I believe precisely that at the bottom of all our mystical states there are body techniques which we have not studied, but which were studied fully in China and India, even in very remote periods. I think there are necessarily biological means of entering into âcommunion with Godâ. (Mauss 1979, p. 122)
This is an ethnographic study of Islamic leadership in the contemporary world, located at the Western edge of East Asia. Islamic leadership is specifically explored in the context of a Sufi community in Northwest China, through an in-depth study of charismatic power and its cultivation by Sufi disciples at this site. Islam and China are, in and of themselves, topics of significant relevance and contention in todayâs economic, political, and religious climate. At present, there is a global concern about both the rise of a militant Islam and of an ever increasingly assertive Chinese state. A study of this kind is thus both timely and relevant.
The effective transmission or cultivation of this âcharismaâ amongst disciples is vital to the maintenance and continuity of Sufi genealogies around the world. This is even more important for the Chinese Qadiriyya Sufi network at the centre of this study. The disciples of the three other Sufi networks in China are able to have families and can thus pass leadership on to their sons or related male members of the extended family. But the disciples of the Qadiriyya cannot have families. Their Chinese name chujiaren literally means âpeople who have left home or the familyâ.1
Succession to leadership (to the position of leader or dangjiaren ) is thus based solely on religious merit, not blood inheritance (Gladney 2004, p. 135). As a result, the successful embodiment of âcharismaâ by disciples is even more crucial for the continued existence of the orderâcrucial because of the religious authority that the embodiment of this charisma ensures.2 The successful embodiment of this charismatic power is also at the heart of debates amongst the wider Muslim community in Northwest China that continue to question the orthodoxy and integrity of the Qadiriyya charismatic practice and, in turn, their religious authority .
Furthermore, the Chinese Qadiriyya network at the centre of this study has been described as relatively withdrawn from âworldlyâ involvement in politics and the local community around them. However, the site of Guo Gongbei, the main focus of this project, maintains a very open connection to the networks beyond their walls. They house orphans, teach and provide lodgings for both male and female Muslim students, support chujiaren (disciples) and students to study overseas, and provide support and guidance for both Muslim and non-Muslim members of the community on a daily basis. Perhaps most significantly, Guo Gongbei has a particularly strong relationship with Iran and has a well-established system of sending chujiaren (disciples) and students there to study. This is notable in light of the fact that China is also now Iranâs largest trading partner. Most recently, the two countries signed an agreement to bring Iran fully into the emerging strategic New Economic Silk Road and Maritime Road blueprint known as âOne Belt, One Roadâ.
Against this background, this study is guided by three underlying concerns. Firstly, what is the nature of charismatic power in this context? Secondly, why is it considered contentious by some in the wider community? Finally, what can this study contribute to global understanding amidst the virulently contentious debates about the role of religion in the contemporary geo-political landscape? By exploring the ways in which this Chinese Sufi institution is interacting withâand is influenced byâreligious sites in Iran, this study affords a glimpse into the ways in which Islamic communities throughout the world are linked not only economically and politically but culturally. Moreover, though the study focuses on a specific religious community, in so doing, it contributes important insights that could enhance and deepen understandings of the religious, political, and economic concerns that are relevant to not just the Muslim community but to the global community. These concerns include narratives of unity and disunity amongst different religious factions, cultural syncretism and resulting questions of religious legitimacy (orthodoxy and unorthodoxy), materialism and desire and their impact on religious integrity, and perhaps most importantly the stability of religious institutions within rapidly growing economies.
Studies of Islam and Sufism in China
In the past 30â40 years, there has been a growing academic interest in the Chinese Muslim community within the English-speaking world. In the 1990s and early 2000s, this was reflected most notably in the work of Jonathan Lipman , Maria Jaschok , Dru Gladney , Maris Gillette , and Elisabeth Alles. In the past two years, a significant number of new studies have also been published exploring various facets of the Hui Muslim community. Some notable examples include studies of Islamic law (Erie 2016), of the shifting definitions of Islam in China (Tontini 2016), of ethnic identity and Muslim networks in Hong Kong (Ho 2016), of Islamic revival and ethnic identity in Qinghai Province (Stewart 2017) and of Muslims in Amdo Tibet (Hille et al. 2015).
