China is once again in the
headlines, for, out of its narrow-mindedness, it has recently issued its
oppressive ordinance for the Muslims to handover the copies of the Holy Quran
and prayer mats to the government authorities. The history is witness to the
fact that China has always tried to conceal its oppressive rule from the world.
Therefore, keeping with the trend, this time also it has blamed the world media
for misquoting. The world in general and the Chinese people in particular cannot
forget the oppressive policies of China. The eyewitnesses to the incident that
occurred on 3rd and 4th June 1989, when the students had demonstrated at the
famous square of Beijing against the Chinese government, using their legal
right, are still alive. Chinese soldiers at the behest of the Government killed
thousands of peaceful demonstrators belonging to its own nation using guns and
tanks. Chinese occupation of Taiwan and Tibet is a clear evidence of its
oppression. Likewise, China has also occupied Xichen which belongs to India and
has been creating troubles on borders out of its stubbornness. A few months
back, there had been big tension between China and India due to China's tough
stand. There has always been plenty of cases of Chinese oppression against
Muslims, but news do not cross the Great China Wall stretching over an area of
two thousand kilometres in length. It is the social media that brings the news
of oppressions against Muslim from time to time to the world. History is witness
since hundreds of years that the Chinese have oppressed the Muslims brutally.
Let us have a look at the conditions of Muslims in China, for the messenger of
peace, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim”
(Bukhari). Likewise, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:“The believers in their
mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the
limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever".
(Muslim)
China may be divided into two parts depending on the Muslims population; the
area of Eastern Turkistan bordering with Magnolia, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Tibet. This region is now called
Xinjiang which was under Muslims rule for a long time but China occupied it
unlawfully. This area was largely populated by Muslims of Turkish origin. The
capital of this region is Urumqi while Kashgar is the second largest city. In
addition to this, there are Muslims who live in various parts of China other
than the Eastern Turkistan, who are less in number. In total, there are about
100 Millions of Muslims in China, while the government quotes this number at 30
Million only, which is contrary to the fact. If we look at the unofficial
population of Muslims it will outnumber the whole Muslims populations in Egypt
which is the largest of the Arab countries in terms of population.
About 1400 years ago, in the 29th year of Hijrah, the message of Islam reached
China when the 3rd Caliph of Islam Usman bin Affan (RA) sent a delegation to
China to introduce Islam. Thereafter other delegations were also sent over the
period of time. Meanwhile, Muslims also went to China for commerce and trade.
This way in some areas of China, people had accepted Islam in the early years of
the advent of Islam. Later, in the majority of Chinese regions Muslims existed.
Eastern Turkistan (Xinjiang) which is under the Chinese occupation till to date
was conquered by Qutaiba bin Muslim Al-Bahli in the year 93-94 in the ruling
period of Umayyad Caliph Walid bin Malik (May Allah have mercy on him).
Turkistan literally means land of Turkish people. Historically Turkistan has
been divided into Western and Eastern Turkistan. The Western Turkistan is
largely Muslim populated area which was under Russian occupation and later
gained independence from it in the year 1991, while the Eastern Turkistan is
still under Chinese occupation. This area was captured by Chang government in
the middle of the eighteenth century and named it Xinjiang. The Turkish
population in this area is declining slowly, despite the fact that their
population has been 98 % of that area’s population. This is the largest province
of China whose population is about 30 Million. Given its resources of petroleum,
coal and uranium, China’s economy and military depend on this area.
Eastern Turkistan (which is under Chinese occupation today) was ruled by Muslims
for a long period of time and still has a large population of Muslims. However,
in 1644 due to Manchu family’s capturing of this area, Muslims’ conditions
worsened. In 1648, for the first time, Muslim demanded religious freedom which
was their legal right. This led to the killing of thousands of Muslims. In 1760,
China captured the Eastern Turkistan and killed thousands of Muslims. Muslims
regained this area many times over the years. In 1875 the tyrannous Chinese
killed Muslims in large numbers and captured the area once again. In 1931,
Muslims again demonstrated for Muslims' rights due to Chinese Government’s
oppression against Muslim women. This campaign spread in the whole area and the
Muslims conquered this area once again in 1933. However, China with the Russian
assistance captured that area once again killing thousands of Muslims. In 1944,
people once again demonstrated for the freedom of this area, but China with the
Russian assistance again foiled this movement. In 1946, under the leadership of
Masood Sabri it gained partial freedom, but in 1949, China again captured this
area after a long battle with Muslims. In some areas, the fighting lasted for
twenty days consecutively. In 1949 when the Communist party took over the reigns
of power it imposed a religious ban on Muslims in this area. Religious schools
were closed and mosques were converted into the residences of soldiers. The
local language was banned and the Chinese language was forced on them. All
Islamic rites pertaining to marriage etc were banned. The communists set the
sole target of putting an end to the instructions contained in the Holy Quran,
while the Quran was sent down for the guidance of mankind. Despite the Chinese
continued oppression Muslims in this area try to abide the teachings of Islam.
In 1966 when the Muslims tried to perform prayer of Eidul Adha in the city of
Kashgar, the Chinese army objected to it, opened fire and killed thousands of
Muslims. This was followed by upheaval in the whole province and the Chinese
army keeping with the previous trend killed Muslims mercilessly. In this
incident, about 75 thousand Muslims were killed.
China with its illegal occupation of the largely Muslim populated area has
captured the reserves of petroleum, coal and uranium. It oppresses the Muslims
residing in this area from time to time. It has almost put an end to the Muslim’
communal life. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed till now.
Recently Muslims have been asked to handover the copies of the Holy Quran and
prayer mats to the Government, depriving them of even performing prayers at
their homes individually, which is against the international law. Nowadays,
China has a large population of atheists. They believe that like cats, dogs and
monkeys there is no purpose of a human life. A person can oppress anyone as he
pleases, steal the money of another person, kill anyone as he likes, believing
that there is no life after death and the man will not be held accountable for
his deeds. They should make use of their sense that even when a small task we
perform is not without any purpose; and we need a power to run our home, family,
district and country, then how come that this world can run on its own. Rising
and setting of the Sun on time, blinking of millions of stars, the existence of
water in the two third of earth mass, blowing of winds etc., how can all these
happen without any power? Where have many kinds of reserves in the earth come
from? Where the earth gained its fertility from? How and from where the human
being came into existence? Why the human beings die? What is the soul all about?
What sort of thing is the soul which when departs the body the eye cannot see,
the tongue cannot speak and the hands and legs cannot move? In addition, when we
observer that everything in this world perishes then we should logically
conclude that this world has to come to an end someday. There must be some
purpose behind existence of such a huge system. How come that this huge system
runs on its own? Our Creator, Lord and Sustainer says: "As to those who reject
Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they
will not believe. Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing,
and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur). (Surah Al-Baqarah:
6 and 7)
Muslims should not lose hearts, for Allah's help is with us. We should implement
the Islamic Shariah in our life and pray for all the Muslims living in various
parts of the world in general and for the Muslims of China in particular.