Iranian media published a video of the terrorist attack on the Shakhcherakh mosque.
Iranian media published a video of the terrorist attack on the Shakhcherakh mosque.
Click and watch the video: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... V.mp4
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Click and watch the video: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... V.mp4
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In the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the pagan oromuma gov’t is directly shot to the Muslims people today in the great Anwar Mosque.
In the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the pagan oromuma gov’t is directly shot to the Muslims people today in the great Anwar Mosque. Due to this attack, may be many Muslims are killed & wounded. The cruel & the pagan oromuma must go immediately. Stop killing innocent!!!!
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Watch: A Palestinian boy shares his modest breakfast with a cat in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Watch: A Palestinian boy shares his modest breakfast with a cat in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.
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The background story of why Yunnan Najiaying Hui people’s so struggle to defend the mosque.
The Yunnan Najiaying Hui people’s struggle to defend the mosque has similar historical precedents. In 1974, the conflict between the CCP and the Hui people in Yunnan escalated, and thousands of Hui people Muslims went to Kunming to protest the closure of mosques during the Cultural Revolution and demand religious freedom. The Hui people confronted the government and ended with the armed suppression of the PLA. A total of about 1,600 Muslims were killed, of which 866 came from Shadian, Yunan province.
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Najiaying mosque latest news: The Chinese police and armed military still control the Najiaying town and Najiaying mosque
Najiaying mosque latest news: The Chinese police and armed military still control the Najiaying town, they locked the door of the mosque. Local hui people Muslim gather and try to prevent CCP secret attacks at night.
click and watch video:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... 1.mp4
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click and watch video:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... 1.mp4
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The Xi Jinping government has also sent out hungry wolf-like troops to suppress the Hui Muslim in Najiaying town!
The Chinese Communist Party not only sent out mad dog-like police to surround the Najiaying mosque. Now, the Xi Jinping government has also sent out hungry wolf-like troops to suppress the Hui Muslim in Najiaying town!”
Local Muslim pray and say “ Allah is the most greatest” to protest.
click and watch the video:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... T.mp4
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Local Muslim pray and say “ Allah is the most greatest” to protest.
click and watch the video:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... T.mp4
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On 26th May 2023, Hui Muslims gathered outside the historic Najiaying mosque to prevent Chinese authorities and riot police from the demolishing the mosque.
Stand Off! Hui Muslims Confront Chinese Police Over Mosque Demolition On 26th May 2023, Hui Muslims gathered outside the historic Najiaying mosque in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province to prevent Chinese authorities and riot police from the demolishing the Dome and Minarets of the mosque. The Chinese police were forced to retreat due to strong resistance and many Hui Muslims stayed outside the mosque overnight to prevent the demolition. Arabic signs, minarets and domes of mosques are being demolished, as the Chinese communist party carries out its 5-year plan to “sinicise” #Islam across the country.
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It's happening! Local Yunan Muslims gather to protest as the Najia Ying Mosque in Nagu Town, Tonghai County, Yunnan Province is being forcibly demolished.
It's happening! Local Yunan Muslims gather to protest as the Najia Ying Mosque in Nagu Town, Tonghai County, Yunnan Province is being forcibly demolished.
This is evidence of the Communist Party's individual how to attacks Muslims who living in China.
In 2018, internal documents in Xinjiang show that, Xi Jinping will destroy the Hui People muslim community after Xinjiang Concentration Camps.
The communists' trick is to attack one by one, slowly dismantling.
This is the time for Chinese Muslims to unite together, and This is the time for Global Muslims to unite together.
1. Local residents photographed from the building as the Chinese Communist government sent tower cranes, which entered the mosque compound and were preparing to demolish the mosque dome and minaret.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... K.mp4
2. Muslims confront armed police in front of the mosque while praying.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... L.mp4
3. Local Muslims knock down scaffolding erected by the Chinese Communist Party to demolish the minaret of the mosque.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... g.mp4
4. The Chinese Communist Party has illegally arrested many Muslims in Najia Camp. Video shows this Muslim being handcuffed by armed police officers before being retrieved from them by local residents.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... w.mp4 Collapse Read »
This is evidence of the Communist Party's individual how to attacks Muslims who living in China.
In 2018, internal documents in Xinjiang show that, Xi Jinping will destroy the Hui People muslim community after Xinjiang Concentration Camps.
The communists' trick is to attack one by one, slowly dismantling.
This is the time for Chinese Muslims to unite together, and This is the time for Global Muslims to unite together.
1. Local residents photographed from the building as the Chinese Communist government sent tower cranes, which entered the mosque compound and were preparing to demolish the mosque dome and minaret.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... K.mp4
2. Muslims confront armed police in front of the mosque while praying.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... L.mp4
3. Local Muslims knock down scaffolding erected by the Chinese Communist Party to demolish the minaret of the mosque.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... g.mp4
4. The Chinese Communist Party has illegally arrested many Muslims in Najia Camp. Video shows this Muslim being handcuffed by armed police officers before being retrieved from them by local residents.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... w.mp4 Collapse Read »
Today on a campaign trail by Turkey's Erdogan
Today on a campaign trail by Turkey's Erdogan:
* I get my orders from Allah
* US President Biden ordered to topple me
* Opposition will sanction Russia on US orders
* Russian meddling into Turkish elections is a lie
* West gone crazy when Hagia Sophia turned to a mosque
watch video:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... 7.mp4 Collapse Read »
* I get my orders from Allah
* US President Biden ordered to topple me
* Opposition will sanction Russia on US orders
* Russian meddling into Turkish elections is a lie
* West gone crazy when Hagia Sophia turned to a mosque
watch video:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw ... 7.mp4 Collapse Read »
China’s War against Islam: From ‘mosque rectification program’, to Quran being burnt, pork being fed, Namaz and Hijab being banned and more
China’s War against Islam: From ‘mosque rectification program’, to Quran being burnt, pork being fed, Namaz and Hijab being banned and more
China's war on Islam includes a total ban on religious education, harsh suppression of religious scholars, burning of the Quran, destroying mosques and cemeteries, changing prayers and zikr, forbidding the hijab, eliminating Islamic customs, forbidding learning Arabic, erasing the Muslim identity of Uyghur children and more.
The Center for Uyghur Studies (CUS) published an 88-page detailed research paper on April 28, 2023, highlighting the scale of the Communist Party of China’s transnational war against Islam and resultant repression of Uyghur Muslims with a particular focus on the Chinese government policies in East Turkestan, more commonly known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
The report titled, “Islamophobia in China and Attitudes of Muslim Countries”, highlights numerous instances of China’s war against Islam. It also talks about how Muslim nations have maintained studious silence at China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan or the Xinjiang province.
The research looks at the historical and systemic attempts made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to “sinicize” Islam and Muslims from the inception of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The paper also details the numerous facets of China’s conflict with Islam in East Turkistan during the past seven decades, most recently starting in 2017.
It also looks at China’s disinformation tactics in the Islamic world and the several propaganda techniques the Chinese state uses to keep Muslims from publicly criticising their treatment by China due to their religion. The report concludes with a chapter on the OIC’s failure to address the Uyghurs and the attitudes of Muslim-majority nations towards the Uyghur Genocide.
Uyghurs are a Turkish-Muslim ethnic group living in Xinjiang, the largest and most western of China’s administrative regions surrounded by Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The Xinjiang autonomous region in China has had a long history of discord between the authorities and the Uighur population.
Islam and China
The research paper highlights how in China, Islam has been regarded as a foreign religion that came from outside China. Hence, there has been a view that Muslims as foreigners and backwards. Talking about how it originated, the research suggests that the hate for Muslims in the country began in 1949 with the emergence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and only worsened during the past 70 years of the CCP rule.
The report said that dislike for Islam in China is at extremely high levels. The issue was made worse by the portrayal of Islam and Muslims in the Chinese state media. A favourable and acceptable international climate for dislike towards Islam in China was also created by the “Global War on Terror” that was declared following the 9/11 attacks.
