The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the Chinese government’s removal of a dome from a mosque in China’s Yunnan Province. CAIR also condemned the Chinese government’s crackdown on Eid al-Adha celebrations in the Uyghur region.
The Chinese government removed the dome from the Grand Mosque of Shadian in Yunnan Province and replaced it with a Chinese-style pagoda as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign of “sinicizing” Islam in China.
CAIR also condemned the reported strict restrictions Chines officials placed on the celebration of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic celebration marking the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, in the Uyghur-majority Xinjiang region. In addition, Washington, D.C., based CAIR condemned an alleged campaign against halal products launched by Chinese officials in the Uyghur region’s capital of Urumqi.
SEE: Uyghur Organisation accuses Chinese authorities of banning Eid celebrations in Xinjiang
SEE: China launches anti-halal campaign in Xinjiang
“The Muslim world and the larger international community must stand up against the Chinese government’s war on Islam,” said CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison. “Despite their efforts to suppress and bury the legacy of Islamic civilization in China, they will fail in their attempts to extinguish Islam from the hearts of the Muslims, just as the Soviets and others before them failed.”
He noted that CAIR previously condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s forced “sinicization” of Islam in the Uyghur region.
SEE: CAIR Condemns Chinese Communist Party’s Forced ‘Sinicization’ of Islam in Uyghur Region
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com