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ABSTRACT
This essay presents and discusses aspects and notions of exile and exilic world view in Chinese Islam. This exilic world view emerged in early modern times in response to removal from the Muslim world and Islamic history. The paper discusses the transformation of this world view during die early twentieth century, a time when China integrated rapidly with global transportation and communication networks. I argue that the reintegration of Chinese Islam with the Muslim world gave rise, among other things, to a process of "Arabization" as a means to "return" to their original state before being "exiled" in China. In this regard, I contend that integration with the Islamic world did not simply remove the sense of exile among Chinese Muslims; rather, the sense of exile informed and shaped the ways in which Chinese Muslims understood the integration itself.
Illustrious guests
In 1945, the Muslim Brotherhood's Section of Outreach to the Islamic World (qism al-ittisäl bi al- 'älam al-Islämi) published a book that was to be a topic of excitement for quite some time.2 Widi both Chinese and Arabic on its cover, the book was entitled al-Sîn wal-Isläm or, in Chinese, Zhongguo yu Huijiao - China and Islam. Its author was one Muhammad Tawâdu' (Pang, 1902-1958). Pang/Tawädu' was a functionary within the Brotherhood's outreach section and identified himself as "Head of the Chinese Delegation to al-Azhar and a member of the Section of Outreach to the Islamic World" (ra'is al-bi'tha al-Sînïya bi al-Azhar wa 'udu qism al-ittisâl bi al-' älam al-lsläml, Tawâdu', 1945). The first few pages of Pang's book featured an Arabic map of China and its provinces, alongside a picture of the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in full uniform.3 There was also a picture of the author, depicting a young-looking man in Western suit and tie, a tall Egyptian tarbush and traces of what appears to be a desperate attempt to grow a respectable beard (Tawâdu', 1945: 'ayn).
China and Islam, Pang's chosen title, could just as well serve as a banner for a fascinating if little known episode in Chinese Islamic history, a sixteen-year period in the 1930s and 1940s, during which a group of Chinese Muslim scholars made concerted efforts to establish (to their minds, to reestablish) a special relationship...