Consistent with Prophet Muhammad’s hadith, I toured Shanxi, China, the province with the most historical sites of China.
The Northern Wei started here. Their emperors/empresses built the Yungang Buddhist rock cuts at their first capital Pingcheng [now called Datong], and the Longmen Buddhist rock cuts in Luoyang after shifting to their new capital in Henan, Luoyang.
“Seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China” is a well-known saying in the Muslim world.
It has its origin in the hadith – oral sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.
This hadith is cited in several scholars’ compilations of the prophet’s ahadith [plural for hadith in Arabic].
The hadith emphasised the Prophet’s desire that the ummah broadens their knowledge of the world .
It is implicitly acknowledged that in China there is much knowledge even in the 6th century AD.
The accepted date of the Prophet’s birth is 571 AD.
[See p 38 Muhammad by Maxime Rodinson, 1968 revised edition in French, a NYRB classic. The English translation by Anne Carter is excellent]
Lwh, Nuzul Quran Day @
Kempinski Taiyuan, 18 March 2025.