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, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

into Chinese, in either 1927 or 1932. He began the translation 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 Sexuality in Islam contains a wide range of views and laws, which are largely predicated on the Quran, and the sayings attributed to Muhammad (''hadith'') and the rulings of religious leaders (''fatwa'') confining sexual intercourse to relation ...

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 is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

. 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 Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

and then attended

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

, where he gained fluency in Arabic. Once back in China, Wang produced his famous Chinese translation of the Quran. During the Republican era, 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 of Islam Translators of the Quran into Chinese Qing dynasty Muslims Arabic–Chinese translators {{China-academic-bio-stub