Hamdard Islamicus 145 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 THE CULTURAL ACCOMMODATION OF JESUITS MISSIONARIES IN CHINA DURING 1595-1730 AND ITS IMPACT ON CHINESE MUSLIM SCHOLARS OF HAN KITAB LITERATURE WU JUAN (AISHA) Faculty of Usuluddin, The International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. email: aishawujuan@yahoo.com Allah (S.W.T.) created human being and guided them to meet each from time to time, for the Divine purpose as mentioned in al-Qur’an. O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that Ye may you know each other (not that ye may despise each other), Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is ) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things) (Al-Qur’Én, XLIX:13). Well before the traditions of Taoism and Confucianism, Buddhism was the first foreign religion which had been successfully fused with the local Chinese culture and has survived until our modern days. All of these three traditions have witnessed, to some extent, alterations of their original teachings over time. Confucianism had been the official ideology of the Chinese feudal dynasties since the HÉn dynasty, except for the Mongol YuÉn dynasty. The Indo-origin Buddhism has gradually changed its original form in order to merge with the Chinese folklore, hence it became a mutually complementary way of life for the native Chinese,1 despite the anti-Buddhism movements that erupted from time to time in the history of China. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have created some sort of a triangular unity in the traditional Chinese society; each tradition addressed a particular facet of life while forming a single unified entity. Namely, Confucianism dealt with the earthly life matters, Taoism attended to the subject of eternity in this earthly world while Buddhism created an escape for the souls to shortly disconnect from life-chores. Hamdard Islamicus 146 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 The combination of these three traditions formed the main theme of Chinese federal society. Although some other religions such as Monism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, etc. were also introduced in China during other historical periods, all, except Christianity and Islam, have long disappeared and have no more followers in China. The survival and development of Islam and Christianity in the land of China were due to the great will of Allah (S.W.T.) on one hand, and the excellent cultural accommodation2 of their followers on the other another hand. Brief History of the Christian Missionaries in China Soon after the Tang Dynasty was established in the year of 618, the capable rulers of Tang were not only able to successfully manage the domestic affairs in all fields, such as economics, trade, culture, etc., but also developed good diplomatic relations with foreign countries. The Tang expanded its territory so largely that many adjacent small countries in the West Region became Tang’s attribute countries. The attributed populations, the diplomats, and traders from those countries were traveling back and forth across the Silk Road, both via land and sea. Thus, The Tang dynasty had the chances of interacting with multiple cultures and civilizations. In the early Tang dynasty, many Christians fled to China from the western attributed areas due to the indirect result of Islamic expansion in the Region. Thus, some of them began to propagate their faith in China. They were known among the locals as “Bo Si Jiao (Persian religions)”. A carved stone tablet known as “the Nestorian Stele” or “the Nestorian Monument” was found in 1625 in Xi’an which revealed that a group of Nestorian Christians have reached Chang’an in the 9th year of the Reign of Zhenguan (635). In addition, the tablet mentioned that when the priest arrived the Tang’s capital of Chang’an, the chief minister of Tang, Fang Xuanling received him at the western suburb of the capital. The Nestorians were granted the Emperor’s consent to build what was later referred to as the “Church of the East in China”. It is widely believed that Nestorian Christianity was likely preached among native Chinese. From the Nestorian tablet, we learn that some of the Nestorian Christianity books were translated into Chinese with the help of the Chinese Tang government. However, other researches revealed Hamdard Islamicus 147 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 that the Nestorian Christianity was greatly altered and corrupted even before 847. The above mentioned tablet carved in the 2nd year of Jiande (around 749) applied many Buddhist terms, which proves the deep influence of Buddhism on Christianity in China. It was said that the Nestorian church in Xi’an was converted into a Taoist temple and the that the priest was expelled from the church during the anti-Buddhism movement in 847. Affected by the persecution movement against Buddhists in Wuzong period of Tang dynasty, the Nestorian Christians have consequently disappeared from the land of China. In Yuan Mongol dynasty, China has welcomed the second envoy of Christian priests. Some Dominican priests were sent by Rome to the Mongol rulers who succeeded in convincing some noble Mongols to embrace Christianity. Moreover, some churches were established in the capital city and other regions. It was recorded that in many important Mongols gathering places, prayer halls, both for Muslims and Christians, were present. However, all the Mongol Christians disappeared from the land of Han Chinese after the Ming dynasty was established. Thereafter, no traces of any form of Han Chinese Christians seem to have existed during the Ming dynasty. The Society of Jesus was a religious order of the Catholic missions organized by the Spaniard St. Ignatius de Loyola in Paris in 1534 alongside other six persons. It was rectified by the Pope Paul the 3rd on the 27th of September 1540. The aim of the missions was “to strive for the propagation and defending of the faith and progress of souls”. Its members were called Jesuits by other religious orders. Matteo Ricci, with his practices of cultural accommodation with Confucianism, the then orthodoxy ideology after the year of 1595, brought a new era for the missionary work in China. Work of The Society of Jesus in the East During the time the European colonies were formed along the coastal areas of Africa and Asia during 16th century, priests were brought to perform religious services as well as to spread evangelism among the native populations. Multiple Catholic orders began to sponsor, train and send missionaries to the colonies. The founders of the Society of Jesus vowed, when the society was established in 1534 in Paris, that they will Hamdard Islamicus 148 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 devoted themselves for the sake of freeing the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the “Muslim Occupation” first and if not, they then were to remain loyal to the Holy See.3 The overseas propagation of the faith was a major priority of the Society of Jesus since its establishment. St. Ignatius de Loyola did not make rules for preaching work, but he encouraged Jesuits to learn about local languages and cultures, as in the cases of Ireland and Ethiopia.4 Many Jesuits departed on evangelical journeys all over the world. St. F. Xavier5 was sent by St. Ignatius de Loyola to India in 1542. College of St. Paul in Gua, India became the first center of Jesuits in Asia. It was in India that Father Francis Xavier developed the thought of learning local language and culture. After several years, he traveled to the far-east and landed in Japan in 1549. He developed an interest in the people there due to their keen interest in new knowledge and their good moral character. When he learned that the origin of Japanese culture derived from China, he soon developed a strong desire of spreading the Gospels among Chinese as he became aware that the Chinese civilization would be the highest in the far-east of Asia. But, unfortunately, he could not fulfill his desire of entering the mainland of China, due to Chinese government’s strict restrictions towards the foreigners during that period. He died on the island of “Shangchuan” nearby Macao in 1552. The wishes of St. Francis Xavier would be fulfilled by his fellow Jesuits afterwards. In 1552, the Portuguese traders created their opportunity, by landing on the island of Macao,6 to mend their ships and built the first settlement for westerners in China. Many Portuguese rushed to Macao as soon as they received a permission from the local Chinese government. It was said that at that time, among five thousands residents of Macao, nine hundred were Portuguese. At that time, Portugal had the right of protecting churches. In no time, a center of Chinese language and culture study center was established there by the Jesuits. In the year of 1563, eight Jesuits members worked in this center. In the early periods of their settlement in Macao, Jesuits adopted a wrong mission strategy and paid no attention to local culture studies. The work of preaching gospels had strong Portugal culture, such as using the Portuguese language and wearing Portuguese dresses, to the extent of requiring the converts to change their nationalities to Portuguese. The Jesuits preachers of the time did Hamdard Islamicus 149 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 not respect the local culture and adopted an ill-mannered attitude towards the local converts.7 The Spanish priest Juan Bautista Ribeira remained in Macao for three years and discovered that all his efforts have been wasted in vain. He returned to Europe seeking support to return to Macao, but this time with a rather perilous strategy. He proclaimed that hard power was the last option left to oblige the Chinese to accept Christianity. Meanwhile, another Jesuit member, Melchior Nunes Barreto, who worked in Macao shared similar views, therefore, he wrote letters to the emperors of Europe suggesting to address the Chinese emperor in a threatening tone to allow the missionaries to enter the Chinese mainland by army forces. A similar weapon and gospels policy was practiced in Philippine. The Spanish Augustinians even suggested to open the doors of mainland of China by guns.8 The work of Jesuits started to take a turn after another prominent member of Jesuits, Father Alexandro Valignani (1538-1606),9 came to Macao in July 1578. As the Superior Mission, India. His missionary work was successful in Japan and where he established good relations with the local Buddhist monks. He learned that some European were inflaming a propaganda to attack China by force. After he stayed in Macao for ten months, he wrote a letter to the Superior General of the Society, in which he recommended a peaceful evangelizing work of cultural accommodation in China. A letter in which he strongly emphasized10 the importance of learning more about the Chinese language, culture, customs, etc. The main points of cultural accommodation of Father Alexandro Valignani were, respecting the culture or traditions of local people, building good relations with the upper class and the nobles of the society, pleasing people with earthly interest, etc. Michel Ruggieri11 and Matteo Ricci were thus, one after another, sent from Gua, India to Macao for the purpose of studying the Chinese language and culture. After many attempts, they received permission to enter Zhaoqing, the then capital of Canton with other Portuguese traders in 1583. After some years’ learning Chinese language and culture in Macao, in 1583, Michel Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci12 were sent to Zhaoqin, the capital city of Guangdong province, which was not very far from Macao. Advised by other Jesuits worked in Japan, both of them wore Buddhist ropes with shaved heads. Having learned from the previous experiences of the former Hamdard Islamicus 150 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 missionaries and studying deeply Chinese Confucian Scriptures, Matteo Ricci made a policy of cultural accommodation in his preaching work among native Chinese. With the hope of evangelizing the Emperor of China, he started his long and hard journey to Beijing, the capital of the Empire in 1594. Matteo Ricci spent his last ten years of his life (1601-1610) in the capital city of Beijing and he set an example for practice of cultural accommodation for the other Jesuits in China and in India. First, they have scrutinized the local Chinese traditions and customs before introducing the Catholic faith to local Chinese, which explains the concomitance with the Confucian traditions. Nonetheless, shortly after the death of Matteo Ricci, the predecessors Jesuits, lead by Father Nicolas Longgobardi,13 drifted off the course of Matteo Ricci in their preaching methods, which was perhaps one of the causes of the banishing of all Christian missionaries in China after 1720’s. The practices of Father Ricci were named the Principles of Matteo Ricci by the Emperor of Kangxi during the “Chinese Rites Controversy”.14 Examples from Jesuits’ Practices of Cultural Accommodation Father M. Ruggieri was the first person from the Society of Jesus to redact booklets about Catholicism in Han Chinese. He translated The Ten Commandments into Han Chinese. By the end of 1584, another one of his books in Han Chinese, the Newly Edited True Teaching of Lord of Heaven and Holy Religion from the Country of West India (Xin Bian Xi Tian Zhu Guo Tian Zhu Sheng Jiao Shi Lu) was printed in Zhaoqing. Matteo Ricci’s policy of cultural accommodation was rectified by the Society of Jesus,15 after he was appointed as the Provincial Superior of China Mission in 1596. With the publishing of the book of Tian Zhu Shi Yi (The True Meaning of Lord of Heaven)” in 1603, Matteo Ricci paved for a new era of Christianity in the history of China. This book was translated into Japanese in 1604 and reprinted three times by Father Alexandre Valignani in Macao. It was also translated into Korean language, and into French in 1818.16 This book was one of the most important books of Jesuits in China. Another one of Matteo Ricci’s books, the Ji Ren Pian (Ten Articles for the Abnormal People) was Hamdard Islamicus 151 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 printed in Beijing in 1604, and was a sort of critique of some Buddhist concepts and superstitions in the Chinese traditions. The third book, The Correspondences, was a compilation of letters written by Matteo Ricci to the Headquarter of the Society of Jesus in Europe. Both, Paul Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) and Yang Tingyun (1562- 1627) were Chinese converts who played major roles in preaching Catholicism and western sciences and technologies. Paul Xu Guangqi redacted several books and articles about Catholics, such as the articles of “Pi Wang (A Refutation of Misconceptions)” and “Po Mi (A Refutation of Superstitions)”. Yang Tingyu’s articles of Tian Shi Ming Bian (A Comparative Study Between Catholicism and Buddhism)” and Dai Yi Bian (A Collection of Questions) were the most famous. Father Jules Aleni17 was a very important figure in the history of Jesuits in China. He continued Matteo Ricci’s practice of cultural accommodation in China. In Fujian province, he preached among the local ordinary people as well as the intellectuals who were impressed by his deep knowledge about Confucianism and Catholicism. He was named by the locals “the Confucius of the West”, a great honor that even Matteo Ricci didn’t receive. His famous books on Catholic faith were San Shan Lun Xue Ji (A Discussion of Catholicism in San Shan) and Wan Wu Zhen Yuan (The Reality of the Universe). The main works of Jesuits about their cultural accommodation were presented through their practical integration of Confucian code of life as well as their evidencing Catholic religious faith such as the existence of the Creator, the life after death etc. in Chinese classic scriptures. Jesuits’ Integration of Confucian Code of Life In 1583, M. Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci reached Zhaoqing, in Canton province. They both chose Chinese names for themselves and wore gropes of Buddhist monks with shaved heads. Their idea might have resulted from the experiences of Jesuits in Japan were the observed the respectable social status the Buddhist monks enjoyed. They both claimed that they came from Tianzhu (name of the place referring to India).18 The local Chinese were unable to distinguish them from the Buddhist Hamdard Islamicus 152 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 monks in the beginning and accommodated them in a Buddhist temple. They lived with Buddhist monks for considerable amount of time until a residence of their own was built and named by the governor Wang Ban as “Xian Hua Si (the Temple of Fairy Flower)”. Later on, they noticed that Buddhist monks were not as respected as they were anticipating by the locals due to their poor education.19 Matteo Ricci soon realized that it was not possible for any foreign religion to spread among the Chinese, because the “Law of Ming” prohibited the spreading of any heresy. There were strict regulations in the “Da Ming Hui Dian (the General Law and Regulations of Ming)” stating that religious gatherings, practices, and associations forming without the permission of the government were not allowed. After comparative studies of Buddhism and Taoism, the early Jesuits in China realized that Confucianism was the closest to Catholicism. Matteo Ricci himself admitted that among three the traditions of China at that time, Confucianism was the closest to the Catholic truth. Soon after Matteo Ricci arrived mainland China, he noticed that “Confucius was so much respected by his pupils and cults that they all gathered in public lecture halls and offered incenses and Kowtow in front of his portraits … We should admit that no any other thought of Chinese schools was closer than Confucianism to the truth…”.20 After many years, the Chinese convert Xu Guangqi openly expressed his desire of replacing Buddhism by Catholicism.21 Matteo Ricci was soon aware of the fact that, in the eyes of local Chinese, the Confucian scriptures were the only orthodox and they were the only authority on the view of opinions. He understood that the Jesuits in China had to gain a respectful position within the Confucian society in order to have a suitable platform for their preaching work. The local Chinese would not listen to them should they replace the Confucianism with the teachings of Catholicism. Except studying the “Four Books” of Confucius, Matteo Ricci also paid great attention to strengthening his social links with the Confucian scholars. In Canton, a Chinese Confucian Cui Taisu advised him to remove his Buddhist gropes and wear Confucian literati