Ma Zhu (馬注) (1640 – after 1710) was a Chinese

Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named aft ...

Maturidi Māturīdī theology or Māturīdism ( ar, الماتريدية: ''al-Māturīdiyyah'') is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Persian Muslim scholar, Ḥanafī jurist, reformer (''Mujaddid''), and scholastic th ...

scholar. Ma was noted for his combining of

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic values in his philosophy.

Biography

Ma was born in

Yongchang Fu __NOTOC__ Yongchang is the transliteration of various Chinese names: 永昌 ''Yǒngchāng'' Locations in China *Yongchang County, a county in Jinchang, Gansu *Baoshan, Yunnan, a city in Yunnan, formerly known as Yongchang Subdistricts * Yongch ...

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

during the reign of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. His father died when Ma was young. He is claimed to be a descendant of Ajall Shams al-Din Omar, a Muslim Mongol general, and of the

Prophet Mohammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

.''Three eminent Chinese ‘Ulama’ of Yunnan'' https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02666959008716154?journalCode=cjmm19

Philosophy

Ma Zhu's philosophy focused heavily on social relations and interactions between the sexes. He theorized that, per Confucian and Islamic values, an ideal society would be one in which men dominated public affairs while women would serve in a subservient role as domestic helpmates. The philosopher opposed women performing roles outside of the home, stating "even a talented woman should not take care of non-domestic affairs". Ma took inspiration for his ideal role for women from the story of

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

, in which

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

created Eve from the flesh of Adam. This indicated to Ma that men and women were not intended to be of equal standing in society. Ma wrote: Ma's philosophy also denoted the distinctions between the traditional Chinese paired forces of ''

ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

'' () and ''

xing XING is a Hamburg-based career-oriented social networking site, operated by New Work SE (until mid-2019 ''XING SE''). The site is primarily focused on the German-speaking market, alongside XING Spain, and competes with the American platform Li ...

'' (), and ''yin'' and ''yang''. According to Ma, ''ming'' represented what was preordained by Allah, while ''xing'' represented by what was acquirable though social conditioning and exposure to earthly human existence. Similarly, in Ma's view ''yin'' represented the earthly acquired and ''yang'' represented the divinely innate. Parts from both were required to form any human. Ma also believed that women should strive to be similar to famous women in Islam, he mentioned Moleyan ( Maryam), Khadiyah, and

Fatima Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...

as examples to follow. Ma also advocated for both men and women to pursue an

Islamic education Islamic education may refer to: *Islamic studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theolo ...

References

{{Authority control 17th-century Chinese writers Chinese Muslims Hanafis Maturidis 17th-century Muslim theologians Shaykh al-Islāms Sunni imams Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam 1640 births 1711 deaths 18th-century Muslim theologians 17th-century Chinese translators

Biography

Philosophy

See also

References