The Role Of Ethnic Chinese In Spread Of Islam In Indonesia

Religion and belief in the world is a faith and rules that will deliver his followers to happy life. Religion and belief can survive and increase because of the dissemination activities undertaken by the missionaries complete with media distribution. Islam as a religion in the world also has experienced the spread of up to China, recorded at the time of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan(651 M) commissioned Saad ibn Waqos to spread Islam through the Emperor Yong Hui diplomacy in Guangzhou.Emperor Yong Hui permitted the spread of Islam in China, so since the 7th century Islam has grown up in China. This is evidenced by the presence of the relics Huai Sheng Mosque of Guangzhou.The spread of Islam was not stopped within China, Islam continued to spread to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Historical records mention that the spread of Islam in Indonesia is carried out by an ethic Arabic, ethnic Persian, ethnic Indian and ethnic Chinese. The interesting thing is the appear of the spread of Islam conducted by ethnic Chinese, based on historical records, the spread of Islam in Indonesia by ethnic Chinese occurred in the 13 th century during the Ming Dynasty. Initially the spread of Islam in Indonesia is not a plan of the Ming Dynasty, the main objective was to conduct diplomacy with the countries of Asia and Africa. In order to carry out the diplomatic mission trip during Ming Dynasty, led by Admiral Zheng He, he stopped in Indoneasia for seven times due to its geographical location.In the 13 th century, the condition of Indonesia as the world shipping transit lanes already crowded by merchants of various countries, this was made the Admiral Zheng He became interested in conducting diplomacy with the Majapahit Empire.Results of diplomacy with the Majapahit Empire was causing the acculturation because at the time most of Indonesian population is Hindu and Buddhist.Acculturation which held by Zheng He in creating muslim community of ethnic Chinese and providing agricultural education and carpentry by incorporating elements of religion as the way of spreading Islam.Slowly but surely, the spread of Islam by Zheng He with acculturation method easily accepted by the people of Indonesia, even many people of Indonesia at that time already started believing in Islam. The existence of leadership of Zheng He discovered the relics of the mosque building with Chinese architecture.