The Localization and Globalization of Islam: The Case of Chinese Islam
Chih Hui ChiuIslam has been existing for thousands of years since arriving in China until today. As it is known, there is a very old and unique culture system in China. In addition to these different cultural structures, Chinese culture is characterized by absorbing foreign cultures within itself. Despite all of this, Islam still survived in an environment surrounding by Chinese culture. One of the reasons for this is the sinicization (localization) of Islam. Thanks to this process, Islam could integrate but without being assimilated into Chinese culture, and adjust herself to China’s political, economic and social backgrounds. On the other hand, globalization, which maintains connection between Chinese Islam and Islamic world, is as important as localization throughout the history of Chinese Islam. Islamic revival and reform movements occurred in the late China Empire and the awakening of Chinese Muslims’ religious awarness, should be considered in the context of the globalization of Islam. It is because of the establishment of contact between Chinese Muslims and Islamic World that they started to reexamine their own faith. Therefore, Chinese Islam always clings to Islamic tenets in spite of being localized substantially. In this sense, it is possible to say that globalization help Chinese Islam maintain her İslamic principles. In this paper, the influence of localization and globalization on the development of Chinese Islam will be examined in the light of important events in history of Chinese Islam, such as the integration of Islamic and Confucian thoughts and the occurrence of Chinese Islamic revival and reform movements, which prevented integration process from transforming into assimilation.
İslam’ın Yerelleşmesi ve Küreselleşmesi: Çin İslamı Örneği
Chih Hui Chiuİslam, ilk girişinden itibaren bugüne kadar kesintisiz bir şekilde Çin’deki varlığını devam ettirmiştir. Bilindiği üzere, Çin çok eski ve kendisine has bir kültürel sisteme sahiptir. Bu sistemin özelliklerinden biri de, dışarıdan gelen kültürleri kendi içinde eritme yeteneğidir. Bunlara rağmen İslam, Çin kültürüyle çevrili ortamda yine de ayakta kalabilmiştir. Bunun nedenlerinden birisi, İslam’ın Çinlileşmesidir (yerelleşmesidir). Bu süreç sayesinde İslam asimile olmaksızın Çin kültürüyle bütünleşebilmiş ve onun siyasi, ekonomik ve toplumsal arkaplanına kendisini uydurabilmiştir. Öte yandan, Çin İslamı’nın İslam dünyasının geri kalanıyla irtibatını sürdürmesi anlamındaki küreselleşmesi de yerelleşmeyle aynı öneme sahiptir. Çin İmparatorluğunun son dönemlerinde meydana gelen İslami ihya ve ıslah hareketleri ile Çinli Müslümanların dini bilincinin yeniden uyanışı, İslam’ın küreselleşmesi bağlamında düşünülmesi gereken bir durumdur. Çünkü Çinli Müslümanlar İslam dünyasıyla iletişim kurarak kendi inançlarını sorgulamaya ve duruma uygun bir şekilde yorumlamaya/anlamaya başlamışlardır. Dolayısıyla, Çin İslamı önemli derecede yerelleştiği halde, daima İslami esaslara sımsıkı tutunmuştur. Bu anlamda küreselleşmenin Çin İslamı’nın İslami prensiplerini muhafaza etmesine katkıda bulunduğu söylenebilir. Bu makalede, İslam’ın Konfüçyüsçülük’le bütünleşmesi ve bu bütünleşme sürecinin asimilasyona dönmesini önleyen ihya ve ıslah hareketlerinin ortaya çıkışı Çin İslam tarihinde yaşanan önemli olaylar ışığında yerelleşme ve küreselleşmenin, İslam’ın Çin’deki gelişimi üzerindeki etkileri tartışılacaktır.
The history of Chinese Islam can be traced back to the early era of Islam. As early as the Tang dynasty, Islam has been introduced to China. As it is known, Chinese culture is totally different from Islamic culture and can absorb foreign cultures into itself. Nonetheless, since arriving in China, Islam has been surviving in an environment surrounding by dominant Chinese culture for thousands of years. The reason for this is the localization and globalization of Islam.
The purpose of this paper is to argue how the localization and globalization of Islam asserted influence on the development of Chinese Islam. In the first part of this paper, the beginning of the localization of Islam will be dealt with. As many historians shown, this process was triggered by the policies of sinicization during Ming dynasty. Due to these policies, Muslims abandoned their original cultural traits and started to accept Chinese culture. These adjustments can be considered the beginning of the localization of Islam. Yet, this process is confined to material aspects.
In contrast to material localization, intellectual localization of Islam will be examined in the second part of this paper. Through the process of localization, Chinese Muslims’ faith was weakened significantly. In this context, Chinese Muslim scholars launched series of activities intending to keep Chinese Muslims holding true Islamic faith and to protect Islam against assailments from Chinese Confucian literati. These activities can be principally represented in establishing Chinese madrasa education system and writing Chinese Islamic literature.
The intellectual localization of Islam substantially influenced the development of Islam in China. First of all, through the establishment of Chinese madrasa education system, Chinese Muslims could pass down their religious knowledge to the younger generation. In addition, a special kind of textbooks and lingua franca has been invented. They are a hybrid of Chinese, Arabic and Persian language, teaching grammar, language skills and Islamic knowledge. Secondly, because of the educatedness of Chinese Muslim scholars in the traditional Confucian education system, Islamic and Confucian thoughts was significantly integrated through the Chinese Islamic literature they composed. They could not only interpret Islamic thoughts with Confucianism but also rethink the relationship between these two philosophy. In other words, their works could further integrate Islamic and Confucian thoughts on the one hand, but keep Islamic thoughts free from influences of non-Islamic thoughts on the other. In brief, these activities have shaped the form of Chinese Islam which demonstrates Confucian and İslamic cultural traits at the same time.
The impacts of global Islam on Chinese Islam will be argued in the third part of this paper. Wahhabism has been introduced to China through hajj since the late Qing dynasty. With its significant influence, two Islamic revival and reform movements were launched in the Northwest of China: Yihewani (Ikhwan) and Sailaifengye (Salafi) (later on separated from Yihewani). In the sense of doctrines and religious thoughts, both movements represented a salafi position in general. They put emphasis on turning back to the pure Islam, advocated the importance of Holy Texts and criticized religious practices involving Chinese customs and Sufic practices. However, they are different from each other in detailed matters related to religious practices.
Even though Yihewani and Sailaifengye were inspired by Wahhabbism, unlike other salafi movements, they never become political ideology dominant in China. The reason is that the founders of these movements modified their thoughts recieved from Wahhabbism according to the different contexts of China. As a result they only focused on reforming Chinese Muslims’ religious practices and raising their religious awareness. In this sense, localization could be considered the otherside of globalization.
In conclusion, the viewpoint of that the localization and globalization of Islam is a dialectic process will be put forward. According to this viewpoint, the development of Chinese Islam is pushing by the interaction of these two counterparts. Both of them help Islam integrate with local culture but keep Chinese Islam attached to Islamic principles.