clothes instead. After receiving Visitator Alexandre Valignani’s consent, Matteo Ricci wore Confucian elite dresses of “Ju Ren (the holder of master degree in the west)” on his way to Nanchang in 1595. After entering Nanchang, he soon made a lot of friends with Hamdard Islamicus 153 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 many Confucian literati and officers there. He presented an article “On Friendship” in a very refined Chinese to king Jian-An in Nanchang, expressing his thoughts about befriending the Chinese. The beautiful style of his writings draw the attention of the educated Confucian Chinese, at a time when western instruments such as the triangular prisms or the map of the world, were creating notable interest among the Confucian elite. He told the Chinese people that he came to China only for friendship, because he admired the highly civilized Chinese culture and civilization.22 He became popular among the Chinese literati in Nanchang thanks to his rich knowledge about Confucius books and his good command of the Chinese language. The Confucian literati called him respectfully “Li Zi” as “the Master”, as they called “Kong Zi (Confucius)”. Thus, the year of 1595 could be regarded as the commence of Jesuits’ open cultural accommodation with Confucianism in China. In 1596, Matteo Ricci was appointed as the Vice Provincial of China Mission and the Major Superior of the mission in China in 1597. Hence, the policy of cultural accommodation suggested by Alexandro Valignani have survived for a little longer. Jesuits’ Evidencing Existence of the Creator In order to pack as many Confucian terms as possible in the Catholic work, Matteo Ricci carefully pondered upon the ethic system of Confucianism and the teachings of Catholicism. He noticed the similarities between the concept of “Ren (the Benevolence)” in Confucianism and the concept of “Ai (Love)” in Catholicism. In his book The True Meaning of Lord of the Heaven, Matteo Ricci claimed that these two concepts were the same. He said: “ ‘Ren’ in Confucius means the love for others … The person who has ‘Ren’ is the one who loves the Lord of the Heaven and the people.”23 In his other article of “Twenty-Five Sayings” written in Nanjing during 1599-1600, he wrote that “the great “Ren” lies in the love of ‘Shang Di’ who created everything and put ‘Ren” in the heart of human beings, so that humans may follow His order and perform “Ren” amongst each other. In this article, he applied four other terms of Confucian ethics i.e. “Yi (Righteousness)”, “Li (Propriety)”, “Zhi (Wisdom)” and “Xin (Fidelity)” to describe the Catholic beliefs and rituals. Actually, the concept of “Ren” in Confucianism is very different from “Love” in Catholicism. The basis of “Ren” in Confucianism is the human Hamdard Islamicus 154 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 intellect and the basis of “Love” in Catholicism is the faith of believing in the existence of God. Matteo Ricci made these two terms same in his book so that Confucians would not rejected him at the very beginning. The existence of the Creator: In order to certify the application of “Tian Zhu (the Lord of Heaven)” that was not a Catholic innovation, rather a term which was already existed in Confucian classics, Matteo Ricci has worked hard. He went through all the “Five Scriptures” and the “Four Books” of classical Confucianism.24 Matteo Ricci, with his Catholic view, held that the classical books of Confucianism were closer to the truth and the popular scholar of Zhu Xi25 in Ming dynasty, has committed many mistakes when commenting on some verses of the classical Confucius books. The concept of existence of the “Shang Di” or “Di” in the interpretations of Zhu Xi was corrupted by introducing some other concepts, like “Li”, “Taiji”, etc. To Matteo Ricci, “Li” and “Taiji” were dependable thing and they couldn’t have existed by themselves, so they couldn’t be the Creator. In his book of The Real Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, Matteo Ricci recorded eleven verses in these Chinese classics e.g. Zhong Yong (the Book of Mean), Shi Jing (the Book of Poetry), Yi Jing (the Book of Changes), about Tian (Heaven) and Shang Di (the Supper God) in order to conclude that the concept of “Our ‘Deus’ in Latin would best fit the ‘Shangdi ’ in the classical books or scriptures of Confucius.”26 Actually, the word “Tian” in the Chinese classics, there was no clear margins between the meanings of natural sky and the personified Heaven. Traditionally, the Chinese awe ship towards the sky was joined closely with the awe ship towards the earth. Confucius did not appreciate the view of gods in Yin-Zhou time. The “Heaven” in Confucius books was not a personalized god, but a “god” who embodies philosophy, politics, and ethics only without any reference to religion. The early Jesuits’ subjective assertion of “Tian or Shang Di” in Chinese classics was exactly the concept of “Lord of the Heaven” in Christianity was rather too sweeping, which was criticized by the later Confucians in the time of Aleni. Matteo Ricci was subjective in interpretations. If the meaning of the verse met his needs, he used it directly and if the verse had an ambiguous meaning, he would interpret it himself. If the late Confucian scholars’ interpretations didn’t embody the meaning he wanted, he would declare that the interpretations of that Chinese Confucian scholar was Hamdard Islamicus 155 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 wrong. For example, there was a verse in the Zhong Yong (the Book of Mean) of “that stated: the Emperors left the palace for the sacrifices to serve ‘Shang Di’”. A great scholar Zhu Xi wrote in his interpretations of this verse that “Hou Tu was not mentioned in this verse after ‘Shang Di’ for the sake of conciseness”. According to Zhu Xi, “Shang Di” and “Hou Tu” together was the original meaning of Confucius. In the traditional sacrifices of Chinese emperors, this two objects were not separated and the sacrifices towards both made at one time with the sequence of the sky first and then the earth”. All the previous interpretations of the Confucius classics by Chinese Confucian scholars held the opinion of omission of “Hou Tu ( the earth)”. Zhu Xi followed the previous scholars of commentary. Matteo Ricci rejected such interpretations which contradicted with the Catholic teachings of Oneness of God. He refuted the sayings of Chinese Confucian literati that Confucius knew well that the only one object of sacrifices was “Shang Di” and he had no any reason to omit “Hou Tu” in the books.27 He argued that if “Tian (the sky) in the interpretations of Zhu Xi was referring to the Super Power with the consciousness, then “Tian” was as same as “Shang Di” as commented by Zhu Xi. If the “Tian” was referring to the natural phenomena or bodies, then the “Tian” was not “Shang Di”, because there were nine celestial bodies in the sky and there was no way all these bodies could be equal to the one “Shang Di”. In this way, Matteo Ricci rejected the theory of Neo-Confucianism that “Tian” was “Shang Di”. The famous Confucian scholars of his time Feng Yingjing and Li Zhizhao supported the opinion of Matteo Ricci in their preface of the book of The True meaning of Lord of Heaven. As far as the nature or attributes of “Tian Zhu” is concerned, Matteo Ricci followed the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. Jesuits in China allowed their new converts of Confucian scholars to attend the ceremonies were they paid respect to Confucius or their passed away ancestors. This way of integration of Confucianism helped many famous Confucian scholars to convert into Catholics. The practice of Matteo Ricci’s “integrating Confucianism and anti-Buddhism” was continued for many years even after his death in 1610. Many books and articles were written by other Jesuits to defend the practices of Matteo Ricci.28 Hamdard Islamicus 156 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 The Early History of Islam in China The Chinese official scrolls of Tang dynasty recorded that in the second year of Yonghui, Tang Dynasty (651), the envoys of “Da Shi Guo (the country of Arabs in the time of OthmÉn Bin ‘AffÉn [R.A.])”29 arrived in the capital of Tang for the first time. They introduced their countries to the Emperor of China.30 Since then, the official friendly relationship between the Chinese Empire and Islamic world was established. One hundred years passed and there the foreign Muslims came to Tang peacefully from time to time as traders by sea and land routes, i.e. the Silk Road. Allah (S.W.T.) in his infinite wisdom knows what is the best for Chinese that a serious rebellion, i.e. “Rebellion of An-Shi” took place on the royal court of Tang in the winter of 755. An army of about 2000 Muslim soldiers from the West Region (Central Asia) reached the capital of Tang on the request of the Chinese emperor. The Muslim army fought alongwith the Chinese government armies bravely against the rebellion. At last, the capital was saved. Many of the Muslim soldiers remained in China as honorable guests and they married with local Chinese women. There is a Mosque in Xian, named “Da Xue Xi Xiang (the Great Learning Lane) Mosque” in the center of the city and the local Muslims believed that that was the site where those Muslim soldiers studying Chinese language. In Tang and Song dynasties, there were mainly foreign traders who mostly lived in the main commercial cities like the capital and coastal cities. The local Chinese government used to locate them in a special place named Fan-Fang (Foreigner Settlement). Inside Fan- Fang, there was a QÉÐÊ (Judge) who was in charge of their affairs according to the Islamic SharÊ‘ah. For example, the first mosque in China was thus built in Canton in Tang dynasty. Those Muslim traders stayed in China as guests and their settlements of “Fan Fang i.e. settlements for foreigners” were usually separated with local Chinese with fences and walls. Under such circumstances, it is not difficult for us to image that the Islamic Da‘wah work among local Chinese was very limited and the cultural accommodation between those foreign Muslims and local Chinese was mostly at individual level. In Song and Yuan dynasties, there were big foreign settlements of Muslim traders in some south-east cities of China like Quanzhou,31 Canton, Yangzhou, etc. Hamdard Islamicus 157 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 as mentioned by the famous Morocco traveler Ibn Battutah.