The Cultural Accommodation of Jesuits Missionaries in China During 1595-1730 and Its Impact on Chinese Muslim Scholars of Han Kitab Literature

Abstract

Allah (S.W.T.) created human being and guided them to meet each from time to time, for the Divine purpose as mentioned in al-Qur’an. O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that Ye may you know each other (not that ye may despise each other), Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is ) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things) (Al-Qur’Én, XLIX:13). Well before the traditions of Taoism and Confucianism, Buddhism was the first foreign religion which had been successfully fused with the local Chinese culture and has survived until our modern days. All of these three traditions have witnessed, to some extent, alterations of their original teachings over time. Confucianism had been the official ideology of the Chinese feudal dynasties since the HÉn dynasty, except for the Mongol YuÉn dynasty. The Indo-origin Buddhism has gradually changed its original form in order to merge with the Chinese folklore, hence it became a mutually complementary way of life for the native Chinese,1 despite the anti-Buddhism movements that erupted from time to time in the history of China. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have created some sort of a triangular unity in the traditional Chinese society; each tradition addressed a particular facet of life while forming a single unified entity. Namely, Confucianism dealt with the earthly life matters, Taoism attended to the subject of eternity in this earthly world while Buddhism created an escape for the souls to shortly disconnect from life-chores.