China bans Muslims from fasting Ramadan in Xinjiang
Civil servants, students and teachers prevented from fasting and restaurants ordered to remain open in Xinjiang region.
18 Jun 2015
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to violent ethnic tensions in the region [AP]
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to violent ethnic tensions in the region [AP]
QUICK FACTS
The Xinjiang region in China has a majority Muslim Uighur population who observe fasting in Ramadan.
China's Communist party is officially atheist and for years has restricted religious practices in Xinjiang.
Government employees and children under 18 are barred from attending mosques, but many defy the ban.
China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang region from fasting during Ramadan and ordered restaurants to stay open.
Most Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month, which began on Thursday, but China's ruling Communist party is officially atheist and for years has restricted the practice in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.
"Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during Ramadan," said a notice posted last week on the website of the state Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang's Jinghe county.
Officials in the region's Bole county were told: "During Ramadan do not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities," according to a local government website report of a meeting this week.
Each year, the authorities' attempt to ban fasting among Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang receives widespread criticism from rights groups.
China jails 'wild imams' in mass crackdown
China imposes restrictions on Muslim Uighurs
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to ethnic tensions in the region, where clashes have killed hundreds in recent years.
China says it faces a "terrorist threat" in Xinjiang, with officials blaming "religious extremism" for the growing violence.
"China's goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs away from their Muslim culture during Ramadan," said Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.
"Policies that prohibit religious fasting is a provocation and will only lead to instability and conflict."
As in previous years, school children were included in directives limiting Ramadan fasting and other religious observances.
The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, known as Tacheng in Chinese, this month ordered schools to communicate to students that "during Ramadan, ethnic minority students do not fast, do not enter mosques ... and do not attend religious activities".
RELATED FEATURE - China to neighbours: Send us your Uighurs
Similar orders were posted on the websites of other Xinjiang education bureaus and schools.
Officials in the region's Qiemo county this week met local religious leaders to inform them there would be increased inspections during Ramadan in order to "maintain social stability", the county's official website said.
Ahead of the holy month, one village in Yili, near the border with Kazakhstan, said mosques must check the identification cards of anyone who comes to pray during Ramadan, according to a notice on the government's website.
The Bole county government said that Mehmet Talip, a 90-year-old Uighur Communist Party member, had promised to avoid fasting and vowed to "not enter a mosque in order to consciously resist religious and superstitious ideas".China bans Muslims from fasting Ramadan in Xinjiang
Civil servants, students and teachers prevented from fasting and restaurants ordered to remain open in Xinjiang region.
18 Jun 2015
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to violent ethnic tensions in the region [AP]
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to violent ethnic tensions in the region [AP]
QUICK FACTS
The Xinjiang region in China has a majority Muslim Uighur population who observe fasting in Ramadan.
China's Communist party is officially atheist and for years has restricted religious practices in Xinjiang.
Government employees and children under 18 are barred from attending mosques, but many defy the ban.
China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang region from fasting during Ramadan and ordered restaurants to stay open.
Most Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month, which began on Thursday, but China's ruling Communist party is officially atheist and for years has restricted the practice in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.
"Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during Ramadan," said a notice posted last week on the website of the state Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang's Jinghe county.
Officials in the region's Bole county were told: "During Ramadan do not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities," according to a local government website report of a meeting this week.
Each year, the authorities' attempt to ban fasting among Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang receives widespread criticism from rights groups.
China jails 'wild imams' in mass crackdown
China imposes restrictions on Muslim Uighurs
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to ethnic tensions in the region, where clashes have killed hundreds in recent years.
China says it faces a "terrorist threat" in Xinjiang, with officials blaming "religious extremism" for the growing violence.
"China's goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs away from their Muslim culture during Ramadan," said Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.
"Policies that prohibit religious fasting is a provocation and will only lead to instability and conflict."
As in previous years, school children were included in directives limiting Ramadan fasting and other religious observances.
