آموزش اسلامی در چین

Although Muslims have resided in China since the earliest days of Islam (primarily as traders along the southeast coast) it was not until the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1261–1364) that hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Central Asia and the Middle East settled permanently in China, creating communities in every region of the country. Today, most of the more than 20 million Muslims living in China are descended from these thirteenth century settlers. Despite their relative isolation from the Islamic heartland, over the centuries Muslim communities were able to sustain their religious identity and knowledge. However, in the mid-sixteenth century in an effort to make both Islamic texts more accessible to the growing number of Muslims who were no longer able to read texts in Arabic or Persian, as well as establish a more formal tradition of Islamic education, a group of Chinese Muslim scholars developed the Han Kitab and Jingtang Jiaoyu. The Hān Kitāb is a collection of important Islamic texts translated into Chinese and Jingtang Jiaoyu is a term meaning “Education in the Hall of the Classics,” that refers to the form of Islamic education that built on traditional Chinese educational methods but focused on the study of Islam. These texts and methods of education proved highly effective in fostering a deeper understanding of Islam, and before long experienced teachers were traveling to different regions of China to set up schools. It was also during this time that the tradition of the traveling scholar developed, as well as that of students traveling to different regions of China to further their studies under well-known ‘ulamā’. Islamic education in China today incorporates both a continuation of the traditions started centuries ago, as well as influences from Western style education, and government controlled Islamic education. In addition, over the past 20 years as Islamic education has flourished in China, thousands of advanced students have chosen to continue their education abroad at international centers of Islamic learning in Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Malaysia. (For additional information on the influence of foreign study on Islamic education in China see, Armijo 2008.) In addition to the issues addressed above, this chapter will also focus on the active role played by women in Islamic education, the role of the state in both promoting and restricting different forms of Islamic education in different regions of China, and the recent trend to link .vocational training with Islamic education, as well as other recent developments