Background
Ma was born into the family of a Táozhōu ahong of the Beizhuang menhuan, a Sufi order.
马启西, 馬啟西
Ma was born into the family of a Táozhōu ahong of the Beizhuang menhuan, a Sufi order.
He studied Neo-Confucian texts and the Han Kitab.
He was introduced to the senior licentiate, Fan Shengwu, whose school was at New Taozhou. He opened his own school, Gold Star Hall (Jinxing Tang) at a gongbei of his menhuan. Ma became an independent instructor.
The Khafiya Sufis called him heterodox or an infidel for his success and unconventional curriculum.
The strife between Biezhuang and Hausi went to court in 1902, and the Taozhou subprefect proscribed Ma"s teachings and beat his followers. Ma set up a mosque in Taozhou.
Taking a cue from Laozi, the Daoist sage, Ma and several disciples—Ma Yingcai, Ma Jianyuan, and Ding Zhonghe—went on a hajj to Mecca in 1905. They were stuck in Samarkand, and spent three years teaching among the Baishan Sufis.
Ma Yingcai died on the journey.
Westerners called him "Prophet Jesus". His troops seized and shot Ma and 17 of his family and followers on the west river.