Contextualization of Sufi Spirituality in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century China: The Role of Liu Zhi (c.1662-c.1730)

David Lee

Kas 2015 · Wipf and Stock Publishers

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Liu Zhi (c.1662-c.1730), a well-known Muslim scholar in China, published in Chinese outstanding theological works, short treatises, and easy-to-memorize short poems on Islam. He encountered various challenges in his interpretation and transmission of Islamic texts. First, traditional Arabic and Persian Islamic texts used Arabic and Persian concepts to explain Islam. This book answers the question, did Liu Zhi communicate difficult Islamic concepts? Second, Islam has insisted on monotheism. This book discusses whether and how Liu Zhi integrated the basic religious living of the Hui Muslims into their pluralistic Chinese culture. Finally, Muslims have settled over hundreds of years in various parts of China. Were Liu Zhi's works able to make a substantial difference in the life and thought of Hui Muslims in China? Liu Zhi's success was due to his method of contextualization, integrating the Muslim way of life into Chinese culture. This book is an in-depth study of Liu Zhi's contextualization of Islam into Chinese culture that argues that his contextualization has not deviated from the basic tenets of Islamic belief.

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David Lee is Associate Professor of Theology at Evangel Seminary in Hong Kong. He has served as Senior Pastor in the Chinese Church of London.