“People are God” Third World Internationalism and Chinese Muslims in the Making of the National Recognition in the 1950s

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of Islam, particularly the Chinese Muslim scholars’ participation in the nationbuildingof the People’s Republic of China. It also looks at the political narrative of the CCP on Islam in thecontext of the Chinese revolution. Anti-imperialism and socialist construction were the two primary politicalgoals allowing people to be politically engaged and consequently create a common ground for recognition.Hence, religion was considered as merely another form of ideology which needed to be incorporated into thepolitical mission leading toward human liberation. The internationalist support of the anti-colonial struggles inthe Arab World also played a crucial role in the formation of the national recognition in the 1950s. The reportson the Chinese political support towards the Arab world presented the Arab people as a unity with theirrevolutionary spirit rooted in Islamic religious tradition and inspired by their recent history of being oppressedby colonialism.