No ban on Muslim practices during Ramzan: Chinese govt

The Chinese government has reiterated its commitment to ensuring religious freedom to the Muslims, allowing them to observe fasting as per their religious belief.

There are certain misperceptions about the religious freedom in China. Normally the West paints the negative picture and blamed the Chinese government, curbing the religious rights of the Chinese Muslims.  They do this to serve their own vested interests.

According to the Chinese media’s reports, time and again the Chinese government dispelled the unfounded allegations and drew the world attention towards the situation on the ground.

Read more: China restricts Ramzan fasting in Muslim region

Going through the facts, it appeared that the prevailing Chinese laws protect normal religious activities, including attending religious services, fasting, worshiping Buddha, praying, preaching, reciting scriptures, burning incense, attending Mass, being baptized or ordained, observing extreme unction, holding memorial ceremonies, and celebrating religious festivals, that believers conduct at venues for religious activities or in their own homes in accordance with customary religious practices, are exclusive affairs of religious groups and the believers themselves.

These activities are protected by law, and no organisation or individual may interfere with them. To ensure successful pilgrimages for believers in Islam, the largest Muslims’ populated region Xinjiang adopts a policy of organised and planned pilgrimages.

Since 1996 the Xinjiang government has arranged charter flights every year to take believers in Islam to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The Xinjiang government funds medical care and interpretation for pilgrims and offers other services to ensure safe and orderly pilgrimages.

Read more: China restricts Ramzan fasting in Xinjiang region

During the holy Islamic month of Ramadan whether to close or open halal (Muslim food) restaurants is completely determined by the owners themselves without interference. There are mosques with a tradition of having iftar (the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset) and a number of religious believers provide free iftar to fasting people. Local governments ensure that all religious activities during Ramadan go on in an orderly manner.

The customs of religious believers are fully respected. State laws protect religious customs, including production, processing, storage, distribution and selling of halal food, a supply of special food, setting up of halal restaurants and halal canteens.

During the Spring Festival, Eid al-Adha (Corban Festival), Eid al-Fitr and other major traditional festivals, all ethnic groups can enjoy statutory holidays and be supplied with special foodstuffs. Special cemetery areas are allocated for some ethnic-minority groups who traditionally bury their dead in the ground. Traditional practices of a religious nature, such as naming a child, funeral pray, burial, and holding Nazer (memorial activities), are respected.

Xinjiang now has 24,800 venues for religious activities, including mosques and churches. Among these, 24,400 mosques have 29,000 clerical personnel. There are eight religious colleges, including the Xinjiang Islamic Institute and Xinjiang Islamic School. There are also 112 religious organisations, among which, at the autonomous region level, there are one major organisations, namely, an Islamic association with a committee for Islamic affairs.

Channels for believers to gain religious knowledge have been expanded. Religious classics and books have been translated and published, including the Koran and Selections from Al-Sahih Muhammad Ibn-Ismail al-Bukhari, in the Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak and Kirgiz languages. The New Collection of Waez’s Speeches series and the magazine China’s Muslims are compiled and published, with a total circulation of over 1.76 million.

From 2014 to 2015, Xinjiang has distributed 43 Islamic publications in different languages of minority ethnic groups, totalling over one million copies, including over 230,000 copies of new Koran and over 29,000 copies of Basic Knowledge of Islam, both in the Uygur language.

The China Islamic Association provides a Uygur-language version of its website. The Xinjiang Islamic Association publishes the magazine Xinjiang Muslims in the Uygur, Han Chinese and Kazak languages, providing free copies to mosques and clerical personnel. It has also opened the “Xinjiang Muslims” website in the Uygur and Han Chinese languages. Religious organisations hold training classes on religious knowledge and etiquette for believers.

Since 2001 Xinjiang has sent more than 70 religious school students and clerical personnel to Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, Pakistan’s International Islamic University and other overseas colleges and universities for further study, with a view to improving their religious knowledge and teaching level. The government has visited the students and personnel many times and established scholarships for them.

Facts show that the freedom of religious belief in Xinjiang cannot be matched by that in any other historical period, and is undeniable to anyone who respects the facts. The Chinese government resolutely opposes the politicisation of religious matters and any other country’s interference in China’s internal affairs in the name of religion.