Qadiri Complex in China : 靈明堂 Ling Ming Tang

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Just few pictures from various websites...

Reporter Ibrahim Ma Weijun for China Muslim Youth Club and Imam Wang Shoutian

The reporter of China Muslim Youth Club and his friends warmly welcomed by the complex committee

Sources :

1. xaislam

2. muslimwww

3. china muslim youth club

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin! 

Chinese Muslim Figure: Hilaluddin Qi Jingyi

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Ling Ming Tang Qadiri Order Complex in Gansu, China

Our Movement

First of all, I would like to highlight that my father family was not belonged to the Qadiri lineage but from another side of Yemenite and Egyptian order which remained in silence since we were once a closed community and I learned that they followed Shafi'ie madzhab for fiqhi sunnah but they are not really Sunni Muslim by today's classification due to that they recognized the guardianship of 'Ali k.w and the authority of this imam after prophet Muhammad s.a.w. I have great respect to honorable baba Abdul Qadir Jailani and regard him as one of us due to similarities in first few imams. Our lineage has the history from the Fatimid empire which was spread across the oceans but trying to tolerate the other schools. Anyway I am still an ordinary Muslim who perform all of the shari'a obligations like others and shifting to Hanbali fiqhi madzhab in term of sunnah angles since we faced many slanders from people around and that really affects our faith in Allah and our religion. So, after all of the past experiences... I turned to the strictest of fiqhi madzhab of "Sunni Muslim" if it is the classification for not being a deviant after I get the confirmation from the Saudi clerics in Mecca though I don't really like Saudi Arabia's government. And I received the kitabs for prayers from Qadiri mission teachers, because they gave it to me so I received it with smile and using them to respect them : )   

Ling Ming Tang interior side. Ling Ming Tang means the Hall of Spiritual Enlightenment : ) 

Hilaluddin Qi Jingyi

So, in this side I would like to introduce this figure from China and a Chinese master of tasawwuf teaching. His religious name is Hilaluddin and his native name is Qi Jingyi 祁静一 ...

His Life

Regarding the life of this figure, it was mentioned that when he was 16 years old, he met a master of Naqshabandi order known as Afaq Khoja in Xining around 1672. He begged the master to be his teacher but Afaq Khoja responsed that he was not the supposed teacher for Qi Jingyi. He mentioned more that his ancient teaching is not to be passed to Jingyi but by another teacher who has already crossed the Eastern Sea and arrived in the Eastern part of the land. He must quickly return home and he will be a well-known teacher in his land. Qi Jingyi studied under the supervision of Khoja Abdul 'Alla which is the 29th descent of prophet Muhammad s.a.w who happened to enter China around 1674. His mission order is under the circle of Qadiri lineage.

His Tomb and the Complex

Master Qi Jingyi was buried in Linxia city in Gansu province after his death. His tomb is among the center of ziyarat by the members of Qadiri lineage whether in the side of Sunni or Shi'a Muslims. It is located in the Hongyuan park. Another one is Ling Ming Tang Masjid complex like in the pictures.   

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

The Diary of Ma Yan

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Just a sharing a bit related to journalism field and social work. Though media in the West and in our country had blackened useless Shariah students like us, well I am an ex-Shariah student who is now contaminated by the world affairs. But my father was once a journalist and worked for media organization. I am familiar with journalism as well though I am not a mass-comm student. Even when he serves government officials but he was not a recognized government servant. He was only a servant by contract serving to state's and federal ministers dealing with medias and protecting the image of government departments. Media world is not easy dear brothers and sisters in faith, it is a harsh and challenging world. Also when my maternal cousin brother in Perlis lower-estimating my father in front of me and made me sad and having low self confidence, but I would probably now say to him that my father is an unfortunate guy just like you where both of you had lost mothers. But at least he did achieved something in his life and revealed others' misfortune for public to be alert with while not being religious like you simply because you are an infallible member of Islamic Brotherhood Party who illegally smuggle rice and stuffs in and out of Thailand. For now, I am not any member of any political party but certainly if I am forced to choose, I will choose to join a Malaysian Chinese majority and secular political party though I am not a Chinese! My faith is only for me and for Lord to know. Not for others and I am not interested to show off my religion status to people.   

 Ma Yan and mother

Diary of Ma Yan

The sharing is about a girl from Ningxia province in China and her diary. She have to write in papers because she has no blog like us or internet connection to talk in forums. I am not sure this province is apart of Gansu province but I think it was once apart of Gansu province in Northwestern part of China. Around January 2010, al-Jazeera Witness reported the story of a Muslim girl from this province. Her area is a rural area and she lived in poverty. The report features the diary of this girl and it was published in many countries including China and the United States. It was a best seller in China itself.

