Su fei-erh was a Muslim Bukharan Emir who was invited into China by the Song dynasty Emperor and given a title of Prince by the Chinese Emperor. He played a critical role in forming the Muslim Hui people in China and giving the Islamic religion its current name in Chinese.
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name
Su fei-erh was his name in Chinese, So-fei-er is another variant of the spelling. It has been guessed that his name in his original language was Sufair.
Life
The Song Dynasty hired Muslim mercenaries form Bukhara to fight against Khitan nomads. 5,300 Muslim men from Bukhara were encouraged and invited to move to China in 1070 by the Song emperor Shenzong to help battle the Liao empire in the northeast and repopulate areas ravaged by fighting. The emperor hired these men as mercenaries in his campaign against the Liao empire. Later on these men were settled between the Sung capital of Kaifeng and Yenching (modern day Beijing). The provinces of the north and north-east were settled in 1080 when 10,000 more Muslims were invited into China. They were led by the Amir of Bukhara, Sayyid "So-fei-er" in Chinese. He is called the "Father" of Chinese Islam. Islam was named by the Tang and Song Chinese as Dashi fa ("law of the Arabs"). He gave Islam the new name of Huihui Jiao ("the Religion of the Huihui").
Descendants
Su fei-erh is alleged by the Fa-hsiang to be the ancestor of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar (who was descended from the Prophet Muhammad), however, some were skeptical of this claim and think it was a forgery to mask Sayyid Ajjal's arrival to China with the Mongols.