ZH: Hero, Peacemaker & God (Zheng He in Indonesia)

[Britishfever456]

I don't think the Muslim Zheng He would have liked to see himself as god. Zheng He even did his Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca where people prostrate to the almighty true God. This video just goes to show the nature of people, and how they would start worshiping anything.

[RoniCMaster]

@Britishfever456 Indeed, but he is a pretty unorthodox Muslim himself. He prayed to the Goddess of the Sea on his voyages, the statue of which he kept in his quarters. And there is another Chinese god he prayed to but I can't remember what it's name.

[Britishfever456]

@RoniCMaster As Muslims we believe in One God. Not a God of the seas or the oceans. All Muslims believe in One God, without which belief they are not Muslim. Zheng He is well known as a Muslim.

[RoniCMaster]

@Britishfever456 Then, in that case, Zheng He was not a Muslim. At least not after 9 years of age. Considering that his Islamic education ended at the age of 9, upon which he had little contact with the Islamic world (since he served the Chinese Prince, Zu Di who went on the reconquest of China). It is a well documented fact that he offers prayers and offerings to a number of Chinese gods and deities. If, by your definition that a Muslim can have only one God, then Zheng He cannot be one.

[Britishfever456]

@RoniCMaster I don't think its for me to say if Zheng He was a Muslim or not. Only God knows who he worshipped. If he called himself a Muslim, and people call him a Muslim than that should be sufficient, age. To me, someone who went to pilgrimage to Mecca and witnessed, first hand, who and what Muslim worship, is enough evidence that he can't have gone that far off Islam. Chinese culture is rife with mysticism and obscure practices so its easy to label someone a worshipper of those deities.

[ischixoch]

I am fan de Indoniean´s cultura and Zheng He. The peoples de Indonesia (sasak, toradia, bugis, etc.), they are fascinants and interesants cultures, Zheng He was travel to Indonesia, where exist a interesant chinese comunity