Muslim Sanzijing: Shifts and Continuities in the Definition of Islam in China

Roberta Tontini, University of Heidelberg

Brill 2017

In Muslim Sanzijing: Shifts and Continuities in the Definition of Islam in China (1710-2010) Roberta Tontini traces the development of Islam and Islamic law in the country, while responding to two enduring questions in China’s intellectual history: How was the Muslim sharia reconciled with Confucianism? How was knowledge of Islamic social and ritual norms popularized to large segments of Chinese Muslim society even in periods of limited literacy?
Through a comprehensive study that includes a rigorous analysis of popular Chinese Islamic primers belonging to the Sanzijing tradition, Tontini offers fresh insights on the little known intellectual and legal history of Islam on Chinese soil to convincingly demonstrate its evolving quality in response to changing social norms.
Roberta Tontini, Ph.D. (2013), is a research fellow at the Cluster Asia and Europe of the University of Heidelberg. Her publications on the history of Islam in China include Islamic Law in China (OISO, Oxford University Press 2014).

Table of contents

Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 1
Motivation and Relevance 1
Literature Review 2
Roadmap 6
Conceptual Definitions 7
Chinese Muslims 7
Hui 8
Islamic Law 8
Muslim Sanzijing 8
2 Tianfang Dianli: Norms and Rites of Islam in Imperial China 10
Introduction: Legal Traditions in Cultural Convergence 10
Hanafi Regionalism and the Chinese “Sunna” 13
Rethinking Jurisprudence 20
Leadership and Authority 25
Non-Muslims and Slavery 26
Inheritance and Dowry 28
Marriage and Polygyny 29
The Chinese Sharia 34
Confucian Frameworks of Islamic Jurisprudence 40
Conclusion: Islamic Law in Cultural Translation 44
3 Tianfang Sanzijing: A Regional(ist) Theory on Islamic Law 50
Introduction: Liu Zhi and Yuan Guozuo’s Joint Intellectual
Enterprise 50
Coming of Age in Chinese Islamic Literacy 51
Wugong: From Religious Pillars to Social Bricks 59
Witness 68
Prayer 71
Fasting 75
Almsgiving 77
Pilgrimage 80
Rite and Law in the “Great Learning” of Islam 82
Traditions as Cradles of Transitions: Establishing Regionalism
in Chinese Islamic Law 92
Conclusion: The “Filiative Transmission” of Islam in China 105
4 Islamic Law in the Aftermath of the Anti-Qing Rebellions 113
Introduction: Novel Texts for Rebellious Contexts 113
Beginning, Unfolding and Indigenizing the Transmission 117
Rethinking Orthodoxy 121
“Ways” of Islam in a Changing Society 129
Wugong: The Five Ritual Endeavors 131
Wudian: The Five Social Norms 135
Minchang: Ordinary Matters 144
New Perspectives on Social Order 147
Conclusion: The Legacy of Two Primers 151
5 Rethinking Liu Zhi’s Legacy in Postimperial China 156
Introduction: Islam in Transition 156
Strengthening the Chinese Nation: Hu Songshan’s Three-Character
Primer of Islam 157
China’s “Muslim Brothers”: A Regional Trajectory 170
Red Star over Muslims: Hu Xueliang’s Sanzijing for Girls 178
“Love Your Country, Love Your Religion”: Na Guochang’s Sequel
to the Tianfang Sanzijing 194
6 Islam’s Filiative Transmission to Modernity 206
Conclusion: The Great Learning of Islam in China 217