waz
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Right I'll write about this. Apart from the Chinese posters I can be pretty confident that every other poster in this thread, especially the Indian posters, with their usual "higher than the mountains" one liners have never met a Chinese Muslim in their lives. Hence rely on press reports.
During the early years from 2000, such reports were surfacing and I was quite concerned. In 2005 I went on Haj and decided to make a point of finding Chinese Muslims to ask them about all these things. During the night stay at Muzdalifah I found one guy running to the top of a high mountain and planting the Chinese flag there. Apparently this was a bit of fun that that the pilgrims indulged in i.e. who could plant their national flag first on the mountains in Muzdalifah. I went running to the foot of the mountain to get hold of this fellow and caught up with him on his way down. I gave him Salam and introduced myself and we embraced, and he gave me his name and told me he was Chinese. He was a Hui Muslim. I asked him about his camp at Mina, and he said that he will take me there tomorrow, as I told him I had some enquires to make. Tomorrow came and we went to his camp, which was very large and well equipped. It was just after the Dhur prayer and the pilgrims were about to have lunch and they sat me down. Looking around the composition of the group, the group was overwhelming Hui, with a few Ughiurs. I was told to address my questions to the camp leaders who spoke English, they were the elders and not anything to do with the government. I asked them about how their lives were in China and they laughed. They said they led fantastic lives and China was their motherland. I then questioned them about the fasting issue, Hijab, beards and so forth. This made me look daft considering the bulk of them had beards and they said there was no such restriction.
After this I raised the topic of Xinjiang region and their faces became more serious. The Hui said it was an ethnic struggle and nothing to do with faith, at this point the few Ughiurs spoke up (through the elders interpreting). Several of them stated they hated China and it was brutal and oppressive, the others shook their heads and said that if you keep your nose clean you have nothing to fear. The anti-Chinese Ughiurs spoke up again and said that the Hui are ethnically like the Han and so their answers didn't really represent their struggle, the elders stepped in and said that they were all brothers and the debate died down. I enjoyed a lovely meal with them, hugged them and prayed for their success.
Is the clampdown "Islamaphobic" no it's not. It is to do with ethnicity, yes it is. Are the lines blurred when it comes to faith and ethnicity, yes they are. Could we see some officials being zealots and coming to conclusions that beards = militants, that can happen. Are Chinese Muslims patriotic, very much so.
During the early years from 2000, such reports were surfacing and I was quite concerned. In 2005 I went on Haj and decided to make a point of finding Chinese Muslims to ask them about all these things. During the night stay at Muzdalifah I found one guy running to the top of a high mountain and planting the Chinese flag there. Apparently this was a bit of fun that that the pilgrims indulged in i.e. who could plant their national flag first on the mountains in Muzdalifah. I went running to the foot of the mountain to get hold of this fellow and caught up with him on his way down. I gave him Salam and introduced myself and we embraced, and he gave me his name and told me he was Chinese. He was a Hui Muslim. I asked him about his camp at Mina, and he said that he will take me there tomorrow, as I told him I had some enquires to make. Tomorrow came and we went to his camp, which was very large and well equipped. It was just after the Dhur prayer and the pilgrims were about to have lunch and they sat me down. Looking around the composition of the group, the group was overwhelming Hui, with a few Ughiurs. I was told to address my questions to the camp leaders who spoke English, they were the elders and not anything to do with the government. I asked them about how their lives were in China and they laughed. They said they led fantastic lives and China was their motherland. I then questioned them about the fasting issue, Hijab, beards and so forth. This made me look daft considering the bulk of them had beards and they said there was no such restriction.
After this I raised the topic of Xinjiang region and their faces became more serious. The Hui said it was an ethnic struggle and nothing to do with faith, at this point the few Ughiurs spoke up (through the elders interpreting). Several of them stated they hated China and it was brutal and oppressive, the others shook their heads and said that if you keep your nose clean you have nothing to fear. The anti-Chinese Ughiurs spoke up again and said that the Hui are ethnically like the Han and so their answers didn't really represent their struggle, the elders stepped in and said that they were all brothers and the debate died down. I enjoyed a lovely meal with them, hugged them and prayed for their success.
Is the clampdown "Islamaphobic" no it's not. It is to do with ethnicity, yes it is. Are the lines blurred when it comes to faith and ethnicity, yes they are. Could we see some officials being zealots and coming to conclusions that beards = militants, that can happen. Are Chinese Muslims patriotic, very much so.