Recently, some anti-China forces from the US and Western countries have been wantonly spreading fallacies like Xinjiang "restricts freedom of religious belief," “deprives ethnic minorities of their right to religious belief,” “demolishes mosques by force,” “persecutes religious figures”, and so on. Disregard of the facts, these groundless fallacies have severely hurt the feelings of people in the Islamic community and muslims in Xinjiang and have aroused our strong indignation and opposition. Hence grounded on our own experiences, we issue this report to show the real situation of freedom of religious belief in Xinjiang, so as to set the record straight.
I.The right to Freedom of religious belief is fully guaranteed.
Respect for and protection of freedom of religious belief is the embodiment of the rule of law of socialism. It is clearly stated in the Constitution of PRC that the citizens of PRC "have the right to the freedom of religious belief"; "no state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or not believe in, any religion"; "the state protects normal religious activities," and "no one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state." China's Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy and other laws stipulate that citizens have the right to vote and stand for election, the rights to education and equal employment, and are free from discrimination, regardless of religious belief, providing solid legal ground for people to exercise their political, economic, social and cultural rights.
While abiding by national laws, Xinjiang has promulgated and amended the Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Religious Affairs and other relevant regulations on the administration of religious bodies, venues for religious activities, religious personnel, which define the rights and obligations of religious organizations, venues for religious activities and religious personnel. As an Islamic association, we establish mosques and apply for the registration of the mosques from the government through due formalities in accordance with the law. The government issues the land use certificate, housing ownership certificate, and registration certificate for each such venue. All the mosques across Xinjiang enjoy the right to establish democratic management organizations, manage their internal affairs, organize and conduct religious activities, receive donations, manage and use property, and initiate public welfare programs.
Muslims' dietary habits, festivals, wedding and funeral practices, and customs and rituals are respected in Xinjiang. The production, processing, storage, distribution and selling of halal food are conducted in pursuant to the Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Administration of Muslim Food. Ubiquitous across Xinjiang, halal restaurants or canteens are all available at government and public institutions, enterprises and schools. Special cemetery areas are allocated for ethnic-minority groups who traditionally bury their dead in the ground. Traditional practices of a religious nature, such as naming a child, funeral pray, burial, and holding Nazer (memorial activities), are respected by the government..Muslims are free to perform legal and normal religious activities such as fasting, attending religious services, chanting scriptures, and praying at will without any interference. During the Ramadan this year which happened amid the coronavirus epidemic, the government arranged medical staff to provide medical services at the mosques, supplying face masks and medicine, taking temperature, and disinfecting the facilities regularly, while providing the prayers with tea, naan and fruit for iftar.
