160 A CHINESE LIFE OF MOHAMMED 



propaganda to be seen ; only a small proportion of the Chinese 

 Moslems can read Arabic, and still fewer have been able to 

 visit their holy land and shrines. What, then, is the dynamic 

 of this religion which steadfastly refuses to be absorbed bv 

 its surroundings, and glories in its claim to superiority, and 

 affects to despise all other systems? The tenacity of its 

 adherence to the worship of one True God must be given full 

 credit, and next to that I believe the personality of the 

 Prophet as understood and believed in by his followers, has 

 been a powerful factor in maintaining the Moslem religion, 

 especially in these lands far removed from its origin. It 

 will therefore be of some interest for us to discover what 

 the Chinese Moslems know or believe about Mohammed : 

 this is absolutely necessary for the student of religions in 

 China, and for all who desire to understand, and have intelli-. 

 gent intercourse with, our Moslem neighbours. 



It is sometimes implied that the Moslems of China are 

 more illiterate than the rest of the people, an implication 

 which requires further proof before it can be accepted as fact. 

 Certain it is that among the Moslems there have been, and 

 are, some clever scholars, this being evidenced by the number 

 of books and writings, mostly in Wenli style, which are to be 

 found. Many of these authors are acquainted with Arabic, 

 and quite a number of books in Arabic, or on that language, 

 as well as some bi-lingual, and of course others in Chinese 

 onlv, are in existence in China. The Arabic sources of the 

 life of Mohammed have thus been available to some Chinese 

 Moslems who have written in Chinese for the benefit of their 

 co-religionists or for outsiders, the wonderful story of the 

 Prophet. Much that is written is similar to what is already 

 available to us in translations into European languages — the 

 sources being the same ; but there is a special interest in 

 getting the Chinese viewpoint and occasional comment, 

 which makes it worth while to translate some of the accounts 

 of what, is more generally known, as well as some portions 

 which are omitted or lightly touched in the standard lives of 

 Mohammed to be found in English. 



Among the writers referred to, perhaps none is more 

 famous, or wrote mere copiously, than Liu Chih Sfl §? (Chai 

 lien) of Nanking who, 200 years ago, after long preparation, 

 wrote "The True Annals of the Prophet of Arabia," Jz% MQ 

 51 $k afterwards published in 20 small volumes. This is 

 apparently the standard "Life" of Mohammed in Chinese; 

 I am not aware of any other, though there are many shorter 

 accounts to be found, most of them probably relying upon 

 the "Annals" of Liu Chih. This author wrote many other 

 books on different aspects of Islam, such as the Kites and 



