Muslim Uighurs under Religious Discrimination in China - Essay Example

Muslim Uighurs under religious discrimination in China When China’s communist party took power in 1945 to present, Muslims specifically Uighurs have had a complicated relationship with Chinese official authorities, as the latter consider Muslims and the Islamic religion in general as enemies of communism and socialism. The Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 symbolized the turning point in Muslim Chinese’s history whereby, authorities destroyed mosques and temples and further desecrated their religious sites in order to eradicate old practices. These brutal acts changed in the 80s during the Deng Xiao Ping period. Leaders encouraged religious tolerance and established an open door policy. The Uighurs’ were able to practice religious rites and express their religious convictions with relative freedom. In addition, the reformed policies lobbied individuals to set aside their religious differences by respecting the different religions present in the region. The first step undertaken entailed the restoration of the previously destroyed mosques (Glandney, 2004). Presently, Uighurs still experience suffering from China’s daily harassments including a reduction in the number of imams. The Government strives to implement state ideology by letting imams handle its view such as religious training campaign, which teaches them patriotic education. These are similar to the notorious “patriotic education campaign” waged in Tibet against Buddhist monks and nuns since 1996. In fact, these sessions controlled by the party and government officials, are designed to reduce religious personnel from openly expressing their opposition toward hostile forces such as in Xinjiang “separatist forces” and in Tibet “Dalai lama clique”. In addition, imams have to attend meetings hosted by the national religious committee located in their town’s administrative offices. These gatherings limit imams’ verbal discretion by telling them what to say. They also maintain that the imams’ speech should center on peace and condemn terrorism. During these meetings, clerics have no choice but to follow and listen to government officials’ speeches, and send study reports before their training ends (Devastating Blows, 2005, P 55-56). Local adults have the option to attend mosques to learn about the Islam faith; however, the law forbids children from attending services offered by the mosques. In 2004 during an interview with a Chinese Muslim imam aired on Forum 8 News, the imam quipped, "the authorities instruct us to tell parents that their children must complete their education before they can start attending mosque services"(forum 18 organization, 2014). In 2001, the number of trainings has increased with the purpose of improving the political standing of Muslims religious leaders. The state allowed Islamic scripture schools to train 8.000 patriotic religious personalities (Devastating Blows, 2005, 61). This directive established criteria for appraising clerics’ commitment towards politically set ideologies. Those who fell short would receive a suspension or go back for further training. For example, these sessions were designed as loyalty tests. If Muslims clerics failed to offer a precise account, government officials would conclude that they were insincere about opposing separatism. However, if they mistook protocol, the law considered them as violators of regulations. Alongside clear efforts to improve indoctrination of religious leader and clerics, since 2001, Chinese’s authorities have stepped up the suspicion and inspection of many of mosques to the extent of sending people to supervise Uighurs’ mosques. Moreover, in 2001, the government inspected around 23,000 mosques in Xinjiang whereby, it ruled forty-one mosques as non-conforming to regulations of Xinjiang. That led to clashes between Muslims and Chinese police who destroyed mosques intentionally. The Chinese authorities were careful not to appear as targeting Muslims specifically by closing down their mosques. Since late 2001, authorities in Xinjiang imposed even more restrictions on mosques; for example, they banned any new construction work on mosques in Xinjiang. According to media reports, an official of Hetian Nationalities and Religious Affairs Bureau declared that about five people had opposed the conversion of a mosque into a carpet factory by appealing to Beijing authorities when the project begun. However, the authorities justified their actions by claiming that the location of the mosque was besides a school, which disrupted learning and influenced students adversely (Devastating blows, 56-58). Muslims around the world fast during month of Ramadan until sunset. The harassment of Muslims in China often occurs during Ramadan month. The communist party members have discouraged Muslims from fastning during Ramadan, as they posit that it results in adverse health concerns for those who engage in the practice. For example, a regional spokesperson Hou Hanmin, said that the authorities encouraged people to “eat properly for study and work”; however, she admitted they did not force them to eat. Those familiar with the region in 2012 negated Hou’s assertions claiming that the attempts to restrict participation in Ramadan were old tactics; however, they insisted that these attempts had intensified. “there is a much more public and concerted effort" than in previous years and in some cases Communist party leaders are delivering food to village elders to try to get them to break their fast stated Dru Gladney, a professor of anthropology at Pomona College in California and an expert on Chinas Muslim minorities (Guardian, 2012). However, the white paper of China’s government, which is a publication released to address human rights issues and refute foreign criticism claimed that this was not the case. The paper painted a rosy picture of the government’s efforts towards preservation of minority rights; for example, the Information Office of the State Council Of the Peoples Republic of China (June 1996) based in Beijing issued The Law of the Peoples Republic of China on National Regional Autonomy. The law stipulates that: "Organs of self-government in ethnic regional autonomous areas protect the right to freedom of religious belief of the citizens of all ethnic groups…" (China Organization, 1996). Restrict on Islamic education Islamic education became very hard on a daily basis for Muslims and their children. Uighur Muslims were unable to study Islamic education freely under Chinese’s authority due to the prolonged years of restriction. As a result, they fear that their practices as Muslims derived from Islamic teachings will disappear with the elapsing of time. In fact, they have long complained about the government’s restrictions against Muslims, which disallows them from studying Arabic language at government schools and bans clerics from teaching religion or anything related to Islamic education in private (Islamic web). Restrictions on religion, which tend to prohibit teaching of religion, extend to education systems at all levels including the university level. To clarify this, government officials forbid religious activates at schools. Furthermore, they made sure that no secondary school or below level adopted teaching materials, which encouraged or developed religious beliefs within students; however, for the university levels, the administrative department