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In light of recent developments in Xinjiang where 150 people have been killed and 1434 imprisoned, this article looks at how Islam first entered China and the oppression committed by successive Chinese governments against the Muslims of the region. This article is an amalgamation of two articles first published in Khilafah Magazine in March 1997.

History of Muslims in China

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
"It was only as a mercy that We sent you [Prophet] to all people." [Al-Anbiyaa, 21:107]

The message of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is to prevail all over the world. In accordance with this vision the Sahaba (ra) who ruled after him صلى الله عليه وسلم sought to expand the frontiers of the Islamic State ever outwards. Seeking to complete his صلى الله عليه وسلم noble purpose by ensuring that one day it would encompass the entire world, it was Khaleefah ‘Uthman ibn Affan (ra) that initiated substantive contacts with China. With the Byzantine Romans defeated and the Persian Empire conquered, ‘Uthman ibn Affan, the third Khaleefah, dispatched a deputation to China in 29 AH (651AD). It was led by Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqaas (ra), the maternal uncle of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Its mission was to invite the Chinese emperor to embrace Islam.

China's First Masjid and Muslim Settlers

The deputation built a magnificent Masjid in Canton city. This Masjid is known to this day as the "Memorial Mosque". There are some reports that Sa'ad was eventually buried in China. Over the years Muslim trading activity through traders and merchant naval movements led many to settle in China. One of the first Muslim settlements in China was established in Cheng Aan Port during the era of the Tang dynasty.

It was from this time that the Muslims of China began to encounter the venom and hatred of the Chinese Kuffar. However with the Khilafah still in place, the spirit of Jihad was strong amongst the Muslims. So such oppression was not met without the most appropriate response- fighting fee sabeel-Allah. One of the first regular wars was waged at the Chinese border in 133AH. The Muslims were led by a great mujahid, Ziyad. They were far less in numbers but, with the help of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, the Muslims delivered a crushing defeat on the Chinese. After this conquest, the Muslims came to command respect, power and a complete control over the entire Central Asia. In 138 AH Khaleefah Mansur dispatched a unit of 4000 armed Muslim troops to add to this awe.

The Jewels of Mercy

These early victories opened the doors of China for the Muslims to spread and propagate the beauty and the truth of Islam. So the victories were consolidated, in accordance to the method of Islam. The Muslims settled in China and they married Chinese women. These early Muslim settlers then started establishing Mosques, schools and madrasas. In the cities, the Ulama were dominant. From the teaching in the madrasas many students gained immense knowledge. Students from as far as Russia and India would attend these classes, literally observing the saying, "Seek knowledge even if it is in China". In the 1790's, according to tradition, there was as many as 30,000 Islamic students. The city of Bukhara, which was then part of China, came to be known as the "Pillar of Islam". It is this city that was blessed with a noble son, Imam Bukhari, one of the foremost of the Muhaditheen (compilers of Ahadeeth).

Jihad in the Face of Adversity

The early Muslim settlers in China saw all sorts of troubles and oppression. The tyrant rule of the Manchu dynasty (1644-1911) was the hardest and most brutal era administered against the Muslims. During this period five wars were waged against the Muslims.

(1) The Lanchu war 1820-28
(2) The Che Kanio war 1830
(3) The Sinkiang war 1847
(4) The Yunan war 1857
(5) The Shansi war 1861

This era is marked by gross Manchu animosity to Islam and Muslims. Muslims were slaughtered and Mosques were razed to the ground. These Muslims were led by men, who did not just lie passively in the face of the oppression but declared Jihad against the oppressive regime of Manchu. One of the military commanders by the name of Yaqoob Beg (1820-77) liberated the whole of Turkestan and attempted to administer Islamic rules from 1867-77. The Khaleefah of the time recognised Beg's struggle as Islamic and rejoiced at his success. Beg eliminated crimes of violence during his rule.

The Russians and British officials lamented this new force for Islam and spoke of a new Turkic-Chinese Muslim power rising from Central Asia, comprising of the provinces of Yunan, Szechawan, Shensi and Kansu. One British official stated, "We really have before us grounds to summarise that this remote part of the world may at present be the scene of a great Muslim revival."

