Raphael ISRAELI
Mosque, Shanghai, 1980. PHOTO BY JOAN LEBOLD COHEN.
Although “Seek learning even onto China,” the oft-cited hadith—a narrative record of the sayings or customs of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions—has been over-interpreted in commentaries and by pure speculation, it does suggest the farthest limits of Muslim expansion. From the Tang years (618–907 CE) to the present—considering the basic demand of Islam that its followers ought to live under Muslim regimes—difficult
