Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t3.3

v1.c7.s9.t3.3

In 1841, Ma went to Mecca and Medina to perform Hajj. As the traditional maritime route was disrupted due to the Opium War, he accompanied a group of Muslim merchants and travelled overland to the south reaching Mandalay in Myanmar, and then took a boat down the Irrawady River to arrive at Rangoon (now Yangon). He then boarded a steamship for the Arabian Peninsula. After conducting the Hajj, he stayed in the region for another eight years studying at the al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt which was famous for Islamic studies, as well as travelling widely to places connected with the Ottoman Empire such as Alexandria, Istanbul, Jerusalem, etc. He was greatly influenced by the Islamic modernity movement simmering there.