The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, known as Tacheng in Chinese, this month ordered schools to communicate to students that "during Ramadan, ethnic minority students do not fast, do not enter mosques ... and do not attend religious activities".
RELATED FEATURE - China to neighbours: Send us your Uighurs
Similar orders were posted on the websites of other Xinjiang education bureaus and schools.
Officials in the region's Qiemo county this week met local religious leaders to inform them there would be increased inspections during Ramadan in order to "maintain social stability", the county's official website said.
Ahead of the holy month, one village in Yili, near the border with Kazakhstan, said mosques must check the identification cards of anyone who comes to pray during Ramadan, according to a notice on the government's website.
The Bole county government said that Mehmet Talip, a 90-year-old Uighur Communist Party member, had promised to avoid fasting and vowed to "not enter a mosque in order to consciously resist religious and superstitious ideas".
China is punishing Muslims for fasting. So US Muslims are fasting from China.
May 2, 20194 Min Read
Uighurs and their supporters march to the United Nations to protest in New York, on March 15, 2018. Members of the Uighur Muslim ethnic group held demonstrations in cities around the world to protest a sweeping Chinese surveillance and security campaign that has sent thousands of their people into detention and political indoctrination centers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Aysha Khan
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(RNS) — This Ramadan, human rights groups and Muslim organizations are urging U.S. Muslims to boycott products made in China, where authorities have for years cracked down on Muslims fasting.
“People say, ‘Oh, I can’t boycott China, everything is made in China,’” said Hena Zuberi, director of outreach for the nonprofit Justice for All, who helped found the Fast From China campaign this month. “Well, we have the spiritual wherewithal to refrain from eating and drinking during the day in Ramadan. This is a time to control your nafs (self).”
Launched April 19 by the Sound Vision Foundation’s Save Uighur project, the Fast From China initiative aims to get Muslims to rethink their everyday purchasing decisions and replace items bearing a “Made in China” label with products made in other countries.
By setting the stage for more long-term campaigns, Zuberi said, they hope to change both Muslim consumers’ minds and American businesses’ relationship with Chinese manufacturing.
“It’s important for Americans to realize that they benefit from the open market, but they’re not opening their minds towards freedom of religion, human rights and due process of law,” said Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, head of the Sound Vision Foundation. “Ramadan is a time when people develop a higher level of connection and consciousness. Being hungry reminds us of the bigger picture of humanity.”
As the campaign launched, Al-Furqaan Foundation, a Chicago nonprofit that is one of the largest Western publishers of the Quran, publicly pledged to stop using Chinese facilities to print its products.
Help Muslims in Xinjiang, China, observe Ramadan
Write to the organisation representing Muslim countries and demand it speaks up for Muslims being denied the right to practice their religion in Xinjiang.
Until she left China, journalist Gulchehra Hoja, a minority ethnic Uyghur, had never been able to practice her religion freely. Now, she is living in the USA and even though she cannot return Xinjiang because of her journalism, she prays that her family and all Uyghur peoples can choose to freely observe Ramadan.
Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim people in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) are facing discrimination and severe restrictions on the right to practice their religion.
Up to one million people are reportedly being arbitrarily detained in “transformation-through-education" facilities in Xinjiang, with the aim to replace religious beliefs and aspects of cultural identity with political loyalty for the state.
Last year the broadcaster Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that during Ramadan, the authorities forced restaurants to stay open and restricted access to mosques. Numerous counties in Xinjiang have posted notices on their websites in recent years, stating that students and Communist Party members were not permitted to fast in Ramadan in line with their religious beliefs.
Since March 2017, the Xinjiang authorities have banned the wearing of burkas and having an “abnormal” beard.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an international organisation made up of 57 Muslim-majority countries. Its Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) aims to protect and promote human rights in the Muslim World. They should urge the Chinese authorities to respect and ensure the rights of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to freedom of religion and stop the persecution and prosecution of them for solely peacefully exercising their human rights.
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