The village where Ma Yan lived is described in Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China, but since that time, few outsiders have visited it. The United Nations (UN) says this is a region unfit for human habitation (China. org.cn). In contrary to popular opinion, the porr in China did not get this way because of the Communists. The hardship and poverty of Ningxia people and many others in China has been that way for centuries. It did not help when the Communists won China's civil war and the defeated Chinese Nationalists took the nation's treasury and most of the ancient Imperial treasures to Taiwan leaving China nothing but only people and the land.

In the segment of Witness, audience travel with Ma Yan as she breaks the cycle of poverty. By chance in 2001, a French journalist was visiting the remote Ningxia province in northwest China when a Muslim woman wearing a white headscarf of the Hui ethnic thrust her daughter's diaries into his hands. Ma Yan writes that the economy where she lives has not been developed. However, Ma Yan is not alone wanting to escape the hardship of poverty. She wrote that her life was like a death sentence. The French journalist read the diary given by Ma Yan's mother and he was so impressed. He arranged few excerpts to be published in one of the French daily newspapers. By 2007, Ma Yan passed a university exam and was one of the first girl from her village to be eligible for a university education. He next move was to Paris where she lives with a French family and attends a university there. - iLook China

Closing

We have many Hui students in our university too. But I think most of them especially undergraduates are rich people because I could tell it from their appearance though they just wear normal clothes like others. I don't normally mingle with rich people because we are only poor brothers as birds of the same feathers flock together. There are also Hui students in International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) and I talked with few of them. They are mostly from Gansu and Shandong provinces and others were from Xinjiang where I meet them in the Masjidil Haram during pilgrimage season around 2005 in Holy Mecca. We only know how people feel when we are in their shoes. This one is an Asian version of autobiography of a girl's life and vision where in Europe they have Anne Frank's diary during the world war holocaust event of European Jews. I am actually very impressed with Miss Ma Yan's mother. She is a good mother if I see her I will serve her some tea as a respect.    

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Tibetan Muslim: Ornaments of Lhasa

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Perhaps many people are already familiar with Muslim Chinese. We also have Muslim Tibetans. They are closer to Indians but they have Mongoloid face. Their cultural traits are more to Tibetan. So, who says Tibetan are only Buddhists, haha. I used to bow to Buddhist monks and images before especially when I went to temples alone. Nowadays I still respect Buddhist monks and if seeing them I will spontaneously put down my skull-cap and giving them my seat or reserving seat for them if the bus or train is crowded. It's just my old habit and now I am quite careful in my acts as not to violate shariah and creed, haha. 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Discussing about Turban and Sunnah

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Last night I had talked with mum about wearing the turban and sunnah or our prophetic tradition. Though I would always being criticized for not being loyal to our school of jurisprudence but I respect the people and the imam who initiate the school of jurisprudence.

We came to the discussion where I expressed my surprise to see some younger people wearing turban. In my understanding, those who wear turban must be people who are initiated by a teacher or a peer. He must be a person who possess sufficient exterior and interior knowledge of the Path which could answer people who have doubt in their heart over their affairs and matters. Exterior knowledge is related to the school of jurisprudence and the interior is a bit deeper knowledge which could not be transmitted except with a teacher. Surprisingly, mum also has the same opinion. She told me about her experience in our village, the people who wear the turban with high hill on his head and with the tail usually signify a certain meaning beside that it is a sunnah. It is not only a sunnah but signifying something.

Chuanr Yie Dian Lee

I checked videos from fellow brothers in China and it is also the same where they also have the ceremony called as chuanr yie dian lee or wearing the robe for initiation as imams. We call this one in our lingo as chuanr jiash. These people look like our people here, I mean in term of practices but they are from Southwestern part of China which is Yunnan. Small portion of these people actually reside in Northern Thailand, Myanmar and Kelantan in Malaysia, hehehe. They recite everything loudly which is a bit different from those in a bit North. Some Northern "Malays" also consider Yunnanese as their fellow people. I don't know why...

 

I wish and pray that there would be no fight or quarrel among each of us. No matter whether we are from Qadimu, Khafiyyah, Qadiri or Jahriyyah we are the same brothers and sisters in faith where we have the faith toward Allah and His messenger and servant slave, Muhammad bin Abdullah. Don't hurt anyone but tolerate each other. Treat everyone with love, ok?

