Yusuf Ma Dexin
Chinese Islamic scholar
Yusuf Ma Dexin (also Ma Tesing; 1794–1874) was a Hui Hanafi-Maturidi scholar from Yunnan, known for his fluency and proficiency in both Arabic and Persian, and for his knowledge of Islam. He also went by the Chinese name Ma Fuchu. He used the Arabic name Abd al-Qayyum Ruh al-Din Yusuf (عبد القيوم روح الدين يوسف). He was also styled as "Mawlana al-Hajj Yusuf Ruh al-Din Ma Fujuh" (مولانا الحاج يوسف روح الدين ما فو جوه).
Biography
Ajall Shams al-Din Omar was an ancestor in the 25th generation of Ma Dexin.
Hajj
Ma performed the Hajj in 1841, leaving China by a circuitous route; as ocean travel out of China had been disrupted by the First Opium War, he chose instead to leave with a group of Muslim merchants travelling overland. After passing through the Sipsong Panna, they went south to Konbaung Burma, then took a riverboat along the Irrawaddy River from Mandalay to Yangon. From Yangon, they were able to board a steamship, which took them to the Arabian Peninsula.
After Mecca, Ma stayed in the Middle East for another eight years; he first went to Cairo, where he studied at al-Azhar University, then travelled throughout the Ottoman Empire, going to Suez, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Cyprus, and Rhodes.
Return to China
As a prominent Muslim in Yunnan, Ma became involved in the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan shortly after he returned from the Hajj.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3187775. VIAF identifies the subject as 66322561. The Library of Congress control number is nr91012554. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1794, 1874 and 1841.
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