Muhammad Ma Jian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muhammad Ma Jian, or Muhammad Makin, (1906-1978) was a Confucian scholar who became an Islamic jurist.
In 1931, Ma went to al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. While at al-Azhar he gave a lecture series on Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. The highly popular series was published as a book sponsored by al-Fath, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 1935. Ma returned to China in 1939. There he edited the reputable “Arab-Chinese Dictionary” and translated the Qur'an, enabling Chinese Muslims to have direct experience of the text in their own language.
Ma's Qur'an became a staple for Chinese Muslims, and became the basis for teaching Chinese Muslim Imams. His Chinese Muslim history accentuated Islam's significant contributions to China. Ma's work thus formed a bridge between Chinese and Muslim cultures.
In 1981, the Social science Publication House of China published his work Arab-Chinese Qur'an, which was welcomed for its style of translation. Later, the Medina Holt Qur'an Publication House in Saudi Arabia published his translation of Holy Qur'an in Chinese which was distributed worldwide.