* The big Muslim grave yards with Arabic inscriptions on stone tablets of this period suggested that in Quanzhou and Yangzhou there was no native Chinese Muslim communities with strong religious identities formed in those coastal commercial cities in this period. For example, Li Zhi (1527- 1602), a famous scholar of anti-Neo-Confucianism s in late Ming dynasty, was born in Quanzhou in a Muslim family.32 But, unfortunately, the basic Islamic concepts were absent in his books. He was attracted greatly by Metteo Ricci when he met the later on a religious debate with a famous Buddhist Monk in the winter of 1599, in Nanjing. There was no evidence to show that he had relations with Muslim scholars at his time. The Muslim population of China was greatly increased during Mongol Yuan Dynasty. A big number of Muslims were brought from Central Asia areas into every place of China as technicians, soldiers, etc. Their mother tongues were perhaps Persian or dialects of Central Asia or Arabic. The status of those foreign Muslims in the country ranked the second, only next to the Mongol rulers during this period. It is likely that it was easier for the Muslims to have cultural accommodation with Mongol rulers than with local Han Chinese. Many of Mongols converted into Islam in Yuan dynasty.33 But, the establishment of Ming Dynasty with strong Han cultural identities in 1368 turned the cultural accommodation of those Muslims to local Han Chinese culture. In Ming dynasty, the people from the North West Region were called generally the people of Se Mu, among them many were Muslims. Many Muslims dispersed in different inland provinces in the immigration movements of Se Mu and the Ming government gave them citizenship registration so that they could settle down like local Han Chinese. It was no doubt a great event in the history of Islam in China that those Muslims have survived in the land of China, no more as quests, but as citizens. But in another hand, their problems came out as well. For several centuries, the Muslims in China used to pass their religious teachings to the next generations in their homes by oral. Due to far away from their hometowns of the West Regions and the policy of sinicization practiced all over the inland areas, Muslims in the inland provinces no more spoke of their forefathers’ languages, Arabic or Persian –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– *Ibn BaÏÏuÏah was entertained by the Chinese emperor. He stayed with a senior noble who invited the guest in a musical party in the river. The singers entertained him by recitation of a Persian ghazal (a sort of poetry) by Shaikh Sa‘di. See ‘AjÉ’ib al-Asfar (SafarÉnÉmah-i Ibn BaÏÏuÏah), by Ibn Battutah, Urdu tr. Maulvi Muhammad Hussain, Islamabad, 1983, pp. 426-427 – Ed. Hamdard Islamicus 158 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 or any other dialects, and could not understand the religious teachings of the Scriptures. The Ming government arranged several immigration movements in which people shifted from the North West to the South East. In order to save their religious identities, the Muslims used to live together surrounding mosques and such Muslim settlements were called “Fang”. The social links among the members of “Fang” were stronger than that with local Chinese. With the passage of time, there was a need for them to deal with the people outside the “Fang”. Han Chinese language was naturally adopted little by little. Gradually, they lost their Islamic identities as Matteo Ricci noticed when he traveled inside Ming empire.34 Sheikh IdrÊs’ Mosque Scripture Hall Education Fully aware the severe situation, Muslim scholars started to find out ways of saving Muslims from the religious disasters. One of the most outstanding scholars was Sheikh IdrÊs Hu Dengzhou (1522-1597) who was inspired by some scholars from Central Asia and established the “Mosque Scripture Hall Education” System. The main target of Mosque Scripture was to educate and train ImÉms, preachers or teachers and the pray halls of mosques were their teaching rooms. The Mosque Scripture Hall Education was similar to today’s NiÐÉm-i Madaris Ta‘lÊm of Deoband in India or Pakistan. About thirteen Books in Arabic or Persian were selected for main text books of Mosque Scripture Hall Education System. Those books were about Arabic or Persian grammars, Tafsir, ×adÊth, Fiqh, TaÎawwuf, etc. ‘AqÊdah-i Nasafi and SharÍ-i WaqÉyah were also among those text books. The teachers used to read the original texts in Arabic or Persian languages and then explained them in Han Chinese to the pupils. Those explanations of imÉms or teachers in Mosque Scripture Hall Education were mixed with great deal of religious terminologies in Arabic or Persian languages, like Niyyah, NamÉz, Øadaqah, KitÉb etc., even up to today. Many of them even could write the characters of Han Chinese, and invented another way of recording the explanations of teachers: using Arabic letters and Han Chinese sounds, like Urdu, etc. Surely, this kind of Mosque Education helped greatly the Muslims to keep the Islamic identity in this big Eastern Empire and united the Muslims all over the country under the banner of Hamdard Islamicus 159 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l JamÉ‘ah (AbË HanÊfah Jurisprudence School).But, it could not present the faith of Islam to local Chinese, perhaps because its teachings targeted mainly on solving internal problems of Muslims and the lengthy course of the Mosque Scripture Hall Education with many incomprehensible terminologies in foreign languages decreased local Chinese interest toward Islam. The second noble mission was fulfilled afterwards by the scholars of HÉn KitÉb Literature. HÉn KitÉb Literature Movement Allah (S.W.T.) in His infinite wisdom knows His creatures and their limited mental capacities. He assures us that “We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people in order to make (things) clear to them” (Al-Qur’Én, XIV:4). No doubt, mutual communications, dialogues, discussions, etc. between the preachers and audience are highly recommended in this verse. The practices of cultural accommodation of Jesuits missionaries in China and India35 gave another expression of implementing the spirit of Islam, though after many failures in their missionary work due to ignoring the cultural background of the local people. Due to separation of Chinese Muslims from the Muslim world for a few centuries, they got little chance to exchange the Dawah experience with their common faith followers in Muslim world. The Muslim scholars were astonished to notice that preaching work of Jesuits in the country, especially in South East area, during 1595-1620 was so rapid that many Confucian literati of high officers on the Imperial Court even converted into this new foreign religion, like Paul Xu Guangqi.36 The Mosque Scripture Hall Education System was introduced into Nanjing37 around 1620’s. The famous Muslim scholars of Mosque Scripture Hall Education were Zhang Shao Shan, Ma Zhen Wu, and their pupils Ma Jun Shi, Ma Zhi Qi and Yuan Sheng Zhi, etc. Nanjing soon became a center of Islamic studies in the late of 1620’s and the early of 1630’s in south-east China, which attracted Muslim youth all over the country and scholars abroad.38 As an internal factor, the “Mosque Scripture Hall Education System” played a important role for emergence of the movement of Han Kitab Literature around 1640. The Islamic scriptures in Arabic or Persian languages were called “Jing or KitÉb ( )” in the HÉn Chinese. Hamdard Islamicus 160 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 Except Yusuf Ma Zhu, almost all writers of HÉn KitÉb Literature had background of Mosque Scripture Hall Education. Indeed, the bi-linguistic education in HÉn Chinese and Arabic/Persian in the “Mosque Scripture Hall” paved the way for the HÉn KitÉb Literature movement. When Muslim scholars in the area of Nanjing wrote books in HÉn Chinese language about Islam, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, they called those books HÉn Jing i.e. HÉn KitÉb Literature for high respect. The movement of HÉn KitÉb Literature was a revolutionary event in the history of Islam in China, because it didn’t only help the Han majority Chinese to understand the basics of, but also helped the Muslims who adopted HÉn Chinese to study their religion