Menhuan

Menhuan (simplified Chinese: 门宦; traditional Chinese: 門宦; pinyin: Ménhuàn) is a term used by Chinese-speaking Muslims for a Chinese-style Sufi order. The leaders of a menhuan over the ages form a chain of spiritual succession, known in Arabic as silsilah, which goes back to the order's founder in China (e.g., Ma Laichi or Ma Mingxin), and beyond, toward his teachers in Arabia.^[1]

Origin of the term

The term menhuan itself is of comparatively recent origin: according to Ma Tong (1983), it was first attested in an essay by the Hezhou Prefecture Magistrate Yang Zengxin dated 1897.^[1] It has been suggested by Chinese researchers that it has developed from menfa (门阀), meaning "powerful and influential family", or menhu (门户), which has been used in the Northwestern China to mean "gateway" or "faction".^[1]

The Muslim historian Ma Tong claims that menhuan originated from a synthesis of Confucianism and the Clan system of China with the Sufi orders.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Michael Dillon (1999). China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement and sects. Routledge. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0700710264. http://books.google.com/books?id=hUEswLE4SWUC.  One of Dillon's main sources is: 馬通 ( Ma Tong) (1983). 中国伊斯兰教派与门宦制度史略 (Zhongguo Yisilan jiaopai yu menhuan zhidu shilue) (A sketch of the history of Chinese Islamic sects and the menhuan system). Yinchuan: 宁夏人民出版社 (Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe). 
2. ^ Qingxin Lin, Qingxin Lin (Ph.D.), University of Hong Kong (2005). Brushing history against the grain: reading the Chinese new historical fiction (1986-1999). Hong Kong University Press. p. 147. ISBN 9622096972. http://books.google.com/books?id=SNafNFcMGpQC&pg=PA147&dq=ma+lin+muslim&hl=en&ei=5X2qTJmEIcGB8gbula3cBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBDgo#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28.