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Friendship in Confucian Islam
Sachiko Murata
Most people imagine that Islam and Confucianism have little in common.
Typically they classify Islam as monolithic and think of Confucianism as an ethical
system. As with most stereotypes, the realities are quite different. Islam is far from
monolithic, and Confucianism has all the characteristics typically given to a religion.
An exceptionally interesting example of both the diversity of the Islamic tradition
and the religious dimensions of the Confucian tradition is provided by what I am calling
“Confucian Islam.” By this expression I mean a specific school of thought that began
developing in the sixteenth century and flourished down to the beginning of the twentieth
century. The members of this school were often called Huiru 回儒, which means
“Muslim Confucians.” They practiced the religion of Islam and observed its ritual and
social rules, but, as scholars, they also developed a unique way of talking about the
Islamic tradition.
It should be kept in mind that Muslims first entered China in the seventh century,
during the first century of Islam. They came mainly as diplomats and merchants, and
many of them settled down and married local women. We know from archaeological
records that there were Chinese-speaking Muslim communities by the tenth century.
Today the official number of Muslims in China is twenty million, with unofficial
estimates running much higher.
By the sixteenth century, many Muslim teachers and scholars had realized that
Islam could not survive in the Chinese environment without adequate explanation of the
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worldview behind its practices and social norms. Rituals and rules can easily be
transmitted by families and communities, but correct practice does not necessarily
involve thinking and understanding. If Muslims were going to grasp the rationale behind
their own practices, they needed to understand the worldview on which the practices were
based. By this time, however, the vast majority of Muslims in China were not able to
read the books in Arabic and Persian that explained the meaning of Islamic teachings.
The solution reached by the Muslim Confucians was to reformulate the
worldview and ethos of Islam in terms of Neo-Confucian philosophy. This philosophy,
which had begun to flourish in the tenth century, provided a grand, overarching vision of
existence and the human role in the universe. It offered sophisticated expositions of
metaphysics, theology, cosmology, psychology, and spiritual anthropology. In many
ways it responded to the intellectual challenges posed by Daoism and Buddhism, and by
the sixteenth century, it provided the foundation for most Chinese education.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Muslim scholars established
several new centers of learning in various parts of China. Their goal was to transmit
Islamic learning in Chinese, and that meant that students had to study Confucius,
Mencius, and other Chinese classics along with the standard books in Arabic and Persian.
Among the Muslim authors who wrote in Chinese, two stand out: One is Wang
Daiyu 王岱輿 and the other Liu Zhi 劉智. Wang Daiyu is the author of the first book in
Chinese explaining Islamic teachings, a book that appeared in 1642. Liu Zhi was born a
few years after Wang Daiyu’s death and published a series of influential books beginning
in the early eighteenth century.
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Wang Daiyu’s book is called The Real Commentary on the True Teaching
(Zhengjiao zhenquan 正教真
). It is divided into two sections of twenty chapters each.
The first section addresses the theological, metaphysical, and cosmological teachings of
Islam. In thoroughly Confucian language, it talks about standard Islamic teachings like
divine unity, free will and predestination, the varieties of divine mercy, the nature of
human perfection, the levels of human consciousness, the relationship between life and
death, and the role of angels and demons in the cosmos. Only those familiar with Islamic
thought as it developed from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries will see that
Wang has employed Confucian terminology without losing the Islamic meaning.
The second section of The Real Commentary deals with the ethical and practical
teachings of Islam. Wang is completely at home with Confucian ethics and shows that it
has exact parallels in the Quran and the Islamic tradition. He pays little attention to the
actual rules and regulations set down by the Shariah. Only when Islamic teachings clash
with Chinese norms does he explain the rationale behind the injunctions, as in the cases
of the prohibition of pork, alcohol, gambling, and interest. In this second section, Wang
talks a good deal about the “five constants” (wuchang 五常), which are five basic virtues
upon which human relationships should be built. Friendship is one of these five
relationships, and Wang devotes the sixth chapter of the second section to it.
In short, Wang Daiyu summarized the whole range of Islamic teachings in a
single volume. As for the second major Muslim author, Liu Zhi, he wrote three important
books. The first is devoted to the Islamic worldview, the second to the Islamic ethos, and
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the third to the life of the Prophet as the perfect embodiment of both the worldview and
the ethos.