Since Xi Jinping took office, the PRC’s hostility towards Muslims has increased. Particularly, the CCP’s work conference on religious affairs that took place in 2016 marked a high point in the specific dislike for Islam. Chinese authorities have initiated a statewide crackdown on different religions, especially those that are considered foreign (like Islam and Christianity).
Persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang seen as the most radical form of Islamophobia in China, says research
The research report by the think tank suggests that the most extreme manifestation of dislike for Islam in China has been the actions taken by Chinese authorities against Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan or Xinjiang. Millions of Muslims have been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities under the guise of “re-education and rehabilitation,” and thousands of mosques have been razed in East Turkestan. Chinese authorities compare Islam to an “infectious disease” and Uyghur Muslims to “infected people,” highlighting the need to eradicate the faith, read the report.
The report explains the extent of the exploitation of Uyghur Muslims by Communist China
The report states that Muslims in China have experienced discrimination as a result of the Chinese government’s overt and covert support of incidents where men and women wearing the hijab are mocked, barred from public spaces like hospitals and hotels and even denied employment. Muslim categorization of food as halal or haram is fiercely opposed. Islamic attire and customs are attacked and shunned because they were seen as foreign by Chinese society.
This research piece further highlighted how the practice of discrimination against Muslims in China, particularly with regard to the Uyghurs in East Turkestan, has assumed the shape of a government policy.
The anti-Islam campaigns initiated by the Chinese authorities
In their report, the researchers discuss how the Chinese government has been attempting to eliminate Islam since its presence in the Xinjiang province. It highlights the various anti-Islam campaigns, which include a total ban on religious education, harsh suppression of religious scholars, burning of the Quran, destroying mosques and cemeteries, changing prayers and zikr, forbidding the hijab, eliminating Islamic customs, forbidding learning Arabic, and erasing the Muslim identity of Uyghur children, carried out over the years by the Communist Party of China under the leadership of Xi Jinping.
Prohibition on preaching Islam: The report states how Muslims of East Turkestan are not able to learn and teach their religion. Following the occupation of East Turkistan in 1966 until today, Muslim children are being mandatorily raised with communist ideology and Chinese culture at state schools. Chinese communists mandate that Muslim children learn atheism and communist ideology while closing down Islamic schools (Madarsa), eradicating Islam from the educational system.
After CCP assumed power in 2014, the Chinese government imprisoned Uyghurs who studied in Muslim-majority nations like Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey and mandated those who were still there to return. They also placed state officials in Uyghur homes to monitor them round-the-clock and completely forbid the parents from teaching their children Islamic practises like Namaz and the Quran.
A demolished mosque in Kashgar City of East Turkestan (Source: /)[/url]
In 2017, a large number of Uyghur students at Al-Azhar University were forcibly returned to China by the Chinese authorities with the assistance of the Egyptian government.
Suppression of Maulvis: As the leadership views Islamic practices as crimes and the religious leaders as criminals, religious scholars are the group in Xinjiang that faces the harshest treatment at the hands of the Chinese communist regime. The report used data released by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), which confirms that as many as 1,000 imams have been detained since 2014 as a result of their affiliation with Islamic teaching. Most of those arrested were sentenced to 15-20 years or life in prison terms.
The report further adds that since 2017, there has been a significant upsurge in the targeting of Islamist scholars. Many Uyghur imams and clerics have been detained, imprisoned, or sent to concentration camps in 2017. Those who weren’t in jail were forced to sing and dance in support of the communist party in front of the public.
Uyghurs Cleric dancing and singing in praise of CCP (Source: /)[/url]
Burning of the Quran: The report highlights yet another strategy the CCP government employs in its war against Islam, which is the burning of their religious texts and the Quran. The report said that this practice has increased manifolds since 2014.
During China’s recent campaign against Islam in East Turkestan, people who did not voluntarily turn over religious materials to the police were subjected to severe punishments when they were found. Because of their fear, Muslims in East Turkestan were sometimes forced to dispose of the Quran by dumping it into rivers.
Since 2017, all Islamic textbooks and materials have been outlawed in China. All the religious literature and materials were gathered and burnt. Those who had such items were detained or transferred to jails or concentration camps.
Destruction of mosques and cemeteries: Chinese authorities also destroyed mosques or transformed them in addition to suppressing Imams. When the “Cultural Revolution” took place between 1966 and 1976, the policy was at its strictest.
In 2017, the process of demolishing mosques began once again. Under the “Mosque Rectification Programme,” the Chinese government led by Ji Xingping destroyed a large number of mosques throughout East Turkestan. Experts at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) estimate that 16,000 mosques have been destroyed since 2017, 8,500 of which have been entirely destroyed. This number accounts for 65% of the mosques in East Turkestan.
A mosque with its dome and minarets removed
Thousands of mosques have also been transformed into pig barns, restaurants, etc. The mosques that are left standing are exclusively retained for tourist and propaganda purposes; it is not permitted to enter them to perform religious services.
Zikr or prayers altered to venerate Ji Xingping: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forbade Uyghur Muslims from worshipping Allah and replaced the phrases in their prayers and Zikr (remembrance of God) scripts with those that honour Xi Jinping and the CCP.
In addition to mandating Imams to dance and sing communist songs, Chinese authorities have started efforts that mock Islam and Muslims. Anti-Islam signs and slogans have been plastered all over Xinjiang’s streets since 2017.
In prisons and concentration camps, these practices are all too common. The Muslim inmates are required by the prison and camp guards to thank the communist party and Xi Jinping after meals and to praise them before meals. Those who resent this are punished and denied food. Inmates are made to denounce Islam and make derogatory remarks about the Prophet.
Banning Hijab: Chinese oppression of Uyghur Muslims has been known for a long time. Earlier the Chinese police had imposed a dress code for Uyghur women, under which Muslim women are not allowed to wear long dresses. In 2020, photos appeared on social media showing police cutting the dresses of Uyghur women for being “too long”. It was also reported that Han Males are sleeping on the same bed as Uyghur Muslim women in China whose male family members, often husbands, are locked up in ‘re-education camps’ in conformity with a diktat by the Chinese regime.
In 2017, all Hijabi Uyghur women were sent to prisons and concentration camps. The “Qaraqash List,” a leaked document from the Chinese government, claims that many Uyghur women were imprisoned in concentration camps in the county of Qaraqash for donning the hijab.
Uyghur Muslims not allowed to follow Islamic traditions: Under the pretext of “fighting religious extremism and terrorism,” the Chinese government has since 2014 banned all religious practices. For instance, Islamic naming ceremonies, marriages, funerals, and Quranic recitations for the deceased have all been outlawed.
Arabic banned in China: Learning and teaching Arabic is deemed “religious extremism” in the post-2014 crackdown, and those who had done so in the past have been detained by the government. In East Turkestan, studying Arabic is currently strictly prohibited. Except for the government-run “Xinjiang Islamic Institute” (which was only left because the Chinese government needed to train imams loyal to the CPP and spread their message towards the Islamic world), there is not a single Arabic language school in the Xinjiang province.
Uyghur children’s Muslim identities being erased: One of the most anti-Islam efforts carried out by the Chinese communist state as part of the war against Islam in East Turkestan is the complete erasure of the Muslim identity of Uyghur children. Uyghur parents are sent to jails or concentration camps by the government, which forces their kids into state orphanages and boarding schools. Children are raised in these orphanages totally in accordance with communist ideology, transforming them into Han Chinese. Even the children’s Uyghur names are changed.
Uyghur Muslim children dressed in Han cultural clothing celebrating the Chinese new year
Chinese govt promotes ‘assimilation’ by forced Uyghur Muslim-Han intermarriage: On 16th November 2022, Uyghur Human Rights Project published a report on the measures taken by the Chinese government to promote intermarriage between Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese ethnic groups. The means employed by the Chinese government consist of both incentivization and coercive actions underlines the report.
Since 2017, China has restricted or banned ethnic customs and Islamic religious rituals among the mostly Muslim Uyghurs in what they say is an effort to stamp out “religious extremism.”
