Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Every sane person or nation should be ready to learn even from an enemy.
For example, terror-afflicted countries like France, Australia, Sri Lanka, and India could learn lessons from China on how to wipe out the scourge of terrorism. It is cruel but the only way out.
President Xi Jinping is the driving force behind this accelerating de-Islamization drive of China.
Nobody in China’s “all-weather friend” Pakistan, or for that matter anywhere in the world, dare question Beijing for its ‘Islamophonia’, as they do in the case of India, France, and other countries. China routinely hangs Islamic terrorists, has for long been keeping the Uighur Muslims in check, and even banned their pilgrimage to Mecca.
Earlier, Beijing had similarly called the bluff of self-righteous Christian missionaries by questioning the authority of the Pope, appointed its own bishops to churches, and took other steps.
Militants shout their favorite slogan ‘Islam is in danger’ only in secular and democratic countries and, with support from corrupt groups, continue to extract concessions from gullible rulers. In a no-nonsense China, they turn tail and stay subdued.
Few have, for example, noticed how China has been effecting far-reaching changes even in mosque architecture, imposing various restrictions, and also ‘sinicizing’ The Qur’an by having it rewritten in its own language giving no room to anyone and making sure the militant Muslims remained in check.
The latest example came in a mosque whose traditional ‘Arab-style’ domes were demolished and the shrine was rebuilt in Chinese architectural style.
A recent Australian study, using satellite imagery, had found that China has systematically destroyed nearly 1,600 mosques in Xinjiang province alone since 2017.
Media reports said that as part of its ongoing project to “Sinicize” Islam in China, a large mosque has been completely transformed by the government, removing all signs of Islam.
The Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan, the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, was the largest in the province. It has so completely been rebuilt that—with no minarets or domes–it no longer looks like a mosque at all. The mosque was built during the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644), and restored in 1981.
It was entirely renovated and changed by the Communist Party government of President-for-Life Xi Jinping.
The region, inhabited by the largest community of Hui Muslims in China, became a major target of the ‘Sinicize Islam’ project of the Chinese Communist Party. In the last two years, a large number of mosques have lost their distinguishing features.
Now, all the five bright green colored domes and the golden minarets have been removed. The golden Islamic style filigree, decorative arches, and the text in Arabic script on the mosque have all been scrapped. Even the signboards are in Chinese, according to media reports.
The bright golden and green colored mosque with onion-shaped domes and Islamic style curved windows have transformed into a grey-colored rectangular structure.
The latest images of the mosque were posted by Christina Scott, the UK’s deputy head of mission in China, on Twitter. She wrote, “TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in #Yinchuan well worth a visit. Only this is what it looks like now, after ‘renovations’. Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing.”
TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in #Yinchuan well worth a visit. Only this is what it looks like now, after ‘renovations’. Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing. pic.twitter.com/WSXaAFclHX
— Christina Scott (@CScottFCDO) October 18, 2020
With all signs of Islam removed, the erstwhile mosque now looks like a modern shopping complex.
This is not the only case. Onion-shaped domes and other Islamic style decorative elements are also being removed from most mosques in the region, including the neighboring Gansu province. Linxia City in the province is known as “Little Mecca” for being the center of Islam in China.
The transformation was expedited after a recent visit to the city by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had scolded officials for being slow in ‘Sinicizing’ Islamic structures. He remarked that “Ningxia has made some achievements in religious reform, but it was not thorough enough.” It meant that the work should be intensified.
He also visited the region on June 6-8, and the demolition activities picked up soon after that. By June 26, the five green domes and the minarets from the mosque were gone, and the remaining work was completed soon.
The militant Muslims could not do anything, not even expressed their dissatisfaction with fear of the government.
According to reports, the Covid-19 pandemic has come in handy to the Chinese government by giving it the opportunity to expedite the process of Sinicizing mosques in the nation. Imposing restrictions in the name of the pandemic, the government closed down many mosques, accelerated demolitions, and renovations.
