The Treasure of the Heavenly Scripture

This chapter offers an analysis of the Qur’ān as depicted in the works of Wang Daiyu, Liu Zhi, and Ma Dexin. Wang’s, Liu’s, and Ma’s works were representative of transitional periods within the Sino-Islamic intellectual tradition, and they reveal how the Sino-Muslims’ engagement with the Qur’ān changed over time. Each author translated and used the Qur’ān in a different manner, while simultaneously building on the work of his predecessors. This was due to their individualized methodological approaches to scripture, paired with their historical circumstances and specific discursive settings. From a reading of their engagement with the Qur’ān, we see that over time, Sino-Muslims gradually moved from the use of approximate thematic renditions of Qur’ānic sentiments to a clear intention to offer the entire Qur’ān to the Sino-Muslim community.