ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the succession line of intellectual endeavors carried out by Islamic education masters and their role in the development of mosque education. Ma studies the genealogy of famous teachers and the networks connecting local schools through generations across China. He argues that, along with the development of mosque education from the late Ming, there existed some genealogies of scripture-hall education masters, such as the Genealogy of Islamic Learning (Jingxue xichuan pu) and Foreword for Senior Master Ma Zhiben on His Sixtieth Birthday (Zhiben Ma laofuzi shouxu), which were different from the general, local and spiritual genealogies linked to the Prophet Muhammad. These academic genealogies connect the diverse schools of scripture-hall education in China, and they show that teaching based on using the Chinese language to interpret Islam in Chinese society, in the long term, became a fundamental feature of Chinese Muslim communities.
