China passes law to make Islam compatible with socialism
The Peoples Republic of China has passed a new law to regulate Islam and make it more compatible with socialism by “Sinicizing Islam”.
Why the new law?
The new Chinese law aims to “Sinicise” Islam. The indifference of China towards Islam was garnering it loads of criticism:
- China has around 20 million Muslims and Islam is one of the five officially recognised religions in atheist China. Even then the top officials in the Chinese government have often likened the religion to “mental disease” that “needs to be cured”.
- China has detained more than 1 million Muslim Uyghur’s at the indoctrination camps of Xinjiang.
- Many heavy-handed measures like confiscating copies of the Quran, issuing diktats to Muslims not to grow beards, and not choose names for their wards which sound “too Islamic” have been witnessed in China.
Hence to address the criticisms China has brought in a law to “Sinicise” Islam.
China justifies the move
The Chinese Media justifying the law has stated that:
“Modern countries are secular and diverse in a globalized world. But the revival and spread of religion have impacted secular society. Fundamentalism has caused more religious violence. Religious nationalism is threatening countries’ legitimate governments and is resulting in social instability.”
“The main purpose of China’s five-year plan to sinicise Islam is to seek Islam governance that tallies with Chinese practice, and it is not only limited to Islam. The government would take similar measures with other recognised religions of the People’s Republic of China.”
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Month: Current Affairs - January, 2019