Muhammad Ma Jian

Muhammad Ma Jian
Traditional Chinese	馬堅
Simplified Chinese	马坚
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǎ Jiān Wade–Giles Ma Chien
Courtesy name
Traditional Chinese	子實
Simplified Chinese	子实
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zǐshí Wade–Giles Tzu-shih

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ma.

Muhammad Ma Jian (Gejiu, 1906 – Beijing, 1978) (Arabic: محمد ماكين الصيني‎‎ Muḥammad Mākīn as-Ṣīnī; English translation: Muhammad Ma Jian the Chinese) was a Chinese Islamic scholar and translator. He is notable for translating the Qur'an into Chinese and stressing compatibility between Marxism and Islam.

Born in Shadian village, Gejiu, Yunnan, Ma Jian went to Shanghai to pursue his studies in 1928. In 1931, he left China for Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt as a member of the first group of government-sponsored Chinese students to study there. While in Cairo, he wrote a book in Arabic about Islam in China, and translated the Analects into Arabic. He returned to China in 1939. There he edited the Arabic-Chinese Dictionary and translated the Qur'an and other Islamic works. He studied under Imam Hu Songshan. He became a professor of Beijing University in 1946. In 1981, the China Social Science Press published his Chinese version of the Qur'an; an Arabic-Chinese bilingual version was later published by the Medina-based King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Press.

Further reading

• Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu (中国大百科全书 "Encyclopedia of China"), first edition, 1980-1993.

External links

• (Chinese) Biography of Ma Jian and his translation of Qu'ran.
• (English) Al-Quran project includes Ma Jian's Quran translation (both in classical and traditional Chinese).