Posted on 12/14/2001 9:26:40 PM PST by Hopalong
History and other information about China's little-known Muslim population
China's Muslim Hui Community: Migration, Settlement and Sects by Michael Dillon. Pub: Curzon Press, Richmond, UK, 1999. Pp: 208. Hbk: UK40.00.
By Leila Juma
Twenty years ago, few Muslims realised that they were huge Muslim communities in what was then Russia. On western-drawn maps, the Muslim areas of Central Asia - which have gained 'independence' by default after the collapse of the Soviet Union - were all shown as part of communist Russia and effectively divorced from the 'Muslim world'. A few better-read Muslims knew that Russia had a 'Muslim minority', but that was about the extent of our understanding.
Far greater awareness of Muslim populations around the world has been one of the benefits of 'Islamic revival' since the Islamic Revolution in Iran. There remains, however, a general ignorance about the Muslim community in China which is similar to that of the Muslims under Russian rule 20 years ago. People have become aware that the Muslims of north-western China are in fact Central Asian Muslim peoples living under Chinese occupation - as Muslims of other parts of Central Asia lived under Russian occupation for most of this century - and that there is a growing jihad against Chinese rule in these areas.
What is not generally realised is that there is also a far larger community of indigenous Chinese Muslims living in China proper, the descendants of both Central Asian settlers in China, and of Chinese people who converted to Islam centuries ago, under the influence of Muslim settlers, traders, ulama, teachers and others who travelled through the country or settled there during the period when Muslim countries represented the leading edge of world civilization. It is these Muslims, ethnically indistinguishable from the rest of the Chinese but with a very distinct cultural and religious tradition that has developed over centuries, which has been studiously maintained despite the aggressive atheism of the communist period, that are known as the Hui, while the non-Muslim Chinese are known as the Han.
Michael Dillon, a lecturer at Durham University in Britain, is an established student of the Hui Muslims. His 1996 book China's Muslims, part of the Oxford University Press 'Images of Asia' series, is an excellent short book on the subject. (The pictures with this review are taken from it.) His new book China's Muslim Hui Community, pulls together much of what other writer's have discovered about the Hui, with his own research.
The main section of the book traces the history of the Hui from the earliest days of Islam in China, to the present day. Unlike some writers on the subject, Dillon emphasises the importance of settlement in the origins of the Hui ahead of the conversion. He links the migration of early Muslims from Persia and Central Asia to earlier migrations by pre-Islamic peoples, which seems tenuous. He emphasises also the importance of the Ming period (1368-1644) for the emergence of the Hui as a permanent community rather than an immigrant one, and traces the stories of key early Muslim leaders, many of them warriors who helped the rise of Ming rule.
Dillon also continues his survey through Manchu rule and into the present century, tracing the changing role of the Hui in society and, in particular, the emergence of Sufism. He has a detailed chapter on the Hui 'insurrections' in the nineteenth century, through which Muslims tried to establish Islamic rule in key areas. These jihad movements, which lasted for decades and established functioning states in parts of China, were brutally suppressed, with the Muslims virtually exterminated in many areas. However, Dillon does not elaborate on the impact this had on the Hui, focusing instead on individual experiences and episodes rather than the larger picture. The same is true of his discussion of the present century.
The second main section focuses on Sufi orders in China, and is informative and detailed; however, Dillon's knowledge of China is not matched by his knowledge of Islam; hence errors such the statement that the word 'Salafiyya' derives from the Arabic 'sharif'. Despite the obvious breadth of Dillon's research, such errors raise doubts.
This book is a useful survey on a subject which few people know very much about. This compensates for its shortcomings. Muslim readers will find much of it informative and fascinating, but it should not be taken as authoritative. However, t he sad and unavoidable fact is that Muslims have no place else to go for such knowledge at this time.
Muslimedia: February 1-15, 2000
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
Group Population (1990) the Turkic peoples 1 the Uighur, 7,214,431 2 Kazak, 1,111,718 3 Kyrgyz, 141,549 4 Uzbek, 14,502 5 Tatar 4,873 6 Salar, 87,697 those of Mongol origins 7 Dongxiang 373,872 8 Baoan, (Bonan) 12,212 of Iranian origin 9 the Tajik; 33,538 and of Chinese origin 10 the Hui. 8,602,978 Total 17,597,370
"The largest are the Chinese Hui...who comprise over half of China's Muslim population and are scattered throughout all of China...."
