Muslims in China are free to practice their faith \u2014 as long as it\u2019s on the government\u2019s terms<\/p>\n
BY Arfa Shahid<\/a> & Leila Hatoum <\/a><\/p>\n In a country where over 21 million citizens constituting up to 1.5 percent of the population practice the Islamic faith, one wonders why the world hears so little about China\u2019s Muslims, unless there are reports of abuse or terrorist attacks and even then, those reports are mainly carried by foreign media outlets.<\/p>\n Newsweek Middle East<\/em> has spoken to Uyghurs and other Chinese Muslims as well as experts on the history of Islam in China, to get a clearer picture of the state of religious freedom in the country. It is worth noting that reports on the treatment of Muslims in China have been subjected to much inaccuracy. Western media bias towards China has often meant that the issue of religious practice has been reported with an alarmist perspective, lacking detail of what is a complex situation.<\/p>\n History of Islam in China<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n The issue of religious freedom, particularly that of Chinese Muslims, goes far beyond a crackdown on Islam. It is a complex issue with nuances of ethnic identity, separatist movements and minority rights at its core. Before the Mongol era, Muslim traders came to China and settled there. The Mongols brought more Muslim allies from Central Asia to China to rule the majority Han Chinese. Although Muslims were naturalized legally, they were still culturally foreign. From the 14th century onwards, when the Chinese overthrew the Mongols, Muslims in China became culturally assimilated. In the last dynasty of the Qing, Muslim-Chinese wars and conflicts lasted for at least 150 years.<\/p>\n According to Chinese official documents, Islam was introduced into the southern part of China\u2019s Xinjiang province towards the end of the ninth century. By the mid-10th century, Muslims launched a war against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan but only conquered the kingdom 40 years later. Thereafter, Islam quickly became the predominant religion in Xinjiang, coexisting with many other religions there including Buddhism and Christianity.<\/p>\n Chinese Muslims vs. Uyghurs<\/strong><\/p>\n Before delving deeper, it should be made clear from the outset that not all Muslims in China are being persecuted. It is specifically the Uyghur ethnic minority, particularly in the autonomous north-western province of Xinjiang, that bears the brunt of state repression.<\/p>\n In China, being Muslim is not just a religious identity, but it is also weaved into a complex ethnic identity. There are Chinese Muslims who identify as Hui and Han, in addition to the Uyghur Muslims as well as the minorities of Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik and others.<\/p>\n Hui Muslims are the largest Muslim group in China and are said to be originally Han Chinese, who assumed this new identity after converting to Islam in 1949. They are ethnically and linguistically similar to the Han, who constitute 92 percent of mainland China.<\/p>\n Haiyun Ma, an assistant professor of history at Frostburg State University who specializes in Islam in China, says that a complicated history of Chinese Muslims, coupled with a historical record of ethnic separatism in the 1930s and 1940s, is why the Uyghurs are targeted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of Central Asian republics makes China worry about possible Uyghur independence. Moreover, the Uyghurs\u2019 perceived connection to Muslim militant groups outside China, as well as the West\u2019s support for Uyghur separatism are all factors that makes China consider them a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds that \u201cIsraeli lobbying groups began to exploit the Uyghur situation, and lobbied the central government to implement harsh policies even on Hui Muslims.\u201d These factors, coupled with the struggle for domestic power that Xinjiang\u2019s government needs to highlight its position within the Chinese communist system, are reasons for the crackdown on the Uyghurs.<\/p>\n It is perhaps in this sense that we understand the Chinese government\u2019s stance in the White Paper on Religious Freedom, that the country \u201cwill never allow any foreign organization or individual to interfere with China\u2019s religious affairs\u2026The Chinese government resolutely opposes the politicization of religious matters and any other country\u2019s interference in China\u2019s internal affairs in the name of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n Religious Freedom?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Uyghur Muslims living in China\u2019s far western province of Xinjiang Autonomous Region claim they are persecuted for practicing Islam, despite the country\u2019s constitution stipulating that citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief without any coercion or discrimination against them. The complicated history of Xinjiang is what may be making the Chinese government fearful of outside influence. Historically the area was known as East Turkestan and was a part of Central Asia, not China. Hence the reported 15 million population has a culture of its own.