Islamic law in Xinjiang

Abstract

Islamic law has been present in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) since the tenth century, yet scholarship on this topic has only developed seriously in the past two decades, and many questions remain unanswered. The bulk of source material dates from the mid-eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries, when Islamic and Chinese law and legal institutions came into regular contact and competition. Consequently, scholarship has focused on identifying what might be distinct about shariah in the region, in particular local practices that appear to deviate from assumed Muslim norms, the creation of vernacular legal texts, and the results of encounter with Chinese legal norms and systems. Yet the dispersed, multilingual, and often deceptive nature of the archive has led to longstanding problems of methodology and epistemology. This chapter considers the sources of Islamic law in Xinjiang and how scholars in China and abroad have approached them through philology, history, and anthropology. It indicates the great resilience and adaptability of Islamic law and legal institutions in the region, despite historical vicissitudes, and points to promising avenues for illuminating its changes.