He went on a Hajj to Mecca. Approximately 123 persons accompanied him, including the Imams Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing, who brought Salafi/Wahhabi ideology back to China, which the Yihewani Imams promptly rejected as heretical. Ma Lin's nephew, Ma Bufang, the governor of Qinghai, persecuted the new Salafi Wahhabis.
