173.
  21. ^abG. Atwill, David (1999).Rebellion south of the clouds: Ethnic insurgency, Muslim Yunnanese, and the Panthay rebellion.p. 289.
  22. ^G. Atwill, David (2005).The Chinese Sultanate Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873.Stanford University Press. p. 188.
  23. ^Petersen, Kristian."Qur'anic Interpretation in China".Oxford Islamic Studies Online.Archived fromthe originalon March 17, 2015.Retrieved2022-03-19.
  24. ^WANG Jianping ( vương kiến bình ) (June 2004)."Thí luận mã đức tân trứ tác trung đích" thiên "Cập y tư lan giáo hòa nho giáo quan hệ (Discussion of the concept of" heaven "and the relation between Islam and Confucianism in Ma Dexin's works)"(in Chinese). Shanghai Normal University. Archived fromthe originalon February 21, 2008.Retrieved2007-02-16.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)English translations of some of his works and a major work on his life are under way byKristian Petersen.
  25. ^Jianping, Wang (September 2014)."The Opposition of a Leading Akhund to Shi'a and Sufi Shaykhs in Mid-NineteenthCentury China"(PDF).Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review.Shanghai Normal University.Archived(PDF)from the original on 11 March 2021.Retrieved14 August2021.
  26. ^Kees Versteegh; Mushira Eid (2005).Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics: A-Ed.Brill. pp. 380–.ISBN978-90-04-14473-6.
  27. ^"Mã liên nguyên - CDSIA".kias.sakura.ne.jp(in Japanese).Retrieved2017-11-30.
  28. ^Kees Versteegh; Mushira Eid (2005).Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics: A-Ed.Brill. pp. 381–.ISBN978-90-04-14473-6.
  29. ^Zhou Yaoming ( chu diệu minh )."《 thiên phương thi kinh 》 trứ dịch giản khảo (A Brief Textual Research on the Translation of" Tianfang Shijing ")"(PDF)(in Chinese). Thượng hải ngoại quốc ngữ đại học trung đông nghiên cứu sở (The Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University).Archived(PDF)from the original on 22 May 2020.Retrieved14 August2021.
  30. ^"《 thiên phương thi kinh 》 trứ dịch giản khảo".Archived fromthe originalon 2016-02-15.Retrieved2017-11-30.
  31. ^"Arabic Literary Translations in China: A Brief History".Arabic Literature (in English).2016-03-03.Retrieved2017-11-30.

Further reading

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