7 replies to this topic

[Kevin Brown]

I'm very curious as to how Islam was introduced to China, I'm wondering how that religion spread so far into Asia, My guess is most likely the Silk road?

[bucketball]

possibly via the Mongols, Yuan Dynasty along with the silk road trade route to the Middle East through Turkic domains.

[Publius]

The silk road is a good, correct guess.

Through a combination of trade, Tang power and expanse, and Arab power and trading skills, Arab traders penetrated China's borders as early as the Tang Dynasty when "Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas, was sent as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong in 650 CE" (Islam in China from wiki).

Here's an interesting quote from Yun on the "Did any Han envoy make it to Rome" thread:

The account of Muhammad's founding of Islam in the Chinese records is also very interesting. They claim that Muhammad was herding camels around Medina, when a lion spoke to him, saying that there were weapons hidden in three caves in the mountain, as well as a black rock with white inscriptions on it. Whoever found them would be a king. Muhammad found these objects, and the inscription on the rock told him to rebel. He then raised an army and destroyed the Persians and the Byzantines.

Obviously, the black rock is the meteorite fragment now enshrined in the Kabaa in Mecca. But how the angel Gabriel and the Quran turned into a lion and weapons, I don't know...

Similar to the Yuan Dynasty, the Silk Road was thriving during the Tang.

You may want to check out Yun's essay The Arabs of Quanzhou, which is a starting point in learning about Arab trade in China.

[Kevin Brown]

The silk road is a good, correct guess.

Through a combination of trade, Tang power and expanse, and Arab power and trading skills, Arab traders penetrated China's borders as early as the Tang Dynasty when "Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas, was sent as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong in 650 CE" (Islam in China from wiki).

Here's an interesting quote from Yun on the "Did any Han envoy make it to Rome" thread:
Similar to the Yuan Dynasty, the Silk Road was thriving during the Tang.

You may want to check out Yun's essay The Arabs of Quanzhou, which is a starting point in learning about Arab trade in China.

Also I read that the various muslim minorites in China are pretty well intergrated into Chinese culture right down to their cusine, Although it is somewhat diffrent as some Chinese food products such as pork can't be used.

[William O'Chee]

I have always thought that the arrival of Islam in China was partially attributable to sea trade with the Persian Gulf via the Indian Ocean.

Two years ago I had the good fortune to attend a lecture by Tim Severin to the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong. He spoke about his voyage from Oman to China in a replica dhow in the 1970s. The expedition was funded by the Sultan of Oman. For those who are interested, a brief summary can be found at RGS HK Tim Severin lecture. he also wrote a book on the trip.

[alamoudi]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

اللهم صلي على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله الغر الميامين و على خلفائه الأربعة الأبرار الأخيار , أبي بكر و عمر و عثمان وعلي , وعلى باقي أصحابه الطيبين الطاهرين


Well Islam's arrival to China mainly divides in two sections:

1- By sea , exactly( from Yemen , Omani ports and from Indonesia).

2- By land , exactly (the silk road and India).


And Islam's first true arrival when Muslim and Arab armies threatened the Tang Dynasty

, But in Islam you must (before invading a non Muslim country) offer three terms :

1- Peace (by paying Tribute)

2- To convert to Islam

3- War



. So When one of the Prophet's companions (Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas) arrived as an emissary ,

The Tang Dynasty chose to sue for peace by paying tribute and it even built in Chang'an the first Muslim Mosque (in China) ,

Which is the Famous Xian Mosque.

Edited by alamoudi, 27 May 2011 - 06:46 AM.

[ghostexorcist]

I have always thought that the arrival of Islam in China was partially attributable to sea trade with the Persian Gulf via the Indian Ocean.

Two years ago I had the good fortune to attend a lecture by Tim Severin to the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong. He spoke about his voyage from Oman to China in a replica dhow in the 1970s. The expedition was funded by the Sultan of Oman. For those who are interested, a brief summary can be found at RGS HK Tim Severin lecture. he also wrote a book on the trip.

Thanks for mentioning this book. I bought it and devoured it in only a few sittings. It served as good research for what life aboard an Arab vessel might have been like during the middle ages.

Edited by ghostexorcist, 05 July 2011 - 06:08 AM.

[baybal]

William's and bucketball's versions are both right. There were two major waves. First, traders and proselytizers that were coming through Malacca, and second during 13th centuries, with Mongols.

That how East Asia have Muslim communities in both South (Vietnam and Thailand), and North (Tarim, Shanxi, NE China)