The Catastrophe of the Muslim people in China
China is currently violating the human rights of the Uighur, which are the Muslim minorities. Though China has denied any abuse of human rights, people have come out to speak on their experience in the camps, such as a Kazakh woman who stated that “she was forced to strip Uighur women naked and handcuff them, before leaving them alone with Chinese men” the chinese men would then “would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates.”Unfortunately, this isn’t the only way their human rights are being abused. China has also let out a mass sterilization agenda that could lead to genocide. The Islamic belief is completely against violence and terrorism, in fact, it is not excused whatsoever, yet they are still subject to this level of injustice. Through an interview I conducted with my great friend I was able to see how religion can positively affect someone’s optimism even in the face of hopelessness, anger, and trauma.
I was fortunate enough to interview a friend mine, “T,” an African American Muslim living in New York, and get some perspective from someone Muslim. As someone who is always smiling and in an uplifting mood, it was evident how heartbroken he felt. “Through the religion of Islam, we’re united like brothers and sisters. It is unfair that due to the religion we follow, we must face harm.” I agree with his sentiment because it is unfair that this peaceful group has to be targeted this way to “cleanse” them. He stated that “The situation is so bad, yeah, but at the same time, I still have faith for some reason. Like these oppressors really believe that they will get away with what they’re doing, but they won’t.” Though this is a rough time for the fellow believers of the Islamic faith, he continues to be optimistic because he believes the just will prevail. Though he isn’t one of the Uighur who has had their human rights stripped away from them, I find that his blind faith and optimism in the face of tragedy could be a great representation of the Uighurs. It could be that they see this as a test from God of some sort to prove their loyalty or faith.
As I conducted the interview on Zoom, sitting down looking at my close friend, I could see the frustration and how helpless he felt that is being done right now. We’re very similar in looks and mindset. Like me, he is a dark skin male of the same height. Being dark skin we both understand the feeling of being alienated; so much of the sentiments come from that as well. Understanding the feeling of being mistreated due to things that don’t hurt anyone. Still, the conversation flowed. He was still optimistic, about the Uighur people being on the side of justice. Similar to me, he believes that the good will always prevail in the end. This is a product of the strong faith to religion that stems all the way to elementary. He disclosed that from as far as he can remember, he was always taught that Allah would always help lead the righteous to justice; this idea also contributes to his self progression as a person. This idea that he will always pull through is a big factor in his optimism. During the interview, I felt a bit nervous about mistakenly asking questions that would trigger a more profound feeling, such as questioning his own religion, but he was sure to let me know that his faith was too strong to be shaken by a few questions. “Joe Biden called this possible Genocide a cultural norm. It’s happening in the world, but it feels like people are just downplaying it as if it were fake.” T felt that there needs to be a better way to spread this information to get this to receive the attention of the masses effectively.
All in all the overall conclusion I have made through the interview with T is that religion has a big contribution with optimism and dealing with tragedies. Through his upbringing and growing faith in his religion, he has been able not to stray away from his faith and optimism.
Citation:
Matthew Hill, D. (2021, February 02). ‘Their goal is to destroy Everyone’: UIGHUR camp detainees allege systematic rape. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071
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