The First Islamic Classic in Chinese

The First Islamic Classic in Chinese
Author: Sachiko Murata
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2017-03-27
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1438465076

A translation of Wang Daiyu’s Real Commentary on the True Teaching, the first and most influential work written in the Chinese language on Islam. Published in 1642, Wang Daiyu’s Real Commentary on the True Teaching was the first significant presentation of Islam in the Chinese language by a Muslim scholar. It set the standard for the expression of Islamic theology, Sufism, and ethics in Chinese, and became the literary foundation of a school of thought that has been called “Muslim Confucianism.” In contrast to Muslim scholars writing in every other language, Wang avoided Arabic words, opting instead to reconfigure the religion in terms of Chinese concepts and categories. Employing the terminology of Neo-Confucian philosophy, his overview of Islam is thus both congenial to the mainstream Islamic tradition and reaffirms Confucian teachings about the human duty to establish harmony between heaven and earth. This book will appeal to those curious about the manner in which Islam has flourished in China over the past thousand years, as well as those interested in dialogue among religions and the significance of religious diversity.

Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light

Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light
Author: Sachiko Murata
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2000-08-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791446379

The first study in English of Islamic thought in China, this book shows that this tradition was informed by both Sufism and Neo-Confucianism; translations of two classic works are included.

Islamic Thought in China

Islamic Thought in China
Author: Jonathan Lipman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2017-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781474426459

"Tells the stories of Chinese Muslims trying to create coherent lives at the intersection of two potentially conflicting cultures. How can people belong simultaneously to two cultures, originating in two different places and expressed in two different languages, without alienating themselves from either? Muslims have lived in the Chinese culture area for 1400 years, and the intellectuals among them have long wrestled with this problem. Unlike Persian, Turkish, Urdu, or Malay, the Chinese language never adopted vocabulary from Arabic to enable a precise understanding of Islam's religious and philosophical foundations. Islam thus had to be translated into Chinese, which lacks words and arguments to justify monotheism, exclusivity, and other features of this Middle Eastern religion. Even in the 21st century, Muslims who are culturally Chinese must still justify their devotion to a single God, avoidance of pork, and their communities' distinctiveness--among other things--to sceptical non-Muslim neighbours and an increasingly intrusive state"--

The Tao of Islam

The Tao of Islam
Author: Sachiko Murata
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 1992-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791409138

The Tao of Islam is a rich and diverse anthology of Islamic teachings on the nature of the relationships between God and the world, the world and the human being, and the human being and God. Focusing on gender symbolism, Sachiko Murata shows that Muslim authors frequently analyze the divine reality and its connections with the cosmic and human domains with a view toward a complementarity or polarity of principles that is analogous to the Chinese idea of yin/yang. Murata believes that the unity of Islamic thought is found, not so much in the ideas discussed, as in the types of relationships that are set up among realities. She pays particular attention to the views of various figures commonly known as "Sufis" and "philosophers," since they approach these topics with a flexibility and subtlety not found in other schools of thought. She translates several hundred pages, most for the first time, from more than thirty important Muslims including the Ikhwan al-Safa', Avicenna, and Ibn al-'Arabi.

The Sage Learning of Liu Zhi

The Sage Learning of Liu Zhi
Author: Sachiko Murata
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 707
Release: 2020-10-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1684170494

Liu Zhi (ca. 1670–1724) was one of the most important scholars of Islam in traditional China. His Tianfang xingli(Nature and Principle in Islam), the Chinese-language text translated here, focuses on the roots or principles of Islam. It was heavily influenced by several classic texts in the Sufi tradition. Liu’s approach, however, is distinguished from that of other Muslim scholars in that he addressed the basic articles of Islamic thought with Neo-Confucian terminology and categories. Besides its innate metaphysical and philosophical value, the text is invaluable for understanding how the masters of Chinese Islam straddled religious and civilizational frontiers and created harmony between two different intellectual worlds. The introductory chapters explore both the Chinese and the Islamic intellectual traditions behind Liu’s work and locate the arguments of Tianfang xingli within those systems of thought. The copious annotations to the translation explain Liu’s text and draw attention to parallels in Chinese-, Arabic-, and Persian-language works as well as differences.

Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds

Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds
Author: Hyunhee Park
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2012-08-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107018684

This book documents the relationship and wisdom of Asian cartographers in the Islamic and Chinese worlds before the Europeans arrived.

Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy

Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy
Author: Bryan W. Van Norden
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2011-03-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1603846050

This book is an introduction in the very best sense of the word. It provides the beginner with an accurate, sophisticated, yet accessible account, and offers new insights and challenging perspectives to those who have more specialized knowledge. Focusing on the period in Chinese philosophy that is surely most easily approachable and perhaps is most important, it ranges over of rich set of competing options. It also, with admirable self-consciousness, presents a number of daring attempts to relate those options to philosophical figures and movements from the West. I recommend it very highly.--Lee H. Yearley, Walter Y. Evans-Wentz Professor, Religious Studies, Stanford University

Fear, Heterodoxy, and Crime in Traditional China

Fear, Heterodoxy, and Crime in Traditional China
Author: Tommaso Previato
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2024-06-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004699007

This multi-contributor volume examines the evolving relationship between fear, heterodoxy and crime in traditional China. It throws light on how these three variously interwoven elements shaped local policies and people’s perceptions of the religious, ethnic, and cultural “other.” Authors depart from the assumption that “otherness” is constructed, stereotyped and formalized within the moral, political and legal institutions of Chinese society. The capacity of their findings to address questions about the emotional dimension of mass mobilization, the socio-political implications of heterodoxy, and attributions of crime is the result of integrating multiple sources of knowledge from history, religious studies and social science. Contributors are Ágnes Birtalan, Ayumu Doi, Fabian Graham, Hung Tak Wai, Jing Li, Hang Lin, Tommaso Previato, and Noriko Unno.

The Islamic-Confucian Synthesis in China

The Islamic-Confucian Synthesis in China
Author: Zongping Sha
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2023-04-30
Genre:
ISBN: 1666913375

This volume examines the history of Islam in China since its arrival during the Tang dynasty. The contributors look at how Chinese Muslims created a philosophical worldview that is described and analyzed here as the "Islamic-Confucian synthesis."