Chinese regime forces Uyghur Muslims to eat pork under the initiative of ‘free food’: In 2020, an educator and medical doctor named Sayragul Sautbay revealed in a new book how Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang are forced to eat pork.
It is notable that pork is strictly prohibited in Islam, as it has been labelled as a Haram food.
Sautbay said that Muslims were made to eat pork, even outside detention camps. She informed that students in a school in Altay in northern Xinjiang were also force-fed pork and when many refused, the soldiers were sent in to take control of the situation. The educator stated that pork is being served to kindergarten children under the initiative of ‘free food.’
China using Uyghur Muslim spies to catch other Muslims who are violating ban on fasting during Ramzan
Last month a report emerged confirming that the Chinese authorities had employed spies to ensure that the Uyghur Muslims are not fasting during Ramzan.
The report stated that the spies that Chinese officials refer to as ‘ears’ are recruited from regular civilians, police officials, and members of neighbourhood committees, citing a police officer from a region close to Turpan, or Tulufan in Chinese, in the eastern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
“We have many secret agents,” the police officer told Radio Free Asia. As part of broader attempts to denigrate Uyghur culture, language, and religion, China started arbitrarily imprisoning Uyghurs in ‘re-education’ camps in 2017 and also prohibited them from fasting throughout Ramadan.
Additionally, the Chinese authorities banned most Uyghurs from praying in mosques, and even in their homes, during the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Despite such ‘atrocities’, China has not faced any repercussions for its ongoing totalitarian policies, which are most affecting the Uyghurs. The Islamic world, which has surrendered itself to the Chinese whims, has maintained a tight lip against China.
Collapse Read »
China's war on Islam includes a total ban on religious education, harsh suppression of religious scholars, burning of the Quran, destroying mosques and cemeteries, changing prayers and zikr, forbidding the hijab, eliminating Islamic customs, forbidding learning Arabic, erasing the Muslim identity of Uyghur children and more.
The Center for Uyghur Studies (CUS) published an 88-page detailed research paper on April 28, 2023, highlighting the scale of the Communist Party of China’s transnational war against Islam and resultant repression of Uyghur Muslims with a particular focus on the Chinese government policies in East Turkestan, more commonly known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
The report titled, “Islamophobia in China and Attitudes of Muslim Countries”, highlights numerous instances of China’s war against Islam. It also talks about how Muslim nations have maintained studious silence at China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan or the Xinjiang province.
The research looks at the historical and systemic attempts made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to “sinicize” Islam and Muslims from the inception of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The paper also details the numerous facets of China’s conflict with Islam in East Turkistan during the past seven decades, most recently starting in 2017.
It also looks at China’s disinformation tactics in the Islamic world and the several propaganda techniques the Chinese state uses to keep Muslims from publicly criticising their treatment by China due to their religion. The report concludes with a chapter on the OIC’s failure to address the Uyghurs and the attitudes of Muslim-majority nations towards the Uyghur Genocide.
Uyghurs are a Turkish-Muslim ethnic group living in Xinjiang, the largest and most western of China’s administrative regions surrounded by Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The Xinjiang autonomous region in China has had a long history of discord between the authorities and the Uighur population.
Islam and China
The research paper highlights how in China, Islam has been regarded as a foreign religion that came from outside China. Hence, there has been a view that Muslims as foreigners and backwards. Talking about how it originated, the research suggests that the hate for Muslims in the country began in 1949 with the emergence of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and only worsened during the past 70 years of the CCP rule.
The report said that dislike for Islam in China is at extremely high levels. The issue was made worse by the portrayal of Islam and Muslims in the Chinese state media. A favourable and acceptable international climate for dislike towards Islam in China was also created by the “Global War on Terror” that was declared following the 9/11 attacks.
Since Xi Jinping took office, the PRC’s hostility towards Muslims has increased. Particularly, the CCP’s work conference on religious affairs that took place in 2016 marked a high point in the specific dislike for Islam. Chinese authorities have initiated a statewide crackdown on different religions, especially those that are considered foreign (like Islam and Christianity).
Persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang seen as the most radical form of Islamophobia in China, says research
The research report by the think tank suggests that the most extreme manifestation of dislike for Islam in China has been the actions taken by Chinese authorities against Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan or Xinjiang. Millions of Muslims have been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities under the guise of “re-education and rehabilitation,” and thousands of mosques have been razed in East Turkestan. Chinese authorities compare Islam to an “infectious disease” and Uyghur Muslims to “infected people,” highlighting the need to eradicate the faith, read the report.
The report explains the extent of the exploitation of Uyghur Muslims by Communist China
The report states that Muslims in China have experienced discrimination as a result of the Chinese government’s overt and covert support of incidents where men and women wearing the hijab are mocked, barred from public spaces like hospitals and hotels and even denied employment. Muslim categorization of food as halal or haram is fiercely opposed. Islamic attire and customs are attacked and shunned because they were seen as foreign by Chinese society.
This research piece further highlighted how the practice of discrimination against Muslims in China, particularly with regard to the Uyghurs in East Turkestan, has assumed the shape of a government policy.
The anti-Islam campaigns initiated by the Chinese authorities
In their report, the researchers discuss how the Chinese government has been attempting to eliminate Islam since its presence in the Xinjiang province. It highlights the various anti-Islam campaigns, which include a total ban on religious education, harsh suppression of religious scholars, burning of the Quran, destroying mosques and cemeteries, changing prayers and zikr, forbidding the hijab, eliminating Islamic customs, forbidding learning Arabic, and erasing the Muslim identity of Uyghur children, carried out over the years by the Communist Party of China under the leadership of Xi Jinping.
Prohibition on preaching Islam: The report states how Muslims of East Turkestan are not able to learn and teach their religion. Following the occupation of East Turkistan in 1966 until today, Muslim children are being mandatorily raised with communist ideology and Chinese culture at state schools. Chinese communists mandate that Muslim children learn atheism and communist ideology while closing down Islamic schools (Madarsa), eradicating Islam from the educational system.
After CCP assumed power in 2014, the Chinese government imprisoned Uyghurs who studied in Muslim-majority nations like Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey and mandated those who were still there to return. They also placed state officials in Uyghur homes to monitor them round-the-clock and completely forbid the parents from teaching their children Islamic practises like Namaz and the Quran.
A demolished mosque in Kashgar City of East Turkestan (Source: /)[/url]
In 2017, a large number of Uyghur students at Al-Azhar University were forcibly returned to China by the Chinese authorities with the assistance of the Egyptian government.
Suppression of Maulvis: As the leadership views Islamic practices as crimes and the religious leaders as criminals, religious scholars are the group in Xinjiang that faces the harshest treatment at the hands of the Chinese communist regime. The report used data released by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), which confirms that as many as 1,000 imams have been detained since 2014 as a result of their affiliation with Islamic teaching. Most of those arrested were sentenced to 15-20 years or life in prison terms.
The report further adds that since 2017, there has been a significant upsurge in the targeting of Islamist scholars. Many Uyghur imams and clerics have been detained, imprisoned, or sent to concentration camps in 2017. Those who weren’t in jail were forced to sing and dance in support of the communist party in front of the public.
Uyghurs Cleric dancing and singing in praise of CCP (Source: /)[/url]
Burning of the Quran: The report highlights yet another strategy the CCP government employs in its war against Islam, which is the burning of their religious texts and the Quran. The report said that this practice has increased manifolds since 2014.
During China’s recent campaign against Islam in East Turkestan, people who did not voluntarily turn over religious materials to the police were subjected to severe punishments when they were found. Because of their fear, Muslims in East Turkestan were sometimes forced to dispose of the Quran by dumping it into rivers.
Since 2017, all Islamic textbooks and materials have been outlawed in China. All the religious literature and materials were gathered and burnt. Those who had such items were detained or transferred to jails or concentration camps.
Destruction of mosques and cemeteries: Chinese authorities also destroyed mosques or transformed them in addition to suppressing Imams. When the “Cultural Revolution” took place between 1966 and 1976, the policy was at its strictest.
