Wang Jingzhai (; 1879 - 1949) was a well-known Muslim scholar during the Republic of China period. He was the first or possibly second person to translate the entire

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

into Chinese, with the exact time attributed to either 1927 or 1932. He began to translate the entire holy book due to a request from the son of female Chinese Muslim scholar Ding Yunhui.Maria Jaschok and Shui Jingjun Shui
The History of Women's Mosques in Chinese Islam
pg. 130. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2013. Yunhui had written the ''Omudai'', a partial translation of the Qur'an which omitted any references to

Islamic sexual jurisprudence Views and laws about sexuality in Islam are largely predicated on the Quran, the sayings of Muhammad (''hadith'') and the rulings of religious leaders (''fatwa'') confining sexual activity to marital relationships between men and women. Islamic ...

due to the prevailing sensitivities in women's mosques in China at the time.

Biography

Wang Jingzhai hailed from a family of learned imams from

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

. At an early age, Wang's father begin teaching him about Islamic and Confucian scholarship. In his mid-twenties, Wang served as an imam in numerous mosques in northeastern China. Later on, Wang performed the hajj and soon attended Al-Azhar University, where he gained fluency in Arabic. Once back in China, Wang produced his famous Chinese translation of the Quran. During the

Republican era Republican Era can refer to: * Minguo calendar, the official era of the Republic of China It may also refer to any era in a country's history when it was governed as a republic or by a Republican Party. In particular, it may refer to: * Roman Rep ...

, Wang founded several religious periodicals advocating for Chinese Muslims to fully participate in the construction and upkeep of the nation.

References

Chinese Sunni Muslims Sunni Muslim scholars Translators of the Quran into Chinese {{China-academic-bio-stub