When the Muslims Defeated the Chinese - Battle of Talas

China’s Vanishing Muslims: Undercover In The Most Dystopian Place In The World

Is Coronavirus in China a punishment from Allah?

We do hear people mention that coronovirus in China is a punishment from Allah for the things the communist party has been doing to Uyghurs Muslims. We do not agree with that. Here is a statement from Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi that we came across regarding this issue.

A lot of people are forwarding messages from scholars (or others) who are claiming that the coronavirus spreading in the city of Wuhan is a Divine Punishment upon the Chinese people for what is happening to the Uighurs.

This type of categorical declaration is not only unbefitting from a theological perspective, it is also unbecoming from a humanitarian perspective.

No one amongst us is qualified to speak on behalf of Allah. We are not in a position to declare why something is happening, or to link a general tragedy to a specific evil. And we are not demonstrating mercy when we claim all the people being subjugated to this are being punished for a crime most of them have nothing to do with. Imagine if (may Allah protect all of us!) something happened in your city and to your family, and others said this was because of something your government did!

Rather, we say as the Prophet (salla Allah alayhi wa sallam) said, when our mother Aisha (ra) asked him about plagues: "This is a punishment that Allah sends upon whoever He wishes, but Allah has also made it a mercy for the believer. So whoever is afflicted with a plague in his town, and he remains in it, patient, expecting Allah to reward him, knowing that nothing shall happen to him except what Allah has decreed, shall be rewarded the rewards of a martyr!" [al-Bukhari].

So we learn that yes, every single disaster, personal or communal, can be a result of sins, and has the potential to be a punishment, but we don't link it to any one sin or crime. And we also give hope to those who are in such places: turn to Allah, seek His help, be patient, and know that nothing happens except with the Decree of Allah. We do not cause them to feel bad or claim they are all being punished or - God forbid - gloat over their tragedy as some seem to be doing.

Every single disaster, personal or national, has the potential to be a punishment, or a means of mercy. It is how we respond that dictates which of the two it falls into.

And Allah knows best.

Note: It's actually sad that I need to make this disclaimer but some people always read in the worst: my support for the Uighurs has been loud and vocal, and I have given khutbahs, raised awareness, and made qunut for them. Of course we are enraged by what the government is doing, but we do not gloat over any communal disaster as a response to our anger.

China's vanishing mosques - BBC News

China’s Vanishing Muslims: Undercover In The Most Dystopian Place In The World

‘Islam is a thorn in China’s side’: An in-depth interview on the Uyghur situation in China

Repression of the other or an extermination fantasy waiting to be implemented? A straight talk with German sinologist Aaron B. (name changed to maintain confidentiality), whose research field is Muslim identity in China, about the latter’s mass internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Interview by Timo Al-Farooq, transcribed on December 6, 2019. Translated from German by the author.

Aaron, it is estimated that China has incarcerated somewhere between one to three million Muslim Uyghurs in its autonomous province of Xinjiang. To get straight to the point: is China Islamophobic?

China’s policies in recent years towards the Uyghurs can definitely be called Islamophobic. We need to be careful though regarding the numbers. There are about 11 million Uyghurs in China. Whether three million is a realistic figure I cannot say with certainty. Most sources speak of one million. But these numbers are all based on estimates. We don’t know how many internment camps there actually are. All we have to go on are satellite images and reports on the ground. There is no way to gain access to these camps.

Where exactly are these camps situated? Only in Xinjiang, the homeland of the Uyghurs, or also in other parts of China?

To my knowledge, most of these camps are in Xinjiang. It is China’s largest province area-wise; four to five times larger than Germany. A vast area, sparsely populated, with large tracts of desert and mountains. So there is sufficient space to hide these prisoners. For decades, China has also been conducting nuclear tests there by the way.

Last month, the New York Times leaked the so-called “Xinjiang Papers”: over 400 pages of internal Chinese documents that give insight into the repression of the Uyghurs, despite the fact that what is happening in Xinjiang has been an open secret for a long time. Non-Western media have often reported on the issue and heads of state like Turkey’s President Erdogan have routinely criticized China for its stance towards the Uyghurs. What new information has come to light via these leaked documents?

It’s kind of hypocritical that it took the media so long to be outraged. Like you mentioned, the issue has been known for quite some time now. What has changed though is that with the publication of the leaked documents we now have actual proof of what is happening there. The information might not be new, but it confirms much of what China has been suspected of doing.

What makes these papers interesting is their attention to detail. And that they show how within the Communist Party, especially among high-ranking officials who are responsible for what is happening in Xinjiang, there is disagreement on how to deal with the issue, how far the Chinese government should go, and how viable present Chinese policies towards the Uyghurs are.

