Reconstructing Islam

During the sixteenth century when Islam was already established in China, Chinese Muslims began to critically examine their understanding of Islamic knowledge and how to transmit it to future generations. Traditional tutelage based on purely Arabic and Persian sources generally evaded a Muslim popu...

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Autor principal: Kristian Peterson
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2006
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/4dd800834e764e81bebc47f4b1b654b4
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:4dd800834e764e81bebc47f4b1b654b42021-12-02T17:49:41ZReconstructing Islam10.35632/ajis.v23i3.4422690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/4dd800834e764e81bebc47f4b1b654b42006-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/442https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 During the sixteenth century when Islam was already established in China, Chinese Muslims began to critically examine their understanding of Islamic knowledge and how to transmit it to future generations. Traditional tutelage based on purely Arabic and Persian sources generally evaded a Muslim population that, for the most part, could no longer read the available rare Islamic texts. The subsequent reconstruction of Islamic knowledge and education emphasized the intersections between the Chinese and the Muslim communities’ cultural and religious heritages. The new specialized educational system, “scripture hall education” (jingtang jiaoyu), utilized Chinese as the language of instruction and incorporated aspects of traditional Chinese literati education in collaboration with newly retrieved Islamic sources from the Muslim heartland. The ensuing standardization and organization of curriculum and pedagogical techniques enabled peripatetic students to replicate this system throughout China. It also allowed the religious community’s leaders to direct the discourse concerning Islam and disseminate a specific interpretation of religious knowledge. This is most clearly displayed through the Han Kitab, the canonized corpus of Chinese Islamic texts written, approximately, during 1600-1750. This literature articulated Islamic principles through the lexicon of literary Chinese and replicated the ideology highlighted by the educational network. This paper analyzes why Islamic knowledge was lost and traces how the new educational system transformed the indigenous Islamic discourse, articulated through the Han Kitab literature, to reflect a distinctive Chinese Muslim interpretation of the faith. Kristian PetersonInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 23, Iss 3 (2006)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Kristian Peterson
Reconstructing Islam
description During the sixteenth century when Islam was already established in China, Chinese Muslims began to critically examine their understanding of Islamic knowledge and how to transmit it to future generations. Traditional tutelage based on purely Arabic and Persian sources generally evaded a Muslim population that, for the most part, could no longer read the available rare Islamic texts. The subsequent reconstruction of Islamic knowledge and education emphasized the intersections between the Chinese and the Muslim communities’ cultural and religious heritages. The new specialized educational system, “scripture hall education” (jingtang jiaoyu), utilized Chinese as the language of instruction and incorporated aspects of traditional Chinese literati education in collaboration with newly retrieved Islamic sources from the Muslim heartland. The ensuing standardization and organization of curriculum and pedagogical techniques enabled peripatetic students to replicate this system throughout China. It also allowed the religious community’s leaders to direct the discourse concerning Islam and disseminate a specific interpretation of religious knowledge. This is most clearly displayed through the Han Kitab, the canonized corpus of Chinese Islamic texts written, approximately, during 1600-1750. This literature articulated Islamic principles through the lexicon of literary Chinese and replicated the ideology highlighted by the educational network. This paper analyzes why Islamic knowledge was lost and traces how the new educational system transformed the indigenous Islamic discourse, articulated through the Han Kitab literature, to reflect a distinctive Chinese Muslim interpretation of the faith.
format article
author Kristian Peterson
author_facet Kristian Peterson
author_sort Kristian Peterson
title Reconstructing Islam
title_short Reconstructing Islam
title_full Reconstructing Islam
title_fullStr Reconstructing Islam
title_full_unstemmed Reconstructing Islam
title_sort reconstructing islam
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2006
url https://doaj.org/article/4dd800834e764e81bebc47f4b1b654b4
work_keys_str_mv AT kristianpeterson reconstructingislam
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