Two colleagues and I have translated the first of Liu Zhi’s three volumes as
Nature and Principle in Islam (Tianfang xingli 天方性理). i Liu’s primary concern in this
book is to explain the nature of things, beginning, as all Islamic thought does, with the
unity of God. In good Neo-Confucian fashion, Liu Zhi talks about God using terms like
the Real Ruler, the Root Substance, the Real Being, and the Root Suchness. These terms
may sound abstract to those who are accustomed to discussions of the personal side of
God, but they are not unusual in Islamic texts. In fact they are rather good translations of
some of the many Arabic terms used by Muslim theologians.
In Nature and Principle, Liu Zhi speaks about the grand issues of Neo-Confucian
philosophy, such as the origin of heaven and earth, the intermediary role of human beings
between heaven and earth, and the nature of spiritual and intellectual perfection. He also
has a great deal to say about how people can follow in the footsteps of the sages. Like all
Muslim Confucians, he uses the word “sage” (sheng 聖) to translate the Arabic term nabî
or prophet and the term “worthy” (xian 賢) to translate the Arabic term walî, which
means saint or friend of God. Liu Zhi explains in detail that the goal of emulating the
sages is to achieve “one body with heaven and earth.” This is a typical Confucian
expression for human perfection, going back to the Yijing, the Classic that deals most
thoroughly with metaphysics and cosmology.
Liu Zhi called his second major book Rules and Proprieties of Islam (Tianfang
dianli 天方典禮). It addresses the basic practices of Islam, that is, the Shariah. It is not a
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book on jurisprudence, however, because it does not go into the details typical of the
juridical approach. Rather, it provides an overview of Islamic practices, such as the Five
Pillars, and then explains the underlying wisdom in terms of the quest for human
perfection.
In the introductory chapter of Rules and Proprieties, Liu Zhi spends a good deal
of time talking about the common origins of Islam and Confucianism and the fact that
they agree on the necessity of ritual action in conformity with Heaven. For example, he
writes, “What is recorded in the books of Islam is no different from what is written in the
Confucian canon. Observing and practicing the proprieties of Islam is like observing and
practicing the teachings of the ancient sages and kings.”
One of the prominent topics of Liu Zhi’s second book is the already mentioned
Five Constants and the five corresponding human relationships, one of which is
friendship.
The Five Constants
Let me take a brief detour here to remind you of the importance of the Five
Constants in Confucian thought. These are five specific virtues, discussed in detail by
Confucius, Mencius, and Confucian thinkers generally, that provide the basis for
harmonious human relationships in any society. These are humanity or benevolence,
righteousness, knowledge, faithfulness, and propriety.
Each of the five constant virtues represents the ideal relationship in a specific
human situation. Righteousness is the virtue that should sustain the relationship between
a ruler and his subjects. Humanity is the virtue that should flourish between father and
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son. Knowledge is the virtue that should dominate the relationship between siblings.
Propriety is the virtue that should govern the relationship between husband and wife.
Finally, faithfulness, which is closely allied with loyalty and sincerity, is the virtue that
should provide the backbone for friendship.
The five constants are often discussed in the context of cosmology. Tu Weiming
calls the Chinese approach an “anthropocosmic vision,” because it looks at human beings
and the entire universe as intimate and inseparable partners. We all know that there are
no human beings without a universe, but this vision adds that there is no universe without
human beings. This typically Confucian notion is also standard in Islamic anthropology.
God did not create only human beings in his own image, he also created the entire
universe in his own image. The perfected human being and the universe as a whole are
two sides of the same coin, each depending on the other for its continuance.
In this anthropocosmic vision, the Five Constants represent principles that are
inherent in the nature of things and rooted in the Dao itself. The Dao, the ultimate
principle and primal reality, gave rise to heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things, and it
simultaneously put human beings into the midst. People have the unique ability to upset
the balance between heaven and earth and to disrupt the normative relationships among
the ten thousand things. If people do not understand the relationship between the Dao
and the universe and if they do not act in keeping with the mandate of Heaven, they will
destroy the equilibrium of their own selves and, as a result, they will upset the family,
society at large, and ultimately the universe. Human beings have a truly cosmic role to
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play, and they cannot play it correctly if they do not act in keeping with the Five
Constants.
On the human and social level the five constant virtues reflect the proper
relationships among heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things. Chinese thought
discusses many complicated and subtle correlations among the virtues and cosmic
phenomena. Each virtue is associated with one of the five elements, one of the
directions, a season of the year, and so on.
Friendship in Wang and Liu
Let me now turn to a few remarks on the notion of friendship as explained by
Wang Daiyu and Liu Zhi. Both authors are careful to situate friendship within the wider
context of the five human relationships. Both point out that friendship is a virtue
achieved fully by sages and worthies. Ordinary people need to imitate the sages and
worthies in order to practice the virtues.