Furthermore, these documents show who is ultimately responsible for these policies: President Xi Jinping and his circle of political intimates. And that these heavy-handed plans have been in the making for years, constituting a departure from previous Chinese governments. Two and a half years ago, Chen Quangho became the Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang and rigorously began implementing Xi Jinping’s plans. The papers revealed internal speeches by Xi and high-ranking officials which show how high up in the party hierarchy this thing goes, and that it has been in planning for a long time.

The papers also show that there are party cadres on the local level who think Xi’s policies towards the Uyghurs are wrong. Not because they don’t believe in the party’s ideology but because they believe that one is going too far and that the antagonisms and resistance against Beijing  will only increase if one starts throwing people into jail for no good reason. In the view of these critics, these heavy-handed policies will give the Uyghurs more reasons to commit terrorist acts and mistrust the Chinese government.

One relatively high-level party cadre refused to toe Xi’s line and had to pay a high price: he was tried and will now be thrown into prison. This shows how the power structure within the party works, especially with regards to the Uyghurs. This in my view also make these leaked documents interesting.

You mentioned the ideology of the Communist Party. What kind of ideology is this, where people are thrown into re-education camps solely for their ethnicity and their religious identity? What exactly is China’s beef with the Uyghurs? What have they ever done to the Chinese government to elicit such an enmity from the latter?

From China’s perspective, it has the “problem” that other nation states which have emerged from former empires have had: that China is highly diverse when it comes to ethnicities and cultural identities living within its borders. The Uyghurs have a strong independent identity. Throughout the 20th century, there were independence movements in Xinjiang and even phases where the Uyghurs were actually de facto independent. Uyghurs are Muslims, the majority of Chinese people are non-Muslim. Uyghurs speak a Turkic language. This kind of independent identity is not viewed as Chinese by large parts of the Chinese population and the government. Which is why there has been a long-standing tradition of separatism, and with it repeated conflict with Beijing.

What the leaders in Beijing cannot stomach is any form of separatism, and when you don’t pledge loyalty to the Chinese state. In Beijing’s view, the unity of the nation state is sacrosanct. Recent decades have seen separatist movements, riots and even terrorism in Xinjiang. 2009 was kind of a tipping point when there were uprisings and mass riots in Urumqi during which many Han Chinese were killed. Since then, there have been frequent terrorist attacks that have been credited to extremist Uyghur groups. Some of them have had links to Al-Qaida, etc. Beijing sees these developments as utterly troublesome and does not want the problem to escalate further.

Ideologically speaking, Beijing is simply wired in a way that it sees itself as the sole entity that is allowed to define what China is and who is Chinese. What the people are allowed to believe in and how to define patriotism is their decision, even if that means dictating to people how they can define their cultural identity and self-image.

Is the situation comparable to that of Tibet?

Partially yes. It is comparable to the extent that like Xinjiang, Tibet is part of China’s Western region, a vast area where until 20 years or so ago not many Han Chinese lived in. Economically and geo-politically, this area is unbelievably important to China. Especially from a historic perspective: Beijing views it as an integral part of China. So the more independent Tibetans and Uyghurs have tried to be from Beijing’s influence, the stronger Beijing’s counter-reaction has been.

As you know, the Tibet question was popular in the mid 2000s, especially in the run-up to the Olympics in Beijing. Now it is kind of dead and has been replaced by the Uyghur issue. But the origins are the same, namely that an overarching nation-state asserts a claim to these regions and that the indigenous people living there defend themselves against a Chinese takeover. That is the key commonality between Xinjiang and Tibet. De jure both are autonomous regions, de jure there is freedom of religion in China, but in reality the legal status and laws are not adhered to by the Chinese government.

Until recently, the Uyghurs did not have an international lobby like the Tibetans did in the U.S., epitomized by the luminous figure of the Dalai Lama. Now the Uyghurs are galvanizing more international attention. Remember that the Uyghurs are Muslims and not glorified as “peaceful” Buddhists by a West starving for esotericism like the Tibetans are. For the West, that automatically puts Uyghur separatism in close proximity to jihadism. Which is why it has been much harder for them to engender sympathy for their cause.

Would the Uyghurs actually be content with real autonomy or are they bent on the maximum demand of a fully independent and sovereign state?

That is not that easy to say. There are different views among the Uyghurs regarding the political status of their homeland. Of course there are Uyghurs who profit generously from the Chinese state. Furthermore, the Chinese economy in Xinjiang is booming. Especially for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the role of Xinjiang is highly integral. But the accusation of the average Uyghur is that only the Han Chinese, who are increasingly being resettled to Xinjiang by Beijing, will profit from these plans. It is they who hold all the cards in local politics and the local economy.

But these things are always dependent on the current political mood. I am worried that the current political rigor of Beijing towards the Uyghurs that is intent on making life for these people so hard, up to the point where normal everyday life is not possible anymore, will only exacerbate the rift between the two. I am not sure how the average Uyghur views China and the aspect of Xinjiang’s political status. In my own conversations with Uyghurs I have heard both positions, real autonomy and full independence.

