Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims in a recent report that mosques in China are being closed, destroyed, and repurposed. According to HRW, the crackdown is a component of a “systematic effort” to limit Islamic practice in China.

Credit: BBC

About 20 million Muslims live in China, a country that claims to be atheist on paper but respects religious freedom. However, some claim that in recent years, there has been a stronger crackdown on organized religion, with Beijing reportedly seeking more control. Before the HRW report was released, the BBC approached China’s ethnic affairs commission and foreign ministry for comments.

Human Rights Watch’s acting China director, Maya Wang, claims that the Chinese government’s decision to close, demolish, and repurpose mosques is a component of a larger push to restrict Islamic activity in the country. The report comes in the wake of growing proof of systemic violations of Uyghur Muslims’ human rights in China’s northwest Xinjiang province. Beijing refutes the abuse allegations. The majority of Muslims in China reside in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia, which are in the northwest of the nation.

According to HRW, three of the six mosques in the Muslim-majority village of Liaoqiao in the Ningxia autonomous area have had their domes and minarets removed. It stated that the principal prayer halls of the others had been demolished.

Between October 2018 and January 2020, a Chinese-style pagoda was being built in place of a spherical dome at a mosque in Liaoqiao hamlet, according to satellite footage that HRW was able to obtain. A researcher on Chinese Muslims named Hannah Theaker told the BBC that since 2020, some 1,300 mosques in Ningxia have been closed or converted. That amounts to one-third of all the mosques in the area.

Who are the Uyghurs In China

Officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Xinjiang is home to around 12 million Uyghurs, the majority of whom are Muslims. The Uyghurs consider themselves to be ethnically and culturally related to the countries of Central Asia, and they speak a language that is related to Turkish. Their population in Xinjiang is less than half that of other people.

Over the past few decades, Xinjiang has witnessed a large-scale influx of Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, who are believed to have been directed by the government to reduce the number of minority residents. In addition, China has been charged with demolishing mosques and graves, targeting religious leaders who practice Islam, and outlawing religious activities in the area. Uyghur activists said they worry about the disappearance of their culture.

Why is China Acting out?

The Communist Party of China, led by Xi Jinping, has worked to meld religion with Chinese culture and political doctrine.

The central committee of the Chinese Communist Party released a document in 2018 that discussed the management and unification of mosques. States should “demolish more and build fewer, and make efforts to compress the overall number” of these kinds of buildings, the letter recommended. The agreement states that mosque design, construction, and finance must be “strictly monitored”.

Although it has spread to other regions, Tibet and Xinjiang have seen the longest and most severe periods of this kind of repression. In China, there are two main Muslim ethnic groupings. The Huis are descended from Muslims who came to China during the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century. The Uyghurs are the second group; they are primarily found in Xinjiang. According to a report by the independent think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute, since 2017 almost two-thirds of the mosques in Xinjiang have suffered damage or have been destroyed.

Credit: TIME

The Chinese government asserts that the merging or relocation of villages results in the consolidation of mosques, which lessens the financial load on Muslims. However, some Hui Muslims feel this is a tactic to sway their allegiance to the Party.

Although some locals have openly criticized these “Sinicization” initiatives, their opposition has not been successful thus far. Many have been imprisoned or arrested throughout the years following disagreements with authorities on the demolition or closure of mosques.

Hui activist Ma Ju, who is located in the US, claims that local governments would remove facilities necessary for religious activities, like preacher’s podiums and ablution halls, after removing external features from mosques.