The Chinese authorities have once again barred Uyghur Muslims from the Xinjiang province from travelling to Saudi Arabia to participate in the annual Haj pilgrimage, the Islamic Association of China said in its report.
According to the website of the Islamic Association of China, as of early June, a total of 1,053 Muslim pilgrims were officially registered for Haj out of 769 from Gansu province and 284 from Yunnan province. However, no Uyghurs or other Muslims from Xinjiang were included in the tally.
It is pertinent to mention here that Muslims in China need government permission for Haj pilgrimage, which as one of the five pillars of Islam, is required of all Muslims once in their lives who are physically and financially able to undertake the journey.
However, this is not the first time the Chinese authorities have excluded Uyghur Muslims from the Haj. Earlier in 2023, 386 Muslims from Ningxia Province and other parts of China participated. However, none were from Xinjiang province.
The last time the Islamic Association of China reported any pilgrim from Xinjiang was in 2016.
Chinese policies targeting Uyghur Muslims
The Chinese government has been accused of committing atrocities against Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minorities in the Xinjiang region. The government’s policies have systematically targeted religious practices, leading to a severe restriction of fundamental rights for this minority community.
Reportedly, an estimated one million people who follow Islam have been arbitrarily detained in a network of internment camps since 2014.
The Chinese authorities have enforced a range of measures to restrict Islamic practices in the region, including banning dozens of personal names with Islamic connotations and mandating that mosques display “Chinese characteristics.”
For example, Aq Meschit, or “White Mosque,” a village in Akto County, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, was renamed Unity Village in 2018. The same year, Hoja Eriq, or “Sufi Teacher’s Creek,” village in Aksu Prefecture was rechristened Willow village, Radio Free Asia reported.
The government has changed the name of about 630 Uyghur villages with other tactics, including imposing a ban on hijabs and abayas (loose overgarments usually worn by Muslim women). Imposed restrictions for growing beards for men, and Muslim names for children.
Ban on fasting
Additionally, for the last eight years, Uyghur Muslims have experienced persecution and restrictions during the Islamic month of Ramzan.
In Xinjiang, China has prohibited teachers, students, and civil personnel from fasting during Ramzan since 2015. Children are also subject to these limitations; the Education Bureau rules forbid fasting and other religious observances in schools. Following inter-ethnic violence in 2009, the government stepped up its crackdown, which resulted in an increase in military presence and security measures throughout Xinjiang province.
History of Uyghurs
The predominantly Muslim Uyghurs currently consist of a total population of 11 million in China’s far-western Xinjiang region
However, Chinese authorities and Uyghur nationalists disagree about the history of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. While the official Chinese perspective claims that the Uyghurs in Xinjiang formed after the Uyghur Khaganate collapsed in ninth-century Mongolia, from the fusion of different indigenous peoples of the Tarim Basin and the westward-migrating Old Uyghurs, Uyghur historians see Uyghurs as the original inhabitants of Xinjiang, with a long history.
Some Uyghur nationalists claim they are descended from the Tocharians, while contemporary Western experts do not believe that present Uyghurs are directly sprung from the former Uyghur Khaganate of Mongolia.
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