In 2017, the process of demolishing mosques began once again. Under the “Mosque Rectification Programme,” the Chinese government led by Ji Xingping destroyed a large number of mosques throughout East Turkestan. Experts at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) estimate that 16,000 mosques have been destroyed since 2017, 8,500 of which have been entirely destroyed. This number accounts for 65% of the mosques in East Turkestan.
A mosque with its dome and minarets removed
Thousands of mosques have also been transformed into pig barns, restaurants, etc. The mosques that are left standing are exclusively retained for tourist and propaganda purposes; it is not permitted to enter them to perform religious services.
Zikr or prayers altered to venerate Ji Xingping: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forbade Uyghur Muslims from worshipping Allah and replaced the phrases in their prayers and Zikr (remembrance of God) scripts with those that honour Xi Jinping and the CCP.
In addition to mandating Imams to dance and sing communist songs, Chinese authorities have started efforts that mock Islam and Muslims. Anti-Islam signs and slogans have been plastered all over Xinjiang’s streets since 2017.
In prisons and concentration camps, these practices are all too common. The Muslim inmates are required by the prison and camp guards to thank the communist party and Xi Jinping after meals and to praise them before meals. Those who resent this are punished and denied food. Inmates are made to denounce Islam and make derogatory remarks about the Prophet.
Banning Hijab: Chinese oppression of Uyghur Muslims has been known for a long time. Earlier the Chinese police had imposed a dress code for Uyghur women, under which Muslim women are not allowed to wear long dresses. In 2020, photos appeared on social media showing police cutting the dresses of Uyghur women for being “too long”. It was also reported that Han Males are sleeping on the same bed as Uyghur Muslim women in China whose male family members, often husbands, are locked up in ‘re-education camps’ in conformity with a diktat by the Chinese regime.
In 2017, all Hijabi Uyghur women were sent to prisons and concentration camps. The “Qaraqash List,” a leaked document from the Chinese government, claims that many Uyghur women were imprisoned in concentration camps in the county of Qaraqash for donning the hijab.
Uyghur Muslims not allowed to follow Islamic traditions: Under the pretext of “fighting religious extremism and terrorism,” the Chinese government has since 2014 banned all religious practices. For instance, Islamic naming ceremonies, marriages, funerals, and Quranic recitations for the deceased have all been outlawed.
Arabic banned in China: Learning and teaching Arabic is deemed “religious extremism” in the post-2014 crackdown, and those who had done so in the past have been detained by the government. In East Turkestan, studying Arabic is currently strictly prohibited. Except for the government-run “Xinjiang Islamic Institute” (which was only left because the Chinese government needed to train imams loyal to the CPP and spread their message towards the Islamic world), there is not a single Arabic language school in the Xinjiang province.
Uyghur children’s Muslim identities being erased: One of the most anti-Islam efforts carried out by the Chinese communist state as part of the war against Islam in East Turkestan is the complete erasure of the Muslim identity of Uyghur children. Uyghur parents are sent to jails or concentration camps by the government, which forces their kids into state orphanages and boarding schools. Children are raised in these orphanages totally in accordance with communist ideology, transforming them into Han Chinese. Even the children’s Uyghur names are changed.
Uyghur Muslim children dressed in Han cultural clothing celebrating the Chinese new year
Chinese govt promotes ‘assimilation’ by forced Uyghur Muslim-Han intermarriage: On 16th November 2022, Uyghur Human Rights Project published a report on the measures taken by the Chinese government to promote intermarriage between Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese ethnic groups. The means employed by the Chinese government consist of both incentivization and coercive actions underlines the report.
Since 2017, China has restricted or banned ethnic customs and Islamic religious rituals among the mostly Muslim Uyghurs in what they say is an effort to stamp out “religious extremism.”
Chinese regime forces Uyghur Muslims to eat pork under the initiative of ‘free food’: In 2020, an educator and medical doctor named Sayragul Sautbay revealed in a new book how Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang are forced to eat pork.
It is notable that pork is strictly prohibited in Islam, as it has been labelled as a Haram food.
Sautbay said that Muslims were made to eat pork, even outside detention camps. She informed that students in a school in Altay in northern Xinjiang were also force-fed pork and when many refused, the soldiers were sent in to take control of the situation. The educator stated that pork is being served to kindergarten children under the initiative of ‘free food.’
China using Uyghur Muslim spies to catch other Muslims who are violating ban on fasting during Ramzan
Last month a report emerged confirming that the Chinese authorities had employed spies to ensure that the Uyghur Muslims are not fasting during Ramzan.
The report stated that the spies that Chinese officials refer to as ‘ears’ are recruited from regular civilians, police officials, and members of neighbourhood committees, citing a police officer from a region close to Turpan, or Tulufan in Chinese, in the eastern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
“We have many secret agents,” the police officer told Radio Free Asia. As part of broader attempts to denigrate Uyghur culture, language, and religion, China started arbitrarily imprisoning Uyghurs in ‘re-education’ camps in 2017 and also prohibited them from fasting throughout Ramadan.
Additionally, the Chinese authorities banned most Uyghurs from praying in mosques, and even in their homes, during the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Despite such ‘atrocities’, China has not faced any repercussions for its ongoing totalitarian policies, which are most affecting the Uyghurs. The Islamic world, which has surrendered itself to the Chinese whims, has maintained a tight lip against China.
Collapse Read »
The Muslim community in Leicester perform Friday prayers at the siege camp outside the local Israeli arms factory Elbit
The Muslim community in Leicester perform Friday prayers at the siege camp outside the local Israeli arms factory Elbit in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
watch video:
https://video.twimg.com/amplif ... 0.mp4 Collapse Read »
watch video:
https://video.twimg.com/amplif ... 0.mp4 Collapse Read »
China’s surveilling the phones of Uyghurs
China’s surveilling the phones of Uyghurs for “violent” content, like material that promotes self-determination,
Human Rights Watch says. 57% of content flagged was common religious material like Quran readings. China forced 1M+ Uyghur & other Muslims into “re-education” camps, experts say. Collapse Read »
Human Rights Watch says. 57% of content flagged was common religious material like Quran readings. China forced 1M+ Uyghur & other Muslims into “re-education” camps, experts say. Collapse Read »
This police officer converted to Islam.
This police officer converted to Islam. It gets better Since his converting, he’s read the Quran twice, fasted Ramadhan, never missed a prayer & he gets up around 3am to pray the Tahajjud. What attracted him to Islam? The love Muslims show & the commitment to their faith.
watch video:
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watch video:
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37-year-old Qari Sheikh Abdullah was also blind and died on Wednesday while leading the Al-Tawheed Mosque in the US state of New Jersey.
37-year-old Qari Sheikh Abdullah was also blind and died on Wednesday while leading the Al-Tawheed Mosque in the US state of New Jersey. According to international media reports, the famous reciter Sheikh Abdullah Kamil had memorized the Holy Quran at an early age.
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Renovation of Two Chinese Hui Mosques in Yunnan and Sichuan -written by David Fishman
David Fishman
Renovation of Two Chinese Hui Mosques in Yunnan and Sichuan: On-the-Ground Observations Background: The last time I visited Dali was 2015. I rented an e-bike and went up Erhai Lake, taking pics and checking out small villages. One of those was Meiba Village 美坝村
I had stopped there because Ctrip informed me there was a minor tourist attraction in the village - the Meiba Mosque. I was curious, because as far as I knew, Dali is a region of the Bai ethnicity, (白族) and the Bai people aren't Muslims. But this was clearly a Muslim village.
Turns out it was not Bai, but a Hui village, so there you go. The mosque was small. The front building was white, matching the local Bai architecture, with gold and green highlights, some Islamic window styling, a green dome & symmetrical green-accented minarets. (2015 pic)
Unfortunately I had no idea in 2015 I'd write about it in 2023. I didn't even use Twitter then... Over the years, I have cleaned my camera roll for space, so I only have these few pics of Meiba village left, including this last shot of one of the minarets. (2015 pic)
On Sohu, I found a travel blog of someone who had also visited the village in 2015, and had some additional pictures of Meiba, its mosque, and the prayer room - and interviewed people too. Mosque in background of first picture.
