World

Chinese Muslims Fear Communist Government Will Wipe Out Islam

REUTERS/Stringer

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Joshua Gill Religion Reporter
Font Size:

China’s Communist Party has banned children from engaging in all religious activities in China’s “Little Mecca,” prompting fears that the government is eradicating Islam.

The Chinese government has cracked down on public Islamic practices in the region of Linxia, known as the “Little Mecca” of China and home to the ethnic Hui people. The government mandated that all mosques must fly national flags, forbade them from issuing the daily calls to prayer, and banned children younger than 16 from participating in religious studies and activities. Local Hui Muslims said they fear that China will implement restrictions and surveillance similar to those authorities have enacted against ethnic Uyghur Muslims in the region of Xinjiang in an attempt to secularize the region. (RELATED: China Jailing Even Mild Critics Of Its Crackdown On Muslims)

“The winds have shifted. Frankly, I’m very afraid they’re going to implement the Xinjiang model here,” a local imam, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. “They want to secularize Muslims, to cut off Islam at the roots. These days, children are not allowed to believe in religion: only in Communism and the party.”

The Chinese government has enacted similar but more severe restrictions in Xinjiang, such as outlawing beards and forbidding the owning and selling of Korans. Authorities say the restrictions are meant to route out “separatism” and “religious extremism” and to stem terrorist activity. Locals in Linxia insist, however, that their brand of Islam is different from the one practiced by Uyghur Muslims.

“They believe in Islam too, but they’re violent and bloodthirsty. We’re nothing like that,” Ma Jiancai, a Muslim local in Linxia, told AFP.

Locals see the ban on religious activities for children as a way to wipe out the practice of Muslim traditions and the availability of Islamic teachers within a few generations.

“We’re scared, very scared. If it goes on like this, after a generation or two, our traditions will be gone,” said Ma Lan, a caretaker for one of the local mosques, according to AFP.

William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, affirmed that line of thinking, saying that the Chinese government focused its restrictions on minors “as a way to ensure that faith traditions die out while also maintaining the government’s control over ideological affairs.”

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel