Transmission of the flamethrower from Greece to China

The flame thrower was invented in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) who used it against the Arab Muslims. It was later adopted by the Muslims who transmitted it to China. The Chinese author Lin Yu explained in his book in 919 AD that it was acquired by the Chinese from their Arab maritime trade contacts in the Indian Ocean. Wujing Zongyao (武经总要) written by prominent scholars Zeng Gongliang (曾公亮), Ding Du (丁度), and Yang Weide (楊惟德), in 1044 has the oldest description of the flamethrower. It is interesting to not how technology from one part of the world was transmitted to China. It also illustrates that the Muslims played an important role in transmitting knowledge not just to the West but to the East as well.

Muslims and Chinese Rocket Technology in the time of Kublai Khan

While it is widely known that the Chinese were instrumental in inventing explosives and in advancing early rocket technology, it is less known that during the time of Kublai Khan Turkish Muslims were instrumental in helping the Mongols in conquering China and advancing this technology and building siege weapons. According to Muslim Heritage, between 1271 and 1273 Kublai Khan employed two Turkish Muslim engineers Alaadin and Ismail (I-ssu-ma-yin in Chinese sources). These two were instrumental in building ballistic weapons used in the siege and conquest of Hang-Chow and Hsiang-yang. The Chinese sources mention that when the weapons built by Ismail were fired “the earth and the skies shook and the cannons were buried seven feet into the ground.” The sons of both these engineers also worked for the Mongols.

Chinese pilgrims return home from Mecca

From the Xinhua news agency.

Chinese pilgrims return home from Mecca

YINCHUAN, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) — A plane carrying 323 Chinese pilgrims landed safely at Hedong Airport of Yinchuan, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Saturday afternoon.

They are the first batch of Chinese Muslims to return home after completing their pilgrimage to Mecca this year.

Ma Junji, a 75-year-old pilgrim, said the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia) is the most important religious task in his life.

“Thanks to the government’s assistance, the pilgrimage went on quite well. As I am a hajji now, I will do more good deeds in the future, “Ma said.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. Every able-bodied Muslim is required to do it at least once in life if he or she can afford it. Chinese Muslims have a long history of making the pilgrimage to Mecca, dating back to Ming Dynasty.

A total of 2,250 people from Ningxia went for the hajj this year. They are scheduled to return home by seven chartered planes from Dec. 5 to Dec. 17.

Li Yushan, an official with the regional bureau for religious affairs, said as the A/H1N1 virus was found among some foreign pilgrims, the government sent 14 medical staff to accompany the Chinese pilgrims to ensure their safety.

They sterilized all the rooms where Chinese pilgrims lived every day, said Li.

Before those Muslims left for Mecca, they were all inoculated with A/H1N1 vaccines.

“These measures are effective, as no A/H1N1 case has been reported among Chinese pilgrims so far, “said Li.

According to Li, after returning home, the Chinese pilgrims must undergo strict temperature checkup at the airport and they are required to stay apart from other people for seven days.

More than 2.1 million people, or more than one third of the population in Ningxia, are from the Hui ethnic group.
Editor: Zhang Xiang

Rumi’s Masnavi in Chinese

Finally Rumi’s Masnavi has been translated into Chinese. Work on other languages like Korean translation is still ongoing. The link is in Turkish, you can use a translation utility like Google Translation to view the page in English.

Islam in China wins Brass Cresent Awards and Facebook

The Islam in China Blog won the Brass Crescent Award for the best Muslim blog in the East and South East Asian Blog category. Thank you to the readers and Jazak’Allah for voting for the Islam in China Blog. To connect more with the readers I have created a Fan Page for the blog. You can add yourself to the page at the following URL. We can start new conversations and connect on Facebook.

Islam in China Fan Page on Facebook

Eid Mubarak

Eid Mubarak to everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to the readers in USA.