Anyway. Over last few years, with so much discussion about how Chinese gov't was targeting foreign-styled mosques for renovations, I've thought about the Meiba Mosque, with its dome and minarets... I saw in 2020 it was removed from Ctrip, and was also no longer on Baidu Maps.
And then in 2020, the travel site Yunnan Explorer posted a pic of the Meiba Mosque seemingly amidst renovations...the dome was already gone and the minarets were being taken down too. (This pic of the front building was taken from the courtyard with back against prayer hall)
Fast-forward to 2023. Last week while in Dali, I noticed the Meiba Village Mosque was now back on Baidu Maps! So we decided to visit and see what it's like now. As expected, the dome & minarets have now been replaced by pagoda-like structures and the Islamic styling is GONE.
Passing through the entrance into the courtyard, the back prayer hall has been completely leveled and rebuilt as a much larger, two-story structure based on Chinese temple elements. This looked very new - completed in the last six months perhaps.
when we went, there were children running around the village and playing in the mosque courtyard. The boys all wore little taquiyah. Some of the nicer houses had fancy entrance archways with Arabic (?) over the doorways. Otherwise it looked like the other Bai villages.
In the courtyard entrance was a list of villagers and how much they had donated for zakat (it was Ramadan at the time). 200-300 CNY seemed the norm. Notice nearly everyone is surnamed Ma 马, the dominant Hui surname.
Besides the renovated exteriors, and the new, large prayer room, there were several HUGE new houses and the roads were all paved vs. last time. And very clean. It was late afternoon and there were only a few children around, no one to ask questions, so we just got pics and left.
Next: Weizhou Town, Wenchuan County, Sichuan I found myself in Weizhou by accident...because I missed an exit on the highway. Believe me, you do NOT want to miss an exit in Western Sichuan...the next exit was 30+ km! Since I had come all this way, I decide to explore a bit...
There's not much in Weizhou Town - I visited a museum and a few parks and in 30 mins I'd just about seen the whole place. On my way out, I saw the local mosque on Baidu. The street view pic was from 2016, and it had green domes, so I expected it would have some changes too.
Sure enough, when I arrived, I found the entire roof had been changed, with the domes replaced with pagodas and the green + gold aesthetic swapped for a modern Chinese color palette. I had to check the old pics several times to ensure I was aligning correctly.
2016 | 2023
I stopped to grab a bite at the halal restaurant on the street in front of the building and ask the ladies there some questions. "Hey is this a mosque? Baidu says it's a mosque, but it doesn't look like one" "Yes, this is the Weizhou Mosque" "Oh good, I couldn't tell at first"
"What happened to the building? It looks very different from the pictures on Baidu" "Oh, the government renovated the mosque" "When?" "Last few years" "Why?" "I don't know. They said it needs to look more Chinese. They spent a lot of money on the renovation...2-3 million RMB"
"Oh...are there many Hui in Wenchuan? I suppose not many?" "No, not many. Very few. Less than a thousand I guess" (Wenchuan County is part of Aba Prefecture, a Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Region in Western Sichuan; Weizhou is the county seat. Most people here are Qiang 羌族)
"After renovations, it's still used as a mosque?" "Yes. Hui people pray here, and have activities. It's Ramadan now." "When the government did the renovations, did they change anything inside?" "Oh, no, it's all the same as before." (I saw a Ramadan fast schedule):
She gestures to a passage on the side of the kitchen. "That leads into the mosque. You can go look inside if you're interested". I venture tentatively down the hallway, emerging in a tidy courtyard in front of a large building. There's a bucket of potatoes and some grain drying.
On a blackboard on the side of the building, I find a tally of the 2023 Ramadan contributions for zakat, just like in Meiba. It's a much smaller congregation here though. There's also a signup sheet for who will lead to break the fast each week (I think?) (请开斋名单)
The prayer room is on the second floor. A small sign outside indicates the salah times for the 5 daily prayers. The interior decoration is old and perhaps a bit worn, but very clean and dust-free. No one else is around.
I go back outside to eat and find the ladies preparing their own lunch. "Hey" I say, "Isn't it Ramadan? Can you eat now?" "Oh, we're not Hui" she says. "We just work here. We don't fast". "Oh...Is the owner Hui?" "Yeah" "Where is he? "He's busy. He has a lot of businesses."
On my 30+ km highway drive back to my original destination, I reflected on the two mosques. I really regretted in both cases that I didn't get to speak directly to any Hui people in those communities to find our how they feel. But anyway, here's how I sum up my thoughts now:
1. The Chinese rationale for the removal of domes and minarets of mosques in China has been public for a few years now; the stated objective of making the visual of the mosques conform to Chinese (and not foreign) architectural styles is clearly met by these renovations.
It's been noted that mosques with more Sinitic or styling seem less likely to be affected. For example, here's the Dujiangyan city mosque, constructed in 1934, with its green tiered pagodas, crescent moon and star, unchanged. My photo + file photo from http://chinaislam.net.cn
2. At least in the two sites I visited, I couldn't see any evidence that the usage of the mosque had been impacted (or that anything besides the outward appearance had been changed). They are clearly still places of prayer, congregation, and community for practicing Hui.
3. From a PERSONAL TASTE perspective, I think the Meiba renovation looks poorly proportioned and kinda ugly. The Weizhou renovation doesn't look bad, but also you can't even tell it's a mosque anymore. IMO, the Dujiangyan mosque's fusion aesthetic is a good blend of styles:
4. I don't fool myself thinking that I discovered anything with my little field trip that will change anyone's mind. Those that think it's a Bad Thing will keep thinking it, and those that think it's Totally Fine will do the same. They'll both see confirmation here I'd expect.
Collapse Read »
Renovation of Two Chinese Hui Mosques in Yunnan and Sichuan: On-the-Ground Observations Background: The last time I visited Dali was 2015. I rented an e-bike and went up Erhai Lake, taking pics and checking out small villages. One of those was Meiba Village 美坝村
I had stopped there because Ctrip informed me there was a minor tourist attraction in the village - the Meiba Mosque. I was curious, because as far as I knew, Dali is a region of the Bai ethnicity, (白族) and the Bai people aren't Muslims. But this was clearly a Muslim village.
Turns out it was not Bai, but a Hui village, so there you go. The mosque was small. The front building was white, matching the local Bai architecture, with gold and green highlights, some Islamic window styling, a green dome & symmetrical green-accented minarets. (2015 pic)
Unfortunately I had no idea in 2015 I'd write about it in 2023. I didn't even use Twitter then... Over the years, I have cleaned my camera roll for space, so I only have these few pics of Meiba village left, including this last shot of one of the minarets. (2015 pic)
On Sohu, I found a travel blog of someone who had also visited the village in 2015, and had some additional pictures of Meiba, its mosque, and the prayer room - and interviewed people too. Mosque in background of first picture.
Anyway. Over last few years, with so much discussion about how Chinese gov't was targeting foreign-styled mosques for renovations, I've thought about the Meiba Mosque, with its dome and minarets... I saw in 2020 it was removed from Ctrip, and was also no longer on Baidu Maps.
And then in 2020, the travel site Yunnan Explorer posted a pic of the Meiba Mosque seemingly amidst renovations...the dome was already gone and the minarets were being taken down too. (This pic of the front building was taken from the courtyard with back against prayer hall)
Fast-forward to 2023. Last week while in Dali, I noticed the Meiba Village Mosque was now back on Baidu Maps! So we decided to visit and see what it's like now. As expected, the dome & minarets have now been replaced by pagoda-like structures and the Islamic styling is GONE.
