Tianfang Shinan Yaoyan 天方釋難要言 [Abridged Exposition of the Sharḥ al-ʿAqāʾid al-Nasafiyya]. Printed in Yunnan (滇南棋陽興順和號), 1893 (Guangxu 19).

104 leaves. 36 × 28.3 cm. Woodblock printed on bark-fibre paper, rather than the bamboo paper more commonly used in traditional Chinese books. Title-page and preface in Chinese; main text in Arabic. Apparently issued unbound and preserved in its original loose state; uncut, with broad upper and lower margins. Finely printed. The leaf-numbering or sequence marks are unusual, employing a repetitive numerical sequence, e.g. “一一, 一二, 一三, 一四, 一三, 一二, 一一”, rather than standard continuous foliation.

An abridged exposition of Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī’s Sharḥ al-ʿAqāʾid al-Nasafiyya, one of the principal works of Sunni kalām studied in Chinese Muslim mosque schools. Ma Lianyuan’s abridgement was used in the jingtang jiaoyu 經堂教育 curriculum in Yunnan and was traditionally counted among the “five major texts” of mosque education.

The Chinese title combines Tianfang 天方, the traditional designation for Arabia and, by extension, the Islamic world; shinan 釋難, the elucidation of disputed or difficult points; and yaoyan 要言, a concise statement of essentials. Its wording presents Islamic scholastic theology in terms drawn from the Chinese exegetical tradition.

The title-page states that publication was financed by the Xing Shun He firm of Qiyang (滇南棋陽興順和號資刊). Associated with Ma Lianyuan’s family, the firm was active in the caravan and indigo trade linking Yunnan with Burma and Chiang Mai. It is also recorded as a patron of Ma’s Tianfang Fenxin Pian of 1894 and the Arabic Qur’an Baoming Zhenjing of 1895. The imprint provides direct evidence of the mercantile patronage behind Islamic printing in late Qing Yunnan.

Ma Lianyuan 馬聯元 (1841–1903), courtesy name Zhiben 致本, was a leading Muslim scholar and teacher in late Qing Yunnan. After performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, he spent several years studying in the Middle East and India. Returning to Yunnan in 1874, he taught Arabic, Persian, and the Islamic sciences, and produced more than twenty works on theology, law, language, and religious instruction, many intended for use in mosque schools.

Minor worming; otherwise a good copy.