China vs. Islam

Muslim children forced to drop religious names: Names such as Islam, Quran and Mecca must be changed amid pro-Communist rallies.
By Benjamin Haas in Hong Kong

Worshippers leave Kashgar’s Id Kah mosque in Xinjiang during Ramadan. 

Muslim children in China’s far western Xinjiang region are being forced to change their “religious” names and adults are being coerced into attending rallies showing devotion to the officially atheist Communist party.
During Ramadan, the authorities in Xinjiang have ordered all children under 16 to change names where police have determined they are “overly religious”. 

As many as 15 names have been banned, including Islam, Quran, Mecca, Jihad, Imam, Saddam, Hajj, Medina and Arafat.

China bans religious names for Muslims in Xinjiang
In April authorities banned certain names for newborns that were deemed to have religious connotations, but the new order expands forced name changes to anyone under 16, the age at which Chinese citizens are issued a national identity card.
The order coincided with millions gathering at 50,000 individual rallies across Xinjiang this week to pledge allegiance to the Communist party. 

More than a quarter of the region’s population sang the national anthem at 9am on 29 May and pledged allegiance to the Communist party, according to state media reports.
Xinjiang’s Muslims mostly belonging to the Uighur ethnic group, a Turkic people. 

The region has occasionally seen sporadic violence which China blames on international terrorist groups. 

But overseas observers say the vast majority of incidents are a result of local grievances.
“Terrorists are the scum of the Uighur people, they are the common enemies of the people of all ethnic groups,” said a Communist party cadre leading one of the rallies in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. 

“We must treat the enemy harshly and brush away the old to make a clean sweep, we should raise our swords high and in no way be lenient.”
State media accounts of the mass rallies gave no indication as to a reason for the sudden display of patriotism. 

Photos of some rallies showed paramilitary troops in full body armour armed with assault rifles attending the ceremony.
“Fundamentally these rallies are just a show of force, and part of the audience is the Han Chinese population in Xinjiang, to show the power of the state,” said Michael Clarke, a political science professor at the Australian National University and expert on Xinjiang. 

“But in terms of the Uighur population, it’s difficult to see how these kinds of mass rallies will win the hearts and minds over average Uighurs, and will likely do quite the opposite.”
Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, is more than 3,000km away from Beijing.
Human rights groups accuse China of restricting Uighurs’ freedom of religion and expression and authorities routinely deny passports to members of the ethnic group. 

The government has also encourages mass migration by Han Chinese to the area and they now make up roughly 45% of the population.
Xinjiang has seen an increasingly invasive security state since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, Clarke added, including hiring thousands of police.
The region is at the centre of Xi’s Belt and Road initiative, a $900bn development aimed at building closer ties within Asia and beyond by constructing large-scale infrastructure.
In recent months authorities began confiscating Qur’ans published before August 2012, declaring them illegal for containing “extremist content”, according to a report by US-funded Radio Free Asia.
On the same day as the mass rallies, officials in Xinjiang announced they had expelled a Communist party member for attending religious activities at a local mosque. 

It was not clear if the man was a government official or simply a private citizen who was also a party member.
Rules announced last year also forbid retired officials from attending religious ceremonies and ban them from holding beliefs.

China vs. Islam: China bans religious names for Muslim babies

List of banned baby names released amid ongoing crackdown on religion that includes law against veils and beards
By Benjamin Haas in Hong Kong

Uighur women in loose, full-length garments and headscarves associated with conservative Islam visit a market in the city of Aksu in East Turkestan.

Many couples fret over choosing the perfect name for their newborn, but for Muslims in western China that decision has now become even more fraught: pick the wrong name and your child will be denied education and government benefits.
Officials in the western region of Xinjiang (East Turkestan), home to roughly half of China’s 23 million Muslims, have released a list of banned baby names amid an ongoing crackdown on religion.

Chinese troops stage show of force in Xinjiang and vow to 'relentlessly beat' separatists

Names such as Islam, Quran, Saddam and Mecca, as well as references to the star and crescent moon symbol, are all unacceptable to the ruling Communist party and children with those names will be denied household registration, a crucial document that grants access to social services, healthcare and education.
A full list of names has not yet been published and it is unclear exactly what qualifies as a religious name.
China blames religious extremists for a slew of violent incidents in recent years that have left hundreds dead. 

It has launched a series of crackdowns in Xinjiang (East Turkestan), home to the Muslim Uighur minority and one of the most militarised regions in the country.
Uighur rights groups complain of severe restrictions on religion and freedom of expression, and say the attacks are isolated incidents caused by local grievances, not part of a wider coordinated campaign. 

Young men are banned from growing beards in Xinjiang and women are forbidden from wearing face veils.
Rights groups were quick to condemn the name ban, which applies to dozens of names deemed by Communist party officials to carry religious overtones.
“This is just the latest in a slew of new regulations restricting religious freedom in the name of countering ‘religious extremism,’” Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. 

“These policies are blatant violations of domestic and international protections on the rights to freedom of belief and expression.
“If the government is serious about bringing stability and harmony to the region as it claims, it should roll back – not double down on – repressive policies.”
Authorities in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) passed new legislation last month expanding a host of restrictions, including allowing staff at train stations and airports to deny entry to women wearing face veils and encouraging staff to report them to the police.
The new law also prohibits “abnormal beards” and “naming of children to exaggerate religious fervour”. 

Various cities in Xinjiang previously had rules banned women wear face veils and men with long beard from public transportation, but the new law applies to the entire region.
A Communist party village chief and ethnic Uighur was demoted last month for not having a “resolute political stance” after he refused to smoke in front of Muslim elders. 

The state-run Global Times newspaper quote another local official as saying cadres should push against religious convention to demonstrate “their commitment to secularisation”.