almost one thousand years after they reached China. The HÉn KitÉb Literature movement was so import in the history of Islam in China that some modern researchers like called it the “Renaissance of Islam in China”.39 According to Saif Haq, during the whole HÉn KitÉb Literature movement (1640-the end of 19th century), about sixty-six Islamic books were written in or translated into HÉn Chinese. The following Muslim scholars were the main writers of HÉn KitÉb Literature: Zhang Zhong (1584-1670), Dawood Wang Dai Yu (1570-1660),40 Wu Zhongqi (1598-1697), Yusuf Ma Zhu (1640-1711),41 and SÉlih Liu Zhi (1660-1730) during the period of 1640-1730. Except Sheikh SÉlih Liuzhi, there is no any evidence that any other writers of HÉn KitÉb Literature translated the Holy Qur’Én into Han Chinese before 1850. Among the existing books of SÉlih, there was no translation of whole Qur’Én into Chinese, but Surah al-IkhlÉs only. It was possible that the Chinese Muslims were too cautious to translate Qur’Én into any other language. Sheikh Dawood recorded in his book that he was harshly criticized that explanations of Islam in HÉn Chinese language was sinful, an action of Bid‘ah (adding anything to religioin)*. The whole Holy Qur’Én was not translated into Chinese language as late as around 1920’s till by a non-Muslim Chinese Tie Zhen, from Japanese language. There were many causes which contributed to the movement of Han Kitab Literature. Apart from their knowledge of the Chinese classics of Muslim scholars, yet it was not the only factor; since the north-western areas, which had similar educational environments failed –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– *Similar objections were raised in India when the Shah Wali Allah and his sons translated the holy Qur’an into Persian and Urdu respectively – Ed. Hamdard Islamicus 161 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 to create the HÉn KitÉb Literature movement despite the large gathering of Muslims in the region. Jesuits’ Impact on Chinese Muslim Scholars We would like to suggest that, the activities of Matteo Riccio and other Jesuits in Nanjing area played an external factor in the emergence of the HÉn KitÉb Literature in this period of time. That is to say, the activities of Jesuits missionaries in China, especially in Nanjing and its adjacent area of southern-east China like Zhejiang, Shandong, Beijing perhaps stimulated the emergence of Muslim scholars HÉn KitÉb Literature Movement. This point of view was based on the following facts: Firstly, the HÉn KitÉb Literature movement appeared at a time when Jesuits’ work was popular in Nanjing area. Matteo Ricci stayed in Nanjing for not quite long time before he entered the capital city of Beijing, and had full knowledge about Muslim astronomers who worked in the imperial court as he mentioned also in the Diary. Nanjing and other two nearby cities of Hangzhou and Suzhou were the most important preaching centers of Jesuits during and after Matteo Ricci. With the growth of Catholicism in China, battles between local Chinese and Jesuits’ missionaries occurred from time to time. The anti-Catholics movements in China after the death of Matteo Ricci made the Jesuits and their work known to the public. The first anti-Catholics movement was in 1616. A big church of Hongwugang established in 1610 in Nanjing was damaged and the Jesuits priests were deported by the government.42 Another anti- Catholics movement happened in 1637 in Fujian province. In 1630’s, the activities of Jesuits in China revived greatly. In south-east China, many local Chinese converted into Christianity. At last, the preaching of J. Aleni in Fujian province angered some Buddhists and they raised the voice against Christianity with Confucian literati in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in 1637. In the capital city of Beijing, an eunuch of the Court named Wang learnt about the Catholicism from some Jesuits and decided to be baptized with the name of John. He spread the Catholicism among the noble ladies in the “Forbidden City”. By 1638, there were 38 converted ladies, including the former Empress. In 1639, the number of the converts on Hamdard Islamicus 162 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 the Court increased to 50. Adam Schall even predicted at that time that the Emperor and Empress were not from the kingdom of God. According to the report of Martino Martini, in 1640, the Gospel had reached thirteen out of fifteen provinces of China and there were sixty to seventy thousand of Catholics.43 In the early 1640’s, the Jesuits in China increased the publications of their books in Han Chinese. By the year 1642, there were ninety- seven books published by the Jesuits in Han Chinese.44 The book of Emmanuel Diaz Junior’s (1574-1659) Sheng Jing Zhi Jie (The Commentary of Holy Bible) was printed in 1636 and 1642 in Beijing. All the above activities of Jesuits in South East area were not neglected by the Muslim scholars there. In 1641, there was a religious polemics between Father Nicolas Longobardi and a Muslim scholar45 in the palace of king Ningyang, in Qingzhou, Shandong province.46 According to Nicolas Longobardi’s report, the Muslim scholar was defeated because he couldn’t explain the Virgin birth of the Lord and at last, the king accepted the Catholic faith. The king Ningyang was probably a Muslim by birth, because his fore-father built the Qingzhou mosque in the 25th year of Jiaqin, Ming dynasty. Nicolas Longobardi also mentioned in his writing that the king Ningyang preferred the monotheism of Islam. The fact that Dawood wrote his three books around 1640-1642 after being encouraged by his fellows, perhaps was a response to Jesuits’ work in that period. Jesuits’ active preaching among Chinese Muslims have largely stimulated the Muslim scholars too. During that period, it was a natural thing that some Muslim scholars, including Dawood Wang Daiyu were encouraged to write about Islam in Han Chinese. Around 1640, Sheikh Dawood stayed in the grand mosque of Jingjue Si in Nanjing. Secondly, Dawood Wang Daiyu wrote three books. According to some scholars, his first book was probably The Great Knowledge of Islam (Qing Zhen Da Xue). The Real Commentary on the True Teaching (Zhen Jiao Zhen Quan), was engraved and printed for the first time in 1642. After that, he wrote another book, Questions and Answers about Islam (Xi Zhen Zheng Da). Dawood Wang Daiyu described the Catholicism as “a religion resembling Islam but not a right religion” with many proofs.47 There was a chapter in his book of “The Real Commentary”, named “ A Religion Seems to be Truth (Si Zhen)” which Hamdard Islamicus 163 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 mainly criticized the practice of Jesuits who regarded the “Tian”, “Shangdi” in Chinese classics as the “Lord of Heaven.”48 Dawood Wang Daiyu tried to differentiate the concept of “Allah” with other concepts in Chinese traditions. He selected two Chinese words Zhen Zhu (the Real God) as the Chinese translation of “Allah” in Arabic and another two words of Qing Zhen (the Pure and Fine) which employed by the first emperor of Ming as the Chinese translation of Islam. We found that two words of Zhen Zhu (the Real Lord) referring to the “Tian Zhu” were also employed in the works of Yang Tingjun,49 J. Aleni and other Catholic religious orders in China in the 17th century.50 But, the term “Tian Zhu” was more frequently used by them in the books of Jesuits. It seemed that the term of “Zhen Zhu” was also used by other Jesuits mixing with “Tian Zhu” in the early period and later became a distinctive Islamic term in HÉn Chinese after the appearance of the Han Kitab Literature. Thirdly, similar to Matteo Ricci, Dawood Wang Daiyu in his books, integrated the classical Confucianism and criticized the Neo-Confucianism. He hold that the Noe-Confucianism was totally wrong by identifying “Tian” with “Taiji” and “Li” without any supporting evidence from the classics and that they contradicted each other.51 But he did not comment on the term of “Shang Di” in the classical Confucius books and Scriptures nor he discussed Matteo Ricci’s view of the matter. He concluded that Allah alone was the Creator of everything, including “Taiji”, “Li” and “Tian”. Furthermore, based on the concept of “Tian” in New- Confucianism, Dawood argued that if “Tian” is only a creature of the real God, then, the word of “Tian Zhu ” introduced by Jesuits was not a right expression in HÉn language. He argued against the incompatibility of the word “Tian Zhu (the Heavenly Lord)”, stating that they cannot be combined, since “Tian” was a creature and “Zhu” was the Creator. Dawood Wang Daiyu quoted the famous tale of “Pan Gu”52 to support his opinion.53 Yusuf Ma Zhu employed “Zhen Zhu” to refer to Allah in his book The Guidance of Islam. A century later, SÉlih Liu Zhi in his book of Nature and Principle of Islam again quoted the evidences of mentioning of “Shang Di” or “Di” in the Confucius classics and their interpretations by the later Confucian scholars like Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, to verity that “Zhen Zhu” in Islam was the “Shang Di” in these classics. Different with Matteo Ricci, we observed that SÉlih Liu Zhi did not Hamdard Islamicus 164 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 criticize the Neo-Confucianism, but defended the interpretations of “Tian” in Neo-Confucianism by saying