|
XINJIANG: Imams and
mosque education under state control
By Igor Rotar, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18
News Service
The imam of the central mosque in the town of Turpan
in China's north-eastern Xinjiang region admitted to
Forum 18 News Service in early September that the
Chinese authorities name all imams to local mosques.
Imams also have to attend regular meetings of the
national religious committees at their town
administration, where they are told what they can do
and are ordered to preach peace and condemn terrorism
in their sermons. Local adult Muslims, mainly ethnic
Uighurs, can learn about their faith only in certain
mosques where the imam has gained special approval,
while children are banned. "The authorities instruct
us to tell parents that their children must complete
their education before they can start to attend mosque,"
the imam reported, though Forum 18 observed some
children in Turpan's mosques at Friday prayers.
Although the local Uighur Muslim population is not as
devout as in the south-west of China's Xinjiang-Uighur
Autonomous Region, Forum 18 News Service found in
early September in the town of Turpan in Xinjiang's
north-east that local Muslims (most of them Uighurs)
are as harshly controlled by the Chinese authorities
as in the south-west. The town of 65,000 people is
situated in the Turpan Depression. At 150 metres (500
feet) below sea level, the depression is the lowest
place in China, though the highest temperatures in the
country have been recorded here.
The imam-hatyb of Turpan's central Janubikuk mosque,
Sirojdin Abdurakhim, admitted to Forum 18 that all the
imams are appointed by the authorities. The
imam-hatybs also have to attend regular meetings of
the national religious committees (which are
responsible for work with religious believers) at the
town administration. "At the committee we are told
what mistakes are allowable at a mosque," he told
Forum 18 in Turpan on 10 September. "We are ordered to
preach the concept of peace to believers and to
explain to them what harm is done to Muslims by the
terrorists who operate in the name of our religion."
Although, unlike in the south-western city of Kashgar,
Forum 18 did not find any posters in mosques banning
young people under the age of 18 from attending,
Abdurakhim admitted to Forum 18 that children are not
allowed to attend mosques. "The authorities instruct
us to tell parents that their children must complete
their education before they can start to attend mosque,"
he told Forum 18. However, this order is not observed
too rigorously and Forum 18 observed several children
in Turpan's mosques.
Abdurakhim also admitted that children are not allowed
to study Islam. Even adults may only study the faith
in mosques where the imam-hatybs have received
specific authorisation from the authorities, though
Forum 18 did see posters in a number of mosques
stating that instruction in Islam was permitted in
them.
Separatist tendencies are far less developed among
Turpan's Uighurs than among fellow-Uighurs in Kashgar
and in other cities of south-western Xinjiang such as
Hotan. Speaking to Forum 18, local Uighurs themselves
ascribed their relative loyalty to Beijing mainly to
the fact that Turpan is much closer to central China
than are the cities of south-western Xinjiang and that
it therefore fell under Beijing's influence earlier.
Nevertheless, Turpan's Uighurs, like their
fellow-Uighurs in the south-west, prefer to pursue a
policy of voluntary "apartheid" towards the Chinese.
Local Uighur men hardly ever marry Chinese women. They
also refuse to eat in Chinese-owned restaurants
because the food is not prepared in accordance with
Muslim law. At the same time, Uighurs in the Turpan
area are far less devout than those in the south-west.
Even during Friday prayers Forum 18 counted no more
than 50 believers at Turpan's Janubikuk mosque. In
south-western Xinjiang, around 30 per cent of married
women wear the Islamic veil, but Forum 18 saw no woman
with her face covered in Turpan.
It is worth noting that, as local Muslims told Forum
18, between 1983 and 1996 underage children were not
prevented from attending mosque or from studying
Islam. Forum 18's sources maintained that during this
period, Muslims faced almost no restrictions from the
authorities. It is possible that Beijing has stepped
up its policy against Muslims because the Chinese
authorities have concluded that religion is clearly an
underlying cause of Uighur separatist sentiment.
For more background information see Forum 18's
Xinjiang religious freedom survey at
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=143 .
|
