Chinese Uighurs defy Communist attempts to erase Islam

[mota bhai 2,675]

Kashgar, China - Chinese authorities have imposed restrictions on Uighur Muslims during the month of Ramadan, banning government employees and school children from fasting, in what rights groups say has become an annual attempt at systematically erasing the region's Islamic identity.

...

Uighur Muslims say the restrictions have backfired. Not only have locals become more observant of Islamic practices, but many have found ways to flaunt Chinese laws restricting everything from who may attend the mosque, to which copies of the Quran are read.

...

Along with government employees, children under the age of 18 are barred from attending mosques, yet dozens of men attending night prayers at one of Kashgar's medieval mosques have brought along their children. Toddlers line up next to the adults, imitating their movements during prayers.

"Sure, it's against the law to bring kids to the masjid [mosque], but we do it anyway," said Ghulam Abbas, a middle-aged Uighur man who makes a living selling fried fish on the main boulevard in the old city.

He added that, for centuries, parents sent their children to maktaps, part-time schools at the mosque, where they memorised the Quran - but this practise, along with most organised religious instruction, is now prohibited in Xinjiang.

Asked if Uighurs are forgetting how to recite the Quran as a result, Abbas called his eight-year-old son over and, after some coaxing, convinced him to recite a chapter from memory. "They want to cut our children off from Islam," Abbas said. "We are not allowed to teach them the Quran, but we do, at home - secretly."

It is not the only restriction that is being ignored by the Uighurs in Kashgar.

"The Chinese don't want us to have kids, but we just pay fines or bribe people," says Abdul Razzak, who has five children - three more than allowed by law. His three extra children, two sons and a daughter, have cost him around 60,000 yuan ($9,670) in fines. He said he is worried they will forget how to speak Uighur.

Other restrictions - like the ban on fasting for schoolchildren - are more difficult to get around. Chinese authorities require that school teachers, who are barred from fasting themselves, also discourage students.

"It depends on the teachers," said Mehmet, a high-school student in Kashgar. "[some] bring water, bread, candy, put it in front of you, and you have to eat."

Meanwhile, certain styles of headscarf are still not acceptable to authorities. "The abaya was very popular here, starting four or five years ago," said Abdul Majid, a 20-something Uighur who imports women's clothes from Turkey. "But last year, police started bothering women, so now, I can't find anyone who wants to buy them."

Under Chinese law, only state-approved copies of Islamic literature like the Quran are allowed. "If they catch you with a different version, a different translation, or a book from Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, you go to jail," explained the owner of a small bookstore across the street form the Id Kah mosque, who asked not to be named.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/07/chinese-uyghurs-defy-ramadan-ban-20147471125107552.html

[eieio 1,594]

Muslims during the month of Ramadan, banning government employees and school children from fasting,

Why can't Ramadan be 90 days long? Or at least Ramadan should be food AND water free for 30 days

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Why can't Ramadan be 90 days long? Or at least Ramadan should be food AND water free for 30 days

It is food and water free.

[mota bhai 2,675]

It is food and water free.

Only during the daytime. Then you guys go food crazy after the sun sets. As fasts go, that's pretty weak.

Edited July 8, 2014 by mota bhai

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Only during the daytime. Then you guys go food crazy after the sun sets. As fasts go, that's pretty weak.

Edit: The trick is not to go food crazy. You have to save room for the morning meal. If you eat too much, you'll be full and won't eat breakfast properly. Then you'll be hurting the whole day.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Su and Marvin

[mota bhai 2,675]

Edit: The trick is not to go food crazy. You have to save room for the morning meal. If you eat too much, you'll be full and won't eat breakfast properly. Then you'll be hurting the whole day.

Save the details, they bore me.

[Operator 1,927]

They are already allowed to have one more kid than most other people in the country, they don't have to score as high on university entrance exams to get in and then they don't pay as much tuition. Now they want religious freedom too?

Maybe stop stabbing people in bus stations and the thumb screws will turn back a couple of notches.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Maybe stop stabbing people in bus stations and the thumb screws will turn back a couple of notches.

In their defense, I'd wager $5 that Arab money is behind a lot of that unpleasantness. Cut off the money, seal the border, and it may all die down. The average Chinese Muslim probably has nothing to do with any of it.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Save the details, they bore me.

If you can't hang with the big boys, stay at home on the porch.

Oh that's mean. Sorry AJ if I offended you.

[mota bhai 2,675]

If you can't hang with the big boys, stay at home on the porch.

Oh that's mean. Sorry AJ if I offended you.

So the big boys hang out on the yard and discuss the intricacies of Islamic rituals?

Sounds like being a bad boy is kinda boring.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

So the big boys hang out on the yard and discuss the intricacies of Islamic rituals?

Sounds like being a bad boy is kinda boring.

That's how we get down. I also drink Pepsi out of a dirty glass when I'm feeling extra thug.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Tell me more about iftar and the proper way to enunciate when reciting surah al fatiha.

Damn, I feel tough already.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Tell me more about iftar and the proper way to enunciate when reciting surah al fatiha.

Damn, I feel tough already.

See, told we are a rough group. When you are ready, I'll break you into the prayer ritual. We'll start you off easy with just once a day. After that, you'll graduate to five times a day!

[mota bhai 2,675]

Is that how they took your Muslirginity?

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Is that how they took your Muslirginity?

No, all I had to do was a cleansing ritual.