EURASIA REVIEW - March 30, 2015
China may be losing the ideological battle against Islamic extremism
due to a lack of “respected” religious leaders, a leading Muslim
official in restive Xinjiang province said on Monday.
A lack of state-sanctioned Islamic leaders means too many of
Xinjiang’s 12 million Uyghurs have turned to extreme interpretations of
the Qu’ran, Adudulkrep Tumniaz, deputy director of the Xinjiang Islamic
Association, told the state-run China Daily newspaper.
“If the religious leaders compete with the extremists on Islamic
knowledge, I cannot guarantee that they would win. That’s what worries
me,” said Adudulkrep, who is also head of the state-run Xinjiang Islamic
Institute.
“The extremists often start by teaching people about the parts of the
Qu’ran — Islam’s holy book — that have never been mentioned by their
imams and then inject violent thoughts in people by misinterpreting
doctrines,” he said.
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