In relation to the Sufi orders in China, as far as this author is aware, only a small number of related works have been published. Gladney, Lipman, and Dillon have depicted how Sufi orders have disseminated new ideas and established networks of solidarity amongst Muslim communities (Gladney 2004; Lipman 1997; Dillon 1999). In doing so, they often refer to the pioneering work of the Chinese scholar Ma Tong in the 1980s. Gladney in particular focuses on the importance of Sufi tombs to Hui communities. While the tombs may not necessarily be relevant to all Hui, Gladney asserts that âthey continue to serve as powerful frameworks for personal identity and social action, which both distinguish Hui communities from one another and provide important charters for their corporate identityâ (Gladney 2004, p. 121). As has been noted in other parts of the world, the Sufi tombs are also a source of conflict (Marcus 1985, p. 456). Gladney has noted that discussion of membership in an order based on descent is often the basis for conflict and criticism of inferior orders (Gladney 2004, p. 137). Historically, the Qadiriyya have not been involved in political feuds or activism, and perhaps as a result little research attention has been paid to them (Lipman 1997, p. 89).3 They have however been subject to criticism and debate for a number of distinctive reasons, and it is an intention of this research to examine these criticisms and their relation to charisma.
Western studies of Islam in China from the 1980s onwards have focused on socio-historical or political issues to do with the âphenomenonâ of Islam in China (demographics, distribution, public policy, national identification, ethnic conflict) rather than looking at the beliefs and practices of Chinese Muslim groups themselves, Sufi or otherwise (Gladney 1995, p. 373). In such studies, Islam as a tradition is often generalised into the background (Gladney 2004, 120). Similarly, while Chinese scholarship since the 1980s about Islam in China has proliferated, few works have addressed the beliefs and practices of Sufi orders deeply. The work of Ma Tong was seminal in providing detailed historical, political, and socio-economic accounts of the practices and institutional structures of the various Islamic orders. Other scholars of his generation such as Yang Huaizhong, Ma Qicheng, and Mian Weilin provided further detailed accounts of Sufi orders in terms of social structures. In the next scholarly generation, the works of Jin Yijiu, Gao Zhanfu, Yu Zhengui, and Wu Wanshan all provided further historical material (Ma 1983; Gao 1991; Yang 1992; Mian 1997; Yu and Lei 2001; Ma 2006; Jin 2008). A number of shorter research papers produced in the last ten years specifically focus on the history of Sufism in Northwest China and in particular on the disciple system of the Qadiriyya order (Ma 2008; Han 2009; Ding 2009; Ha and Ma 2014; Ma and Ma 2014). However, most of this material either continues to speak of Chinese Sufism in terms of structures, institutions, leaders, and economics or discusses philosophical ideas of Chinese Sufism at a remove from actual local practice, often relying solely on textual analysis.
In 2009, Han Zhongyi and Ma Yuanyuan reviewed the Chinese scholarship of Sufism over the last 30 years and highlighted the lack of studies concerning everyday practice and belief and the repetitive content of some of the research. They state that âthe research of scholars in our country is still in an exploratory stage, no theoretical system has been formed. Detailed studies of Sufism are still lacking and although many books have been published, very little detailed research is conducted and [most researchers] are still at the stage of introductionâ. They hoped to
strike an accurate balance between religious emotion and academic principles. Sufism is an Islamic school with a strong experiential element. It is very hard to understand the essence of it by just reading articles. So [we] need to deepen our understanding of it through understanding real life. In order to understand the Sufi doctrines of folk believers, and practitioners, we need to watch and study its practice rituals, which is very challenging (Han 2009, pp. 104â105).
A study was published in 2010 by a student at Lanzhou University, perhaps in response to this perceived need for more grounded studies of religious activity. In this study the author tries to adopt an anthropological approach to the study of daily life amongst Hui Sufi women in the Huanghe county of Gansu (Ma 2010). This study adopts a similar ...