Islam in China: Professor James Frankel: Kowloon Masjid Dawah Committee :Nov 20, 2023
YouTube Video:
Excellent Lecture with Slides Presentation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryyGBM5_z8&t=287s
YouTube Video: Professor James D. Frankel's Journey to Islam: The Quran Motivation: March 25,2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ADpdeR7tIs&t=733s
Professor James D. Frankel was born into a Jewish family and raised with basic religious values. From a young age, he was deeply curious and constantly questioned rabbis about God and religious practices. However, when he couldn’t find satisfying answers, he began to drift away from Judaism and started searching for truth through other religions. He explored different beliefs, studying the Bible and developing love and respect for Jesus, but he could not accept him as God. His journey led him to Buddhism, the Upanishads, and various philosophies. Interestingly, although his close Pakistani friend had gifted him a copy of the Quran years earlier, it remained untouched on his shelf for a long time. Everything changed when he encountered a street dawah conversation that challenged him deeply. In an attempt to prove a point, he finally opened the Quran. Instead of what he expected, he found clarity, truth, and a powerful connection with Allah. That moment marked a turning point in his life, leading him to accept Islam and begin a completely new journey of faith.Website: James D. Frankel
In China there are up to 25 million Muslims living in the country, representing over 1200 years of Chinese-Islamic relations. However, little is known about the historical and contemporary geopolitical relations between China and the Muslim world, or the situation for the diverse groups of Muslims living in China today. In this book, James Frankel studies the rich and dynamic history of Muslims in China from the Tang dynasty (618-907) to the present day. He shows that Muslims in China remain an internally diverse population separated geographically, ethnically, linguistically, economically, educationally, and along sectarian and kinship lines. But despite having its own local flavours and accents, Islam in China is recognisable as the same religious tradition practiced by approximately 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide and Muslims in China are inextricably part of society, living alongside other minorities and amongst the great Han Chinese majority. Tracing 1200 years of history, this book shows that Muslim communities in China have undergone tremendous change, touched by the forces of Chinese history, the development of Islamic traditions outside China, and geopolitics. In highlighting the paradoxical situation in which Chinese Muslims have found themselves - living as both insiders and outsiders to Chinese society and state - the book examines why after so many centuries of habitation and naturalisation, Muslims in China are still stigmatized by their perceived alien origins. The book follows the ‘yin and yang’ of compatibility and difference and the connections and ruptures between two great civilisations.
James D. Frankel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Amazon: Islam in China: James D. Frankel
James D. Frankel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Article PDF: Chinese–Islamic Connections: An Historical and Contemporary Overview: James D. Frankel-Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs
-September17,2026
WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE The legend of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and how Islam is said to have reached Tang-dynasty China What the historical and archaeological record actually tells us about Islam's earliest arrival Why early Chinese Muslims adopted both Arabic "scriptural" names and Chinese names The difference between the Hui and the Uyghurs — China's two largest Muslim communities Why China officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups, and how Muslims fit into that system How China's one-child policy and demographic shifts affected its Muslim minorities The Naqshbandi Sufi lineages of China and the rivalry between the Jahriyya and Khafiyya orders How the politics of different eras shaped whether Chinese mosques look Chinese or Arab The Muslim contribution to Chinese martial arts and the legend of the "Muslim Fist" How the 13th-century Mongol empire connected the Islamic world from Spain to China
James D. Frankel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He previously held a professorial position at the University of Hawaii, where he helped establish its Islamic studies curriculum. He is the author of Rectifying God's Name, a historical study of the 18th-century Chinese Muslim scholar Liu Zhi, and a second book offering a comprehensive chronological introduction to Islam in China.Islam first arrived in China more than 1,200 years ago, but for more than a millennium it was perceived as a foreign presence. The restoration of native Chinese rule by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), after nearly a century of Mongol domination, helped transform Chinese intellectual discourse on ideological, social, political, religious, and ethnic identity. This led to the creation of a burgeoning network of Sinicized Muslim scholars who wrote about Islam in classical Chinese and developed a body of literature known as the Han Kitab. Rectifying God’s Name examines the life and work of one of the most important of the Qing Chinese Muslim literati, Liu Zhi (ca. 1660–ca. 1730), and places his writings in their historical, cultural, social, and religio-philosophical context. His Tianfang danli (Ritual law of Islam) represents the most systematic and sophisticated attempt within the Han Kitab corpus to harmonize Islam with Chinese thought.
The volume begins by situating Liu Zhi in the historical development of the Chinese Muslim intellectual tradition, examining his sources and influences as well as his legacy. Delving into the contents of Liu Zhi’s work, it focuses on his use of specific Chinese terms and concepts, their origins and meanings in Chinese thought, and their correspondence to Islamic principles. A close examination of the Tianfang dianli reveals Liu Zhi’s specific usage of the concept of Ritual as a common foundation of both Confucian morality and social order and Islamic piety. The challenge of expressing such concepts in a context devoid of any clear monotheistic principle tested the limits of his scholarship and linguistic finesse. Liu Zhi's theological discussion in the Tianfang dianli engages not only the ancient Confucian tradition, but also Daoism, Buddhism, and even non-Chinese traditions. His methodology reveals an erudite and cosmopolitan scholar who synthesized diverse influences, from Sufism to Neo-Confucianism, and possibly even Jesuit and Jewish sources, into a body of work that was both steeped in tradition and, yet, exceedingly original, epitomizing the phenomenon of Chinese Muslim simultaneity.
A compelling and multidimensional study, Rectifying God’s Name will be eagerly welcomed by interested readers of Chinese and Islamic religious and social history, as well as students and scholars of comparative religion.
posted by NFIE @ 3:30 PM
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