Interpreting Islam in China

Contributed By: events coordinator
Organizing Institution: Cornell University
Contact email: [email protected]
Start Date: February 9, 2023 (4:00pm EST)
End Date: February 9, 2023
Website: https://events.cornell.edu/event/interpreting_islam_in_china
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Description:

A distinctive Chinese Islamic intellectual tradition emerged during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Chinese Muslims established an educational system, scripture hall education (jingtang jiaoyu 經堂教育), which utilized an Islamic curriculum made up of Arabic, Persian, and Chinese works. The Han Kitab, a corpus of Chinese language Islamic texts developed within this system, reinterpreted Islam through the religio-philosophical lens of Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian terminology. Several Han Kitab texts were produced by self-identified “Confucian Muslim” scholars (Huiru 回儒). This presentation traces the contours of this Sino-Islamic intellectual tradition and key Han Kitab authors.