Islamic Inquiries (Dec 2022)
The Shahid Conception in the Islamic History of China Empire
Abstract
There is very little scholarly work about the shahid (martyr) conception in the Islamic history of China both in the Chinese and the Western academic circles. This paper has employed Chinese historical materials, private publication as well as the official records to analyze the substantial notion of shahid in the historical procession of the imperial dynasties, and its social interaction between the Muslim minorities and Chinese society. It concludes that the martyr perception is one of the fundamental parts of the Islamic doctrine for Muslim communities in China, which often face hostile surroundings. The conception of shahid has played a crucial role as a spiritual power to protect Chinese Muslim communities from the pressure being assimilated to, or contained in, the non-Islamic culture in the context of political turmoil.
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