Ma Mingxin
Encyclopedia
Ma Mingxin was a Dungan Sufi master, the establisher of the Jahriyya
(a branch of Naqshbandi
) Sufi order in China.
, Ma Mingxin spent 16 years studying in Mecca
and Yemen
. He was a disciple of a Naqshbandi
Sufi teacher named 'Abd al-Khāliq, who was a son of az-Zayn b. Muhammad 'Abd al-Baqī al-Mizjaji (1643/44-1725), originally of Mizjaja near Zabīd
, Yemen
. Az-Zayn, in his turn, had studied in Medina
under the famous Kurdish mysticist Ibrahīm ibn Hasan al-Kūrānī (1616–1690), who was known for advocating the vocal (rather than silent) dhikr
(invocation of the name of God).
After returning to China in 1761, Ma Mingxin established the Jahriyya Sufi order
, the second Naqshbandi order in China after Ma Laichi
's Khufiyya. In opposition to the "silent" Khufiyya Sufis, and following al-Kurani's teaching, Jahriyya adherents advocated vocal dhikr, which is reflected in the name of their school (from Arabic jahr, "aloud"). Ma Mingxin also opposed the emphasis that the Khufiyya members placed of the veneration of the saints, construction of grandiose elaborately decorated mosques, and the enrichment of religious leaders at the expense of their adherents.
By the early 1780s, the ideals of the Jahriyya had spread over greatly in the province of Gansu
(which at the time also included today's Qinghai
and Ningxia
), as Ma Laichi's Khufiyya had later. Theological arguments between members of Jahriyya and Khufiyya, as well as the orders' claim on on contributions of members, against the background of government mismanagement of the provincial revenue, often resulted in both violent conflicts and lawsuits.
The escalating conflict between the adherents of the two movements eventually attracted attention of the Qing
government in 1781. The apparent center of the conflict at the time was in the ethnic Salar community of Xunhua County (in today's Qinghai
Province, just west of today's Gansu's Linxia Prefecture
). Considering the Jahriyya (dubbed by the government the "New Order", in opposition to the "Old Order" (the Dungan/Hui people Shia muslims) subversive, the authorities had Ma Mingxin arrested, even though he wasn't personally anywhere around Xunhua at the moment.
While Ma Mingxin was kept in Lanzhou
, a government expedition sent to Xunhua to take care of the Jahriyya business was destroyed by the Jahriyya Salars, who then rushed across the today's Linxia Prefecture and to the walls of Lanzhou. When the besieged officials brought Ma Mingxin, wearing chains, to the city wall, to show him to the rebels, the Salars at once showed respect and devotion to their imprisoned leaders. Scared officials took Ma down from the wall, and beheaded him right away.
Ma Mingxin's widow, whose surname was Zhang (originally, from Gansu's Tongwei County
), and his daughters were exiled to Xinjiang
.
Ma Mingxin's fifth generation descendant and the leader of Jahriyya, Ma Hualong
, was one of the chief leaders of the Dungan Revolt in Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Gansu in the 1860s.
The Jahriyya order continues to this day, even if in more moderate forms. Almost all its members are Dungans (Hui).
In remembrance of Ma Mingxin, whose beard is said to have been shorn by government soldiers before his execution 1781, many Jahriyya members shave the sides of their beards.
In 1985, over 20,000 Hui muslims
assembled at the site of Ma Mingxin's original (destroyed) tomb near Lanzhou
for a commemoration ceremony. The tomb has since been rebuilt.
was a fourth generation descendants of Ma Mingxin, and Ma Shaowu's uncle Ma Yuanzhang was also a descendent, as was Ma Shaowu's great uncle Ma Shenglin (马圣鳞). Ma Shaowu's son Ma Cho-ya is a fifth generation descendant and he currently lives in Urumqi
.
Jahriyya
Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...
(a branch of Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
) Sufi order in China.
Names
Ma Mingxin's religious name was Ibrāhīm. After returning to China from Arabia he started calling himself 'Azīz.He was also called Muhammad Emin.Life
A Persian-speaking Muslim from GansuGansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
, Ma Mingxin spent 16 years studying in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. He was a disciple of a Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
Sufi teacher named 'Abd al-Khāliq, who was a son of az-Zayn b. Muhammad 'Abd al-Baqī al-Mizjaji (1643/44-1725), originally of Mizjaja near Zabīd
Zabid
Zabid is a town with an urban population of around 23,000 persons on Yemen's western coastal plain. The town, named after Wadi Zabid, the wadi to its south, is one of the oldest towns in Yemen...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. Az-Zayn, in his turn, had studied in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
under the famous Kurdish mysticist Ibrahīm ibn Hasan al-Kūrānī (1616–1690), who was known for advocating the vocal (rather than silent) dhikr
Dhikr
Dhikr , plural ; ), is an Islamic devotional act, typically involving the repetition of the Names of God, supplications or formulas taken from hadith texts and verses of the Qur'an. Dhikr is usually done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity...
(invocation of the name of God).