Both Wang Daiyu and Liu Zhi have a chapter or a section called “The Dao of
Friendship,” meaning the specific way to practice this virtue. The final goal of friendship
in all cases should be the same as the goal of the other virtues: to bring oneself into
harmony with heaven and earth, that is, to conform to what God wants from people. The
two authors pretty much agree on their analysis of friendship, but on the whole, Wang is
more anecdotal and Liu Zhi more systematic. Let me quote some passages to give you an
idea of their approaches.
More than Liu Zhi, Wang Daiyu talks about friendship as a cosmic quality. In the
following passage he extends the notion to include the ideal human relationship with the
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entire universe. He says that sages and worthies establish friendship with the cosmos
itself and in so doing actualize the virtues that typify the cosmic principles. I quote:
When the utmost person makes friends with the sun and the moon, his
highness and clarity become efficacious and illuminate the universe. When he
makes friends with the earth and soil, his modesty and lowliness become
efficacious and enable him to undertake what is proper. When he makes friends
with the mountains and the forests, his purity and cleanliness become efficacious
and he takes part in the creative transformation. When he makes friends with the
rivers and the seas, his moisture and enrichment become efficacious and he
nourishes all from ancient times to the present. He never goes to one extreme or
another.
Liu Zhi begins talking about friendship by explaining that if two people are to be
friends, they must achieve unity in both their will and their righteousness, and then they
must be harmonious in applying their will to righteous action. He explains that in true
friendship, the two friends are two halves of a single self. He concludes this discussion
by saying,
Two friends are like the sun and the moon: They represent each other and
do not rebel against each other. This explains the meaning of the two selves in
one. The sun and the moon are different substances but they have the same
virtue. The sun beautifies the daytime and the moon beautifies the night. They
follow in a circle and represent each other, so in reality they do not rebel against
each other.
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After describing the general theory of friendship, Liu explains that people should
engage in friendship for the sake of the mutual enhancement of virtue. Notice in the
following passage that he appeals, in typical Chinese fashion, to the example of the
ancients. He means not only the sages and kings of ancient China, but also the whole
series of prophets that are discussed in Islamic texts. He writes,
The Dao of Friendship is to associate with each other for the sake of
virtue; it is not to associate for the sake of influence. Association means to have
mutual respect and to exercise mutual restraint.
People in ancient times made friends for the sake of virtue, and they
exerted themselves in virtue; if one did not have as much virtue as the other, he
would be ashamed. Nowadays people make friends for the sake of status. They
say that one should strive for status; if one does not have as much status as the
other, he is ashamed.
How is it that people of ancient times and today are so unrelated? To fully
realize friendship, one should return to the way of ancient times.
Liu differentiates between what people normally mean when they talk about
friends, and what they should be striving to achieve through friendship. He says that
friends are of three sorts: friends for righteousness and virtue, friends for profit, and
friends for amusement. After explaining why only the first sort of friendship is true and
authentic, he offers advice on how to choose friends. In one passage, he says that you
should pay close attention to how the other person deals with the virtues. He writes,
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In making friendship, first observe how someone serves his parents and
how he attends to his siblings. If he does not serve his parents and attend to his
siblings with care, then do not become his friend. This is the rule of discerning
people by their acts. Filial piety and submission to elder brothers are the roots of
a hundred good acts.
Once friendship becomes established for the sake of virtue, then the other four
human relationships will be aided and supported. Liu writes,
If there are any defects between lord and subject, father and son, husband
and wife, and elder and younger brother, then you cannot establish the true
principle in these relationships. A friend can act in such a way as to overcome
and mend disagreements so that things come home to complete beauty. A friend
will rectify your mistakes and release and deliver you from calamities. Thus
many things will be accomplished. When you receive assistance from a friend
who speaks directly with confidence and boldness, you can repent of your
mistakes….
Among the five human relationships, is not the work and endeavor of
friends the greatest? As I look toward perfection in a friend, the friend looks
toward perfection in me. If I seek only that my friend make me perfect and
complete and I do nothing to perfect and complete my friend, then I will be
greatly ashamed.
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In conclusion, let me quote one more piece of Liu Zhi’s advice. This alone is
perhaps enough to suggest that both traditional China and traditional Islam took
friendship a lot more seriously than we do today. Liu writes,
A proverb in Islam says, “Choosing a friend is like choosing a bride.”
This means that it is better to be cautious in selecting friends and to have only a
few, so as to avoid falling apart and hatred.
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Sachiko Murata, William C. Chittick, and Tu Weiming. The Sage Learning of Liu Zhi:
Islamic Thought in Confucian Terms (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009).