(Original Source: http://abuzuhri.blogspot.com/2006/09/sagerasul-reflection.html)

by Abu Zuhri

Edited by Defending-Islam.com staff

THE SAGE (SHENG REN) IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
AND PROPHETHOOD IN ISLAM : A REFLECTION FOR CIVILIZATIONAL DIALOGUE

The Sage in Chinese Classics

In Chinese Tradition, Confucius , Mencius and Lao Tze are honored as Sages / Sheng Ren. The Final Messenger of Islam- Muhammad sallaLlahu alaihi wa salam is conferred the title- Ching Sheng – the Glorious/Greatest/Most Prominent Sage by Chinese Muslim scholars. There is an ancient mosque in Guang Zhou, China called Huai Sheng Si ( Mosque in Remembrance of the Sage /Rasul ).

Mencius says- the sage is a teacher of a hundred generations but for Muslims- the Sage/Rasul is a teacher/examplar for a thousand generations (to the last age of humanity).

The Chinese people are close to fitra and sunna of the Ancient Sages, which means they already knew and followed some Heavenly-inspired way of worship, they respected the ruler, elders, performed rites, gave moral rights and had character, virtues and had refined culture. They lost it and fragmented into Tao/Buddhist/Confucian beliefs which only had some remnants of truth. The Last Messenger came to restore, revive and complete the Whole Teaching/ the Way of Wisdom.

Hui Jiao (The Way of Return)

Why do some Chinese scholars call Islam as HUI JIAO ? It means the Path returning to God, to our true nature, to the primordial being. Hui resembles the character of double mim – square circles like Kaaba, the ancient house of worship founded by Prophet Ibrahim alaihi salam. At that time, apart from Islam, the Divine teachings were called Din al-hanif , din al-fitrah or din al-haqq. All these meanings denote restoring man to his original, noble, truthful being as the slave and representative of God on Earth. He undertook the trust –the message from God which all other creation was afraid to bear.

The word SAGE in Chinese consists of 3 basic characters:
First-ERH on top left (ear/hear)
Second-KO on top right ( mouth/teach/speak)
Third- WANG at bottom ( king/divine)

I will first explain the bottom word- WANG/king. Why must the sage have a kingly character?

Man as Khalifah / King /Ruler

A king can mean a ruler, leader, scholar, warrior, statesman with authority (derived by adhering to Heavenly Will/Mandate-trust). The top line in wang denotes Tian/ Heaven / God. The second line- ren/man and the third line- Tu/earth.

So a king is one who rules with justice and adheres to the truth/right way in living on earth with his subjects. He received the blessings/connection from Heaven above. This is indicated in the vertical line connecting the 3 horizontal lines. Allah says in the Quran : Inni jailun fil-ardhi khalifa. I will create a man/leader/rasul who will represent Me (My Decree/Teaching). What a coincidence? There are proofs that God also choose His Rasul/Nabi who are king/rulers like Sulaiman and Yusuf , but the station/name as Rasul / Nabi is higher than king/sultan/emperor because Allah gave them REVELATION/ WAHYU. They are commanded to live in harmony/humility, not arrogantly (while the earthly kings had only temporal power/wealth and followers).

In Chinese tradition , there are 3 kings who achieved the sagely quality by Divine Will- Yao, Shun and Zhao. Chuang Tzu says the perfect man is like the sage when in stillness /contemplation /ibadah and like a king when in movement/ exercise of power/action.

Revelation and Inspiration From Heaven

The second nature of Sage/Rasul is ERH/Ting. He hears /listens and receives NEWS /Knowledge /Inspiration or REVELATION from the Unseen, Divine Presence / God. Like the verse of Quran : Sami’na wa atha’na , ghufranaka rabbana wa ilaikal Masir. The Rasul/Believers say-We hear and obey/follow (God’s) command. Forgive us O Lord and unto You is our return. Amana Rasulu bima unzila ilayhi ( We believe in the Rasul for what has been sent down (by Allah).

So we understand that the Quranic word – NAZALA or WAHYU –which means message from the Divine- corresponds exactly to the top-bottom / vertical line in the wang character! The Muslims in China differentiate between the God revered by other religions as TIAN or SHANTI, but reserve the Majestic Name of Allah as ZHEN ZHU (the True / Real God). The famous greeting/saying to Muslim guests or travelers from outside China by the Hui elders is: Zhen Zu Bao Yu Ni (May Allah bless and protect you).

The Metaphor of Divine Reality as Light

If we add another slanted line at the top of WANG , it becomes a new word : ZHU / MASTER /GOD / LORD. According to an old commentary, this slanted line represents – LIGHT / ILLUMINATION /GUIDANCE above the Sage / King, that is Tian/Divine Reality itself. Chinese scholars had aptly translated the word-God as ZHEN ZHU in mandarin. Only Allah Tabaraka wa Taala can give light / guidance to whom He wants among His Creation. He created the Angels/Malaikat from light /NUR. A possible explanation is : the Rasul/ Sage receives the wahyu through Angel Jibrail which is also a Light from Allah Ta’ala. There are many ayats of Quran to confirm these meanings:

Allahu Nurus Samawati wal-ardh..Mathalu nurihi..Nurun alan-nur. Yahdi’Llahu li-Nurihi man yasyaa.. Wa Allah bi-kulli syain Alim.
( Allah is the Light of Heaven and Earth… The similitude of His Light..Light upon light. He guides to His Light Whom He wills.. And Allah has power over everything )

Allahu Waliyyul lazina amanu , yukhrijuhum minaz-zulumati ilan –nur.
( Allah is the proctector of the Believers, He brings them out from darkness into Light )

Also from the Hadith (which approximately says): the Iman in the mu’min’s heart is a light connected to/from the overflowing light of the Rasul. You will not attain the fullness or sweetness of iman until you love Allah and His Rasul more than everything else, including your own self.

