Menhuan

Menhuan (simplified Chinese: 门宦; traditional Chinese: 門宦; pinyin: Ménhuàn) is a term used by the Hui and Uyghur Muslim populations of China to indicate a Chinese Ṣūfī ṭarīḳa ("order" or "saintly lineage"). The leaders of a menhuan, which usually are Ṣūfī Muslim murs̲h̲id ("masters") or walī ("saints"), form a chain of spiritual successors over the ages, known in Arabic as silsilah, which goes back to the order's founder in China (e.g., Ma Laichi or Ma Mingxin), and beyond, toward his teachers in Arabia.[1]

  1. ^ Michael Dillon (1999). China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement, and sects. Routledge. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-7007-1026-4. One of Dillon's main sources is: 馬通 ( Ma Tong) (1983). 中国伊斯兰教派与门宦制度史略 (Zhongguo Yisilan jiaopai yu menhuan zhidu shilue) (A sketch of the history of Chinese Islamic sects and the menhuan system). Yinchuan: 宁夏人民出版社 (Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe).