It is a branch of Khufiyya Menhuan, one of
the four main Chinese Islamic sects. Its Qubbah (a domed building) is located in
Bijiachang in western Linxia City, Gansu Province, hence the name of this sect.
The founder of this sect is Ma Zongsheng
(1639-1719), who was of Persian ancestry. He spent his childhood learning Arabic
in a mosque in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. When he grew up he became an Akhund
there and later imam of the mosque. Then he moved to Linxia of Gansu Province
and became a senior Akhund in a mosque. He went to Xining City of Qinghai
Province in 1673 to learn from Ap¨Ąg Khwaja, a famous Islamic scholar and leader
of the Xinjiang White-Mountain Muslims, and obtained the creeds of Khufiyya.
Upon returning to Linxia, he began his missionary work, advocating that the
various sects of Islam should respect each other no matter how different they
are and that they should not refute each other at will and should not have
fights with other believers.
This sect has never collided with other ones
and it even allows its believers to build mosques with believers from the other
sects and have services together. In terms of succession, the sect practices the
hereditary. Believers of this sect are scattered mainly in Linxia, Hezheng and
Lintan of Gansu Province, Songpan of Sichuan Province and Xiji of the Ningxia
Hui Autonomous Region.