Menhuan () is a term used by the
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
and
Uyghur Muslim populations of China to indicate a
Chinese Ṣūfī ''
ṭarīḳa'' ("order" or "saintly lineage"). The leaders of a ''menhuan'', which usually are
Ṣūfī Muslim ''
murs̲h̲id'' ("masters") or ''
walī
A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
'' ("saints"), form a chain of spiritual successors over the ages, known in Arabic as ''
silsilah
Silsila ( ar, سِلْسِلَة) is an Arabic word meaning ''chain'', ''link'', ''connection'' often used in various senses of lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfers his ''khil ...
'', which goes back to the order's founder in China (e.g.,
Ma Laichi
Ma Laichi (1681? – 1766?; ), also known as Abu 'l-Futūh Ma Laichi, was a Chinese Sufi master, who brought the Khufiyya movement to China and created the Huasi ''menhuan'' ( Sufi order) - the earliest and most important Naqshbandi (نقش ...
or
Ma Mingxin
Ma Mingxin (1719–1781) () was a Chinese Sufi master, the founder of the Jahriyya ''menhuan'' (Naqshbandi Sufi order).