The Uyghurs are not the only ethnic group in China who identifies as Muslim. What is Beijing’s attitude towards them and vice versa? Are they also maltreated in the same way the Uyghurs are?

Partially yes. For instance, Kazakhs in Xinjiang are also subject to enormous repression. In the re-education camps or however you wish to call them, you also have many members from the Kazakh minority among the prison population. Remember that Xinjiang shares a border with Kazakhstan, so there are many Kazakhs living in Xinjiang and many Uyguhrs living on the Kazakh side of the border. The networks that lobby for an independent Xinjiang have strong ties to Central Asia, also to the militant networks there. But naturally that does not justify randomly throwing people in jail like China is doing. But yes, Kazakhs in China are equally targeted by China’s policies.

There are ten ethnic groups in China that identify as Muslim, and the ones that have to suffer most from Chinese repression are the Uyghurs and the Kazakhs. The other ones – with exception of the Hui – are small in numbers. Demographically speaking, the two largest Muslim minorities in China are the Hui and the Uyghurs. The other ones are demographically not important or China does not view them as susceptible to separatism or terrorism. Which is why China’s primary focus is to counter a self-determined Xinjiang and an autonomous Uyghur self-image that says “We have our own traditions, we have our own history and language. Even though we acknowledge a common history with China, we stress our own independent history and our own separate identity.”

And it is Beijing’s primary focus to obliterate this autonomous identity and bully the Uyghurs into believing that they are through and through Chinese and that all the other aspects of their cultural identity are marginal at best. China does not want to obliterate Islam because it knows that is not feasible. China acknowledges its multicultural history and its diversity. But it sees it as troubling that Islam is a strong marker of identity, which is why it views Islam critically.

But that is also the fate of other faiths in China, like Christianity and Judaism. Especially Christians and Muslims who have been subject to stronger control in recent years and have always been victims of state repression. What Beijing is increasingly trying to do now is to adjust the theological ideologies of these faiths to the new ideological guidelines of the party, however hollow the latter might sound in our ears. Remember that if you hold a religious office in China, it doesn’t matter if you are an imam or a priest, you will be subject to a high level of surveillance and control and cannot speak freely. I have visited mosques in China where a sermon is typically started with something like “We have to love this country.” Practising religion in China automatically means having to be patriotic and to affirm one’s “Chinese-ness”. The government keeps a close watch on what is preached and taught in mosques.

Is China’s relation to Islam comparable to that of Russia? Like China, the former Soviet Union is also a world power with an atheist tradition, and has a large Muslim population and an ambivalent attitude towards Islam. Moscow is Europe’s largest Muslim city, but at the same time the Muslim community in Russia is subject to surveillance and general suspicion like in China. Is atheism the reason for this or are these still reactions to 9/11?

A little bit of both. The comparison to Russia is somewhat flawed though, as Russia  – at least in the eyes of the government in Moscow – is de facto Orthodox Christian. But with regards to Islam, there are of course striking parallels to China: separatism like in Chechnya for example as well as other separatist movements, some of them interfacing with terrorist movements and committing attacks.

The other parallel is that the Soviet Union collapsed, and that scenario is China’s nightmare. The unity of the country and its people is sacrosanct and is therefore China’s top political priority. It stands above everything else. Especially above human rights. China knew  – and this is also mentioned in the leaked documents – that the West and the Western media would sooner or later focus on the situation in Xinjiang and report on it, which would in consequence sully China’s image. But China is willing to endure these consequences in order to guarantee the unity of the nation state.

The Chinese constitution has freedom of religion written into it. China knows of its religious and cultural diversity and has – at least on paper – routinely emphasized that it will defend and safeguard them. But in reality it has rarely done so. Islam is alien to many politicians in Beijing, not to say a thorn in their side. But I wouldn’t go so far as to characterize this as an extermination fantasy. China views Islam as a problem because it suggests cultural differences and a hybridity that does not simply say: “We are Chinese, we follow the party.” These people derive their sense of identity from other things as well. And that is disturbing for the leaders in Beijing.

What can Germany and the EU do to stop China’s maltreatment of the Uyghurs? I can understand if a West that is increasingly dependent on China is reserved in its criticism of China and only pays lip service to human rights there. But what about rich Muslim states like the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar that co-signed a declaration in support of China’s anti-Uyghur policies? Why would they feel the need to do that?

Profits.

But is profit-seeking really the reason? Can’t a state like Qatar, the richest country in the world thanks to it’s abundant natural gas reserves, afford to not do business with China, especially if it sacrifices its own Muslim brothers and sisters in the course?

