Translingual Islam: The Perso-Arabic Cosmopolis in China

Abstract This article uncovers the hitherto lesser-known histories of the Perso-Arabic cosmopolis as exists among China’s Sinophone Muslims. Drawing on reprinted manuscripts and published secondary literature in Arabic, Persian, and Chinese, I show a continual evolution of this cosmopolis as it articulates with Chinese through rigorous works of translation, transliteration, and a more encompassing mode of translingual conversion. This linguistic feat is enabled by a transregional network where the wider Indian Ocean world is drawn closer to China, while China becomes but one node, though frequently the destination for the global circulation of Islamic texts and ideas. This article aims to offer a detailed description of this Perso-Arabic cosmopolis and help us acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the rich lives of Arabic and Persian in the eastern Indian Ocean world.