The Chinese classical teachings had beautiful expositions on the subject of LIGHT/ ILLUMINATION which corresponds to the word – MING or CHING. This is another subject to be tackled later, why the Chinese Emperor choose to name his dynasty the Ming-Glorious/Illuminated Dynasty. Any relation with the letter MIM or MUHAMMAD in Arabic or MA which is used by many HUI Chinese Muslims? . MING which means light or brilliant /illumination in Chinese characters consists of the root word of SUN and MOON side by side. In one Prophetic hadith , the Messenger had said that (what approximates to): ‘If people put the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left hand, I will not desist from carrying out this Divine Teaching from Allah.’

The Great Learning / Ta Hsue

We had strayed a bit but we are actually very near to the TA HSUE- THE GREAT LEARNING. The first principle of Ta Hsue is : TO ILLUMINATE VIRTUES , TO RECTIFY/ PURIFY / TRANSFORM THE HEART AND TO PURSUE EXCELLENCE IN PROPER CONDUCT. This is in line with the Verse of the Quran : Oh Messenger, We sent you in order to purify them ( yuzakkihim), to teach the Holy Book and Wisdom-Hikmah ( yu-allimuhumul-Kitaba wal Hikmah ). Or wa man yattaqi’Llaha yaj-al-lahu furqana ( those who fear Allah , Allah will give them the discrimination –between truth and falsehood ). Rabbana atina min ladunka rahmatan wa hayyi’lana min amrina rasyada ( Our Lord , bestow us mercy from Your Presence and guide us right in our affairs ).

Ko – To Teach and Expound The Truth

Now we go to the third composite character in wang /king that is KO / Mouth which indicates that the Sage/Rasul is commanded to speak , teach and convey what has been REVEALED by Allah Taala to humanity at large. The Rasul / Nabi cannot conceal the Message , hence the word – TABLIGH – to make clear, to reach out , to make it enter the intellect or the heart. How to absorb and embody these Divine Words? The Companions of the Prophet did it by the mercy, gift and power of Allah when many of them had READ , MEMORIZED and PRESERVED the QURAN in their HEARTS. And they made it manifest by their ACTION , EMULATION and GUIDANCE from the QURAN. The Quran was written down later in one whole collection when many of the HUFAZ among the Companion were killed in jihad. The Messenger sallaLlahu alaihi wa salam said : Illuminate your houses with the recitation of the Quran!

Chun Tzi – The Superior Man

What other qualities did the Sage have according to Chinese teachings that were similar to the Rasul in Islam? Now we had to dig further into CHUNG YUNG (Doctrine of The Middle Path).

Confucius clearly defined chun tzu ( the superior man ) as the one who follows and honors the Sages as quoted here :

‘ The superior man honors / respects / acknowledges ( WEI ) three things ( in his life ). He acknowledges the Decree of Heaven ( wei Ming ). He honors the Saying of Sages ( Sheng Ren ) and he honors the Great Leaders ( Ta ren )’. The small/common (men) ignore (the teachings) of the Sages, despise their teachings or gain no benefit from it.

The superior man / Chun tzu can be compared to the Mumin , Salihun , Siddiqun or Muttaqin in the Quranic sense and Prophetic Hadith. The sufic definition of a salihun is the man with right knowledge, acting in the right situation, at the right time and right place. Any wrong move will hamper his right action or make it ineffective because of the surrounding forces.

Mencius says : ‘When Heaven is about to confer a great task to a man , he will be tested severely unto his very bones, his body, his sinews and constitution, to make him firm, sincere, pure and strong. Then when he speaks, people will listen and obey ‘.

The Meaning of Te’– Virtue

We have explored the meanings of wang , zhu , sheng ren and chun tzu , now one last important word is left : TE’ ( VIRTUE ). This is not clear to us unless we are educated in the Chinese language. Te’ was used prevalently in Chinese classics and highly appreciated. What is virtue? Taqwa , iman , ikhlas , birr , amilus salihan or ihsan?

TE’ consists of 3 composite words:
First – JEN on the left ( human relation).

Second- a sacrificial vessel of food /offerings to Heaven / God (WORSHIP).
Third- a fixed /pure heart (HSIN) at the bottom right corner.

It means that the man of Te’ must have cultivated right/harmonious relationship or adab /moral link with other men (hablun minas-nas) such as ruler-subject, husband-wife, son-father/mother, old-young, scholar-studen ,rich-poor etc. He must also be devoted to God by giving food/gifts to the needy (spend fisabilillah /infaq / salat wa zakat). Lastly, he must do it /act in worship with a pure heart/ikhlas, with iman ,gnosis, ilm and obeying the command of God (hablun min Allah).

The Perfect Exemplar

It is very interesting to compare the inward and outward aspects of the sage and superior man in Chinese classics with the Quranic description of the Divine Messengers ( Anbiya wa Rasul) which God called upon all human beings to obey.

Innaka la-ala khuluqin azim
(Verily, you-rasul possess a vast self form for others to emulate )

La qad kana lakum uswatul hasanah
(Verily you have  a good exemplar for guidance to mankind )

atiu’Llah wa atiu Rasul wa ulil-amri minkum
( Obey Allah and obey the Rasul and the leaders among you )

Faulaika  maa lazina an-ama Allahu alaihim minan Nabiyyin wa Siddiqina
wa Syuhada wa Salihin , uhasuna ulaika Rafiqan
( They will be with those whom Allah blessed from among the
Prophets , the Truthful , the Syuhada and the Righteous..
And they are the best company).

Insya’Allah , we will explore more on this subject in the next essays. Wa ma taufiqi illa bi’Llah.