Ma Zhu

Zhu was born in Yongchang Fu in Yunnan Province during the reign of the Qing dynasty. His father died when Zhu was young. He is claimed to be a descendant of Ajall Shams al-Din Omar, a Muslim Mongol general, and of the Prophet Mohammed.[5]

Ma Zhu's philosophy focused heavily on social relations and interactions between the sexes. He theorized that, per Confucian and Islamic values, an ideal society would be one in which men dominated public affairs while women would serve in a subservient role as domestic helpmates.[3] The philosopher opposed women performing roles outside of the home, stating "Even a talented woman should not take care of non-domestic affairs." Zhu took inspiration for his ideal role for women from the story of Adam and Eve, in which Allah created Eve from the flesh of Adam.[3] This indicated to Zhu that men and women were not intended to be of equal standing in society. In his work Qingzhen Zhinan (清眞指南), Zhu noted,

"Husband and wife are one entity. However, created out of her husband, the wife should naturally obey him. Their love is locally described as dear as that between brothers and sisters."

Zhu's philosophy also denoted the distinctions between the traditional Chinese paired forces of Ming and Xing, Yin and yang. According to Zhu, Ming represented what was preordained by Allah, while Xing represented by what was acquirable though social conditioning and exposure to earthly human existence.[3] Similarly, in Zhu's view yin represented the earthly acquired and yang represented the divinely innate. Parts from both were required to form any human, but men and women differed in terms of how much of each respective force they embodied. In Qingzhen Zhinan, Zhu posited that men were composed primarily of yang while women favoured yin.[3] Thus, Zhu concluded that men's dispositions favoured sacredness and nobility in contrast to the worldly and "debased" dispositions of women. Zhu also noted that their reliance on yin granted females a propensity towards greed, hesitation, impropriety, and contemptuousness towards the poor. However, Zhu also believed that women should strive to be similar to famous women in Islam in order to overcome their evil proclivities. Zhu mentioned Moleyan, Khadiyah, and Fatima as examples of women who had overcome the immoral tendencies of their sex and become closer to Allah.[3]

In addition to his views on gender, Zhu also advocated for both men and women to pursue an Islamic education.[3]

• Wang Daiyu
• Yusuf Ma Dexin
• Liu Zhi (scholar)
• List of Hanafis
• List of Ash'aris and Maturidis
• List of Muslim theologians