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
Regards to all. S&W R.I.P.
Curious "or" there, Black Jade, was it intended widely to be understood as mutually exclusive?
Regards to all. S&W R.I.P.
Now, if you were looking for your run-of-the-mill ChiCom "Muslim", who'd you think be the best bet?
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
A DRAMA of high danger and official indifference is unfolding at Kandahar's main hospital, where 10 injured al-Qa'eda fighters are holed up in a ward with hand grenades and pistols, surrounded by other patients.Full details of the deadlock emerged yesterday, when medical staff told how the Arabs had been admitted without being searched. They refused to have their clothing removed when treated for gunshot wounds and bomb injuries.
Only when one had an X-ray for a pelvic fracture did the hospital staff realise that a grenade was strapped to his thigh. The nine Arabs and one Chinese, who fought for the Taliban before the city fell, are refusing to allow anyone but medical staff into their room.
They say they will blow themselves up if threatened with arrest. Despite acute fears over the safety of patients and staff, no official action has been taken to defuse the situation.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which funds the surgical department, the new leadership of Afghanistan and the international military forces in the city have yet to step in.
The fighters, along with three relatives, are in a surgical ward of 10 rooms at the 180-bed Mirwais Hospital, also known as the Chinese hospital.
Hmmm—is that nine Arabi and one "Chinese Citizen"? Guess they must have checked his papers if he was an Uighur, hehe.
Beest regards. S&W R.I.P.
Yep, that there "Han", jes' like your "Chinese," can be a tad ambiguous at times, eh?
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
Did they have hostages or are they just holed up with other prisoners?
If the latter, I'd remove the other patients from the building and then let them blow themselves up- with a bit of help, if needed.
It would be interesting to interview the Chinese one, though.
Regards to all. S&W R.I.P.
Know any prospective authors?
Best regards. S&W R.I.P.
BR and an English translation I spose too, for the ChiComs' American media, academic, and other sympathizers perhaps, but otherwise superfluous.
Regards to all. S&W R.I.P.
After the Communist takeover in 1949, Mao Zedung set about dividing the Muslims into nationalities so they would identify with their 'ethnic' origin and not their 'Muslim' identity.According to population statistics of 1936, the then Kuomingtang Republic of China had an estimated 48,104,240 Muslims. After the introduction of Mao's policies, this number was reduced to ten million. No official Chinese explanation has ever been given for this apparent disappearance of around 38 million Muslims. The mass extermination and destruction of the Muslims of China pales before the much publicized plight of a handful of Tibetan monks or the democrats of Tiannaman Square.
Aside from the physical annihilation, Muslims have been subjected to a constant attack on their Islamic identity especially during the so-called Cultural Revolution (1966-76). For instance, posters which appeared in Peking (later to be called Beijing) in 1966, openly called for the abolition of Islamic practices. Muslims were also barred from learning their written language which incorporated the Arabic script and was influenced by Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. This change was critical as it distanced Muslims from the Arabic language, the language of the Qur'an and their Islamic aspirations. During this era many Mosques were closed down and waqf properties were confiscated.
Regartds to all. S&W R.I.P.
Bin Laden sold/gave two US cruise missiles to China in 1999 that survivied the US cruise missle attack on Afghaistan in August 1998.
Bin Laden was in China last year just over the border (literally within a few miles) from Afghanistan meeting with a Bulgarian businessman trying to buy fissile materials.
CHina has tech espionage and intell and terror cells throughout the US who work closely with AlQaeda and other ME terror group cells. The cells use Chinese students attending Universities. On cell group of college students from Oklahoma State University stole/paid for the JSTARS look down radar from the US at Tinker AFB near OKC around 1994-1995. Senator Don Nickles of OK briefed George Tenet of the CIA last year on this but Tenet did nothing adequate about the problem.
Believe it or not the Israeli aircraft industry had a contract with the CHinese last year to install AWACS style radars in Russian aircraft that Israel was modifying for the Chinese. This was stopped last year in Israel by the US government once they found out that Charles Smith's stories on the subject were true.
Bush senior gave the US neutron bomb technology to the Chinese and French about ten years ago in an act of great treason.
"gave the US neutron bomb technology to the Chinese"
Hmmmm. How did I miss this. Can you expound on this please, thanks.
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