Passing through the entrance into the courtyard, the back prayer hall has been completely leveled and rebuilt as a much larger, two-story structure based on Chinese temple elements. This looked very new - completed in the last six months perhaps.
when we went, there were children running around the village and playing in the mosque courtyard. The boys all wore little taquiyah. Some of the nicer houses had fancy entrance archways with Arabic (?) over the doorways. Otherwise it looked like the other Bai villages.
In the courtyard entrance was a list of villagers and how much they had donated for zakat (it was Ramadan at the time). 200-300 CNY seemed the norm. Notice nearly everyone is surnamed Ma 马, the dominant Hui surname.
Besides the renovated exteriors, and the new, large prayer room, there were several HUGE new houses and the roads were all paved vs. last time. And very clean. It was late afternoon and there were only a few children around, no one to ask questions, so we just got pics and left.
Next: Weizhou Town, Wenchuan County, Sichuan I found myself in Weizhou by accident...because I missed an exit on the highway. Believe me, you do NOT want to miss an exit in Western Sichuan...the next exit was 30+ km! Since I had come all this way, I decide to explore a bit...
There's not much in Weizhou Town - I visited a museum and a few parks and in 30 mins I'd just about seen the whole place. On my way out, I saw the local mosque on Baidu. The street view pic was from 2016, and it had green domes, so I expected it would have some changes too.
Sure enough, when I arrived, I found the entire roof had been changed, with the domes replaced with pagodas and the green + gold aesthetic swapped for a modern Chinese color palette. I had to check the old pics several times to ensure I was aligning correctly.
2016 | 2023
I stopped to grab a bite at the halal restaurant on the street in front of the building and ask the ladies there some questions. "Hey is this a mosque? Baidu says it's a mosque, but it doesn't look like one" "Yes, this is the Weizhou Mosque" "Oh good, I couldn't tell at first"
"What happened to the building? It looks very different from the pictures on Baidu" "Oh, the government renovated the mosque" "When?" "Last few years" "Why?" "I don't know. They said it needs to look more Chinese. They spent a lot of money on the renovation...2-3 million RMB"
"Oh...are there many Hui in Wenchuan? I suppose not many?" "No, not many. Very few. Less than a thousand I guess" (Wenchuan County is part of Aba Prefecture, a Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Region in Western Sichuan; Weizhou is the county seat. Most people here are Qiang 羌族)
"After renovations, it's still used as a mosque?" "Yes. Hui people pray here, and have activities. It's Ramadan now." "When the government did the renovations, did they change anything inside?" "Oh, no, it's all the same as before." (I saw a Ramadan fast schedule):
She gestures to a passage on the side of the kitchen. "That leads into the mosque. You can go look inside if you're interested". I venture tentatively down the hallway, emerging in a tidy courtyard in front of a large building. There's a bucket of potatoes and some grain drying.
On a blackboard on the side of the building, I find a tally of the 2023 Ramadan contributions for zakat, just like in Meiba. It's a much smaller congregation here though. There's also a signup sheet for who will lead to break the fast each week (I think?) (请开斋名单)
The prayer room is on the second floor. A small sign outside indicates the salah times for the 5 daily prayers. The interior decoration is old and perhaps a bit worn, but very clean and dust-free. No one else is around.
I go back outside to eat and find the ladies preparing their own lunch. "Hey" I say, "Isn't it Ramadan? Can you eat now?" "Oh, we're not Hui" she says. "We just work here. We don't fast". "Oh...Is the owner Hui?" "Yeah" "Where is he? "He's busy. He has a lot of businesses."
On my 30+ km highway drive back to my original destination, I reflected on the two mosques. I really regretted in both cases that I didn't get to speak directly to any Hui people in those communities to find our how they feel. But anyway, here's how I sum up my thoughts now:
1. The Chinese rationale for the removal of domes and minarets of mosques in China has been public for a few years now; the stated objective of making the visual of the mosques conform to Chinese (and not foreign) architectural styles is clearly met by these renovations.
It's been noted that mosques with more Sinitic or styling seem less likely to be affected. For example, here's the Dujiangyan city mosque, constructed in 1934, with its green tiered pagodas, crescent moon and star, unchanged. My photo + file photo from http://chinaislam.net.cn
2. At least in the two sites I visited, I couldn't see any evidence that the usage of the mosque had been impacted (or that anything besides the outward appearance had been changed). They are clearly still places of prayer, congregation, and community for practicing Hui.
3. From a PERSONAL TASTE perspective, I think the Meiba renovation looks poorly proportioned and kinda ugly. The Weizhou renovation doesn't look bad, but also you can't even tell it's a mosque anymore. IMO, the Dujiangyan mosque's fusion aesthetic is a good blend of styles:
4. I don't fool myself thinking that I discovered anything with my little field trip that will change anyone's mind. Those that think it's a Bad Thing will keep thinking it, and those that think it's Totally Fine will do the same. They'll both see confirmation here I'd expect.
Collapse Read »
NYC mayor continued his five-borough Ramadan tour last night, joining an iftar dinner in Queens.
New York City's strength lies in its diversity and unity. NYC mayor continued his five-borough Ramadan tour last night, joining an iftar dinner in Queens. Ramadan Mubarak to those who are celebrating!
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An Uyghur captured in Egypt. He was in danger of deportation
An Uyghur captured in Egypt. Bilal Abdukerim, a master student in Al-Azhar, an applicant for UNHCR. He detained in Cairo on 22 March from home. He didn’t have any criminal record in Egypt, but he was threatened by Chinese police from his hometown. He was in danger of deportation.
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Why cannot the bing AI of Microsoft answer the question of Uyghur Muslims genocide?
When AI programming and deep learning under the control of Centralized Microsoft, Uyghur Muslims genocide is not a topic, because Microsoft still wanna earn dirty money in China.
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Focusing on Uyghurs | Iliyas: Why do I need to learn Chinese?
Many people often ask me, 'Your Chinese is so good, how did you learn it? Do you know Uyghur?' On the internet, there are also people who frequently ask me, 'Since you are so against China, why do you still study and use Chinese? Why not write in Uyghur?' Although I always smile and brush off these questions, especially the latter one keeps coming up. After a while, I feel that maybe I should give an answer.
Today, I will talk about how I chose to learn Chinese and how I learned it. Also, what was my purpose for learning Chinese. This can be considered as a summary of my experience in learning the language and my motivation and goals for doing so.
To be honest, learning Chinese was not my choice but rather my parents' decision. They forced me to learn it!
I have mentioned this briefly in some of my previous articles; originally born in Quruqhay Township in Yili (Xinjiang), where I grew up with my grandparents. Around 1970 when I started third grade at a Uyghur elementary school there suddenly came a time when my parents visited from Hami to see us on vacation. They wanted me to go back with them to Hami city for schooling.
Going to school in the city had great appeal for me as a child growing up in rural areas even though leaving behind grandparents who raised me made it difficult for me emotionally; however curiosity led me follow along with them away from beautiful mountain village Quruqhay Township filled with clear waters and fragrant fruits through several days of horse-drawn carriage rides followed by long-distance bus trips before finally arriving at Hami Railway Area.
Completely unexpected were rows upon rows of pale dilapidated railway flats highlighting poverty-stricken self-built small courtyard walls high or low unevenly distributed throughout area's dusty narrow roads pitted year-round emitting odors every crossroads having at least one or two open-air toilets which made lose interest completely towards cities - accurately speaking - disgust arose within myself.
Furthermore almost no Uyghurs lived around Hami Railway Area where we resided only two or three families were present; since unable speak Mandarin (Chinese) thus confined inside home feeling deceived by parents' actions wrote secretly letter asking grandparents come rescue immediately after approximately one or two months later they appeared unexpectedly taking week-long visit bringing freedom returning back home Quruqhay.
However, the good times didn't last long. My parents came again, bringing with them more new clothes, candies and biscuits as material temptations. They repeatedly urged me to learn Chinese and described a bright future of growing up in the city. They told me that if I learned Chinese, I could work on the railway in the future with high salary and job security. Although I didn't quite understand what high salary and job security meant, under my grandparents' persuasion, I knew that working on the railway was much better than farming in rural areas.
