Headlines:

• Switzerland Referendum: Voters Support Ban on Face Coverings
• India: Teaching of Hinduism Books in Islamic Madrasas Sparks Anger
• China’s Crackdown on Muslims Spreads to Tropical Hainan

Switzerland Referendum: Voters Support Ban on Face Coverings

Switzerland has narrowly voted in favour of banning face coverings in public, including the burka or niqab worn by Muslim women. Official results showed the measure had passed by 51.2% to 48.8% in Sunday’s referendum. The proposal was put forward by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which campaigned with slogans such as “Stop extremism”. A leading Swiss Islamic group said it was “a dark day” for Muslims. “Today’s decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority,” the Central Council of Muslims said in a statement, adding that it would challenge the decision in court. The Swiss government had argued against the ban saying it was not up to the state to dictate what women wear. According to research by the University of Lucerne (in German), almost no-one in Switzerland wears a burka and only around 30 women wear the niqab. About 5% of Switzerland’s population of 8.6 million people are Muslim, most originating from Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo. [The BBC]

Europe’s suppression of Muslims continues unabated. Switzerland joins other European countries which have meticulously planned to erase Islam from public life. Europe has conveniently sacrificed its Western enlightenment ideas of freedom and pluralism to force Muslims to become more westernized. Soon re-education and internment camps will be set up to force cleanse European shores of Muslims and Islam. The return of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand is fast approaching.

India: Teaching of Hinduism Books in Islamic Madrasas Sparks Anger

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), an autonomous organization under the Education Ministry, announced that it has prepared 15 courses on “Indian knowledge tradition.” Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal presented the new curricula last week, lauding India as a “knowledge superpower” in topics including Veda (ancient religious text), yoga, science, Sanskrit language, and Hindu epics such as Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita. According to the ministry, teachings on such topics will shortly be incorporated into Muslim educational institutions known as madrasas. The NIOS, which provides courses at primary, secondary and senior levels, and follows standards similar to those of national and state education boards, said it would initially launch the program with 100 madrasas, extending to 500 in the future. But the program has drawn sharp criticism from senior Muslim clerics, who feel that the courses are “unjustified” and “arbitrary.” Some clerics even described the program as part of wider efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to “Hinduize” India. “It is almost akin to asking medical colleges to teach the Koran and the Bible instead of what it was set out for,” Maulana Khalid Rasheed, of the Lucknow-based Darul Uloom Farangi Mahal Islamic seminary, told DW. “The new education policy emphasizes the creation of a sense of pride towards ‘Indianness’ within learners,” Rasheed said. “This goes against the directive of educational institutions,” he added. In July last year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India’s largest education board, announced that it had cut its 2021 syllabus by 30%. Government-run schools were no longer required to give lessons on democratic rights, secularism, federalism and citizenship, among other topics. The decision sparked concerns that the omission of such subjects was politically motivated. “These concepts lie at the core of the Indian Constitution but have at times come into conflict with the Hindu-majoritarian ideology of the ruling right-wing BJP,” Sahil Husain, an education expert, told DW, adding that parties across India’s political spectrum have been accused of using education as a means of propagating their agendas. Critics have accused the BJP of altering the education system to push its uniform brand of Indian identity. Maulana Yasoob Abbas, a Muslim cleric, told DW that the program is “divisive” and “goes against the grain of constitutional principles.” He said the new mandatory teachings would “increase the fault lines” between India’s Hindu and Muslim communities. In addition, “teaching other religious scriptures is against the tenets of madrasas,” Abbas said.”Would the current government accept the teaching of the Koran in the RSS-backed Sishu mandir schools?” he said, referring to the right-wing Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) group. [Source: Deutsche Welle]

Muslims in India have for a very long time ignored their responsibility to transform India back into Darul Islam. Consequently, both the secularists and the Hindu extremists have worked tirelessly over the past 163 years to roll back Islam from the lives of Indian Muslims. Unless Muslims of India work for the resumption of the Islamic way of life, Modi will continue force Muslims to accept Hinduism as their new deen.

China’s Crackdown on Muslims Spreads to Tropical Hainan

Hainan province is China’s southernmost territory, a tropical island of white-sand beaches, stately palm trees and, now, a small population of persecuted Muslims. The Utsuls, who number about 10,000, are the latest Muslim ethnic group targeted by the nationwide campaign conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to achieve “the Sinicization of Islam.” The campaign is best known for its internationally condemned treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims, which the United States refers to as genocide. But now the Utsuls, who are Sunni Muslims, are also coming under the campaign’s strict controls. Like Beijing’s efforts to curtail Christians and Buddhists, the campaign against the Muslim Utsuls is designed to curtail religions so the CCP can remain the dominant ideology. Gu Yi, a political commentator who is Muslim, told VOA Mandarin that the CCP’s Sinicization of Islam campaign is meant to eliminate Islamic culture. “They do this because Islam has its own belief system and social structure, which is a serious threat to a totalitarian regime such as the Communist Party of China. They cannot tolerate groups that think differently,” he said. “Therefore, they must carry out such a cultural extinction of the Islamic society.”  The goal of the Sinicization of Islam campaign is to cut off ties that Muslims have with Islam, so that Muslim ethnic groups throughout China lose any sense of unity their religion may provide, according to Gu. After Beijing accelerated the nationwide campaign in 2018, local governments issued specific measures including closing Islamic schools, mandating hanging the national flag at mosques, removing Islamic buildings, and replacing halal signs. They also banned minors under 18 from studying at the mosques and required Muslims to register their address and identification with the government. Authorities banned the use of loudspeakers, which can be used in the Muslim calls to prayer, and microradio transmission, which is used for listening to non-CCP approved programming. A worker at a local halal restaurant in Hainan, which serves food permissible according to Islamic law, told VOA that the local government had ordered the removal of the word “halal” from signs and menus. After asking to remain unnamed due to fear of CCP reprisal, he added that authorities ordered the obliteration of signs in homes and shops saying “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is greatest.” The local government also closed two Islamic schools and tried to bar female students from wearing head scarves. According to the restaurant worker, public outcry forced authorities to relent on the ban. [Source: Voice of America]

The inability of the Islamic world to condemn the horrific treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang has given Beijing greater confidence to force Muslims in other provinces to forsake Islam. The Chinese suppression of Islam is reminiscent of what the Mongols perpetrated several centuries ago. Only the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) can force China, India and Europe to stop their oppression of their Muslim populations.