China's Crusade Against Islam

Since the Communist take-over of Muslim East Turkestan (what the Communists call XingXang meaning ‘New Frontier') in 1949, there has been an almost total news blackout in the region. It is like the Stalinist purges of the Soviet Union which accounted for some 20 million deaths, details are very difficult to ascertain. A recent visit to Beijing by one of our Khilafah Magazine correspondents in 1992, however, verifies the abject oppression and tyranny to which the Muslims have been subject. At that time there was an underlying tension amongst the East Turkestan dwellers of Beijing. There is an area of Beijing frequented by East Turkestan traders, mainly silk merchants, called Kanjacou. Their venom and hatred of the Chinese authorities was commonly expressed. When a Chinese would pass by the street they would sneer "Kafir, Kafir! Jihad, Jihad!" Upon further investigation the living nightmare of the East Turkestan Muslims was revealed. One man was on the run from the police for the ‘crime' of teaching the Qur'an to children. There were regular police round-ups of the Muslims in Beijing. This was what was happening in Beijing, it cannot surely compare with the despotism and persecution to which the Muslims have been subject in East Turkestan. This oppression has the sole objective of stripping the Muslims of their Islamic identity.

Soon after the Communist take-over in 1949, the Mao government set about dividing the Muslims into nationalities so they would identify with their ‘ethnic' origin and not their ‘Muslim' identity. According to population statistics of 1936, the then Kuomingtang Republic of China had an estimated 48,104,240 Muslims. After Mao's policies, the number was reported to have been reduced to ten million. No official explanation has ever been given for this apparent disappearance of around thirty-eight million Muslims. The mass extermination and destruction of the Muslims of China clearly makes the much publicised plight of a handful of Tibetan monks or the democrats of Tiananmen Square pale into insignificance, but the West would not shed tears for Muslims.

Aside from the physical annihilation, Muslims have been subject to a constant attack on their Islamic identity. The period of the so called Cultural Revolution (1966-76) showed openly the heathen attitudes and policies of the Communists. This can simply be summarised by two posters which appeared in Peking (later to be called Beijing) in 1966. These called for the abolition of Islamic practices.

Muslims were also banned from learning their written language in the Cultural Revolution. This language incorporates the Arabic script and appears influenced by Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. This change was critical as it distanced Muslims from the Arabic language, the language of the Qur'an and the Islamic State, a tactic used by many enemies of Islam, including Mustapha Kamal, the man who abolished the Khilafah. During this era many Mosques were closed down as the communists released their venom against Islam and the Muslims.

These days, as can be seen from the riots in East Turkestan, the resilience of the Muslims to the pagan communists has remained steadfast. The Communists realise the proud defiance of the Muslims cannot be broken, so they have adopted a policy of continued pressure on the Islamic way of life and establishing puppet ‘Islamic' organisations and institutes which are supposed to represent the Muslims. It is a policy of containment - not dissimilar to the regimes of countries like Jordan, Sudan and Kuwait allowing so called ‘Islamists' into their ranks in their attempts to placate the growing demand of the Ummah for the complete implementation of the Shari‘ah. Examples in China of this phenomena are the Islamic Theological Institute and the Central Chinese Islamic Association. Both receive government funds and patronage. Amongst a number of pro-government functions they arrange the Hajj (pilgrimage) - the number of Hajjis (pilgrims) is restricted and the selection is officially screened and controlled. Clearly, the Chinese authorities do not want news of their policy of oppression to Muslims to reach the Ummah.

Since the so called Cultural Revolution, waqf properties have been confiscated and mosques forcibly occupied. Officially sponsored campaigns have been launched against Islamic leaders who have been denounced as ‘reactionaries' and ‘anti-people'. The policy of ethnic (Muslim) cleansing has continued. Han (Kafir) Chinese have been moved to settle in East Turkestan in a further attempt to make the province have a Non-Muslim majority. Back in 1949 the Han population constituted a mere 2-3% of the total population, now they represent a reported 38%.

The Defiance Remains

Despite the Chinese government tyranny, the Muslims of East Turkestan have remained steadfastly defiant. Young men sport neckties bearing a crescent and a star, bearing semblance to the symbols of the Uthmaniyyah Khilafah, a ‘crime' that could land them in jail. In the Kajacou area of Beijing, one Muslim was asked about his children - he said he had six. This is despite Chinese law that says Muslims of East Turkestan are only allowed two! The Muslims have an adoration of all things Islamic. In Kanjacou they obtained a cassette of Qur'anic recitation one day, and by the next day it was copied and widely distributed. This attitude led the Muslims as far back as 1953 to come out en-masse in the streets and proclaim an independent Islamic province in north-west China. Obviously, this was vigorously suppressed by the Communists, but the vehemence of popular reaction was unmistakable. The affinity the Muslims have towards the Ummah and their wholesale rejection of the heathen communists shows the Chinese will never suppress the spirit of Islam in the Muslims of present day China. As one Chinese government official put it, "It's like hacking them with a knife. They'll never forget the wound."

Nor should we forget the wound and let it be known the future Khaleefah will have, Insha'Allah, an army of Mujahideen willing to fight for the cause of Islam right on China's doorstep.

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