More on Islam in China

More on Islam in China

I would like to comment on The Jakarta Post article on May 31
titled IAIN to cooperate with Chinese-Indonesians in which noted
Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid stated that Islam was a faith
followed in China before it arrived in Indonesia.

Indeed, the embracing of the Islamic faith in China happened
almost 1,000 years earlier than in Indonesia. As early as the Sui
dynasty (581-618 A.D.) during the revelation of Islam (610-632
A.D.) to Prophet Muhammad, Islam had already appeared in China.
And in 713 A.D., the ambassador from the Islamic Caliphate was
received at the Tang court. Since then, both overland trade along
the silk route and maritime trade via the spice route to the
southeastern port of Canton flourished. So did cultural and
scientific exchanges. For over 500 years, Canton, now called
Guangzhou, was known in Arabic as Zayton.

The tomb of Muhammad`s maternal uncle can also be found in
Guangzhou. One of the most prized Chinese musical instruments,
Pipa actually originated in the Islamic world and was called
Barbat, Tanbur or Mizhar in Arabic and in Persian. And the
Chinese word for ball, qiu, was said to originate from the
Persian word, Gui, from the game of polo.

Chinese medicine, both the materials and prescriptions, in
fact, were influenced by Persia and Arabia, as recorded by Tang
dynasty officials. A famous Islamic physician Razi (865-925 A.D.)
was even said to have helped Chinese pharmaceutical expert Li Xun
to study in Baghdad the works of ancient Roman medical master
Claudius Galen.

Separatism in Xinjiang, in fact, is not because of Islam but
owing to Pan-Turkism. The Nestorian branch of Christianity
actually came to China earlier than Islam, but was rejected. Yet
Islam has flourished and the mosques in Beijing built in 996 A.D.
and the one in Xi'an originally built in 742 A.D. are all living
monuments and testaments even after the collapse of many imperial
dynasties.

SIA KA-MOU

Jakarta