China today occupies East Turkestan (Xinjiang or Sinkiang). It is located in the center of Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the west, Pakistan and India to the south, China to the east, and Mongolia to the north east. The proportion of Muslims there is 95%.

Islam was introduced to East Turkestan in 934 AD through the Uighur ruler, "Satuk Bughra Khan”, who converted to Islam before he succeeded to the throne. After he became governor of the Uighur state, he changed his name to the Muslim name ‘Abdul-Kareem Satuk. His conversion to Islam encouraged most of the Turkmen and the people of central Asia to do the same and embrace Islam as well. From then on, Turkestan became a major Islamic center in Asia.

The Chinese Communists occupied East Turkestan and followed the same policy of continuous religious persecution against the Muslim population. The Chinese Communists pretended to conduct cultural reform as they canceled the traditional Arabic letters in writings, considering it “relics of the past". They destroyed 730 thousand books that were written in Arabic, including copies of the Noble Quran, Hadeeth Books and religious books.

At the time of the 1949 takeover of China by the communists, the number of Muslims in East Turkistan was about 2.3 million, and there were more than two thousand mosques. From the first day of their rule, the Communist authorities carried out horrible massacres that were followed by accommodating influxes of Chinese immigrants in a process of colonial settlement expansion. This aimed at reducing the number of Muslims in the country, causing a demographic shift.

The Chinese canceled private property and enslaved Muslims. They officially banned the religion of Islam in China and penalized anyone who performed Islamic acts of worship because communist China saw Islam as the greatest obstacle to its grip over the region!

They isolated the Uyghurs, preventing them from leaving the country and preventing the entry of any foreigners to them. They abolished religious institutions and demolished their buildings. They turned mosques into clubs for their soldiers. The Uygurs, who had for centuries used Arabic script, were forced to adopt the Latin alphabet. The communists made Chinese the official language and replaced Islamic history with the teachings of Mao Zedong [also Mao Tse-tung].

They compelled Muslim women to marry Chinese non-Muslim men. Their deep hatred for Islam and Muslims did not end at that point. Muslims were enslaved and reeled under the pressure of the strong communist country. During the communist reign of terror, there was a violent campaign to eradicate all traces of Islam and of the ethnic identity of all non-Chinese. They strove to obliterate faith in the hearts of Muslims. When the Cultural Revolution erupted in China, the situation worsened and the persecution of Muslims intensified. One of the slogans of the revolution was "Cancel the teachings of the Quran"!

However, in the face of all this oppression, Muslims still held fast to their religion. Violent rebellions by Chinese Muslims continued. China tried to hide the news about these revolutions from the whole world and as always, Muslims refused to be silenced. One of these revolutions erupted in 1386 AH/1966 AD in the city of Kashgar whose Muslim residents attempted to perform the ‘Eed Al-Adh-ha Prayer inside one of the mosques [mass worship was also banned]. Chinese troops prevented them and carried out a horrible massacre against them.

Mass protests and violent riots spread like wildfire in the whole region and Muslims engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Chinese forces. During one month of this revolution, about 75 thousand Muslims gained martyrdom. The news reports do not stop about the uprisings of Muslims in East Turkistan against the bloody inhuman Chinese occupation.
(Http://www.islamonline.net/arabic/history/1422/08/article25.shtml)

As a result, there was an intensification of arrests, and unfair mass “show trials” were grossly held in all majority Uyghur areas of East Turkestan. Statistics indicate that more than three thousand Uighurs were detained by Chinese authorities in a period of not more than two months after the events of September 11, all with alleged political accusations. In the course of the so-called national "strike hard" campaign against crime, nine consecutive public trials were held in Gulja, Aksu, Kashgar, Khotan, Shahyar, Augtofan and Ansu. In these unfair trials, 13 Uighurs received death sentences and were executed by firing squad on the same day.
Eastern Turkistan Information Center:
http://www.uygur.org/arabic/h_rights/tehlil_11_09_2001.htm

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