Muslims In Turkey Protest Against “Blasphemy” In China

| Updated: 22 December, 2021 2:27 pm IST
Protests-Erupt-In-Istanbul-Against-China-For-Quranic-Inscription-On-Restaurant-Tiles

NEW DELHI: Istanbul has erupted in massive protests with hundreds of Muslims taking to the streets against China for using floor tiles with Quranic inscriptions in a restaurant in Xinjiang region.

Several members of the Muslim community on social media for the past few days have been posting a video of a restaurant’s floor, the tiles of which are inscribed with verses from Quran. Though no faces were visible in the video, the feet of some people sitting or standing in the restaurant, were seen on the Quranic inscriptions of the floor.

A Twitter user with the handle @Mehmetali_Onel posted in Turkish, “These images were taken at a restaurant in China. Arabic word-i shaadet inscriptions were used as decoration on the floor. Those who do not understand the Islamophobia of the cruel Chinese regime, should take a good look at these images. Destroy cruel China! Let it be grounded.”

He had shared a tweet video of the floor, shared by a Turkish Twitter user @dturkistan1933. The video got over 100,000 views on Twitter.

A Facebook user named Turgunjan Alawdun posted it saying, “The Chinese adorn the floor of a restaurant with verses of the Quran and boast that it was a beautiful design. Is there a bigger insult to Islam than this? O Muslims, do you still see China as a friend? Wake up now!”

The TNI could not verify the exact location of the restaurant. However, social media posts about the protests in Istanbul outside the Chinese consulate suggested that the restaurant is in the Xinjiang region.

Sources in Istanbul said dozens of religious scholars, protesting outside the Chinese consulate, urged the Islamic world to join hands against the “insult” hurled at Islam by China. One of the scholars, Aliekber Muhammad Damolam addressed the protestors.

The protestors also sought release of the Uighur activist Idris Hasan, who was arrested by Moroccan authorities in July this year under a Interpol red notice requested by the Chinese regime. “Since-deleted”, the notice sought Hasan’s extradition to China, the East Turkistan News Agency has reported. China has accused Hasan of Islamic extremism.

Last week, Muslims protested at the Moroccan embassy in Washington DC, demanding Idris Hasan’s release. A statement by the International Union of the East Turkistan Organizations said that they are carrying out urgent work with the relevant authorities to help Idris Hasan reunite with his family in Turkey. The group called on the Moroccan government to cancel the decision to extradite Idris Hasan to China, “which endangered his life, in accordance with the International Convention on Human Rights, and to allow him to go to a third country.”

An anti-China protest and motorcycle rally was held in Bamako, Mali on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime has been accused of heinous crimes against humanity in its northwestern Xinjiang region, which is dominated by the Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslim community. Beijing has reportedly subjected Muslim minority to detention in concentration camps, forced labour, birth control and force feeding of unIslamic meats. The CCP has denied these allegations arguing that these programs were meant to counter Islamic terrorism and backwardness.

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