Press Release
China’s Despotic Regime Intensifies its Atheism Drive Against Uighur Muslim Children

The despotic Chinese regime announced that on the 1^st of November it will be implementing new education rules in the Muslim majority province of Xinjiang that will punish parents who encourage their children into religious activities. The atheism-based government is calling people to report their neighbors, friends and relatives to the police if they, “organize, lure or force minors into attending religious activities.” The new rules state, “Any group or person has the right to stop these kind of behaviours and report them to the public security authorities”, and that parents and guardians should not promote so-called “extremist” beliefs in children nor force them to dress in “extremist clothing”. The Chinese government’s view of what it deems as ‘extremist ideas and clothing’ is basic Islamic beliefs such as fasting and the wearing of the Khimar or Niqab. Muslim parents who fail to abide by these repressive restrictions face the threat of their children being removed from their care and being sent to “receive rectification” at specialist schools aimed undoubtedly at indoctrinating them with atheistic concepts. The rules also ban any form of religious activity in schools.

This intensification of the campaign to distance the future generation of Muslims in East Turkestan from their Deen and force-feed them the falsehood of atheism, reflects the Chinese regime’s desperation and utter failure in suppressing the overwhelming and unstoppable resurgence of Islam in the region. As part of its atheism drive, this repressive government which farcically claims it respects freedom of religion, has already banned Muslim students and teachers from fasting in Ramadan; cracked down harshly on Islamic schools; enforced strict restrictions on religious participation of Muslim children outside of school including entering mosques; banned the wearing of Islamic dress in public venues and buses in Xinjiang; banned religion in nursery schools after a video of a little girl from China reciting Qur’an went viral; and even conducted forced sterilizations and abortions on Muslim Uighur women to try and stem the birth of the future Mujtaheed and Mujaheed of this Ummah. The Chinese regime even garnered the support of regional states such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, and Russia at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation last December for its anti-Islam crusade against the Uighurs. However, all these desperate attempts to erase the Islamic identity of the Muslims of Xinjiang and their children have proven to be utterly futile, for the Uighur Muslims have strengthened in their faith and held resolutely to their Islamic beliefs Alhamdulillah. This is inevitable, for the Haqq (the truth) will always defeat the Batil (the falsehood)! Allah (swt) says,﴿بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ وَلَكُمُ الْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ﴾“Nay, We hurl the Truth against the falsehood so that it (the Truth) crushes it (the falsehood), and lo! It (the falsehood) vanishes. Woe to you for what you utter!”[21:18]

We say to the despotic Chinese regime! You will never be able to blow out the light of Islam, nor is the Iman of the believers brittle like the false belief of atheism which is steeped in irrationality and oppression. We know that your boldness to persecute the Uighur Muslims without fear stems from the muted stance of the cowardly Muslim regimes and hypocritical international community towards your repressive policies. However take note, the establishment of the second righteous Khilafah "Caliphate" (Caliphate) upon the methodology of the Prophethood is fast approaching Bi-ithnillah and will respond vigorously against those who oppress the Muslims. And its return is inevitable regardless of the intense efforts of those who conspire against it. We remind you that China tasted the might of the great Mujahideen of Islam such as Yaqub Beg who liberated Turkestan from the oppression of the Manchu Dynasty. Likewise, the Muslims of East Turkestan will be once again liberated from oppression Insha Allah by the mighty army of the Khilafah "Caliphate" upon its return.

O Dear Honourable Muslims of Xinjiang! We call you to keep firm to your Deen in these difficult times and to continue to instill the noble Islamic beliefs in your children which will give them success in this life and the next. And we urge you to support the dawah to establish the Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah upon the methodology of the Prophethood, which alone will lift your state of oppression and enable you to practice your whole Deen without fear, and support you in raising your children upon the sublime beliefs and values of Islam.

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz

Director of the Women’s Section in The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir