Abstract
This chapter reconnects with concerns raised in the opening Chap. 1 of this study by engaging more deeply with the contentions surrounding this particular practice of Islamic leadership in China. These contestations include narratives of unity and disunity amongst different religious factions, cultural syncretism and resulting questions of religious legitimacy (orthodoxy and unorthodoxy), materialism and desire and their impact on religious integrity, and the stability of religious institutions within rapidly growing economies.
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- 1.
The Qadiriyya were distinctive from other Sufi orders in worshipping at tombs. According to Wang Huizhen, this was a practice to which other Sufi orders have had objections, for they believed this practice went against the regulations that Muslims shall prostrate only to Allah. Da Gongbei’s interpretation however is that in doing so they are paying religious homage to the spirit of Allah as it is embodied in a human body (Wang 2009, p. 24).
- 2.
Ma Zhiqiang further explained: ‘They [other groups] think xinjiao is more pure. In fact xinjiao oppose laojiao and made some reforms. In fact many practices are “alien” and not the content of Islam. For example, when people die, in laojiao and menhuan they normally use the Qur’an to secure the “salvation” of the deceased person; however, the reforms in xinjiao use money to secure salvation. In fact, no matter what kind of salvation, neither is the original teaching of Islam, but an “alien import” (yihua). Worshipping a tomb (gongbei) is definitely not okay, because in Islam and Christianity it is the same: you can only worship one God. In China, the gongbei menhuan are only a small part. The majority are laojiao or xinjiao. Of course, the Christian and Islamic God, in [terms of the] concept they are different. But in [terms of] belief, you can’t worship people or animals, besides God, so that’s why people often say, “ren zhu du yi” (tawhid), our words of faith, meaning “you cannot worship a master, only God.”’
- 3.
The Jahriyya leader also asserted the superiority of the Jahriyya over both the Khafiyya and Qadiriyya orders in terms of their differing adherence to the practice of jiaocheng (Shariah) and daocheng (tariqah): ‘A true Sufi, an orthodox Sufi, will emphasise following daocheng and jiaocheng; Jahriyya (Zheherenye) characterise these more closely together. For jiaocheng, daocheng both are valued, both are done well. Jiaocheng is the basis of daocheng, it is like a tree growing from its roots, first you have roots, then you grow up, then a flower results. Khafiyya put more emphasis on jiaocheng, they have many rules about wugong (five requirements), and many auxiliary requirements (fugong). Jahriyya also have auxiliary requirements, but each requirement must be based on the Five Pillars (wugong/jiaofa) […] each must correspond to God’s command, there must be a good reason to do each.’
- 4.
Alexander Stewart has also noted amongst the Muslim community in Qinghai criticisms that the Chinese state have ‘embraced a myopic obsession with material aspects of development, which they implicate in encouraging rampant selfishness and immorality’ (Stewart 2017, p. 4249).
- 5.
Professor L. informed me that there had been a case recently in the Dongxiang area where a Jahriyya gongbei had temporarily closed down because the master had passed away, and the sons could not decide who should take over. Another foreign PhD researcher (whom I knew in Lanzhou) was travelling through that region earlier in the year and had mentioned that there had been a series of protests in the streets outside this gongbei when he was there.
- 6.
This idea that China includes over 100 million Muslims dates back to the early twentieth century, when the Republican government (with no demographic evidence) claimed falsely that there were nearly 50 million Muslims in the country (Pillsbury 1981, p. 35).
- 7.
Professor L. questioned the historical given that ‘Sufi’ texts were only ever studied by the Sufi gongbei and that other groups were always ‘against’ the Sufis: ‘Before the Cultural Revolution’, he explained, ‘most Muslim people here in Gansu, or even in Ningxia or Qinghai, they didn’t know details, they only know menhuan. But when Prof. Ma Tong wrote this book [History of Sufi menhuan in Northwest China], maybe some people knew more about it […] For Khafiyya, they belong to the Naqshbandiyya order, and Jahriyya also belongs to Naqshbandiyya, also as you know Humen in Guanghe […] We belonged to Khafiyya. At that time they don’t know, [that we are] doing [following] Sufi, but after even [reading Ma Tong], as you know, even in Ma Tong’s book, he wrote Yihewani never do [practise] Sufi[sm]. Do you agree with this?’ I replied, ‘No, I don’t think so’. Contrary to the sharp lines drawn historically between the various Islamic groupings, Professor L. offered evidence to the contrary: ‘Yes, until today, just like the Ahong who just passed away, just like many leaders of Khafiyya or Jahriyya, still today, maybe they are sure, they can say, Yihewani they never do Sufi, Yihewani against Sufi. But, when we do research [among] the Yihewani, when we check their textbooks, I was very surprised. When we go back in history, the history shows that Yihewani teach and learn from these Sufi books and also they do worship, they do something just like the Sufi does.’ Indeed, the Han Kitab texts generated during the Qing Dynasty were infused with mystical (Sufi) ideas (Murata and Chittick 2000; Murata et al. 2009; Murata 2017).
- 8.
According to their own historical records, when Guo Gongbei was first built in 1719, the disciples obtained double salaries from the Qing Dynasty. However when the Republic of China was established, they depended on their own income, which at the time came mainly from farming. The lands they ploughed were sometimes donated by the disciples; some were given as a gift by the family of a chujiaren; and some were bought by the gongbei. Until 1949, the gongbei had a total of 54 mu (3.6 hectares) of cultivated land, mainly consisting of dry lands in several villages in the Linxia County. The income generated from the land was used to cover repairs of the gongbei’s architectural facilities, to cover the living expenses of the permanent residents (chujiaren), to cover some living expenses for students who were studying there, and to cover expenses for annual March and September birthday or death anniversary events in the gongbei. However, after the reform and opening up policy (gaige kaifang) in the 1980s, the land was collected by the state as publicly owned property and as a result their revenue sources were greatly reduced. Since that time and until today, Guo Gongbei exists on funds provided by the local government which cover living expenses for those at the gongbei and on donations by religious adherents (Ar. Niyyah and Zakat) that help to cover miscellaneous expenses of the gongbei. There have also been some wealthy disciples in the past who donated all of their property to the gongbei prior to their death. In addition, the gongbei has also occasionally received some small donations from domestic and foreign governments and/or religious groups and organisations (Ma 1997, p. 36).
- 9.
Here it is important to note that the relationship between the Chinese State and religion is not a strictly ‘control-and-resistance’ paradigm. While it is ‘true that the balance of power rests overwhelmingly with the state […] state policy is not simply imposed, and religious organizations and individuals have participated in constructing and modifying official ideological positions on religion and the policies and regulations governing religion’ (Dunch 2008, p. 156).
- 10.
‘Cults’ was the published translation, but the term xiejiao could also be translated as heterodox.
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Cone, T. (2018). Contentious Charisma. In: Cultivating Charismatic Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74763-7_7
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