I am not sure how much something like religious brotherhood factors in when it comes to trade and doing business. But with regards to Germany: we know that China is an “Unrechtsstaat” [literally: a state without rule of law, the nearest English term would be “rogue state”]. Chancellor Merkel travels to China every year, I’m not kidding, every year, I think she has been to China 14 times during her tenure. She always meets with human rights activists, whoever they might be, says one or two things in order to show that she is ideologically behind them, and that’s that.

When you are in Shanghai where every second car is a Volkswagen, you quickly realize where Germany’s profits come from. China’s rapid economic growth did not happen on its own, but through intensive economic cooperation. Germany does massive business with China, it is our biggest trading partner together with the United States. That is something the German government is not willing to give up. Which is why Merkel always tries to have her cake and eat it too whenever she says “Yes, we always say that China should respect human rights.” But at the same time we don’t sanction China or isolate the country politically. Germany profits off of the economic cooperation with China so much that this will always have primacy over human rights considerations.

What can we therefore do? I think it is a positive development that we are talking more and more about this and are therefore creating political pressure. As a sinologist, I am constantly shocked with regards to how little people know about China and that it seems to completely bypass them as to how significantly China will shape the 21st century. And I’m talking about all our lives. Which is why I would wish that there would be a stronger public awareness for the human rights situation in China, and with it for the situation of the Uyghurs, and that increased awareness is followed by political consequences.

Is it really possible to take concrete measures if we are economically – and therefore also in terms of Realpolitik – so dependent on China? What kind of government would we need in Germany and the EU in order to put pressure on China?

One that really takes human rights seriously. But remember that we as Europeans need to get our own house in order first. With all that is happening with Europe’s closed-border policies and the refugee issue, one cannot say that these developments sound like an honest commitment to universal human rights. Therefore I don’t know if the current EU and German governments can be trusted with putting pressure on China regarding its treatment of the Uyghurs.

Aaron, I thank you for your time and words.

Link

China's Muslim Concentration Camps Paint a Bleak Picture of the Future Awaiting the Hong Kong Protestors

What started in June as a series of peaceful demonstrations against Beijing’s growing exertion of its rule over Hong Kong has devolved into escalated violence between protestors and the territory’s police force.

The chants in favour of democracy and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party have now been replaced by violent confrontations, culminating with the police shooting and killing an unarmed protestor at point blank range on Monday.

The protestors’ core five demands, known as “Five Demands and Not One Less”, have remained the same since the protests began. But, until now, only one of them has been met – the withdrawal of an extradition bill which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to China for trial. The other four include the establishment of an independent commission to investigate allegations of police brutality and misconduct; the retraction of riot charges against arrested and detained protestors; and the implementation of full democratic rights for all citizens.

In other words, the citizens of Hong Kong are demanding less of Beijing’s rule and influence and more democracy. While there’s little doubt a great many of the territory’s citizens and residents have grown tired of disruptions caused by the protests – with some questioning the means and methods deployed by some of the protestors – it is also true that an overwhelming majority of the island is grateful that these protests resulted in the withdrawal of the extradition bill.

There’s also no denying that these pro-democracy and anti-Beijing protestors rightfully and understandably believe that they are fighting for their lives and the future of their families. In almost every conversation I’ve had with those attaching themselves to the Anti Extradition Bill movement, the words “Xinjiang” and “Tibet” have come up.

In particular, Xinjiang’s Muslim concentration camps loom large in the minds of those who live within touching distance of China.

In a revelatory article for The Atlantic, Zeynep Tufekci shared a summary of conversations he held with protestors on the streets of Hong Kong this week. “They talked about Xinjiang and what China had done to the Uighur minority,” he wrote. “I’ve heard about the fate of the Uighurs from so many protestors over the months. China many have wanted to make an example out of the region, but the lesson Hong Kongers took was in the other direction – resist with all your might, because if you lose once, there will be a catastrophe for your people, and the world will ignore it.”

Protestors in Hong Kong have also familiarised themselves with recent revelations regarding the depraved level of mass rape, torture, executions and other forms of physical and psychological abuse meted out by Chinese authorities to the Uighur minority in an systematic effort to eliminate their culture and indoctrinate them into vigorously adhering to the Communist Party’s ideology.

When the Washington Post published a Uighur woman’s harrowing ordeal in a Chinese concentration camp last month, it went viral in Hong Kong, particularly among the protestors. It told of how 2,500 prisoners, ranging in age from 13 to 84, were subjected to the brutality of the Chinese state. “They would punish inmates for everything,” Sayragul Sauytbay told an interpreter. “Anyone who didn’t follow the rules was punished. Those who didn’t learn Chinese properly or who didn’t sing the songs was also punished.”

Her accounts regarding the pack rape of both men and women not only drew attention in Hong Kong, but also globally. She told Haaretz: “While they were raping her they checked to see how we were reacting. People who turned their head or closed their eyes, and those who looked angry or shocked, were taken away and we never saw them again.”

