Muhammad Ma Jian
Muhammad Ma Jian | |
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馬堅 | |
Qur'an | |
Education | Shanghai Islamic Normal School |
Teachers | Hu Songshan |
Other names | Muḥammad Mākīn as-Ṣīnī, Makin |
Profession | Translator, academic, journalist |
Muslim leader | |
Students | |
Profession | Translator, academic, journalist |
Chinese name | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Zǐshí |
Wade–Giles | Tzu-shih |
Part of a series on Islam in China |
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Islam portal • China portal |
Muhammad Ma Jian (
Early years
Ma was born in 1906 in Shadian village in Gejiu, Yunnan. This was a majority-Hui village that would later be the site of the infamous Shadian incident during China's Cultural Revolution. When Ma was six years old, he was sent to the provincial capital of Kunming, where he would receive his primary and secondary education until the age of 19.[2] Following his graduation, Ma returned to his hometown of Shadian to teach at a Sino-Arabic primary school for two years - an experience which he did not enjoy. This was followed by a stint of study under Hu Songshan in Guyuan, a city in the Hui region of Ningxia.[3] He then went to Shanghai for further education in 1929, where he studied at the Shanghai Islamic Normal School for two years.[4]
Study in Cairo
Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Ma was sent by the Chinese government to Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, to cultivate relations with Arab nations.[5] He was a member of the first group of government-sponsored Chinese students to study there - which included men who would later become leading Chinese scholars of Arabic and Islam, such as Na Zhong.[6] While in Cairo, he contacted the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Salafi Publishing House, which agreed in 1934 to publish one of his works - the first full-length book in Arabic on the history of Islam in China.[7] A year later, Ma translated the Analects into Arabic. Whilst in Cairo, he would also subsequently translate several of Muhammad Abduh's works into Chinese, with the assistance of Rashid Rida,[8] as well as Husayn al-Jisr's The Truth of Islam.[9] To promote Chinese interests in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ma was sent to Mecca in early 1939 as part of a hajj delegation alongside 27 other students - a journey on which they spoke to Ibn Saud about the determination of 'all the Chinese people' to resist the Japanese.[10]
Return to China
Ma returned to China in 1939. There he edited the Arabic-Chinese Dictionary, while translating the
Following the
Following his death, Ma's translation of Philip K. Hitti's History of the Arabs was published in 1979 by the Commercial Press.[22] The China Social Sciences Press also posthumously printed, in 1981, his complete translation of the Qur'an, which Ma had worked on up until 1957, and then between 1976 and 1978.[23]
Influence
His translation of the Qur'an remains the most popular in China today, surpassing versions by Wang Jingzhai and Li Tiezheng.[24] It has been lauded for its faithfulness to the original, and has reached an 'almost canonical status'.[25] The quality of this translation has also been recognized internationally - with the Medina-based King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Press opting to use it for their Arabic-Chinese bilingual edition of the Quran, published in 1987.[26]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-90-04-14473-6.
- ^ Amrullah, Amri (June 15, 2015). "Muhammad Ma Jian, Intelektual Muslim Modern Cina" [Muhammad Ma Jian, Muslim Intellectual of Modern China]. Republika (in Indonesian). Jakarta. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0415549790.
- ^ Ciecura, Wlodzimierz (April 28, 2015). "Bringing China and Islam Closer: The First Chinese Azharites". Middle East Institute. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ Haiyun, Ma (May 10, 2013). "Go West at What Cost? China's Pivot on Middle East Studies". ISLAMiCommentary. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ Ciecura.
- ^ Benite, Zvi Ben-Dor (2008). "Nine Years in Egypt: Al-Azhar and the Arabization of Chinese Islam". HAGAR Studies in Culture, Polity and Identities. 8: 3.
- ^ Ciecura.
- S2CID 143485363.
- S2CID 153718423.
- ^ Haiyun, Ma (2006). "Patriotic and Pious Muslim Intellectuals in Modern China: The Case of Ma Jian". The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences. 23 (3): 57.
- ^ Ma (2013).
- ^ Spira, Ivo (2005). Chinese Translations of the Qur'ān: A Close Reading of Selected Passages (PDF) (MA diss.). Oslo University. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ Ciecura.
- ISBN 978-1136150340.
- ^ Guanglin, Zhang (2005). Islam in China. Beijing: China Intercontinental Press, 77.
- ISBN 978-9004174542.
- ^ Gao, 74.
- ^ Benite, Zvi Ben-Dor (2013). "Taking 'Abduh to China: Chinese-Egyptian Intellectual Contact in the Early Twentieth Century". In Gelvin, James L.; Green, Nile (eds.). Global Muslims in the Age of Steam and Print. University of California Press. pp. 264.
- ^ Boyle, Kevin; Sheen, Juliet (2013). Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report. London: Routledge. p. 183.
- ^ Chebbi, Leila (2021). Brothers and Comrades: Muslim Fundamentalists and Communists. p. 14.
- ^ Zhixue, Ma (2008). "The Latest Edition of History of the Arabs: Prefaces and Postscript" (PDF). Arab World Studies. 5: 81.
- ^ Petersen, Kristian. "Qur'anic Interpretation in China". Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
- ^ Wang, Jin (2016). "Middle East Studies in China: Achievements and Problems" (PDF). Middle East Review of International Affairs. 20 (2): 51.
- ^ Spiro, 23-24.
- ^ Petersen.
Further reading
- Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu (中国大百科全书 "Encyclopedia of China"), first edition, 1980-1993.
External links
- (in Chinese) Biography of Ma Jian and his translation of the Qu'ran.
- (in English) Al-Quran project includes Ma Jian's Quran translation (both in classical and traditional Chinese).