Ma Zhu's philosophy focused heavily on social relations and interactions between the sexes. He theorized that, per Confucian and Islamic values, an ideal society would be one in which men dominated public affairs while women would serve in a subservient role as domestic helpmates.[3] The philosopher opposed women performing roles outside of the home, stating "even a talented woman should not take care of non-domestic affairs". Ma took inspiration for his ideal role for women from the story of Adam and Eve, in which Allah created Eve from the flesh of Adam.[3] This indicated to Ma that men and women were not intended to be of equal standing in society. Ma wrote:
"Husband and wife are one entity. However, created out of her husband, the wife should naturally obey him. Their love is locally described as dear as that between brothers and sisters."
Ma's philosophy also denoted the distinctions between the traditional Chinese paired forces of ming (命) and xing (性), and yin and yang. According to Ma, ming represented what was preordained by Allah, while xing represented by what was acquirable though social conditioning and exposure to earthly human existence.[3] Similarly, in Ma's view yin represented the earthly acquired and yang represented the divinely innate. Parts from both were required to form any human. Ma also believed that women should strive to be similar to famous women in Islam, he mentioned Moleyan (Maryam), Khadiyah, and Fatima as examples to follow.[3]
