Liu Zhi (ca. 1670–1724) was one of the most important scholars of Islam in traditional China. His Tianfang xingli(Nature and Principle in Islam), the Chinese-language text translated here, focuses on the roots or principles of Islam. It was heavily influenced by several classic texts in the Sufi tradition. Liu’s approach, however, is distinguished from that of other Muslim scholars in that he addressed the basic articles of Islamic thought with Neo-Confucian terminology and categories. Besides its innate metaphysical and philosophical value, the text is invaluable for understanding how the masters of Chinese Islam straddled religious and civilizational frontiers and created harmony between two different intellectual worlds. The introductory chapters explore both the Chinese and the Islamic intellectual traditions behind Liu’s work and locate the arguments of Tianfang xingli within those systems of thought. The copious annotations to the translation explain Liu’s text and draw attention to parallels in Chinese-, Arabic-, and Persian-language works as well as differences.

"Tells the stories of Chinese Muslims trying to create coherent lives at the intersection of two potentially conflicting cultures. How can people belong simultaneously to two cultures, originating in two different places and expressed in two different languages, without alienating themselves from either? Muslims have lived in the Chinese culture area for 1400 years, and the intellectuals among them have long wrestled with this problem. Unlike Persian, Turkish, Urdu, or Malay, the Chinese language never adopted vocabulary from Arabic to enable a precise understanding of Islam's religious and philosophical foundations. Islam thus had to be translated into Chinese, which lacks words and arguments to justify monotheism, exclusivity, and other features of this Middle Eastern religion. Even in the 21st century, Muslims who are culturally Chinese must still justify their devotion to a single God, avoidance of pork, and their communities' distinctiveness--among other things--to sceptical non-Muslim neighbours and an increasingly intrusive state"--

The first study in English of Islamic thought in China, this book shows that this tradition was informed by both Sufism and Neo-Confucianism; translations of two classic works are included.

A translation of Wang Daiyu’s Real Commentary on the True Teaching, the first and most influential work written in the Chinese language on Islam. Published in 1642, Wang Daiyu’s Real Commentary on the True Teaching was the first significant presentation of Islam in the Chinese language by a Muslim scholar. It set the standard for the expression of Islamic theology, Sufism, and ethics in Chinese, and became the literary foundation of a school of thought that has been called “Muslim Confucianism.” In contrast to Muslim scholars writing in every other language, Wang avoided Arabic words, opting instead to reconfigure the religion in terms of Chinese concepts and categories. Employing the terminology of Neo-Confucian philosophy, his overview of Islam is thus both congenial to the mainstream Islamic tradition and reaffirms Confucian teachings about the human duty to establish harmony between heaven and earth. This book will appeal to those curious about the manner in which Islam has flourished in China over the past thousand years, as well as those interested in dialogue among religions and the significance of religious diversity.

Liu Zhi (c1662-c1730), a well-known Muslim scholar writing in Chinese, published outstanding theological works, short treatises, and short poems on Islam. While traditional Arabic and Persian Islamic texts used unfamiliar concepts to explain Islam, Liu Zhi translated both text and concepts into Chinese culture. In this erudite volume, David Lee examines how Liu Zhi integrated the basic religious living of the monotheistic Hui Muslims into their pluralistic Chinese culture. Liu Zhi discussed the Prophet Muhammad in Confucian terms, and his work served as a bridge between peoples. This book is an in-depth study of Liu Zhi's contextualization of Islam within Chinese scholarship that argues his merging of the two never deviated from the basic principles of Islamic belief.

This work examines the life and work of one of the most important of the Qing Chinese Muslim literati, Liu Zhi (ca. 1660-ca. 1730), and places his writings in their historical, cultural, social, and religio-philosophical context. His Tianfang danli (Ritual law of Islam) represents the most systematic and sophisticated attempt within the Han Kit?b corpus to harmonize Islam with Chinese thought.

A resource for exploring Ch'en Liang's intellectual development.Ch'en's thought evolved through a tao-hsueh phase to the utilitarian positions for which he is famous. This 'radicalization' represented an evolutionary process. To understand this process, the debate with Chu Hsi, and the significance of both in China's political culture, it is first necessary to take notice of the cultural setting-traditional Confucian polarities and their configurations in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.