After returning to China in 1761, Ma Mingxin established the Jahriyya Sufi order
Jahriyya
Jahriyya is a Sufi order in China that once existed in Persia and the Turkish World. Founded by Hadrat Abu Yaqub Yusuf Hamdani, it was brought to China in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin...
, the second Naqshbandi order in China after Ma Laichi
Ma Laichi
Ma Laichi , also known as Abu 'l-Futūh Ma Laichi, was a Sufi master, who brought the Khufiyya movement to China and created the Huasi menhuan - the earliest and most important Naqshbandi order in the history of Islam in China.-Afaq Khoja's blessing:Ma Laichi is a hybrid of Hui and Han Chinese...
's Khufiyya. In opposition to the "silent" Khufiyya Sufis, and following al-Kurani's teaching, Jahriyya adherents advocated vocal dhikr, which is reflected in the name of their school (from Arabic jahr, "aloud"). Ma Mingxin also opposed the emphasis that the Khufiyya members placed of the veneration of the saints, construction of grandiose elaborately decorated mosques, and the enrichment of religious leaders at the expense of their adherents.
By the early 1780s, the ideals of the Jahriyya had spread over greatly in the province of Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
(which at the time also included today's Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
and Ningxia
Ningxia
Ningxia, formerly transliterated as Ningsia, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Located in Northwest China, on the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River flows through this vast area of land. The Great Wall of China runs along its northeastern boundary...
), as Ma Laichi's Khufiyya had later. Theological arguments between members of Jahriyya and Khufiyya, as well as the orders' claim on on contributions of members, against the background of government mismanagement of the provincial revenue, often resulted in both violent conflicts and lawsuits.
The escalating conflict between the adherents of the two movements eventually attracted attention of the Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
government in 1781. The apparent center of the conflict at the time was in the ethnic Salar community of Xunhua County (in today's Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
Province, just west of today's Gansu's Linxia Prefecture
Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture
Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture is in Western China's Gansu Province, south of the capital, Lanzhou. It is an autonomous prefecture for the Muslim Hui people, a large Chinese ethnic group. It also includes two autonomous counties for other Muslim groups, namely Dongxiang, Salar, and...
). Considering the Jahriyya (dubbed by the government the "New Order", in opposition to the "Old Order" (the Dungan/Hui people Shia muslims) subversive, the authorities had Ma Mingxin arrested, even though he wasn't personally anywhere around Xunhua at the moment.
While Ma Mingxin was kept in Lanzhou
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
, a government expedition sent to Xunhua to take care of the Jahriyya business was destroyed by the Jahriyya Salars, who then rushed across the today's Linxia Prefecture and to the walls of Lanzhou. When the besieged officials brought Ma Mingxin, wearing chains, to the city wall, to show him to the rebels, the Salars at once showed respect and devotion to their imprisoned leaders. Scared officials took Ma down from the wall, and beheaded him right away.
Ma Mingxin's widow, whose surname was Zhang (originally, from Gansu's Tongwei County
Tongwei County
Tongwei County is an administrative district in Gansu, the People's Republic of China. It is one of 58 counties of Gansu. It is part of the Dingxi prefecture, with the city of the same name being the prefecture seat...
), and his daughters were exiled to Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
.
Legacy
Ma Mingxin's death did not stop conflicts in China's minority ethnic group muslim community, or those between the minority ethnic group muslims and the government. Three years after the death of Ma Mingxin, his follower Tian Wu started a rebellion against the imperial government; after its defeat, the authorities remained on supervising the spread of the "subversive" Jahriyya.Ma Mingxin's fifth generation descendant and the leader of Jahriyya, Ma Hualong
Ma Hualong
Ma Hualong , was the fifth leader of the Jahriyya, a Dungan Sufi order in northwestern China. From the beginning of the Dungan Revolt in 1862, until his surrender and death in 1871, he was one of the main leaders of the revolt.-Biography:Ma Hualong became the leader of the Jahriyya ca...
, was one of the chief leaders of the Dungan Revolt in Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Gansu in the 1860s.
The Jahriyya order continues to this day, even if in more moderate forms. Almost all its members are Dungans (Hui).
In remembrance of Ma Mingxin, whose beard is said to have been shorn by government soldiers before his execution 1781, many Jahriyya members shave the sides of their beards.
In 1985, over 20,000 Hui muslims
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
assembled at the site of Ma Mingxin's original (destroyed) tomb near Lanzhou
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
for a commemoration ceremony. The tomb has since been rebuilt.
Family
Ma ShaowuMa Shaowu
Ma Shaowu was a Hui born in Yunnan, in Qing dynasty China. He was a member of the Xinjiang clique during the Republic of China.- Family history :...
was a fourth generation descendants of Ma Mingxin, and Ma Shaowu's uncle Ma Yuanzhang was also a descendent, as was Ma Shaowu's great uncle Ma Shenglin (马圣鳞). Ma Shaowu's son Ma Cho-ya is a fifth generation descendant and he currently lives in Urumqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
.