Special gratitude to brother SufiChina's Channel for videos.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Muslim Chinese Figure: 馬來遲 Ma Laichi

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Ma Laichi Mausoleum

Think that we had already talked about two Muslim Chinese figure whom are Imam Hu Songshan and General Omar Bai Zongxi. So, now we continue the section on Muslim Chinese figures about this person whose name is Abu al-Futuh Ma Laichi.

Background

Ma Laichi lived around 16-17th C so I don't know where can I find his photograph. His father, Ma Jiujun was a businessman who married his mother, a Han Chinese. Their home was in Hezhou which is now located in Linxia city of Gansu province. His grandfather served Ming dynasty as a general and known as Ma Congshan.

There is a legend told by Ma Laichi disciples where Ma Jiujun who is the father of Ma Laichi had no child until the age of 40. He desired to have a son to inherit the family. So, he went to Xining and asking the blessings of Afaq Khwaja. Afaq Khwaja was a Naqshabandi Sheikh who visiting the area from Kashgar. The Khwaja recited blessings and supplications for Ma Jiujun and told him to return to Hezhou. Then he have to marry a certain Han woman who had previously been engaged many times but had her fiance died before the wedding. Ma Jiujun married to a 26 years old woman and they had a son. Ma Jiujun property was later destroyed by a fire, and he named his son Laichi which means one who came too late.

Because of the fire, Ma Jiujun became a poor man. He has to peddle and selling tea traveling in region between Hezhou and Xining. He sent Ma Laichi to study Quran in the madrasah ran by the disciple of Khwaja Afaq who was known as 馬太爸爸 Ma Tai Baba near Milagu. Ma Laichi became a prominent student in the madrasah and he finished everything taught in the school by the age of 18. Tai Baba then ordained Ma as an imam beside initiating him into the branch of Naqshabandi and blessings.   

Pilgrimage to Mecca

From the narration of Ma Tong about Ma Laichi life, he had performed religious work in Hezhou region for about 30 years. Then he left China around 1728 for pilgrimage in Mecca beside visiting other holy places in Middle east. Around 1728 until 1733, he studied under supervisions of various tasawwuf teachers beginning from Mecca and Yemen and some had also mentioned about Cairo and Damascus in Syria. There are not so many sources about this figure either in Arabic or Chinese so quite difficult to determine precise dates for his pilgrimage or studies. Standard account by Ma Tong narrated according to chronology:

1. Ma Laichi sailed for Arabia from Guangzhou after stayed there for three months and studied with a famous imam there. He returned to China by sea route too. Other accounts mentioned that he traveled to the west through land route via Central Asia and studying for a while in Bukhara.

2. His teacher in Mecca was the head of Khafiyya Zawiyya known as Muhammad Jibuni Ahmad Agelai. Another teacher who influenced him was Mawlana Makhdum who gave him the name Abu al-Futuh. Not much being exposed about Mawlana Makhdum but a researcher, Joseph Fletcher suggested that he might be a northern Indian. 

3. Ma Laichi established the 華寺 Hua Si school which became the step stone for Khafiyya movement in China. Khafiyya means the silent ones which refers to people who perform silent dzikrs and invocations to the God. It also involves strong participation of members into the society as well as respecting saints and getting lessons from meditation and visiting the tombs of religious persons.

4. He spent 32 years spreading teachings to Hui and Salar people in Gansu and Qinghai. He performed da'awa to neighboring Mongols, Tibetans and other ethnics in Qinghai. He was also involved in debates with local Living Buddha. Some of Muslim Tibetans and Mongols still respect Ma Laichi as a person who introduced them to Islam. There was another opponent tasawwuf school which was called as Jahriyya. Sadly, both of Khafiyya and Jahriyya fought each others. Salar ethnics in Western China had turned to Ikhwan since late 19th C.

Death       

After Ma Laichi passed away, he was succeeded by his son, Ma Guobao. Ma Guobao succession as the leader of Khafiyya was strongly criticized by the founder of the school of Jahriyya, Ma Mingxin. Then, Ma Guobao was succeeded by Ma Wuyi. The tomb of Ma Laichi in Linxia was restored in 1986. There is also a mosque and the tomb was known as Huasi Gungbei. It still a center for the Khafiyya school for Naqshabandiyya Order in Western China.

Further Readings

- Gladney, Dru C. (1996). Muslim Chinese: ethnic nationalism in the People's Republic. Vol. 149 of Harvard East Asian monograohs (2nd ed.). Harvard University, Asian Center. 

- Lipman & Neaman, J. (1998). Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. Hong Kong University Press.

- Weissman, I. (2007). The Naqshabandiyya: orthodoxy and activism in a worldwide Sufi tradition. Vol. 8 of Routledge Sufi series. Routledge.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!