IUMS Concerned About Situation of Muslims in East Turkistan
Iumsonline.net – Aug. 4, 2008
The secretariat-general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) expressed its deep concern over circulating news that Chinese authorities demolished a mosque in Kalpin county, confiscated copies of the Ever-Glorious Qur’an and arrested many Muslims during the attack. Fifteen Muslims were convicted in a closed trial on July 9; two of them were executed, three others were given suspended death sentences and the remaining ten received life imprisonment.
The statement that was issued on Monday Aug. 4 indicated, “Whatever the reasons claimed by the Chinese authorities to justify these actions, they must be read in the context of the ongoing persecution against Muslims in East Turkistan. This persecution was quite clear when Chinese police this year detained 82 people in Xinjiang whom they said were planning to attack the Beijing Olympics, and China claimed it had crushed a group in Xinjiang that was plotting to kidnap foreign journalists, tourists and athletes during the Olympics.”
“About eight million Muslims in East Turkistan are in need of urgent and continuous protection and help from Islamic countries and Muslims, and spreading awareness of their issues by preachers and scholars,” the statement asserted.
Accordingly, the secretariat-general of the IUMS called upon all its members to follow the news on this issue, place this matter at the center of their activities and interests permanently, and invite Muslim officials all over the world as well as local and international human rights organizations to pay attention to the persecuted Muslim minority in China; as this may induce the Chinese authorities to change its treatment of Muslims in East Turkistan.
In addition, the IUMS called upon the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to “… convince the Chinese government to pay due attention to this matter and make the necessary decisions and measures for treating the Muslims of Turkistan in a way that suits a country of such a great and ancient civilization as the People's Republic of China.”
The statement expressed its hope that the secretary-general of the OIC will call upon member states to exert every effort to protect the Muslim minority in East Turkistan through their good relations with China, reminding them of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) that reads, “A believer to another believer is like a building whose different parts enforce each other.” And, “The believers as regards their being merciful among themselves and showing love among themselves and being kind, resemble one body, so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole body shares the sleeplessness (insomnia) and fever with it.”
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