Uighur activists have now documented nearly 500 Muslim concentration camps in Xinjiang, with Randall Schriver, the top Pentagon official for Asia, estimating that the total number of detainees is “likely closer to three million citizens” or roughly 25% of the total Uighur population.

“If we lose, Hong Kong will become Xinjiang,” Jackool, a 30 year-old theatre technician and protestor, told AFP in September.

There’s little doubt that if, or when, Beijing sinks the full weight of its gigantic force into Hong Kong, the present reality of Muslims in Xinjiang is the future that awaits pro-democracy activists on the island territory.

The Chinese Communist Party views Islam as a cancer that has the potential to threaten or disrupt its economic imperatives in the north-west of the country, which is also how Beijing views democracy in Hong Kong – an ideological threat that has to be eliminated at some point or another.

Xiao Qiang, director of the Counter-Power Lab at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information, has said that the party views Xinjiang as its “frontline” testing ground for data-driven surveillance measures, which allow authorities to track the every movement of every Uighur every second of the day via GPS tracking devices, facial recognition cameras and DNA databases.

“China’s goal is to use these technologies to suppress dissent and to predict and snuff out any challenge to the ruling Communist Party’s grip on power,” observes The Washington Post.

While it’s patently obvious that protestors in Hong Kong are immediately focused on pressuring the Government into implementing democratic reforms, there is also little doubt of the mobilising affect China’s Muslim concentration camps are having on the territory’s eight million citizens.

Link

China’s Vanishing Muslims: Undercover In The Most Dystopian Place In The World

Did the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Seek knowledge even in China” ?

Pic source

There is a famous Hadith where Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, "Seek Knowledge Even Onto China". There are various discussion fora where this is discussed if it's genuine, weak or fabricated. We won't go into details here but just want to mention other Hadiths that talk about seeking knowledge. Here are some of them:

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 74

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “One who treads a path in search of knowledge has his path to Paradise made easy by God…” - Riyadh us-Saleheen, 245

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "A servant of God will remain standing on the Day of Judgment until he is questioned about his (time on earth) and how he used it; about his knowledge and how he utilized it; about his wealth and from where he acquired it and in what (activities) he spent it; and about his body and how he used it." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 148

The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: "Knowledge from which no benefit is derived is like a treasure out of which nothing is spent in the cause of God." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 108

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God, His angels and all those in Heavens and on Earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial knowledge." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 422

The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: "Acquire knowledge and impart it to the people." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 107

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, God will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge. The inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and (even) the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man. The superiority of the learned over the devout is like that of the moon, on the night when it is full, over the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave (no monetary inheritance), they leave only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion. - Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1631

Source: Knowledge

Uighurs fled persecution in China. Now Beijing’s harassment has followed them to Australia

Alfiraa Dilshat and Rashida Abdughufur were picnicking in the small seaside town of Victor Harbor in late December when Abdughufur got a video call from her mother.

With Abdughufur living in Adelaide, a city in southern Australia, and her mother in the Xinjiang region of China, it was a rare chance for the two to connect. At first, Abdughufur said, she was excited because she hadn’t talked to her mother in a long time.

Then came “disaster.”

Abdughufur’s mother appeared on the screen in handcuffs, sitting next to a police officer. “They started interrogating me,” Abdughufur said. Fearing for her safety, she complied, sharing sensitive details and documents the police demanded from her, including her Australian driver’s license.

When Abdughufur finished the call, “her face was pale,” her friend Dilshat remembered. Shortly thereafter, an audio message from Abdughufur’s mother arrived. “These people will look for you,” it said. The WeChat account used to contact Abdughufur was disconnected soon after. Abdughufur hasn’t heard from her mother since.


This was the kind of danger that she and other Uighurs had hoped to escape. In the past few years, China has conducted a sweeping campaign to suppress Uighur identity and restrict the practice of Islam. As many as 1 million Uighurs and members of other minority groups — mostly Muslim ones — are being held without charges in brutal internment camps, according to the United Nations. It is just the latest episode in a decades-long history of tension between Uighurs and the staunchly secular, Han Chinese-dominated government in Beijing.

Abdughufur herself fled Xinjiang in 2017, when China intensified its crackdown. Shortly after moving to Australia, her younger brother and father were sent to internment camps.

After months of denying the camps existed, China switched last year to justifying them. Beijing insists it is merely providing job training and “de-extremism education” in a region that is poor and steeped in fundamentalism. “As a result of the vocational education and training, the social environment of Xinjiang has seen notable changes, with a healthy atmosphere on the rise and improper practices declining,” said Shohrat Zakir, the de facto No. 2 official in Xinjiang, in October.

The Chinese embassy in Australia did not respond to requests for comment.


On Friday, Uighurs across Australia rallied in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide to highlight the plight of their communities in China, but also to protest against their treatment by Beijing abroad.

