Chinese authorities in the western frontier region of Xinjiang have banned parents from giving newborns Muslim names such as “Mohammed” and “Jihad”, the latest clampdown on symbols of Islam in an ethnically fractious area of China.
“We received a notice from municipal authorities that all those born in Xinjiang cannot have overly religious or splittist names,” said a public security official in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital. “If your family has circumstances like this, you should change your child’s name.” Those who do not comply with the new naming regulations will not be able to receive a hukou, or household registration, an essential identification document needed for access to education, welfare benefits and employment. The new regulations are an expansion of existing 2015 rules, which restricted newborns from being given Muslim names such as “Fatima” or “Saddam” in Hotan prefecture, a jade-trading centre along the ancient Silk Road in western Xinjiang. The region’s 11m Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group with Turkic linguistic and cultural ties, are the primary targets of the new naming restrictions. Xinjiang is also home to a host of smaller minority groups with Muslim adherents, including Mongolians, Tajiks, Kazakhs and the Hui. Xinjiang residents say that the new restrictions codify existing ethnic discrimination and Islamophobia they already face.
“Han people see us as bloodthirsty and violent,” said a Muslim and ethnic Mongolian who lives in northern Xinjiang. “When we travel inland, they see our Muslim names on our identification cards and will not let us stay in hotels or rent apartments.”
Uighurs in particular have experienced an increasing number of restrictions on dress, religious practice and travel after a series of deadly riots in 2009 in Urumqi. In the past few years, authorities have forbidden certain symbols of Islam, such as beards and the veil, while the region’s 800,000 civil servants are prohibited from taking part in religious activities. In November, the local government ordered all Xinjiang residents to hand in their passports to police, requiring them to apply to get them back. Central Chinese authorities also blame Uighurs for religious extremism and separatist activities. Fears that Xinjiang, which shares borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, could become a recruiting ground and a transit point for terrorist groups have prompted authorities to drastically ramp up surveillance and security in the region. In March, a propaganda video from the militant group Isis surfaced that depicted Uighur fighters in Iraq denouncing “evil Chinese communist infidel lackeys”. Foreign journalistic access to the region is restricted but China’s state-owned media report numerous clashes, often fatal, between police and suspected terrorists.
In February, paramilitary police shot and killed three “terrorists” who stabbed to death five and wounded three in an impoverished Xinjiang county. Only a month before, police shot dead three other residents in the same county who were suspected of participating in an April 15 attack that went unreported in Chinese media.
https://www.ft.com/content/dea20996-2986-11e7-9ec8-168383da43b7
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/...ang-ban-muslim-names-muhammad-jihad.html?_r=0
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/viral/mohammed-and-islam-now-banned-names-in-chinas-xinjiang/
Where is Hafeez Saeed? Islam khatre mein hai bhai?
Bhaiyyon inko kab azaad kara rahe ho?