based in Beijing critically analyzed religious materials. Conversely, in rural areas parents prefer to arrange for their children to receive religious education, which occurs through story- telling, folksongs from people who are older or more knowledgeable, particularly in certain times such as festivals and weddings. However, Chinese authorities intervened even during these ceremonies and practices in order to prohibit them, as they touch on religious issues claiming that they are illegal religious activates. This instigated parental concern whereby, majority of them refrained from offering homeschooling to their children, as they feared raising governmental officials’ suspicion (Devastating Blows, 2005, p. 38). According to a story published in Islamic web by Hussein, millions of Uighur children are deprived of an opportunity to learn about their religious background, as they lack the privilege to attend religious schools or even mosques because government prevents those who under 18 years old to learn Islamic education. He quipped, “…maybe in 10 years, there will be no more religion in East Turkistan” (Islamic web). In addition, Muslims in Kashgar suffer from the same issue and one educator based in the region in 2012 said “this is a Uyghur school and we are mostly Uighurs working here. However, neither at home nor at work are you supposed to talk to the children about religion. You just talk about it, and it is illegal. Even with my own son, I am not supposed to tell him about Islam. How can this be possible ("Devastating blows," 2005, p59). They are very careful not to educate children about religious beliefs, as they understand children are very perceptive whereby, exposing them to religious education reinforces their religious convictions. According to the tabula rasa theory, which infers that one’s mental contents come from personal experiences, it is clear that religious beliefs impact an individual’s experiences. It is apparent that the environment also molds an individual’s experiences. John Locke clarifies this theory whereby, he infers that children adopt their parents’ beliefs, which guide different aspects of their lives and are hard to modify or change (Locke, 1996). In the wake of the attack on the US in September 11, China decided to declare its own war against terrorism. China enjoined the United States’ fight against terrorism by informing the United Nation’s Security Council that the Uighur Muslim group had links with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden. Presently, officials in Beijing labeled those who are striving for an independent state in the northwest province of Xinjiang terrorists. The Chinese government considers these activities as part of the Islamic terror network, which received funding from the Middle East, good combating experience in both Chechnya and Afghanistan and training in Pakistan. Furthermore, they claim that Uighur has connections with the East Turkistan movement, which seeks to achieve independence (Hibbard & Saud, 2013). The Chinese government condemns the East Turkistan movement because they consider it a violent separatist movement, which is responsible for many incidents in Xinjiang. In fact, after the September 11 events ETIM was added to the Terrorist Exclusion List. This list includes organizations, which committed terrorist activates against human beings. China directed countless efforts towards lobbying for the inclusion of the Uighur Muslims in the international terrorism watch list. In 2002, China released some documents explaining in details alleged activities related to Uighur’s terrorist activities in China. There was minimal facts to back the documents, as the group seldom engaged or supported terrorist groups operating on a global scale. The first of these documents published by the Information Office of the PRC State Council was titled “East Turkistan Terrorist Forces Cannot Get Away with Impunity”. This document infers that all violent acts resulted from attacks perpetrated by separatists groups in Xinjiang. For example, they showed statistics, which confirmed that from 1990 to 2001, the East Turkistan terrorist forces was responsible for inside and outside terrorist acts including more than 200 terrorist incidents specifically in Xinjiang. This horrible act caused deaths of 162 people from different ethnic groups and caused injuries to approximately 450 people. They posited that the kind of terrorist activities such as explosions, which target innocents people aid in the expansion of their influence. In addition to assassinations aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror, the terrorist groups direct their attacks at ordinary people, Han majority people and officials (China.org. 2002). The document, however, according to human rights watch groups contains inconsistencies as well as lack of independent intelligence to supports its findings. James Millward concurs with the findings as he explains in his monograph “Violent Separatism in Xinjiang: A Critical Assessment”. Therefore, the Chinese government tried to aid America in their fight against its enemy Osama Bin laden by identifying and discriminating against people classified as separatists in Xinjiang. However, the government’s actions failed to safeguard the nation’s interest. In fact, the actions were an excuse to discriminate against the Uighur as minority, religious group in China. Former President Bush pointed out in October 2001 in Shanghai that the fight against terrorism should never justify discrimination against minority groups. In 2002, the USA Ambassador Clark Randt concurred with the former President’s statement by stating that China’s decision to enjoin the fight against terror did not justify its overt discrimination against minority groups in the region along religious lines (Blows). Finally, the Chinese government and party officials should exercise caution and tolerance with the way it handles Muslim Uighur minority and its right to practice its own Islamic beliefs and religious teachings. In addition, they should understand that Uighurs independent practice of Islam religion and advocacy for its autonomy are not related to criminal acts. The government should not intervene in every single act pertaining to the religious group such as training of clergy, celebration of religious events; however, it should give them freedom to observe their religious practices. This will serve to inform the rest of the world that China is a tolerant nation free from discriminatory practices imposed along racial, ethnic or religious lines. Conclusion Chinese Uighurs with ties to Islam experienced discrimination in China. However, during the Deng Xiao Ping period, they were allowed to practice their religion without many restrictions. This changed under the leadership of China’s communist party, which harassed the Uighur natives by intervening in every angle in their life particularly in their religious lives. They abuse their rights intentionally by restricting their right to teach their children about their religion and desecrate their religious sites such as mosques. The legislators also ban religious education in the lower education levels and critically appraise religious materials taught in higher education levels. Finally, they link the Uighurs to terrorists and infer that the measures undertaken to restrict their rights is a way of combating terrorism in the region and the world in general. Read More