Uighurs in Adelaide said efforts to infiltrate their community go back more than a decade. One man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he still has family in China, said that during a visit to China in 2005, he was offered what was then an average wage in Australia if he agreed to spy on his community. Another woman, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her family, said she was approached with a similar request as recently as 2011.

Open intimidation on Australian soil is a much more recent concern. It has taken the form of WeChat messages or phone calls, often from individuals claiming to be Chinese officials. They may ask for a call back regarding passport or visa matters, or claim a package has arrived at the embassy for the person they are calling; many of them demand sensitive personal information that Uighurs believe Chinese authorities would already have because of prior visa requests.


That pattern, said Michael Clarke, who researches the treatment of Uighurs at Australia’s National Security College, is “consistent, not just with incidents in Australia, but also in other places around the world.”

Some researchers caution that there is no statistical evidence of such tactics, but Uighur community leaders say complaints about calls, messages and video chats have proliferated as Adelaide’s Uighurs have become more politically active over the last two years. Uighurs say the calls began in March, just hours after the community staged its largest-ever protest in Canberra, Australia’s capital, to highlight the plight of China’s Uighurs.

“After the protest in Canberra, even young kids who were born here got the phone calls,” said 37-year-old Adam Turan, who said his 80-year-old father died weeks after being released from an internment camp in Xinjiang in the fall.


A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Home Affairs told The Post that “the Australian Government takes seriously its responsibility to protect our sovereignty, values and national interests from foreign interference" and highlighted the passage of a stringent new espionage and foreign interference law last year.

The calls and messages have taken a heavy toll. The tightknit Adelaide Uighur community of about 170 families has watched helplessly as an increasing number of their relatives in China have been taken to the internment camps. Many think their activism has led to such imprisonments — and, in some cases, deaths. The community’s growth has also trickled to a standstill as leaving China has become harder and harder for Uighurs.

“Because we live here, they suffer,” Turan said. As he sat in a Uighur restaurant in central Adelaide and recalled his own father’s death, he was interrupted by the restaurant’s owner, who approached the table to share details about his own family’s disappearance.


Police officers walk alongside two women in Kashgar, in the Xinjiang autonomous region, China, on Nov. 8, 2018. (Bloomberg/Bloomberg)
All of the Uighurs interviewed for this report said they had experienced depression or anxiety following the detention of their relatives and continuing harassment. “Sometimes I want to kill myself,” said Almas Nizamidin, 28, a construction worker who says his wife is being detained in a Chinese internment camp and who has lobbied Australian lawmakers unsuccessfully to raise the issue with Chinese officials.


“We all have psychological issues here,” Turan agreed. “At work, I try not to cry.”

For him, the questions he used to fear most began early in the morning, at the breakfast table with his children. “Do you have parents?” his 5-year-old son repeatedly asked. “Why are they not here?”

“Even the children go through this trauma,” Turan said. “That’s the hardest part.”

China is Australia’s biggest export market, putting Canberra in an awkward position. Australia’s government is a vocal critic of the treatment of Uighurs; it joined the United States as recently as November in calling on China to close its camps. But Nurmuhammad Said Majid, the president of the East Turkistan Australian Association (“East Turkistan” is the term used by Uighurs to describe Xinjiang), believes that Australia’s increasing dependence on China has made it made it more difficult for his community to have their complaints heard.


“We’re paying a heavy price for what we do here,” Majid said.

While sitting for an interview at Southern Australia’s State Library in Adelaide, Majid noticed red lanterns outside the library, announcing a new exhibition on ancient China. Such exhibitions and other intercultural exchanges have become more frequent in recent years, despite Australia’s criticisms of China’s human rights record.

“When I see those lanterns,” Majid said, pointing to them, “I see the blood of our families.”

Link

The Uighurs of western China | Al Jazeera English

The Real and the Fake 700 year old Great Mosque of Xi'an, China

We know that Internet is full of fake stuff. One such email doing rounds is the "700 year old Mosque in Xian Shanxi, China from the time of the Ming dynasty. The entire Quran is written on the walls of the mosque." An example of this tweet is here:

700 year old #Mosque in #Xian Shanxi, China from the time of the Ming dynasty.
The entire Quran is written on the walls of the mosque. pic.twitter.com/wSbGp0FQ9L

— Sabena Siddiqi (@sabena_siddiqi) March 11, 2018

This mosque is Tiban Turen Mosque in Malang, Indonesia. Tiban Mosque is called because it is said that the mosque is in the village, with a narrow road, and with its grandeur was built without the knowledge of the local people. According to the myths circulating in this area the mosque building was built by a genie in just one night.

However, when this was confirmed to the secretariat, it was said that the construction of the mosque which was actually a complex of the Salafiyah Bihaaru Bahri Islamic Boarding School 'Asali Fadlaailir Rahmah was purely built by the students and worshipers.