that it referred to the Super Power not the natural bodies. He, at last, concluded with many evidences that “Shang Di” in the Confucius Books and Scriptures was the “Zhen Zhu (Allah, the Real God)” in Islam.54 But he criticized the confusing names of “Li (the Principle)” and “Qi (the Air)” for the origin of the world.55 Actually, prior to Dawood, some Muslim scholars already paid attention to the movement of Catholicism in China. An examination of the difference between the two words of “Tian” and “Zhu” was also done by Zhen Yinbeng, even before Dawood Wang Daiyu, in his book A Collection of the Books and their Examinations in 1636 .He stated that in Islam “Worshipping ‘Zhu’ is not worshipping “Tian”, because all the things with shapes were the creation of the shapeless ‘Zhu’ ”.56 Fourthly, Sheikh Dawood in his first book of The Correct Answer (Xi Zhen Zhen Da) used the same style as Father M. Ruggieri’s in his book Tian Zhu Shi Lu and Father Matteo Ricci’s Tian Zhu Shi Yi in the form of a question and answer. This was the style of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in his book of Summa Thelogica and the accepted and general style of philosophical and theological debates at the Paris University in the 13th century.57 But, it was not known to Chinese in that time. Fifthly, The similarities between the discussions of “Tian Zhu” in the books of Jesuits and that of “Zhen Zhu” in the books of Muslim scholars were clearly observed. In fact, the word “Zhu” referring to Allah was not at all present in any writing of Chinese Muslims, until the end of Ming. The word of “Zhu” was mentioned together in one verse for the first time in the form of “Jing Tian Zun Zhu (Respecting the ‘Tian’ and Obeying the ‘Zhu’) in 1602. in Beijing. It was written on the stone tablet of Niu Jie Mosque, Beijing in 1602. It is interesting to mention that the introduction of the Chinese word of “Zhu (the Lord)” into Islamic terminologies and linking the two words of “Tian” and “Zhu” together in Chinese happened after the Jesuits’ writings.58 At this time, Matteo Ricci had been in Beijing for more than one year. The tablet in the same mosque of Nie Jie, Beijing written in the 41th year of Wanli (1613) directly pointed out that “Zhu” is the Creator of the “Tian” by saying that “people knew only the name of ‘Tian’, but did not know why it was called ‘Tian’. The Creator of the ‘Tian’ was the Oneness of Hamdard Islamicus 165 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 ‘Zhu’”.59 The emergence of Han Kitab Literature was not earlier than 1630’s. The first book perhaps was Sheikh Zhang Zhong’s Ke Li Mo Jie (the Explanation of Al-Kalimat of Shahadah).60 In the preface of this commentary, the Chinese word of “Zhen Zhu (the Real Lord)” was used referring to God.61 In the later period, Dawood Wang Dai Yu and all later Muslim scholars used the word of “Zhen Zhu (the Real Lord)” frequently in their HÉn KitÉb Literature. This term of “Zhen Zhu (the Real Lord)” is still widely used among Chinese Muslims at the present time. Sixthly, similar policy of integration of classical Confucianism against Buddhism and Taoism: All other Muslim scholars in their HÉn KitÉb Literature, used the same policy of the Jesuits, explaining their religion of Islam in Confucian terminologies or integration of Confucian classics and attacking Buddhism and Taoism at the same time. Because all writers of Han Kitab Literature were scholars of Confucianism, and it was very natural that they would explain Islam in the frame of Confucianism. They employed integral Confucian traditions in their books in their inter-faith dialogue. For them, Confucianism was part of their own cultural heritage alongside Islam which they could not neglect. Integration of Confucian classics was not a policy for preaching their religion of Islam like Jesuits. At the same time, they attacked not only the later practices of Taoists’ polytheism, but also carefully explained the concept of “Tao” of Laozi in “Tao De Jing” and in the cosmology of Neo-Confucianism with the cosmology of Sufi school of thought. They refuted the Buddhism and other superstitions in Chinese folk religions, like fortune-telling, or practicing geomancy, etc. In order to explain the existence of the Creator of the universe, the Muslim scholars had merciless refutations towards the godless teachings of Buddhism and polytheism in the Buddhist practices. In order to verify the existence of the Creator in the universe, Dawood Wang Daiyu wrote a similar story which was or even is popular in Muslims world that a ship on the river sailed itself without any sailor and loaded down its goods by itself without any worker. When the Buddhist monk heard of it and said it was unbelievable, the teller of the story refuted him and said then, how could you tell us that there was no any creator who create and managed this properly organized universe and we should believe?62 Another example was his refusal of the Buddhist concept of emptiness of the universe by saying that they said the universe Hamdard Islamicus 166 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 was empty and could they also agree that their parents who gave birth to them have never existed.63 Seventhly, Affected by Jesuits’ upper class preaching policy: Encouraged by the successful experiences of Jesuits in Europe and India, Matteo Riccio succeeded in entering the “Forbidden City” in 1600 as an auto-clock repairer. With the help of Chinese convert Paul Xu Guangqi, Matteo Ricci had close relationship with many high officers of Ming government and some other Jesuits worked in the court of Chinese Emperors as advisors, scientists, etc. The German astronomer Schreck Terrenz (1576-1630), who was friend of Gallineo and Kepler, came to the court of Ming as an astronomer in 1621. Since then, there were three sections of astronomers who worked in the Imperial Observatory due to the different ways applied in their observations and calculations: the Chinese traditional way, the Hui Hui Muslim way and the western way of Jesuits. No doubt, Jean Adam Schall (1592-1666)64 was one of the most important figures in the history of Jesuits in China after Matteo Ricci. He was not only a theologian, but also expert in science and technologies. He started his services on the court of Ming in the early of 1620’s and trained a Chinese convert Ignatius Sun Yuanhua how to use canons bought by Chinese converts from Portugal Jesuits in Macao. Those canons played a very big role to defeat the attacks of Tatar and Jean Adam Schall earned big fame on the court. A factory of making cannons was set up beside the palace of Beijing in 1636. When the Qing dynasty was established in 1644, Jean Adam Schall offered a new calendar to the new dynasty and he soon was appointed by the Emperor of Shunzhi as an astronomer and counselor of the Emperor. The astronomers of Jesuits had the upper hand in the “Calendar Controversy”65 of 1668-1670. Ferdnand Verbiest (1623-1688) worked for the Emperor as the astronomer after Jean Adam Schall (1592-1666). Another Two Jesuits, Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) and Jean Francois Gerbillon (1654-1707) worked as scientists and envoys in the court of Kangxi since 1687. Observing the activities of Jesuits in the county, Muslim scholars were much worried and had their strong desire to introduce Islam to the Emperor. Yusuf Ma Zhu wrote his huge volume of A Guide to Islam as an encyclopedia of Islam in a beautiful classical Han Chinese and intended to present it to the Emperor of Kangxi. Yusuf Ma Zhu stayed in Beijing Hamdard Islamicus 167 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 in early Qing dynasty during 1669-1684. Yusuf Ma Zhu, carrying his Memorial to the Throne and the first volume of A Guide to Islam, followed the Emperor who left Beijing on a trip to the south-east of China in 1684 , but he did not succeed in meeting the Emperor during this trip. He continued his effort and wrote another Memorial to the Throne in 1707 in his home town, with the great hope that the Emperor would read his book. In his words to the Emperor, Yusuf stated that Buddhism and Taoism spoiled the teachings of Confucianism, and Islam was not a heresy but a truth that was close to Confucianism. Further, he highlighted that if Islam could be practiced alongside Confucianism in China, the country and Chinese people would be prosperous.66 Eighthly, some quotations of Muslim scholars from the books of Jesuits: In those HÉn KitÉb Literature, the Muslim scholars employed a lot of new knowledge of the west and seldom mentioned the original sources. For example, Sheikh Yusuf scientifically the cause of the elapse of the moon and the sun67 and sheikh SÉlih tried to demonstrate the whole picture of the creation.68 It was probable that they referred the books of Jesuits with the evidence that the names of the planets, places mentioned in HÉn KitÉb Literature were exact the same characters as in the books of Jesuits.69 It was obviously that both sheikh Dawood and sheikh SÉlih adopted the ancient Greek Ptolemy cosmology as Jesuits by saying that the earth was the center of the universe, and there were seven planets moving in circles around the earth. But, they modified the theory by changing another two move less bodies in Jesuits books into al-Kursi and al-Arsh. Examples of Muslim Scholars’ IjtihÉd in HÉn KitÉb Literature The Holy Prophet (œ) sent Mu‘adh Bin Jabel (R.A.) to Yemen to propagate Islam and encouraged him and Muslims in the light of Qur’Én and Sunnah to do IjtihÉd when they on then enter, countered with new problems. The Chinese Muslims scholars were also blessed with such capabilities of IjtihÉd when they practiced Islam in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. With the spirit of IjtihÉd, they solved many theoretical problems for common Muslims by integration of Chinese Hamdard Islamicus 168 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 Confucian traditions. One of the examples was their invention of theory of Double Royalties. In the year of 713, some Arab envoys came to the Imperial Court of Tang dynasty and they were asked by the Chinese officers to perform a traditional etiquette of greeting the emperor by “Koutow”. They refused to do so, because it was like the SajdÉh (prostration) in their prayers. Obviously, they thought the emperor was treated by the subjects as a deity of worshiping. The refusal of Muslim envoys’ “Koutow (Prostration)” made the emperor and Chinese displeased, because it was regarded as offensive behaviors of uncivilized people.70 The Muslim scholars were fully aware, on one hand, that the Ming was a secular regime of Neo-Confucianism that the emperor of the country was the absolute authority of all subjects, and performing “Koutow” in front of the emperors was an obligatory rite for the subjects. In another hand, they noticed that some Catholic religious orders or personalities prohibited the Chinese converts attending some ceremonies of remembering Confucius or their ancestors, etc. resulted in many big movements of anti-Catholicism in the countries since 1516. In order to save the Muslims from such kind of troubles, Sheikh Dawood invented the theory of Double Loyalties i.e. there was no contradiction between loyalty to Allah (S.W.T.) and loyal to the emperor of the country. He stressed that the loyalty of human being towards Allah was more important for them than their loyalty towards the rulers and their fathers. The best loyalty was the loyalty of the emperors towards Allah, because it was Allah who raised him to the Throne. So, obeying the emperor was the duty of every subject in the country. He did not reject the Chinese traditional rites of “Koutow” in front of the emperors and elders because it could be considered as only a posture of greeting each other. Furthermore, he suggested that when the Muslims performed SajdÉhs (prostrations) during their prayers, they should put their foreheads on the earth and while they performed “Koutow”, they may put their ears and the side of their heads on the earth.71 Yusuf Ma Zhu and ØÉliÍ Liu Zhi agreed with Sheikh Dawood’s above theory of Double L oyalties. Yusuf wrote that Muslim subjects should pray in every Jumu‘ah (Friday) prayers for the long life of the emperor and the prosperity of the country.72 ØÉliÍ even wrote that, the Hamdard Islamicus 169 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 emperor was the shadow of Allah on the earthand if a person who was loyal to the emperor, he was loyal to Allah … .73 Of course, the term of “Double Loyalties” was only an innovation of Muslim scholars under the typical political environments, though it was not that much accurate in the view of Islam. The emperor was a human being only, it was not believable that a creature could be the “shadow” of the Creator. But such interpretation had political significance that made the peaceful co-existence between the Muslim minority and other nations or non-Muslim government possible, which provided a shelter for Muslims living in the Confucian empire. Even up to today, in many mosques, there were inscriptions written stones or woods following words “Long Life the Emperor”. Comparing the Chinese Hui Hui Muslims, the then Pope of Rome was rigid, and he could not manage this issue wisely which resulted in at last the “Chinese Rites Controversies”, which resulted in the end of missionary work in China in 1720’s. Naturally, in the light of Islamic revelation, the Chinese Muslim scholars refuted not only the misconceptions of Jesuits, like Trinity and Incarnation in their books, many superstitions in Chinese traditions, but also mended the cosmology of Neo-Confucianism by introduction of Allah (S.W.T.) into it as a Creator. Conclusion We may shortly conclude that some practices of cultural accommodation, like integration of Chinese classics, Confucianism, anti- Buddhism and Taosim, upper class preaching, publishing books on Christianity (starting with the most important theological concept like existence of the Creator, etc.) was applied by Matteo Ricci and other Jesuits as a preaching policy, helped them to gain a strong basis for the long term among the local Chinese, Which resulted in spreading Catholicism in Ming-Qing dynasties of China. The Muslims in China had gone through different historical periods and sought for co-existence with local native Chinese for long time. Partly Inspired by the work of Matteo Ricci and Jesuits missionaries, some Chinese Muslim scholars in south-east area of Nanjing began to write books about Islam in HÉn Chinese language during 1640-1730 in the HÉn KitÉb Literature movement. The HÉn KitÉb Literature explained Hamdard Islamicus 170 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 the basic principles of Islam in a very refined classical Chinese, not only to Chinese Muslims, but also to the local non-Muslim Chinese. It was the first time in the history of Muslims in China that it made the inter-faith dialogue of Muslims with other people possible. After 1920s’, the Chinese Muslim scholars of Hui Hui could use HÉn Chinese language proficiently in their books about any topic of Islam. AlÍamdulillah. Notes and References 01. For example, the school of Tian-Tai adopted the Taoist concept of Dan-Tian (the Pubic Region), Lian-Qi (a kind of spiritual training through breathing control and meditation) and introduced them to their meditation process and the school of Huayan not only adopted five virtues of Confucianism of “Ren”, “Yi”, “Li”, “Zhi”, “Xin”,but also some moral values of Buddhism like “not killing”, “not lying, “not drinking wine”, etc. and some teachings from “the Book of Changes”. 02. Cultural accommodation has different definitions among scholars. According to Prieto, accommodation is the adaptation of one’s message to one’s audience. See, Andres I., Prieto, The Perils of Accommodation: Jesuit Missionary Strategies in the Early Modern World, Journal of Jesuit Studies, IV, 2017, pp. 395-414. 03. See, Holmes, J. Derek and Bickers, B.W., A Short History of the Catholic Church, Chinese translation by Wang Weijia, Beijing: Sapientia Press House, 2008, p. 160; and see, Hartmann, The Brief History of the Society of Jesus, p. 4. 04. See, Zhang Guanggang, From the Beginning of the West Meeting with the East to the Ritual Controversy, Beijing, People’s Press, 2003, p. 211. 05. St. Francis Xavier (1505-1552), Spaniard, was one of the founders of religious order “The Society of Jesus”. He was a beloved pupil of St. Ignatius, the first Superior General of the Society of Jesus ...; see, Pfister, The Notices, pp. 20- 23. 06. Macao is an Island in the South China Sea, in the west of Hong Kong. The people of Macao built a temple there named “Temple of Ma Ge”, in order to ask protection from the Status of “Ma Ge” for the fishers. Macao was the Sound of “Ma Ge” in Portugal language. 07. See, Matteo Ricci, The Correspondences, pp. 6-7. 08 See, Qi Yingping, A Study of History of Jesuits in Far-East, p. 37. 09. Alexandre Valignani (1538-1606), came from a noble family of Italy. In 1566, he joined the Society of Jesus. Soon, he was appointed as the Vistator of the Far-East. After the death of Francisca Xavier, he became Bishop of Asia diocese. 10. See Jiang Weihan, The Jesuits in Ming-Qing China, Shanghai, the knowledge Press, 1987, pp. 7-9. 11. Michel Ruggieri (1543-1607), from Italy. He reached Macao in July, 1578 and started to learn Chinese there. He visited Canton (Guangzhou) several times as a translator of Portugal traders during 1580-1582. He and Matteo Ricci established the first center of Jesuits in Zhaoqing, Canton, China in 1583. Hamdard Islamicus 171 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 12. Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), born in Macerata Marche in Italy in 1552. He joined Roman Collage of the Society of Jesus. In 1578, he reached Gua, India by sea. He spent twenty-eight years in China. See, Pfister, The Notices, pp. 31-46. 13. Nicolas Longgobardi (1559-1654) was born in a noble family of Italy. He came to China in 1597and stayed in China for fifty-eight years. He was appointed as the Major Superior of the Mission in China after the death of Father Matteo Ricci in 1610. 14. “Chinese Rites Controversy” was a discussion between Jesuits and other religious orders in China about some Chinese traditional rites of reverencing Confucius and the ancestors of the Chinese converts. At last, it became a religious dispute between the Society of Jesus and the other religious orders in Eu rope, and the Holy See and the emperor Kangxi of China also involved. 15. See, Pfister, Life of the Society of Jesus in The Biographies China (1552-1773) and their Books (Notices Biographiquee, P. Louis Pfister, the Biographies of the Society of Jesus et Bibliographiques Sur les Jesuit’s de L’aneienne Mission De Chine 1552-1773), translator of Chinese Feng Zhengjun, Beijing, China Book Town, 1995, vol. I, pp. 20-22. 