Mosque Education and Initiation of Nationalization of Islam in China
From the time Islam was introduced into China to the middle ofthe Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), the Chinese Muslims‘ religious education had always been conducted in individual families by way of oral instruction by the elder generation. However, this method of education was restricted to a small range, lacking in organization and system, whose educational and social effects were not enough to meet the actual needs of the development of Islam in China. As time went on, Muslims in China adopted the Chinese language and gave up their mother tongue, leading to the loss of their ability to read scriptures in Arabic or Persian. However, no Chinese versions of Islamic scriptures had appeared yet. As a result, family education did not work efficiently any longer. Islam was faced with decline and Muslims became indifferent to their faith and religious life. Furthermore, rationalistic Confucian philosophy prevailed in the late period of the Ming Dynasty. Islam was in serious crises toexist and develop in China.
In this situation, the men of insight among the Hui Muslims began to explore ways to revitalize Islam, calling for developing Islamic education. Based on its development in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the Huis had already shaped their national economic structure with agriculture as the core and commerce and animal husbandry as sideline industries. They were self- sufficient economically and lived a stable life. This made it possible for the development of Mosque education. The initiator of Mosque Education was Hu Dengzhou who lived in Weicheng, a town in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province in the period of Jia Jing (1522-1566 A.D.) and Wan Li (1573-1620 A.D.) of the Ming Dynasty. Weicheng is located to the west of Shaaxi where the Huis were concentrated. The Huis‘ economy here was comparatively developed, and they were in a better geographical position. At first Hu Dengzhou recruited students and taught them by himself in his family. Afterwards Lanzhou Ma, his second- generation student, moved the class to a mosque, marking the beginning of Mosque Education in China. Since Hu Dengzhou initiated Mosque Education, it began to rise throughout those places where Huis were concentrated, such as Shangdong, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan and Guangxi.
The purpose of Mosque Education was to find out and carry forward the righteousness of Islam and foster qualified Islamic personnel with orthodox thoughts of Sunni. This allowed Islamic education to be taught in an organized and systematic method instead of in individual families.