- Liu Zhi (scholar)
Liu Zhi (ca. 1660 - ca. 1739) was a Chinese Muslim scholar of the
Qing period fromNanjing .Biography
In his childhood, he received instruction from his father, Liu Sanjie (劉三杰). At the age of 12, he studied scriptures with Yuan Ruqi (袁汝契) at the Garden of Military Studies Mosque in
Nanjing , (which no longer exists). At the age of 15, he began a career of study in his home. For fifteen years, he read up on Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, as well as "Western Studies"; there as nothing he did not read. He consideredConfucius andMencius to be "Sages of the East" andMuhammad to be a "Sage of the West," and that "the teachings of the Sages of East and West, today as in ancient times, are one." He further believed that the scriptures ofIslam are also "generally similar to the intentions ofConfucius andMencius ." From around the age of 30, he took up residence at the foot of Qingliangshan inNanjing , where he began to interpret and expound on theIslamic scriptures, usingConfucian studies, for a period of about twenty years. During this time, he twice brought his manuscript with him to visit and solicit advice and the opinions of bothMuslim s and non-Muslims, leaving his tracks throughoutJiangsu ,Shandong ,Hebei ,Henan ,Anhui ,Zhejiang ,Guangdong , and other places. In his later years, he resided at his studio, "Saoyelou" ("House of Sweeping Leaves"), at Qingliangshan inNanjing .Works
* 天方性理 ("Tianfang Xingli", "The Metaphysics of Islam")
* 天方典禮 ("Tianfang Dianli", "The Rites of Islam")
* 天方至聖實綠 ("Tianfang Zhisheng Shilu", "The Real Record of the Last Prophet of Islam")
* Dozens of othersSee also
*
Yusuf Ma Dexin , a later Islamic scholar who also tried to reconcile Islam and Confucian philosophyReferences
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