Under my parents' sugar-coated bullets and promises of a better future, I followed them to Hami once again. But this time, I persisted.
In autumn when school started, I entered Hami Railway Elementary School No. 4 not far from my home to begin learning Chinese language from scratch since at that time I did not know any Chinese words.
At first it was very difficult for me; besides arithmetic problems which were easy for me because they are universal across languages ,I couldn't understand anything else teachers said or communicate effectively with classmates except through gestures or body language . However,I persevered knowing that hard work pays off eventually . After several months of hard work ,I began to understand spoken Mandarin ; by second semester ,I had already made it into top ten students in class .
While studying Uyghur script at Quruhay Primary School back then there were no other books available except Mao's quotations but at Hami where we studied Mandarin there were many different kinds of books available . With mastery over Mandarin language ,I read extensively all sorts of books which further piqued my interest towards learning Mandarin; a language opens up a window into another world -Mandarin opened up a new window for me.
The railway, like the military unit where I later worked, was a heavy area of ethnic discrimination. As Uyghurs, whether it was my parents or my siblings and other Uyghurs working on the railway, we faced various forms of discrimination almost every day. This discrimination came from teachers, classmates, neighbors, leaders and colleagues in our parents’ units; these seemingly trivial discriminations had a profound impact on my growth.
The most disgusting and boring discriminatory issue that accompanied me for half of my life was when I first appeared in class with seemingly innocent but obviously provocative questions that made teachers and classmates remember for a long time: Why don’t Uyghurs eat pork? Why do Uyghur names are so long? Why are Uyghurs so barbaric? At first, I patiently explained them but found out they already had their own answers. After I finished explaining to them, they would still come up with insulting fabricated stories to argue.
What’s worse is that some classmates deliberately put food containing pork on my desk or in my backpack and drawers. When I reported this to the teacher, he always casually said it was just children playing jokes on you. Then the teacher also joked about how good pork tasted and asked why didn’t I try it? Helpless as I was left with no choice but to solve it myself - by fighting back; most of the time I won but there were also times when students called their friends over to gang up on me leaving me beaten black and blue.
The more discrimination we encountered made me want to master Chinese better than ever before becoming an outstanding student at school. However, this became another reason for promoting discrimination; every time teachers criticized poor-performing students using frequent statements such as “Look at Yilixiati (my name), an ethnic minority person who performs better than all of you in all subjects; aren’t you ashamed?”
During ten years studying at Hami Railway School ,I witnessed firsthand how difficult life could be for my parents despite earning slightly higher wages compared to other Uighur workers on railways which allowed us a slightly better standard of living . They did the hardest work yet earned lowest wages while facing daily humiliation due to racial prejudice.
I remember one day when mother returned home crying after being insulted by Han people at her workplace selling tickets at small stations along railways . Commuting railway staff can travel free with their commuting certificate while others have to buy tickets . That day she met an extremely vulgar non-commuting worker who not only refused buying ticket but also insulted her verbally . My mother retorted him back then he jumped up wanting hit her physically calling her old ignorant uyghur woman who doesn’t understand anything etc .
Every time something like this happened ,my parents would tell me seriously: “Son,I hope you study hard Chinese language well ,master knowledge well,hopefully one day you can sit down equally with them ; unlike us living our whole lives being bullied.” Seeing all this happening around me,I knew what they expected from me wasn’t just mastering Chinese language skills or getting a job working on railways,but rather achieving equality between Han people &Uighurs!
Although at that time,I didn’t fully understand what equality meant according to parent’s expectations,but through personal experiences&commonly faced prejudices among fellow uighurs around,it dawned upon me that mastering Chinese language&modern knowledge is essential.I naively thought,the various forms of prejudice against uighurs were caused partly because older generation uighur folks couldn’t speak chinese fluently,and partly because ordinary han people working along railways were too ignorant & uncivilized.So if i studied hard,mastered knowledge,i could prove uighur people weren’t inferior compared to han people,&change their views towards us thus achieving equality .
I worked hard,determined not fall behind,became top student in class,&with excellent grades ranked within top ten throughout school,enabling admission into prestigious HaMi No2 High School followed by Dalian Institute Of Technology.
After graduating from university, I returned to my hometown to look for work. My father asked me if I would be willing to work on the railway. He said he could talk to his leader about it and my younger siblings also encouraged me, saying that railway jobs had high salaries and good benefits, and everyone was in Hami. However, I firmly refused and told them about the various discriminations I encountered during my ten years of schooling as well as the dirty, chaotic, and poor environment of the railways which had already made me tired of working there. No, I never wanted to go back to the railway.
However, fate played a joke on me when I was unfortunately assigned to Shihezi after graduation where I became a teacher in China’s colonial pioneer corps - Bingtuan’s capital city.
As a recent college graduate with an arrogant sense of superiority due to being one of the best students at that time who thought they could point out flaws in everything and make sweeping statements with ease; coming here as a teacher in Shihezi gave me this feeling like because my Chinese language skills were fluent coupled with modern knowledge meant that equality should be achievable through ability alone. But what happened instead was that compared with discrimination against non-Han ethnic groups such as Uyghurs by railways (which is already bad enough), Bingtuan’s discrimination against these groups can only be described as equally severe but more insidious and blatant.
During decades spent teaching here while dealing with school leaders and colleagues alike; most Han intellectuals’ prejudice towards Uyghurs or other non-Han ethnicities runs deep rooted within them along with their own brand of ignorant arrogance.
This kind of ignorance makes them feel entitled towards enlightening us or civilizing us; our language culture traditions beliefs are all backward according to them so their mission is assimilating us into “Chinese civilization” making us become just like Han people who speak Mandarin rather than Uyghur speakers!
I remember after countless heated debates between myself & Han colleagues over time; one old teacher named Wang said: “Mr Yiliyasiti! In the past we used say ‘Heaven fears not nor does Earth fear anything except for an old Uyghur speaking Mandarin’. Today however? We know you guys learn Chinese just so you can deal with us.” This statement has been repeated many times since then sometimes vented out angrily sometimes sighed helplessly but sometimes even cursed at full throttle fueled by hatred!
With hopes held high wanting mastery over Mandarin learning knowledge realizing dreams for equal footing alongside Han people- 10 years studying hard behind closed doors mastering Chinese yet ultimately discovering how uncomfortable angry & indignant it made both my Han superiors & colleagues feel even going so far as thinking any dissenting opinions or resistance from myself constituted rebellion deserving punishment!
Nevertheless despite all this hardship endured throughout East Turkestan fluency in Mandarin did not change my status nor fulfill wishes for equality among Han people yet through learning Mandarin gained much knowledge understanding deeper historical context regarding imperial China grasping vastness profundity contained within its culture meeting genuine friends among enlightened open-minded individuals who truly understand freedom & equality concepts! Most importantly though- mastering Mandarin became most powerful tool enabling pursuit toward equal rights freedom standing toe-to-toe versus those advocating unity under imperialist rule actually achieving true parity long ago! Collapse Read »
Today, I will talk about how I chose to learn Chinese and how I learned it. Also, what was my purpose for learning Chinese. This can be considered as a summary of my experience in learning the language and my motivation and goals for doing so.
To be honest, learning Chinese was not my choice but rather my parents' decision. They forced me to learn it!
I have mentioned this briefly in some of my previous articles; originally born in Quruqhay Township in Yili (Xinjiang), where I grew up with my grandparents. Around 1970 when I started third grade at a Uyghur elementary school there suddenly came a time when my parents visited from Hami to see us on vacation. They wanted me to go back with them to Hami city for schooling.
Going to school in the city had great appeal for me as a child growing up in rural areas even though leaving behind grandparents who raised me made it difficult for me emotionally; however curiosity led me follow along with them away from beautiful mountain village Quruqhay Township filled with clear waters and fragrant fruits through several days of horse-drawn carriage rides followed by long-distance bus trips before finally arriving at Hami Railway Area.
