Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. xv, 294 pp. (Tables, maps, B&W photos.) US$29.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-4696-5965-7.
This groundbreaking work is an examination of Japan’s policies regarding Islam in the pre-WWII era and throughout the war. Drawing on archival and published material in Chinese, Japanese, English, French, and Italian, this book traces the evolution of Japan’s strategies in seeking the goodwill and cooperation of Muslims throughout the world, particularly in strategic locations such as northern China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia. It argues that Sino-Muslims figured prominently in Japan’s grand plan to integrate vast populations of ethnically diverse Muslims within its aspirational empire. The book further enriches our understanding of the relationship between Islam and empire by addressing Japan’s complex interactions with its fascist allies in Muslim-majority regions such as Afghanistan.
The book begins by showing how individual Japanese religious and scholarly interests in Islam became entwined with the interests of state actors who sought to utilize Islam and Sino-Muslims for military and imperialistic goals. As early as the late nineteenth century, Japanese state and non-state actors alike began to instrumentalize Islam to serve its emerging ambitions of establishing an empire. Unofficial encounters with the Islamic world, as well as individual religious and intellectual interests in Islam, were used to present Japan as a nation friendly to Islam, and as a tool for intelligence collection. These sporadic earlier efforts intensified after the Mukden incident of 1931 as Japan seized control of Manchuria as a precursor to additional territorial expansions in China and across Asia. By the onset of World War II in Europe, Japan had developed a comprehensive state policy towards Islam and Muslims.
According to Hammond, Japanese empire-builders envisioned a pivotal role for Sino-Muslims in the enterprise of integrating diverse Muslim populations. Many of the empire’s Muslim policies were first tested among Sino-Muslim communities before being implemented throughout the empire. Sino-Muslims became the poster children for Japan’s Islamic-friendly gestures and policies. To garner support and influence among Sino-Muslims living under occupation, Japan built schools and mosques, sponsored civic organizations and journals, and provided funding for pilgrimage trips to Mecca. It also resorted to invented histories and connections to win the hearts and minds of Muslims in China.
Hammond shows that Japan was somewhat successful in securing the cooperation of Sino-Muslims living under occupation. While some Sino-Muslims argued in favour of Japanese rule, others served as proxies or “spiritual middlemen” for Japan’s outreach towards the broader Islamic world. Japan’s success was also evident in how the Nationalist Party of China adjusted its own Muslim policies in response to Japanese manoeuvers.
Hammond nonetheless emphasizes that Sino-Muslims were no mere pawns of the Japanese empire (or any other state actor), but were active in pursuit of their own interests. She argues that Sino-Muslims navigated the tumultuous political terrain of the 1930s and 1940s by pursuing educational, economic, and religious opportunities to empower both themselves and their communities. Chapter 2, for example, discusses how Sino-Muslims resisted language reforms implemented by both the Nationalists and the Japanese.
The book goes far beyond the discussion of Sino-Muslims and provides a comprehensive portrayal of Japan’s Islamic empire overall. To illustrate the importance of Islam in Japan’s aspirational empire, Hammond takes the reader to the various centres of Islam—from Manchuria to Xinjiang and Afghanistan to Persia—to see how Japan pursued the ambitious goal of building an economic and political bloc encompassing Muslim populations across Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and North Africa. The short-lived Japanese empire fashioned itself as a Muslim-friendly empire espousing anti-imperialist, anti-communist, and pan-Asianist ideologies. It touted the economic and cultural opportunities it could bring to Muslims and sought to promote Japan’s own economic interests within predominantly Muslim markets.
Another intriguing aspect of WWII, as shown in this book, is the parallel that emerged between Japan and the other Axis powers in their manoeuvers in Muslim-majority regions. Afghanistan, for example, served as an arena where the objectives and ideologies of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan converged and clashed. Both employed imagined pre-Islamic linkages to the region to advance their geo-political ambitions. Nazi Germany utilized the concept of the Aryan race, while the Japanese empire highlighted Buddhist connections. This connection is best illustrated in one of the many fascinating photos published in the book that capture moments in Japan’s Islamic empire. This photo is titled “Pupils (Tatar girls) of the Islamic School in Tokyo pray for the success of the Japanese-German alliance against bolshevism, 1936” (65).
To sum up, Hammond’s work has added a rich layer to our understanding of the Japanese empire and the global conflict of World War II by showing how Japan sought to use Islam and Muslims as tools of control in its efforts to construct its empire. The book, however, raises new questions. For example, how did individual Sino-Muslims mentioned in the book navigate conflicting loyalties, including those to China, the Islamic ummah, their birthplaces, and the Sino-Muslim community? Addressing such a complex question requires a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of a more substantial body of additional Sino-Muslim sources.
Yufeng Mao
Widener University, Chester