Interesting Chinese Islam Blog.

07/10/2009

0 Comments

 
Picture
Muslim waiter front of a La Noodle shop, Lin Xia. (jding77, Webshots)

For the people who don't want to read any further here are a few interesting posts from Islam in China:

Picture - Mother & Child (search all posts tagged pictures, great stuff)

Chinese Islamic Wallpapers Galore & Chinese Islamic Wallpapers

Muslim Manga Artists (for anyone that's curious)

In Hopes of highlighting the art of the Chinese-Arabic Calligraphy, I did a quick and sloppy google search and came across the site of master calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang (site). I had never before imagined the realization and amalgamation of Chinese Arabic calligraphy before visiting a booth at MuslimFest one year. The work of the artist at the viewing booth, presumably also done by master calligrapher Haji Noor Deen, made the connection between Islamic Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy feel very organic. The characters have such distinct origins, the Chinese characters belonging to the logogram designation and the Arabic characters coming from the group of Semitic languages is a more cursive script. Yet they almost naturally compliment each other when illustrated by a pro.

Picture
more can be viewed at http://www.hajinoordeen.com
I soon realized after the google search this is not what I wanted to solely highlight in this blog entry. Almost accidentally I found another site highlighting the works of famous Chinese Muslim calligraphers, and upon further investigation I discovered the site was "a blog that seeks to cover all things Chinese and Islamic". I'll admit I have wanted to know more on the subject of Chinese Muslims since being to a halal Chinese restaurant of all places. The reason being is that the owner of the restaurant had on candid display his Muslim influences and indications of his Chinese culture from the moment you enter the restaurant. He greets most patrons with the traditional "Salaam Alykum", though he can't speak any English and up on one of the walls of the restaurant is a newspaper clipping telling a little about the owners journey to Canada from the mostly Muslim populated region of Xinjiang.

Anyways I found that this site, Islam in China, provided me a good introduction into the immense history China and Islam share, in addition to the different traditions this relationship has produced. For instance, institutes that develop imams in China also train female imams to lead mosques dedicated to female services only. The author of the blog, Wang Daiyu, has a collection of articles, quotes, videos, photographs, etc that help examine and understand the Chinese Muslim diaspora. Additionally it has helped me more recently understand the increasingly intensifying unrest between the Uyghur people and Han Chinese.

Above I highlighted links to subjects that mostly match the direction or general theme of our site here, but there are many other subjects and topics to discover on the site including notable Chinese Muslims, Medieval China, Chinese Muslim Perspectives and much more.

Islam in China (introductory blog)

Chinese Muslim vs. Uiygar vs. Hui vs. Han Muslim

Muslim Descendants of Confucius

The many names of Islam in China

Chinese Muslim Wedding Traditions ("Marriages are based on love")

More than 10,000 Chinese Hajjis in 2007

Note: North American Spiritual Revival (NASR) is hosting a unique Chinese Islam event on Saturday, July 11 at the NAMF Islamic Center in Scarborough.

See the flyer below or go to the current events page for more information.
Picture
click for larger view.
Picture
 


Comments




Leave a Reply