Completely unexpected were rows upon rows of pale dilapidated railway flats highlighting poverty-stricken self-built small courtyard walls high or low unevenly distributed throughout area's dusty narrow roads pitted year-round emitting odors every crossroads having at least one or two open-air toilets which made lose interest completely towards cities - accurately speaking - disgust arose within myself.
Furthermore almost no Uyghurs lived around Hami Railway Area where we resided only two or three families were present; since unable speak Mandarin (Chinese) thus confined inside home feeling deceived by parents' actions wrote secretly letter asking grandparents come rescue immediately after approximately one or two months later they appeared unexpectedly taking week-long visit bringing freedom returning back home Quruqhay.
However, the good times didn't last long. My parents came again, bringing with them more new clothes, candies and biscuits as material temptations. They repeatedly urged me to learn Chinese and described a bright future of growing up in the city. They told me that if I learned Chinese, I could work on the railway in the future with high salary and job security. Although I didn't quite understand what high salary and job security meant, under my grandparents' persuasion, I knew that working on the railway was much better than farming in rural areas.
Under my parents' sugar-coated bullets and promises of a better future, I followed them to Hami once again. But this time, I persisted.
In autumn when school started, I entered Hami Railway Elementary School No. 4 not far from my home to begin learning Chinese language from scratch since at that time I did not know any Chinese words.
At first it was very difficult for me; besides arithmetic problems which were easy for me because they are universal across languages ,I couldn't understand anything else teachers said or communicate effectively with classmates except through gestures or body language . However,I persevered knowing that hard work pays off eventually . After several months of hard work ,I began to understand spoken Mandarin ; by second semester ,I had already made it into top ten students in class .
While studying Uyghur script at Quruhay Primary School back then there were no other books available except Mao's quotations but at Hami where we studied Mandarin there were many different kinds of books available . With mastery over Mandarin language ,I read extensively all sorts of books which further piqued my interest towards learning Mandarin; a language opens up a window into another world -Mandarin opened up a new window for me.
The railway, like the military unit where I later worked, was a heavy area of ethnic discrimination. As Uyghurs, whether it was my parents or my siblings and other Uyghurs working on the railway, we faced various forms of discrimination almost every day. This discrimination came from teachers, classmates, neighbors, leaders and colleagues in our parents’ units; these seemingly trivial discriminations had a profound impact on my growth.
The most disgusting and boring discriminatory issue that accompanied me for half of my life was when I first appeared in class with seemingly innocent but obviously provocative questions that made teachers and classmates remember for a long time: Why don’t Uyghurs eat pork? Why do Uyghur names are so long? Why are Uyghurs so barbaric? At first, I patiently explained them but found out they already had their own answers. After I finished explaining to them, they would still come up with insulting fabricated stories to argue.
What’s worse is that some classmates deliberately put food containing pork on my desk or in my backpack and drawers. When I reported this to the teacher, he always casually said it was just children playing jokes on you. Then the teacher also joked about how good pork tasted and asked why didn’t I try it? Helpless as I was left with no choice but to solve it myself - by fighting back; most of the time I won but there were also times when students called their friends over to gang up on me leaving me beaten black and blue.
The more discrimination we encountered made me want to master Chinese better than ever before becoming an outstanding student at school. However, this became another reason for promoting discrimination; every time teachers criticized poor-performing students using frequent statements such as “Look at Yilixiati (my name), an ethnic minority person who performs better than all of you in all subjects; aren’t you ashamed?”
During ten years studying at Hami Railway School ,I witnessed firsthand how difficult life could be for my parents despite earning slightly higher wages compared to other Uighur workers on railways which allowed us a slightly better standard of living . They did the hardest work yet earned lowest wages while facing daily humiliation due to racial prejudice.
I remember one day when mother returned home crying after being insulted by Han people at her workplace selling tickets at small stations along railways . Commuting railway staff can travel free with their commuting certificate while others have to buy tickets . That day she met an extremely vulgar non-commuting worker who not only refused buying ticket but also insulted her verbally . My mother retorted him back then he jumped up wanting hit her physically calling her old ignorant uyghur woman who doesn’t understand anything etc .
Every time something like this happened ,my parents would tell me seriously: “Son,I hope you study hard Chinese language well ,master knowledge well,hopefully one day you can sit down equally with them ; unlike us living our whole lives being bullied.” Seeing all this happening around me,I knew what they expected from me wasn’t just mastering Chinese language skills or getting a job working on railways,but rather achieving equality between Han people &Uighurs!
Although at that time,I didn’t fully understand what equality meant according to parent’s expectations,but through personal experiences&commonly faced prejudices among fellow uighurs around,it dawned upon me that mastering Chinese language&modern knowledge is essential.I naively thought,the various forms of prejudice against uighurs were caused partly because older generation uighur folks couldn’t speak chinese fluently,and partly because ordinary han people working along railways were too ignorant & uncivilized.So if i studied hard,mastered knowledge,i could prove uighur people weren’t inferior compared to han people,&change their views towards us thus achieving equality .
I worked hard,determined not fall behind,became top student in class,&with excellent grades ranked within top ten throughout school,enabling admission into prestigious HaMi No2 High School followed by Dalian Institute Of Technology.
After graduating from university, I returned to my hometown to look for work. My father asked me if I would be willing to work on the railway. He said he could talk to his leader about it and my younger siblings also encouraged me, saying that railway jobs had high salaries and good benefits, and everyone was in Hami. However, I firmly refused and told them about the various discriminations I encountered during my ten years of schooling as well as the dirty, chaotic, and poor environment of the railways which had already made me tired of working there. No, I never wanted to go back to the railway.
However, fate played a joke on me when I was unfortunately assigned to Shihezi after graduation where I became a teacher in China’s colonial pioneer corps - Bingtuan’s capital city.
As a recent college graduate with an arrogant sense of superiority due to being one of the best students at that time who thought they could point out flaws in everything and make sweeping statements with ease; coming here as a teacher in Shihezi gave me this feeling like because my Chinese language skills were fluent coupled with modern knowledge meant that equality should be achievable through ability alone. But what happened instead was that compared with discrimination against non-Han ethnic groups such as Uyghurs by railways (which is already bad enough), Bingtuan’s discrimination against these groups can only be described as equally severe but more insidious and blatant.
During decades spent teaching here while dealing with school leaders and colleagues alike; most Han intellectuals’ prejudice towards Uyghurs or other non-Han ethnicities runs deep rooted within them along with their own brand of ignorant arrogance.
This kind of ignorance makes them feel entitled towards enlightening us or civilizing us; our language culture traditions beliefs are all backward according to them so their mission is assimilating us into “Chinese civilization” making us become just like Han people who speak Mandarin rather than Uyghur speakers!
I remember after countless heated debates between myself & Han colleagues over time; one old teacher named Wang said: “Mr Yiliyasiti! In the past we used say ‘Heaven fears not nor does Earth fear anything except for an old Uyghur speaking Mandarin’. Today however? We know you guys learn Chinese just so you can deal with us.” This statement has been repeated many times since then sometimes vented out angrily sometimes sighed helplessly but sometimes even cursed at full throttle fueled by hatred!
With hopes held high wanting mastery over Mandarin learning knowledge realizing dreams for equal footing alongside Han people- 10 years studying hard behind closed doors mastering Chinese yet ultimately discovering how uncomfortable angry & indignant it made both my Han superiors & colleagues feel even going so far as thinking any dissenting opinions or resistance from myself constituted rebellion deserving punishment!
Nevertheless despite all this hardship endured throughout East Turkestan fluency in Mandarin did not change my status nor fulfill wishes for equality among Han people yet through learning Mandarin gained much knowledge understanding deeper historical context regarding imperial China grasping vastness profundity contained within its culture meeting genuine friends among enlightened open-minded individuals who truly understand freedom & equality concepts! Most importantly though- mastering Mandarin became most powerful tool enabling pursuit toward equal rights freedom standing toe-to-toe versus those advocating unity under imperialist rule actually achieving true parity long ago! Collapse Read »
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