16. See Pftister, Notices Biographiques, Vol. I, p. 41. 17. Jules Aleni (1582-1549) came from Italy. He was sent to the Far-east in 1609. He entered China in 1613, three years after the death of Matteo Ricci . He worked fruitfully in many places of China. He had very close relationship with many Chinese high officers like Xu Guangqi and Ye Xianggao (1559-1627) who was the Prime Minister of the country. 18. Tianzhu () was a holy land to the common Chinese Buddhists due to the famous Pilgrim of Monk Xuanzang in early Tang dynasty. 19. See, Matteo Ricci, The Correspondences, p. 15. 20. See, Bernard, Le Pere Mathieu Ricci Et La, pp. 142-143. It was written in the letter of Matteo Ricci to Roman dated on 13th Sept. 1584. 21. See, Paul Xu Guangqi, An Appeal for the Western Studies, an Xupian of Documents of Catholic Eastern Mission, vol. I, pp. 24-25. 22. See Bernarrd, vol. I, p. 188. 23. See, Matteo Ricci, The True Meaning of Lord of Heaven, Chapter Seven. 24. Ibid. 25. Zhu Xi, one of the founder of Neo-Confucianism in Ming dynasty. 26. See, Matteo Ricci, The Real Meaning of Lord of Heaven, p. 21. 27. See, Matteo Ricci, Tian Zhu Shi Yi. 28. See, Xu Zongce An Abstract of the Writings of Jesuits. 29. The word of Da Shi came from the Persian word Tazi in Canton dialect , See Bai Shouyi, The Essays. 30. See, The Old Tang Books, vol. 639, p. 4115. 31. Quanzhou was the most famous sea port in Song-Yuan dynasties and there were so many foreign Muslims from Persian and Arab countries there like Canton today. They called it the City of Zaitoon and the local Chinese adopted this name as “Ci Tong”. 32. The fore-father of Li Zhi was a HÉn native Chinese, who came from Central China in the end of Yuan dynasty to Quanzhou. One of his sons became a sailor Hamdard Islamicus 172 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 and travelled to Persian area. He married a Muslim lady there and took her back to Quanzhou. 33. In the Mongol Yuan period, one of a Mongol general from noble family converted to Islam and all the army under him including 150,000 soldiers also converted into Islam. 34. Matteo Ricci wrote that, the Saracens in China have very little to do with the preaching work among local native Chinese and they were ignorant about their religious teachings except non-pork dieting. See, The Diary, p. 114. 35. Roberto de Nobili (1577-1656), came from Italy, had similar practices of cultural accommodation in his preaching work in India. 36. Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), came from Shanghai and had high post in Ming government. In 1600,he met Matteo Ricci in Nanjing. After he got a high post on the court in Beijing in 1604, he studied mathematics with Matteo Ricci and then translated the book of Euclid’s Elements into Chinese. 37. Nanjing, called Yingtian Fu formerly, was the first capital of Ming dynasty. The founder of the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang built a mosque, named Jingjue Si , beside the Palace for his Muslim ministers. This mosque still remains in Nanjing. It was said that in the beginning of Ming dynasty, more than 25% of the population of Nanjing were Muslims. 38. For example, Sheikh Ashiq came from India to Nanjing and taught book of Tasawwuf to Zhang Zhong, who was one of the writers of Han Kitab Literature. 39. See, Saif Al-Haq, ‘The Culture of Islam in China’, Ph.D. thesis of Peshawar University, Pakistan, 2007, and also, Peterson, Kristian, Reconstructing Islam: Muslim Education and Literature in Ming-Qing China, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, vol. XXIII, No. 2, 2006). 40. Dawood Wang Dau Yu was born in the year between 1573 to 1619 and died in the year of between 1657 and 1658. See, Jin Yijiu, A Study of Wang Daiyu, pp. 63-64. He was one of pioneers of the movement of Han Kitab Literature. He wrote three famous books around 1640-1642 in Nanjing. He went to Beijing before the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 and stayed in a mosque there. His life in Beijing remained not much known to people. 41. Yusuf Ma Zhu (1640-1711), was born in Yunnan.He started his first education with the Confucius Scriptures in his hometown of Yunnan and travelled to Beijing in 1669 and started to learn Islamic Scriptures from Muslim scholars there. He mastered Han Chinese well and started to write an encyclopedia of Islam A Guide to Islam with the intention that it could reach the Emperor Kangxi. 42. See, Zhou Pingping, The Catholicism Dispersing, pp. 48-49. 43. See, A. Lazzarotto, Christianity in China according to “Brevis relation” (Brief Account on the Numerical Strength and Qualities in China), Essays on Religion and Culture, pp. 14-15; “Brevis relation” was a report written by Martino Martini in the end of 1654 in Rome, in order to create public opinion favorable to the missionary methods of Jesuits in China. 44. See, Xu Gongce, An Abstract, pp. 338-342. 45. There was not any other source about this event except the record of Jesuits. The name of this Muslim scholar was not revealed , perhaps he was one of the Imams in that city. In the end of Ming dynasty, many noble people from Hamdard Islamicus 173 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 kings’family converted into Christianity, which perhaps was the result of Jesuits’ upper class preaching work in China. 46. See, Ronnie Po-Chia HSIA, Catholicism and the Late-Ming Society: Several Issues on Long Huamin’s Preaching in Shandong in Chongzhen Period, Journal of the Research of History, vol. II, 2009. 47. See, Dawood Wang Daiyu, The Real Commentary, p. 99. 48. Professor Jin Yijiu, held that Dawood was properbly talking about the Neo- Confucianism. See, Jin Yijiu, A Study, pp. 189-190. 49. See, Yang Tingjun, Dai Yi Pian. 50. See, Yang Tingjun, Tian Shi Ming Pian and Dai Yi Pian; see also J. Aleni, Sa Shan Lun Xue, pp. 437, 439; see, the book of Zhen Xue Liu Shi written by some of the Franciscan fathers Baneza, and Incarnatine in 1664. 51. See, Dawood, The Real Commentary, p. 103. 52. The tale of Pangu began around the year of 220 that in the remote past of long ago, there was a huge elliptical object floating in the sky. A man named Pangu staying inside with an axe in his hand. The only work of Pangu was to hit the walls which surrounded him. At last, he succeeded to open the object. Then, its upper part became the sky ,the part below him became the earth and his body became the mountains, rivers, etc. 53. See, Dawood, The Real Commentary, pp. 104-105. 54. See, Salih Liu Zhi, The Shar‘iah of Islam, p. 92. 55. See, Salih Liu Zhi, Nature and Principle of Islam, pp. 38, 55-57. 56. The original book was lost and some portions of it were kept in the preface of the book of Salih Liu Zhi’s The Seerah of Last Prophet (œ); see, Salih, Liu Zhi, The Seerah of Last Prophet (œ), p. 366. 57. See, Schabel, Chris, Theological Quodlibeta in the Middle Ages: The Thirteenth Century, Leiden, Brill, 2006, Vol. I. 58. See, Jin Yijiu, A Study of Wang Daiyu, p. 34. 59. See, Jin Yijiu, A Study of Wang Daiyu, pp. 34-35. 60. This book was criticized by Dawood as “many mistakes …”, See, Dawood, preface of The Real Commentary, and Yang Xiaochun, A Discourse of Stilly Explanation of Kalimat Criticized by Wang Daiyu in his The Real Commentary, Journal of Nanjing Univ. (Social Sciences), vol. XLII(1), 2005. 61. See, Xu Gongce, An Abstract, p. 18. 62. See, Dawood Wang Daiyu, The Real Commentary, p. 202. 63. Ibid., p. 418. 64. Jean Adam Schall (1592-1666), was a scientist from Germany. He spent 47 years in China and he was buried beside Matteo Ricci in Beijing. 65. The Mongol rulershired some Muslim astronomers from the Central Asia and soon, an Observatory was established in Yuan capital of Dadu. After the fall of Mongol rule, the Ming government employed them and they worked in Nanjing for making calendars. One of the forefathers of Sheikh Dawood was one of those astronomers. Metteo Ricci wrote to the Society of Jesus asking them sending the best astronomer of Europe to China with the intention of replacing Muslims and getting close to the emperor. In 1660’s, a lot of disputes and controversies between Jesuit astronomer Jean Adam Schall and the Muslim astronomer Yang Hamdard Islamicus 174 Vol. XLI, Nos. 3 & 4 Guangxian who accused the Jesuits of conspirators against the state. Jean Adam Schall was put into jail in 1664 … At last, the Muslim astronomer Yang Guangxian was dismissed from the post around 1668, the main reason was that his calculation of the Sun eclipse was less inaccurate than that of Jesuits’. 66. See, Yusuf Ma Zhu, A Guide to Islam, pp. 74-75. 67. See, ibid., p. 650. 68. See, SÉlÍ Liu Zhi, Nature and Principle of Islam. Some modern scholars argued that, it was also possible that he benefited from other Muslim scholars in Persian and Arabic, like Mirsad al-‘IbÉd by Najm al-DÊn RÉzÊ, MaqÎad al-AqÎÉ by Nasafi, Ash’at Allamat and Lawa’iÍ by Aburrahman JÉmÊ, etc. See, Sachiko Murata, William C. Chittick, and Tu Weiming, The Sage Learning of Liu Zhi, pp. 10-14. 69. See, DÉwood, The Real Commentary, p. 60 and see, Matteo Ricci, The Structure of the Universe. 70. See, The Book of Old Tang, vol. CXCVII. 71. See, DÉwood, The Real Commentary, pp. 233-228. 72. See, Yusuf, A Guide to Islam, p. 532 and SÉliÍ Liu Zhi, The SharÊ‘ah of Islam, p. 132. 73. See, Salih Liu Zhi, The Shari‘ah of Islam, p. 137.