[3] Followers of the Jahriyyah sometimes refer to him by the title of Wiqāyatullāh (Arabic: وقاية الله)[4] A Chinese-speaking Muslim from Gansu,[2] Ma Mingxin spent 16 years[5] studying in Mecca[2] and Yemen.
He was a disciple of a Naqshbandi Sufi teacher named 'Abd al-Khāliq,[6] who was a son of az-Zayn b. Muhammad 'Abd al-Baqī al-Mizjaji (1643/44-1725), originally of Mizjaja near Zabīd, Yemen.
Az-Zayn, in his turn, had studied in Medina under the famous Kurdish mystic Ibrahīm ibn Hasan al-Kūrānī (1616–1690), who was known for advocating the vocal (rather than silent) dhikr (invocation of the name of God).
In opposition to the "silent" Khufiyya Sufis, and following al-Kurani's teaching, Jahriyya adherents advocated vocal dhikr, which is reflected in the name of their school (from Arabic jahr, "aloud").
[1][2] Ma Mingxin also opposed the emphasis that the Khufiyya members placed of the veneration of the saints,[1] construction of grandiose elaborately decorated mosques, and the enrichment of religious leaders at the expense of their adherents.
Three years after the death of Ma Mingxin, his follower Tian Wu started a rebellion against the imperial government; after its defeat, the authorities remained on lookout against the spread of the "subversive" Jahriyya teachings.