Zheng He and Islam in Southeast Asia

Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar Hamka (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He." In Malacca I built granaries, warehouses and a stockade, and most probably I left behind many of my Muslim crews. Much of the information on Zheng He's voyages was compiled by Ma Huan, also Muslim, who accompanied me on several of my inspection tours and served as his chronicler / interpreter. In his book 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores' written in 1416, Ma Huan gave very detailed accounts of his observations of the peoples' customs and lives in ports they visited. I had many Muslim Eunuchs as my companions. At the time when my fleet first arrived in Malacca, there were already Chinese of the 'Muslim' faith living there. Ma Huan talks about them as tangren who were Muslim. At places we went, we frequented mosques, actively propagated the Islamic faith, established Chinese Muslim communities and built mosques.

Indonesian scholar Slamet Muljana writes:
"Zheng He built Chinese Muslim communities first in Palembang, then in San Fa (West Kalimantan), subsequently he founded similar communities along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. They propagated the Islamic faith according to the Hanafi school of thought and in Chinese language."

Li Tong Cai, in his book 'Indonesia – Legends and Facts', writes:
"in 1430, Zheng He had already successfully established the foundations of the Hui religion Islam. After his death in 1434, Hajji Yan Ying Yu became the force behind the Chinese Muslim community, and he delegated a few local Chinese as leaders, such as trader Sun Long from Semarang, Peng Rui He and Hajji Peng De Qin. Sun Long and Peng Rui He actively urged the Chinese community to 'Javanise'. They encouraged the younger Chinese generation to assimilate with the Javanese society, to take on Javanese names and their way of life. Sun Long's adopted son Chen Wen, also named Radin Pada is the son of King Majapahit and his Chinese wife."

After my death, Chinese naval expeditions were suspended. The Hanafi Islam that I and my people propagated lost almost all contact with Islam in China, and gradually was totally absorbed by the local Shafi’i sect. When Melaka was successively colonised by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and later the British, Chinese were discouraged from converting to Islam. Many of the Chinese Muslim mosques became San Bao Chinese temples commemorating me. After a lapse of 600 years, the influence of Chinese Muslims in Malacca declined to almost nil. In many ways, I can be considered a major founder of the present community of Chinese Indonesians.