Islam during the Yuan dynasty

Jinan Great Southern Mosque was completed during the reign of Temür (Emperor Chengzong of Yuan).

Unlike the western khanates, emperors of the Yuan dynasty did not convert to Islam. However, they elevated the status of foreigners from West Asia. Peoples such as the Muslim Persians and Arabs from West Asia worked in high-ranking posts instead of native Confucian scholars. These Islamic peoples from various regions were later referred to as the Semu people,[3] meaning "various sorts".

At the same time the Mongols imported Muslims from West Asia to serve as administrators in China, the Mongols also sent Han and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, using foreigners to curtail the power of the local peoples of both lands.[4]

The territory of the Yuan dynasty was divided into 12 districts during the reign of Kublai (Emperor Shizu) with a governor and vice-governor each. According to the Iranian historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, of these 12 governors, 8 were Muslims; in the remaining districts, Muslims were vice-governors.[5]

Over 10,000 Muslim names can be identified in Yuan historical records. The standard word for Muslims in Chinese language documents of the late Yuan period is "Huihui" (回回). The Muslims were overseen by a Huihui named Yeheidie'erding (Amir al-Din) who designed Qionghua island which sits in the lake of Beihai Park in central Beijing.[6] In the fourteenth century, the total population of Muslims in China was 4,000,000.[7]

The term Hui Hui country (回回國) was originally used by Chinese in the Yuan dynasty to refer to the Khwarazmian Empire in Central Asia. During the Yuan dynasty Hui Hui became a catch all term used for people of multiple religions from west of China including Jews, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Zhuhu Huihui (主鹘回回) was the specific term for Jews. Jewish and Muslim merchants who used false weights were punished by Yuan authorities in Hangzhou, the Muslims were "wealth merchants" and the Jews worked in the sugar bureau of Hangzhou.[8][9] There were also Gypsy Huihui (Luoli Huihui), Green Eyed Huihui (Lüjing Huihui) and Indian Huihui (Xindu or Jingduhei Huihu).[10]

The first recorded Muslim in history to go to Japan was Sadr ud-Din (撒都魯丁 pronounced as Sādōulǔdīng in Chinese and Sadorotei in Japanese, also wrongly transcribed as 都魯丁 Dūlǔdīng and 撤都魯丁 Chèdōulǔdīng by the Japanese), sent by Yuan China in 1275 as a diplomatic delegation ordering the Japanese to submit to the Yuan emperor between the two Mongol invasions of Japan. He was beheaded by the Japanese. A Buddhist monk criticised the executions of the envoys.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

The Yuan dynasty saw the formation of Muslim communities in North China and Yunnan. The descendants of these Hui communities remain as distinct groups and preserve their own personality and showed a tendency to autonomy.[20]

At a later period, Genghis Khan and the succeeding Yuan emperors forbade Islamic practices, such as slaughtering of animals in a “[halal]” manner and Circumcision.[21] Genghis Khan directly referred Muslims and Jews as "slaves", demanding that they should follow the Mongol method of eating rather than the halal method. Jews were also affected, being forbidden to eat Kosher.[22]

Among all the [subject] alien peoples only the Hui-hui say “we do not eat Mongol food”. [Cinggis Qa’an replied:] “By the aid of heaven we have pacified you; you are our slaves. Yet you do not eat our food or drink. How can this be right?” He thereupon made them eat. “If you slaughter sheep, you will be considered guilty of a crime.” He issued a regulation to that effect ... [In 1279/1280 under Qubilai] all the Muslims say: “if someone else slaughters [the animal] we do not eat”. Because the poor people are upset by this, from now on, Musuluman [Muslim] Huihui and Zhuhu [Jewish] Huihui, no matter who kills [the animal] will eat [it] and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves, and cease the rite of circumcision.[23]

At the end, corruption and the persecution became so severe that Muslim generals joined the Han people in rebelling against the Yuan dynasty. The Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang had Muslim generals like Lan Yu who rebelled against the Yuan and defeated them in combat. Some Muslim communities adopted the Chinese name which meant "barracks" and "thanks". Many Hui Muslims claim it is because the Han people played an important role in overthrowing the Yuan dynasty and it was thus named to honor the those who assisted them.[24]

Muslims in the semu class also revolted against the Yuan dynasty in the Ispah Rebellion but the rebellion was crushed and the Muslims were massacred by the Yuan loyalist commander Chen Youding.

During the Ming conquest of Yunnan, Muslim generals Mu Ying and Lan Yu led Muslim troops loyal to the Ming dynasty against Mongol and Muslim troops loyal to the Yuan dynasty.[25][26]

Muslim scientists were brought to work on calendar making and astronomy. Kublai (Emperor Shizu) brought Iranians to Beijing to construct an observatory and an institution for astronomical studies.[27] Jamal ad-Din, a Persian astronomer, presented Kublai Khan with seven Persian astronomical instruments.[28] The work of Islamic geographers also reached China during the Yuan dynasty and was later used in the Ming dynasty to draw the Western Regions in the Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, the oldest surviving world map from East Asia.

Muslim doctors and Arabic medical texts, particularly in anatomy, pharmacology, and ophthalmology, circulated in China during this time.[29] The Chinese emperor, Kublai Khan, who suffered from alcoholism and gout, accorded high status to doctors. New seeds and formulas from the Middle East stimulated medical practice. The traditional Chinese study of herbs, drugs, and portions came in for renewed interest and publication.[27] One of the medical texts introduced from the Islamic world was Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine, much of which was translated into Chinese and incorporated into the Hui Hui Yao Fang (Prescriptions of the Hui Nationality) under the Kublai-appointed Syrian Nestorian interpreter and scientist Isa Tarjaman.[30][31]

The scheme of "Muslim trebuchet" (Huihui Pao) used to breach the walls of Fancheng and Xiangyang

After entering into China proper, the Mongols adopted new artillery and military technologies. Siege engineers, Ismail and Al al-Din were brought to invent the "Muslim trebuchet" (Huihui Pao), which was utilized by Kublai during the Battle of Xiangyang.[32]

The Yuan dynasty appointed Persian, Arab and Buddhist Uyghur administrators as taxation and finance officers. Muslims worked as grassroots-level corporation officers in China in the early Yuan period but as the Han people bought shares, most corporations acquired mixed membership, or even complete Han ownership.[27]

It was during the Yuan dynasty that the port of Quanzhou flourished. Quanzhou was made famous on account of the accounts of the famous travelers Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo who visited the port. Today a large number of stone inscriptions can be seen at Quanzhou, such as 300 stone inscriptions on tombs, graves and mosques.

The Muslim architect Yeheidie'erding (Amir al-Din) incorporated Han architecture into the construction of Dadu (Khanbaliq), the capital of the Yuan dynasty.[33] The construction of the walls of the city began in 1264, while the imperial palace was built from 1274 onwards. The design of Dadu followed the Confucian classic Rites of Zhou, in that the rules of “9 vertical axis, 9 horizontal axis”, “palaces in the front, markets in the rear”, “left ancestral worship, right god worship” were taken into consideration. It was broad in scale, strict in planning and execution, complete in equipment.[34] Dadu officially became the capital of the newly established the Yuan dynasty in the 1270s, though some constructions in the city were not completed until 1293. It lasted until 1368 when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty and future Hongwu Emperor, sent an army towards the Yuan capital.[35]

The last Yuan emperor fled north to Shangdu and the Ming founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the destruction of Yuan palaces.[35] Dadu was later renamed to Beiping by the Ming in the same year.