In fact it is actually an Islamic boarding school. It has 10 levels, where each level has a different theme. On the 1st floor there are several large aquarium displays and souvenirs. Floors 2-6 You will be spoiled with various calligraphy carvings and ornaments that spoil your eyes. On floors 7-8 you can buy some of the mosque's special souvenirs. And at the end of the 9-10th floor you will be spoiled with views of the green and comfortable village from a height.

Some of the above info is Google translated from IloveMalang.

You can also watch this video for more info.

Now coming back to the Great Mosque of Xi'an, China, there is a recent article from The News, Pakistan.

The Great Mosque of Xi'an has charmed the Muslim dynasty with honor as much as any other religious heritage -- with one being epic calligraphy of entire verses from the holy book - Quran.

This largest mosque across the province of Shanxi, China has breathed seven hundred years since its birth during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, with further additions during the Qing dynasty, still stands gracefully -- portraying all the elegance in its wall calligraphy.

The architecture excellence takes its mantra from a fusion of Arabic and Nastaliq script brought on to the walls with no voids for imperfection and is indeed a blissful gift, which after construction was next taken in responsibility and renovation under impact of Qing dynasty.

What adds to its perfection is the scripting brilliance yet in its fine prominence and gathers as much believers as any other would.

In 1956, the mosque was declared a ‘historical and cultural site protected at the Shaanxi province level, and was later promoted to a ‘major historical and cultural site protected at the national level in 1988. The mosque is still used as a place of worship by Chinese Muslims, primarily Hui people, today.

The State of Muslims in China - Trip Reflections | Dr. Sh. Yasir Qadhi

The Uighur Muslim crisis is worse than you think

@cjwerleman

China is sparing no effort in its attempt to erase any proof of its Uighur Muslim population in what the Communist state calls Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The area, known affectionately as East Turkistan by its 12 million Uighurs, was an independent nation state Until China began occupying and colonising it in 1949. 

For the past several years, barely more than a trickle of information has seeped out of the tightly controlled Chinese occupied territory, but what we do know suggests China is using an array of brutal measures to eradicate any vestige of Uighur culture.
These measures include a total ban on any form of expression of Islam in Xinjiang. China has not only shut down mosques, but also has banned all Islamic texts, including the Quran, while Muslim sounding names are also outlawed, as are beards and clothing that suggest adherence to the Islamic faith.

More recently, China has made it mandatory for all Uighur Muslims to have their motorbikes and cars fitted with a GPS tracking device, so that authorities can pinpoint any Uighur at any given moment.

If you're thinking this sounds like the making a dystopian futuristic novel, then consider also the fact that Chinese police in the province have been fitted out with "smart glasses," which use facial recognition software to identify Uighur Muslims on trains, buses and in public places.
Linked to a central database, the "smart glasses" are designed to notify a patrolling officer when a Uighur Muslim has moved beyond his orher 'safe area', that is home or place of work.

These hardline measures form just the tip of the iceberg, however. Uighur Muslims who refuse to give up their Muslim identity are forced into what China calls "reeducation camps", which are designed to convert Uighur Muslims to the official ideology of the state: Atheism.
"We target people who are religious… for example, those who grow beards despite being young," one Chinese government officer admitted in a report.
According to reports from human rights watchers, China has ordered its officials in Xinjiang to send almost half of its population to "re-education camps." For those who stubbornly defy China's indoctrination programme, prison or forced disappearance awaits.
Alarmingly, these reports do little to convey the extent of the horror taking place against Uighur Muslims in East Turkistan today.
Interviews I have conducted with several Uighur Muslim refugees who have escaped persecution and likely death at the hands of the Chinese government have confirmed as such.

When I spoke with Sadam Musapir, a Uighur Muslim who successfully applied for asylum seeker status in 2017 while on a student visa in Australia, he told me China is now incarcerating any Uighur Muslim who attempts to travel abroad. His wife and nine-month-old child suffered just that, as the authorities fear the world will learn the full depth and breadth of China's orchestrated campaign to culturally eradicate the Uighur people.
"In 60 days time from now, when my baby son, who I haven't seen yet turns one year of age, China will imprison my wife for five years, and then sell my baby to adoption agencies," Musapir told me.

When I asked why China was taking this action against his wife and child, he explained that they arrested her for trying to leave the country to join him in Australia. "China is desperate for the world not to know what is happening there [Xinjiang]," said Musapir.

