Jingtang jiaoyu () literally meaning "scripture hall education", refers to a form of Islamic education developed in China or the method of teaching it, which is the practice of using

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanj ...

s to represent the

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

Islamic education

Jingtang jiaoyu is the form of Sunni Islamic education taught in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

, Shaanxi, by Ahongs to Chinese Muslim students. The Quran and quranic texts are taught in this curriculum. Jingtang Jiaoyu was founded during the era of Hu Dengzhou 1522-1597. There were 5 Persian books and the Qur'an was among 8 Arabic books which made up the "Thirteen Classics" (سابقة)

Arabic language

In jingtang jiaoyu Chinese characters are used to phonetically represent the Arabic language. Chinese sounds were used to pronounce Arabic, and it was widespread among Chinese Muslim students in the northwest province of

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

, especially

. An example of this is ''salaam'', being represented in Chinese characters as ). This system of Chinese characters enabled students to coarsely pronounce the Arabic language, rather than using the characters to translate the meaning. Jingtang jiaoyuan contains elements from Classical Chinese grammar with Arabic and Persian vocabulary, along with some dialectal Chinese vocabulary, saying all of the words in Classical Chinese grammar regardless of the proper vernacular Chinese, Arabic, or Persian word order. Jingtang jiaoyu has been severely criticized for pronouncing Arabic incorrectly, as students base their pronunciations on Chinese. Many

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 ...

who used it said ''salaam aleikun'' instead of '' salaam alaikum''. The

Hanafi Sunni 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 a ...

Gedimu Gedimu () or ''Qadim'' ( ar, قديم}) is the earliest school of Islam in China. It is a Hanafi, non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. Its supporters are centered on local mosques, which function as relatively independent units. It is numerical ...

cling fiercely to Chinese customs and the jingtang jiaoyu method of education, using their traditional pronunciations even when learning of the standard Arabic pronunciation. Hanafi Sunni Sunnaitis (

Yihewani Yihewani (), or Ikhwan ( ar, الإخوان, d=al-Iḫwān), (also known as Al Ikhwan al Muslimun, which means Muslim Brotherhood, not to be confused with the Middle Eastern Muslim Brotherhood) is an Islamic sect in China. Its adherents are calle ...

adherents) criticize the Gedimu for practicing Islamic customs influenced by Chinese culture, including jingtang jiaoyu. Sunnaitis pride themselves on speaking "correct" Arabic, accusing the Gedimu Muslims of practicing Han and Buddhist customs and "Chinese Arabic". One Sunnaiti Imam said that the Gedimu "blindly followed the traditions of their ancestors".

Examples

References

{{reflist Arabic language Chinese characters

Islamic education

Arabic language

Examples

See also

References