<\/p>\n When contacted by Newsweek Middle East<\/em> to comment on the issue of religious freedom for Muslims and Uyghurs in China, an emailed reply from the Spokesperson\u2019s Office of the Foreign Ministry stated that the country\u2019s respect for and \u201cprotection of freedom of religious belief is a long-term basic national policy of the government\u2026 No Xinjiang citizen has been punished because of his or her rightful religious belief.\u201d The colleague, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution, says the mood in this old city was rather \u201cdepressed and low-spirited during Ramadan.\u201d \u201cWe have to work but there are hardly any visitors during the day time. It really doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d says Gulbahar, a waitress at Eden Caf\u00e9. The caf\u00e9 is close to the famous Id Kah Mosque, built by Saqsiz Mirza in 1442. The mosque is China\u2019s largest, and it houses nearly 10,000 worshippers during Friday congregational prayers. However, it can accommodate up to 20,000 people at a time.<\/p>\n At Kashgar\u2019s main Western and Central Asian Bazaar, the colleague says an Uyghur Muslim shopkeeper explained to her and to Newsweek Middle East<\/em> that no one was happy because of the regulation. Huang, a tour guide from the Han majority \u2014which is the origin of the Muslim Hui in China\u2014who was leading a group of tourists around Abakh Khoja Tomb, a family cemetery of Kashgar\u2019s 17th century Islamic leader, agrees with the government\u2019s policies during Ramadan.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to keep business going, otherwise the economy would suffer and there would be no souvenir shop open for the tourists and my clients,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the Chinese government \u201cprohibits any organization or individual from splitting the country, disseminating extremist religious thoughts, inciting ethnic hatred, undermining national unity, disturbing the social order, or impairing citizens\u2019 physical and mental health in the name of religion. It also prohibits behavior that violates national security and interests, public interests, and citizens\u2019 legitimate rights and interests in the name of religion,\u201d the Ministry says.<\/p>\n But such broad terms of \u201cdisseminating extremist religious thoughts,\u201d and \u201cundermining national unity,\u201d among others have long been the tools of regimes throughout modern history to quell opposition and confiscate freedoms, including in the U.S. with the much criticized Patriot Act.<\/p>\n Freedom for Me, Not for Thee:<\/strong><\/p>\n Kamla Hsin Tung is a Chinese-American Hui Muslim who studied International Relations at the University of California, San Diego. Besides having taken anthropology courses at Nanjing University as a study-abroad student, Tung moved to China after her marriage and works in Nanjing, the capital of China\u2019s eastern Jiangsu province, as a program coordinator at a language center.<\/p>\n She tells Newsweek Middle East<\/em> that the repression of Muslims in China is mostly limited to Uyghur Muslims, particularly in Xinjiang where the Uyghurs were once the majority population. Now, Tung says, the Uyghur population has been watered down by the government\u2019s push of flows of Han migrants into the area\u2014said to be a result of Israeli influence \u2014to take on senior posts and higher paying jobs. Beijing says it is merely pumping investments into the region to help it grow.<\/p>\n Tung says that government control on practicing Islam is aimed at things such as preventing Uyghurs from fasting in public spaces such as schools and offices, banning beards and headscarves and disallowing young individuals (under 18) to attend any form of religious lectures. Local media reports showed leaked government documents that expressly forbid men with beards from using public transport. Students under 18 are prohibited from fasting and are reportedly forced to eat lunch with their teachers during the fasting month of Ramadan. There have also been reports of the government forcing restaurants by law to sell alcohol \u2013 a habit prohibited by Islam.<\/p>\n Tung adds that this policy has slowly been trickling into other provinces such as Gansu (also known for a large Muslim population), but says that it is nowhere near the same scale or practice as in Xinjiang. In fact, these policies are not at all enforced or expected amongst the Hui minorities, who also live in significant numbers in major Chinese cities.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Hui minorities [to which I belong], living in cities such as Nanjing (one of China\u2019s larger cities), Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou etc., there are no major restrictions that we can pinpoint, we hold regular prayers with not much fanfare,\u201d Tung says.<\/p>\n However, things take a different turn where the Uyghurs are concerned. Tung explains how her Uyghur friends have been targeted for practicing Islam: She says that she herself can get away with a lot more, not only because she doesn\u2019t look Uyghur, but because as a Hui she is \u201cprivileged.\u201d<\/p>\n Tung\u2019s friend agreed to speak to Newsweek Middle East<\/em> on condition of anonymity. After she finished telling her story, it is evident why she would want to keep her identity a secret.<\/p>\n For the purpose of this article, we will refer to Tung\u2019s friend as Luna.<\/p>\n Luna is from Hotan in Xinjiang and currently studies at a university in Nanjing. As a student, she says that Uyghur students are not allowed to wear scarves or any other form of religious clothing.<\/p>\n Many teachers in Nanjing say that the way a student dresses does not concern them, but they are forced to abide by the government regulations and report on students wearing the hijab. Some teachers offer comfort to their students by saying that they should not let such matters affect their education, but if they continue practices that are forbidden by the government, they will have to be reported.<\/p>\n While Luna is lucky to have supportive classmates, teachers and dorm-mates who are \u201cquite respectful\u201d of her religious practice, others are not so lucky.<\/p>\n Some of Luna\u2019s classmates were reported by their dorm-mates for praying, partly because the teacher had asked them to notify the school authorities should they see \u201csuch behavior.\u201d In one student\u2019s case, the dorm-mates bullied her while praying, so much so that she was forced to pray on her bed.<\/p>\n Luna says the students have become so cautious that they are wary of carrying out mundane everyday tasks such as holding group study sessions.<\/p>\n \u201cEver since that one meeting where they asked us to stop wearing the headscarf, there haven\u2019t been any [weekly meetings]. They all know what we\u2019re doing. It\u2019s definitely because someone among us has already told the police officers. I mean, everything we did, everything we talked about, they were very aware of. So there\u2019s this kind of feeling of lack of trust amongst us. Now we\u2019re all very cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n Luna recalls that things were never this bad in Nanjing. The situation deteriorated starting May 2015, when a few people visited from Xinjiang.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if they were police officers or teachers. But they came once, and after their meeting, the school tightened regulations and became stricter, not allowing prayer or any publications on Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n Previously, Luna says the authorities did not care about Tarawih<\/em> (extra night prayers during Ramadan) or Jummah<\/em> (Friday\u2019s noon congregational prayers). Now, however, all those who work in government positions are not allowed to enter the mosque. If they absolutely must pray at the mosques, they must register using their national I.D. number.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s messed up,\u201d Luna says with a nervous laugh.<\/p>\n Back in Luna\u2019s hometown, Hotan, authorities can arbitrarily detain anyone or check their cellphones if they are seen as suspicious, particularly males. \u201cBut it\u2019s not safe to speak about the situation of stricter inspections over the phone to my relatives and family. So, I don\u2019t know if my family is going through this because I haven\u2019t been back in a year.\u201d<\/p>\n Fighting Terrorism<\/strong><\/p>\n In China, hundreds of people have been killed in unrest in Xinjiang over the past few years. The government blames the violence on Western-backed Islamist militants, whom it claims want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan, for the minority Uyghurs.<\/p>\n Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying says that \u201ccracking down on East Turkestan Islamic Movement is a core concern of China\u2019s on the issue of counter-terrorism.<\/p>\n Religious extremism, \u201chas grown and spread in Xinjiang in recent years,\u201d deluding and deceiving the public, \u201cparticularly young people, with their fallacies,\u201d according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry\u2019s emailed reply to Newsweek Middle East<\/em>.<\/p>\n Following a series of several violent attacks in China\u2014including a knife attack at a train station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, in March 2014; a market bombing in Xinjiang\u2019s capital Urumqi in May 2014; the attacks in Shache County in 2014; and the terrorist attacks in Baicheng, a city in the north-eastern province of Jilin in September 2015\u2014the Xinjiang authorities adopted a policy of \u201cde-radicalization\u201d to prevent and combat religious extremism.<\/p>\n This allowed for the crack down on \u201cterrorism and extremism in accordance with the law,\u201d and the ministry believes that \u201cXinjiang cracks down on the propaganda of terrorism and extremism and the incitement of terrorist and extremist activities,\u201d in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.<\/p>\n State Monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n For the Uyghurs in China, particularly in Xinjiang, there is no distinction between being monitored in public or in private spaces. That is, the government will inspect and monitor private homes as well public spaces like universities, schools, offices, etc. Government officials are not allowed to pray or fast. In middle school, students are forced to eat lunch during recess.