Link

The Chinese government is rounding up Muslims and throwing them in camps

The camps started appearing over the past few years, but details are scarce. Reporting on the region is tightly constricted, and Beijing has made a habit of arresting and disappearing the family members of American reporters who have attempted to cover the topic.
“We heard at the beginning of this year that more than one million Uyghurs are currently in the camps,” Dolkun Isa, the president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, told ThinkProgress. “But it’s already been six months, and we’ve never heard of anyone being released… [There] may be 1.5 million, maybe 2 million, in the camps. We don’t know.”
Given that there are approximately 8 million Uyghurs in the region, that would mean over 10 percent — and potentially as many as 25 percent — of Xinjiang’s Uyghurs are currently housed in these camps.
These camps have rapidly formed the backbone of China’s broader “assimilation” effort: a set of policies aimed at banning Uyghurs’ religious education, language, and broader culture.
Following a 2009 protest-turned-massacre in Xinjiang, China’s deadliest domestic event in decades, Beijing accelerated its policy of forced assimilation — actions ranging from banning the teaching of the Uyghur language to barring certain Islamic names, all while installing one of the most stifling security regimes this side of North Korea.

Link

Muslim in Northwest China

Inside the camps where China tries to brainwash Muslims until they love the party and hate their own culture

Since last spring, Chinese authorities in the heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang have ensnared tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of Muslim Chinese – and even foreign citizens – in mass internment camps. This detention campaign has swept across Xinjiang, a territory half the area of India, leading to what a US commission on China last month said is “the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.”

Chinese officials have largely avoided comment on the camps, but some have been quoted in state media as saying that ideological changes are needed to fight separatism and Islamic extremism. Radical Muslim Uygurs have killed hundreds in recent years, and China considers the region a threat to peace in a country where the majority is Han Chinese.

The internment programme aims to rewire the political thinking of detainees, erase their Islamic beliefs and reshape their very identities. The camps have expanded rapidly over the past year, with almost no judicial process or legal paperwork.

Detainees who most vigorously criticise the people and things they love are rewarded, and those who refuse to do so are punished with solitary confinement, beatings and food deprivation.

Link

Chinese (Muslim) Wedding

The Chinese Hajj (2011) National Geographic

Where does Chinese Islamophobia come from?

I am sitting with a small group of Chinese and Westerners on the dried-out grass in Beijing’s Chaoyang Park, in a prosperous part of eastern Beijing. Suddenly the conversation turns to China’s Hui Muslims, a minority of some 10 million people who live throughout the country. “Stupid cunts!” (傻屄 shǎbī) shouts Wang Zhen, a Chinese IT graduate and avid Trump supporter.

“What about the Uyghur?” somebody asks, referring to the predominantly Muslim group in Xinjiang, the far western province where the Communist Party stands accused of imposing draconian restrictions on religious freedom. “They are the biggest shabi,” says Wang, launching into a Jack Daniel’s-fueled tirade against both the Hui and the Uyghur, while his French fiancé tries to change the subject.

Wang is from Lanzhou, the capital of the north-central province of Gansu, which is home to a large Hui population. Historically, Lanzhou was an important stop on the northern Silk Road, where for centuries goods and ideas passed through Central Asia, linking East and West.

Wang is an extreme example, comparable with many individuals in America’s “alt-right.” But throughout my time in China, I have noticed an alarming prevalence of Islamophobic views at every level of society. And I was curious as to why these views, often directly imported from the West, seem to have found traction among so many Chinese people. After all, these same people were often quick to criticize Western intervention in the Middle East; they also surely had good reasons of their own to support attempts to counter Western political and cultural dominance.

Chauvinism of the “Great Han” majority

In China, as in other parts of the world, Muslims and other minority ethnicities have always faced some discrimination: A particular type of prejudice favoring the majority Han ethnicity, called Han chauvinism (大汉族主义 dà hànzú zhǔyì；literally Great Han-ism), has reared its head throughout the country’s history, and violence has erupted sporadically in places such as Yunnan, the southwestern province that is home to several substantial Hui communities.

So, is Chinese Islamophobia just a more pronounced extension of Han chauvinism? Certainly, in the arid northern regions where most Hui live, there is evidence of suspicion toward Muslims. Just south of Gansu Province lies Ningxia, a Hui autonomous region, where one week earlier my Chinese colleague had been urged to “be careful on the streets, [because the Hui] try to meet a ‘three-kill quota’ every year.” But hostility to Islam is being voiced beyond these regions.

As in North America and Europe, in China, proximity to Muslim people isn’t a prerequisite for Islamophobia. And Chinese Islamophobes don’t confine their outbursts to the Hui or Uyghur. A tour of Chinese social media turns up regular currents of hatred and suspicion, directed (in Chinese) at Islam and Muslims within and beyond China’s borders:

“Whether in China or abroad, Islam is essentially an evil cult — just take a look at some of the countries in the Middle East, then it’s clear.”

Or:

“When I look at a map of Muslim countries, I feel very scared…the threat is coming from the west, and also the south; apparently, Islamic terrorist organizations are actively trying to establish Islamic states in Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Thailand, and the southern Philippines.”

Full article

http://supchina.com/2017/06/16/where-does-chinese-islamophobia-come-from/