Jesuits and Muslims in China in the account of Tomasz Dunin Szpot, S.J

Abstract

This article examines the perception of Islam and Muslims in China as presented in the historical work Historia Imperii Sinarum by the Polish Jesuit Tomasz Dunin Szpot (1644–1713). Written at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the work constitutes a synthesis of the first century of Jesuit missionary activity in China. The study places Szpot’s account within its broader historical context, particularly the political, religious, and intellectual relations between Christian Europe and the Islamic world in the early modern period. It analyses how Dunin Szpot described the origins and development of Islam in China, the role of Muslim communities in Chinese society, and their interactions with Christian missionaries. Particular attention is given to the terminology used by the author, including the distinction between religio and superstitio, as well as to the historical narratives concerning the arrival of Islam in China through Persian merchants, Muslim astronomers, and contacts with the Mongol world. The article also discusses the depiction of encounters and polemical disputations between Jesuit missionaries and Muslim scholars in Central Asia and China. By situating Dunin Szpot’s account within this wider historical framework, the study demonstrates how early modern European missionary historiography interpreted the presence of Islam in East Asia.