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will come in, and we can\u2019t even protest or fight back because they\u2019re police officers. If you protest or fight back, then the next day, you might never be found again. This stuff has happened before. Right now, in Xinjiang, if anything problematic related to religion occurs, you don\u2019t even need to open a case or have an arrest warrant\u2014they can directly take you away,\u201d Luna tells Newsweek Middle East<\/em>. She recalls an incident when five police officers barged into her brother\u2019s home last summer. Luna had been interning at Hotan. One of the officers was an ethnic Han while the other four were Uyghur. Luna adds that they questioned her for wearing an all-black outfit. As it turns out, long blackabayas<\/em> are not allowed. On that basis, one officer forced Luna to give him her phone and unlock the screen. \u201cI said, give it to me and I\u2019ll unlock it. And he hit my hand, saying \u2018I\u2019ll hold it and you open it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Luna told us of the multiple times the police officer hit her, simply because it was in his power to do so. Luna recalls the time when an Uyghur policeman saved them during an inspection of their computer, which had a few files with Islamic content.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Han officer kept asking him, is there anything on there, and the Uyghur officer said no. The Han officer said, inspect properly is there really nothing there, and the Uyghur said there\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about her toughest experience with the authorities, Luna says it\u2019s the constant policing. Despite being used to that, she recalls an incident when she was in Beijing with her father, who was quite sick.<\/p>\n \u201cI was holding a lot of luggage. My dad\u2019s, mine, I was holding it all, because my dad couldn\u2019t carry anything heavy. And I explained clearly to the police officer, but they still made me open all my suitcases one by one, and open everything inside to see what they were,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cInside, we had some rose candy cakes, my mom had made, and they were wrapped, because otherwise they would break apart. But they made me open them all, and then, made me put it all away again. I normally never cry over these situations, but I felt so wronged.\u201d<\/p>\n Big Brother Knows All<\/strong><\/p>\n For the Uyghurs, mainland China evokes an Orwellian atmosphere.<\/p>\n Uyghurs have to meet regularly with the authorities for \u201ctea-time.\u201d During these meetings, the officers ask them questions about university, what they studied that week, their social interactions and about their Uyghur friends. Often, the officer will be someone the government has chosen from within the community, to make the interrogation seem less threatening.<\/p>\n But regardless of the officer\u2019s identity, such practices place a lot of pressure on them, says Tung, adding that even if their intentions are good, ultimately the idea is to monitor the Uyghurs to supposedly prevent them from \u201cextremist leanings.\u201d<\/p>\n Tung says that the effect of this monitoring ultimately is that the Uyghurs feel even more \u201coppressed and angry\u201d and in some cases, the situation turns violent. But in most cases, the students just want to leave the country and never come back, she adds.<\/p>\n \u201cThey told me that if I were to leave the country to study, I would have to keep an eye on my classmates and keep them posted. And so I felt a bit scared. I felt like a pair of eyes are always watching me. There\u2019s just no freedom,\u201d she laments.<\/p>\n Tung believes the situation of Uyghur Muslims in China is unique\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Muslims in China are free to practice their faith \u2014 as long as it\u2019s on the government\u2019s terms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-2822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2822"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
To understand the present day scenario of China\u2019s diverse Muslims, one has to examine the arrival of Islam in the region. The religion came to China approximately 20 years after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) passed away, during the rule of Othman, the third Muslim Caliph, in the year 651. It was concentrated mainly in Western China, which is home to a large Uyghur population.<\/p>\n
However, a recent visit by a colleague to Kashgar in Xinjiang revealed otherwise. The Chinese government holds that it is entirely up to Muslim restaurant owners whether they wish to provide services or not during the Islamic month of fasting.<\/p>\n
China reportedly prohibited civil servants, students and teachers in the region from fasting during the Islamic holy month and ordered catering for businesses to stay open.<\/p>\n
However, not all Muslim Chinese see eye-to-eye when it comes to the government\u2019s regulations and prohibitions.<\/p>\n
If that isn\u2019t chilling enough, Luna adds that police officers don\u2019t require any documentation to prove their identity as long as they are in uniform.<\/p>\n
Luna describes the incident in vivid detail. She says her sister-in-law took longer than usual to answer the door as she was wearing a sleeveless shirt and wanted to cover up first. The police went through every room, being especially \u201cvicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it later turned out that Luna\u2019s brother had helped the police officer while on duty at a hospital, he returned her phone and said to her brother: \u201cThis is only out of respect for you. Next time, if this happens, we\u2019ll just take her directly away. Put her away for many days.\u201d<\/p>\n