(Image Source: Astiak)

6th Brass Crescent Awards

Voting for the 6th Brass Crescent Awards has started and just like last year, this blog has been nominated as the blog in the Asian Blogs category. Jazakallah for nominating this blog. You can vote for your favorite blog in this and other categories at the following URL:

http://brasscrescent.org

“First Muslim Minority” Thinking considered harmful

Sometimes I get the impression that all this discussion about fiqh of minority and Muslims living in non-Muslim lands is extremely short sighted especially in USA. It seems to be predicated on the unstated premise that Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim majority countries is an unprecedented and new phenomenon and thus we have to address questions related to this phenomenon afresh as if there are no precedents. Nothing could be farther from the truth. While it is true that Muslims voluntarily leaving Muslim majority countries en masse and settling non-Muslim majority countries is a relatively new phenomenon which does not have many precedents before the 1950s, Muslims have lived in non-Muslim majority countries and have discussed questions of fiqh that we think are relevant to the situation in American Muslims before. Thus consider the following non-Muslim majority countries and how long have Muslims lived there as minorities.

China: 1350+ years
Russia: 500+ years (I am considering the time after when the fall of the Golden Horde.)
Mongolia: 750+ years

The point is that Muslims have not lived in these countries for hundreds of years without encountering or discussing some of the issues that are being discussed amongst American Muslims e.g., working in the army, relations with other religions, family related issues etc. Thus Muslims have lived in China for almost as long as the advent of Islam. There is even evidence that Muslims were employed in the service of the Chinese Emperor even as far back as the time of the Abbasids. The greatest Chinese admiral Zheng He was a Muslim. At this moment if anyone is thinking about raising any argument about Communists then let me point out that Communists are a recent phenomenon and Muslims have lived peacefully under many dynasties in China. Just because scholars in Muslim majority countries have historically have had a certain opinion about al wala and al bara does not mean that all scholars have had such an opinion. One of the reasons for this post was the discussion going on here and here. Without taking any sides in the debate I will just state that one of the arguments that people are making is that Muslims have had such an opinion for hundreds of years. While I am disputing this I would like to point out that there is another set of Muslims who have had a different opinion also for hundreds of years. Just because they lived hundreds of miles from the centers of Muslim power does not mean that their opinion is any less valid. Just because Muslims in the Middle East have historically envisioned dar-ul-Islam in a certain way (which makes sense given that the European were less than amicable towards Muslims in the Middle Ages) does not mean that Muslims in China have also done so in a similar manner.

To summarize, the point is that Muslims living in these areas have had such debates that we are having now in America, they have lived their lives as peaceful and pious Muslims. Trying to reinvent the wheel or overly relying on Muslim scholars from Muslim majority countries who almost no idea about living in non-Muslim majority countries is borderline arrogant.

Blog of a Chinese American Muslim

Amir Khalid or Anke Jiang (蒋安可) is a Chinese American Muslim who blogs at “Allah is in China”  (http://allahisinchina.wordpress.com). Here is an excerpt from one of his blog posts on Ramadan.

I fasted today, tightening the notches of my belt from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from any food throughout the entire day. Unlike most Muslims I admit I did consume water, but only because my health obliged me to. Nonetheless, I did get a feeling of what Ramadan is supposed to be. The holy month is a time of reflection, remembrance, and charity. As my belly ached for long hours, I thought of the people around the world who don’t have the things I have, things like a comfortable home, leisurely activites, indoor plumbing, fresh food, or even running water. I thought of all the hardships of my life, labouring day-by-day to reach my next paycheck. Never had I thought before of the people who labour day-by-day just to reach the next tomorrow. As I said my five prayers, I remembered them and prayed for them, yearning for my chance to help such people. Thank God for Ramadan. Never had I thought my own hunger could fuel my hunger for charity.

P.S: I will be at Northwestern University for the weekend, if anyone around Evanston wants to meet up, drop me a line at wangdaiyu at gmail.

The Chinese Islamic Root Islamic in Arabic!

Tianfang Xingli is considered to be a classic islamic text in the Chinese language. It is divided into three parts and one of the parts is known as the Root classic. Recently I was surprised to find out that the Root Classic was translated into Arabic in 1898 by a Chinese Muslim scholar Ma Lianyuan also known as Abd al Hakim al Hajj al-Sayyid Muhammad Nur al-Haqq ibn al-Sayyid Luqman al-Sini. It was published in the Yunnan province as Al’Lataif (The subtleties). What is even more fascinating is that an Arabic commentary on the Root classic by the same author was published in Kanpur in India in 1902. This just makes me wonder how many other Chinese Islamic texts or their commentaries have been translated into Arabic, Persian or other lanuages spoken by large number of Muslims.