Uyghurs and China

What's happening in China? I have found two articles (one from the Left and one from the Right) discussing the Uyghur protests in China. The grievances of the Uyghurs seems legitimate and deserves more attention, but since they are Muslims, it seems they may not get the attention they deserve from our press. They definitely won't get love from the far-Right, who can't possibly seem to fathom the idea that Muslims could ever be oppressed.

As to the fact that some Uyghurs were found in Afghanistan, but were subsequently released, demonstrates the problems with the war the U.S. is fighting. Many innocent people are getting rounded up with religious extremists. But while most of the Uyghurs are using protests to make change, some from their ethnic group are restorting to terrorism.

Chinese authorities also have alleged that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement has ties to al-Qaeda. Allegedly, Hasan Mahsum, the group’s founder and leader, was a protégé of Osama bin Laden, who offered his spiritual, logistical and financial support. Mashum denied these claims; however, in 2003, he was shot dead in an al-Qaeda training facility in Pakistan, indicating that perhaps this link was true. The Chinese government has also said that many of the group’s members have trained at al-Qaeda’s training camps, which were then based in Afghanistan.

The truth of such allegations remains difficult to determine, since many originate with China’s state-run media. But there is credible proof that the United States should have some concerns about the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. There is no doubt that many of its members were captured at al-Qaeda training bases after the invasion of Afghanistan. In addition, Kyrgyztan officials sent two East Turkestan Islamic Movement members back to China, claiming they were scouting out Western embassies in the city of Bishkek for a potential attack. U.S. forces also captured a group of Uighurs after the invasion of Afghanistan, ultimately releasing them to Albania, Bermuda and a tiny Pacific Island nation named Palau.

This is the problem with Muslims in the modern age. Muslims have many legitimate grievances, but these grievances become tainted by the actions of extremists. Palestine, Lebanon, Chechnya, and other places are all similar.

Violence is and must be a last resort. Terrorism is not Islamic. Islam does not condone the killing of innocent people (non-combatants). This is consistanty mentioned in the books of fiqh.

Defensive jihad justifications don't fly either because such a notion is for the people of the territory that is attacked. The fiqh books that mentioned defensive jihad radiating out to other Islamic lands was for a time and place that is so different from today that using such a foreign policy is inapplicable considering the foreign relations and treatises currently in place in the world. Jihadists want to fight, always, no matter what. Fighting is not the answer to achieve peace, except in nominal situations. People in the modern era have achieved their freedom and liberation through non-violent means. Muslims must adhere to such a philosophy if they want to adhere to their religion and if they want to achieve peace.