The Mahdi Times The Mahdi Times July 2014 | Page 56

isolation from the centres of Islamic
spirituality and learning in the Middle
East [Chuah, 2004]. It was not until the
18th-19th centuries that Chinese
Muslim scholars had access to enough
Arabic and Persian literature to develop
a Muslim apologetic literature of their
own and a Chinese translation of the
complete Qur’an did not appear until
the 19th century [Peterson, 2006].

What has sustained Islam in this
sometimes hostile
environment for so long?
Despite this geographical and
intellectual isolation, but also because of
it, Chinese annals and Hui traditions
prove to be an important alternative
source of information for a
reconstruction of early Arabian Islam.
In particular, the relevant pre-Modern
Chinese sources – Muslim religious
literature as well as official dynastic
histories – confirm what we learn from
the Western Christian (Crusader)
sources and the Late Antique and
Medieval Jewish sources: that the Arabs
that erupted out of Arabia in the
seventh century and established
probably the greatest empire in the last
six thousand years were black-skinned
Arabs, descendants of the African
Arabian (Afrabian) inhabitants of
ancient Arabia [on which see
Muhammad, 2011; idem, 2009]. These
non-Arabic sources – non-Muslim and
Muslim – challenge popular conceptions
about Arabs and Islam that are mainly
based on late Arabic and Persian Muslim
literature and iconography. On the other
hand, these sources agree with an

earlier Arabic tradition wherein Arabs
self-identify as black (Muhammad,
2010; Berry, 2002).

Muhammad (s.a.w): Chinese
Islam’s Black Prophet
The Hui have a foundation myth that
both recounts the origin of Islam in
Zhong Guo, ‘the Middle Kingdom (i.e.
China),’ and also seeks to provide
meaning to Chinese Muslim existence as
both Chinese and Muslim – heirs to a
dual legacy of civilizational greatness.
This popular myth, called Huihui
yuanlai (‘Origins of the Hui’) circulated
in several oral versions among different
Chinese Muslim communities before
being committed to writing sometime
during the Ming. It was no doubt revised
during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
In the Third Year of Zen Guan [Tai Zong]
of the Tang Dynasty (r. 629-649), in the
evening of the 18th of the third month,
the Emperor in his sleep dreamed that a
turbaned man came running into the
palace grounds, chasing after a demon.
He woke up and was puzzled by the
dream, for he knew not what it foretold.
On the following day he assembled all
the officials of the court to discuss the
matter.
The Imperial Astronomer respectfully
reported to the Emperor, saying: “In the
night, as I observed the appearance of
the heaven, I saw a strange and evil
appearance which impinged on the Tzu
wei star, and I feared this might portend
trouble for the Empire; I also saw in the
West a felicitous light brightly