Shen Hsia-huai, one of the younger generation of Muslim scholars, says that the biggest reason is that Islamic culture matured too early, and was too self-satisfied. It did not actively seek contact with the outside, and there was little development of written doctrinal texts at that time. Thus those outside of Islam had few opportunities to understand it.
自修而成的中青代回教學者沈遐淮覺得，最大的原因在於回教文化太過早熟，又太自滿或自陷於本身的清真傳統，不積極與外界溝通，也很少有與時俱進的著書立作，所以教門外的人沒有機會瞭解回教信仰。