Ma Laichi

Ma Laichi (1681? – 1766?; ), also known as Abu 'l-Futūh Ma Laichi, was a Chinese Sufi master who brought the Khufiyya movement to China and created the Huasi menhuan (Sufi order), the earliest and most important Naqshbandi (نقشبندية，納克什班迪) order in Chinese Muslim history.

Life

Afaq Khoja's blessing Ma Laichi came from a Chinese Muslim family with a military background. His grandfather, Ma Congshan, was a general under the Ming dynasty; his father, Ma Jiujun, passed imperial examinations on the military track under the Qing, but instead of joining government service, made a fortune in business.

Rendered destitute by the fire, Ma Jiajun became a tea peddler, travelling in the region between Hezhou and Xining. His boy, meanwhile, studied at the Koranic school run by Khoja Afaq's disciple Ma Tai Baba (, "The Great Father Ma", 1632–1709) in the nearby Milagou . Mongol, and Monguor-speaking communities in Qinghai, sometimes after winning a religious debate with a local "Living Buddha". Some of these communities still belong to the Khufiyya, and their members still revere Ma Laichi as the saint who brought their ancestors into Islam. Ma Guobao was later succeeded by Ma Wuyi.

Ma Laichi's grave in Linxia City was restored in 1986. The shrine complex, which includes a mosque and is known as Hua Si Gongbei , continues to be the center of the Hua Si Khufiyya menhuan.

Literature (First edition appeared in 1991).