“Apoliticization”: One Facet of Chinese Islam

Abstract

Islam, a tradition that both spans and transcends conventional notions of “East” and “West”, has adapted itself as the religion and culture of a sizable minority in China from imperial times down to the present day. For their survival, Muslims in China have often found it necessary to downplay the political (and sometimes militant) emphasis of “normative” Islam, even as they have participated in the political life of Chinese society. However, beyond merely reacting to social, political and cultural intimidation, the tendency to “apoliticize” Islam among Muslims in China is also a reflection of Chinese Muslims simultaneity, a sense of belonging to two civilizations at the same time, without disjunction. Responding to rival pressures to assimilate and to resist assimilation to assert a distinct identity, common to many diaspora communities, Chinese Muslims have exemplified a long history of accommodation of Islam to local contexts, showing Islam to be an evolving, multifaceted tradition.