This article is the first comprehensive evaluation of the provenance and reliability of the two enigmaticKronik Tionghuatexts of Semarang and Cirebon (the ‘Malay Annals of Semarang and Cerbon’). Initially published by M.O. Parlindungan in 1964, historians have increasingly begun to use these documents when reconstructing Java's early Islamic history. This article is a long overdue attempt to positively identify the Dutch colonial official (Cornelis Poortman) whom Parlindungan claims to have received the texts from. Although the article establishes that Parlindungan almost certainly knew this individual, discrepancies between his version of Poortman's career and official Dutch records raise questions about whether Poortman could have found the twoKronik Tionghua, at least in the manner described. The article then ends with a close textual analysis of bothKronik Tionghuawhich demonstrates the possibility that both texts were written by a modern, Dutch-educated author. The article therefore concludes that both texts are probable fabrications, albeit ones based on authentic texts.
This paper examines the unique Chinese brand of Islam known as the Hān Kitāb. Beginning with a brief historical overview of the Sinicised Muslim community which created this tradition, the paper proceeds to examine the work of three key Hān Kitāb figures: Wang Daiyu, Ma Zhu and Liu Zhi. All active between the mid-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the paper argues that their utilisation of the Islamic concept of dīn al-fiÏra (or humanity's innate inclination towards a belief in God), coupled with a willingness to engage positively with Neo-Confucian thought, resulted in a uniquely multicultural form of Islam; the Hān Kitāb, we will conclude, represents an early example of Islamic 'ecumenical thought'. By actively seeking to appreciate and acknowledge the commonalities between Islam and Chinese tradition, the Hān Kitāb overcame exclusivism and stressed moderation. In the context of the challenges posed by contemporary Salafī-inspired Islamic extremism, this paper will argue that the Hān Kitāb has never been more relevant than it is today.
Southeast Asia’s Islamic archaeology remains unexplored and poorly understood. A perception even persists amongst some scholars that the region does not constitute fertile ground for the archaeologist, with its high humidity destroying valuable remains. This chapter, however, demonstrates that Southeast Asia is home to a fascinating array of early Islamic artifacts. Focusing on the sites of four early Southeast Asian Islamic kingdoms, namely Barus, Lambri, Samudera-Pasai, and Brunei, this chapter considers their archaeology in the context of recent claims that Muslims from China were involved in the region’s Islamization. Consonant with conversion, the chapter demonstrates that all four locations did indeed experience a connection of some sort with China. Most notably, all the sites (except Samudera-Pasai, for which no systematic ceramic evidence is available) yielded considerable amounts of Chinese pottery, pre-modern China’s principal export item. Three of the sites, Lambri, Samudera-Pasai, and Brunei, also witnessed the utilization of numerous Chinese artistic motifs in association with their earliest Islamic artifacts. Most strikingly, however, Brunei provides strong evidence not only of a much earlier sultanate than previously suspected but also of a direct connection with the major Chinese port of Quanzhou. While continually stressing that the presence of Chinese trade items and/or cultural influences does not establish a Chinese (Muslim or otherwise) presence at the examined locations, they do demonstrate that Southeast Asia’s first Muslim kingdoms emerged within an environment suffuse with Chinese trade goods and at a time when Chinese cultural influences were being freely adopted by the local Muslim population.
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