Things about Islam in China are much more complicated than media shows. But in the end, yes they are trying to erase Islam from China.
So background: I went to study abroad in China for high school for 4 months, and lived with a local Chinese family and attended a local Chinese high school, a school full of Xinjiang students. (Xinjiang is a province in the far west of China, with many minority ethnic groups and many Muslims)
Yes, Islam is technically allowed in China and you’re free to be a muslim, you are likely not getting harassed for being a muslim. I went to the nearby mosque regularly and saw many many chinese muslims there and they were praying etc, and the Eid celebrations are very large.
But also Yes, they are erasing Islam from China , especially young people. About the Xinjiang students in my school, there were 400 Xinjiang students (the school had a total of 2000 students, 400 of which are from Xinjiang, with their own specialized facilities and classrooms and halal canteen floor) who received government scholarships to study in larger cities like in eastern china. The program they go on makes them stay in a High School in a bigger city for the full 3 years of high school, and they have to attend university outside of Xinjiang as well. They provide them with enticing opportunities to get a better education and possibly have a better future with scholarships, but aren’t allowed to practice Islam while on the program. All the students from Xinjiang I talked to knew very little about Islam despite being Muslim. Only thing they have in common with Islam is that they eat halal food. Thats about it.
The school has a halal canteen to “accommodate them”, but in no way are they supporting Islam. As I said, all religious activities are forbidden from them. They live in dorms inside the school campus, and are basically in school the whole day, where they aren’t allowed to perform basic muslim responsibilities such as prayer. This is not limited to just them; all high schools in China forbid religious activities, even if its during your free time. So no praying at all. They also dont have access to even basic islamic sources. Its made worse since they cant have their phones in school, where they live in (dorms).
They are completely isolated from Islam. They leave their Muslim families and cities for promising government funded academic opportunities in exchange for stripping them of their religion and beliefs in the most sneaky ways. They might not be forced to convert per se, but everything done to them is to slowly take them away from Islam, and in the end they are brainwashed into willingly not be “Muslim” anymore, only in name, diet, and celebrations (though they do a lot of unislamic things in their celebrations. Unmodest clothing, intermingling between genders, dancing with the opposite gender, music etc)
I also talked with the sheikh at my nearby mosque. Kids under 8 are not allowed to come inside the mosque, as mandated by the government, or so as he said. Thats insane, as kids are not able to really grow up as Muslims, so later in life they just forget Islam.
That should be everything I learned about Islam from my time living in China and speaking with many local Chinese muslims and people from Xinjiang Inshallah. May Allah make things easier for Muslims in China and all over the world, ameen.
Keep them in your Duas
P.S. I am posting this on an alt account for safety reasons, I hope you can understand. I am not posting this with the intention of spam.
Comments
baidux • 70 points • 2025-07-05
Thanks for sharing. Yes, this is one of the strategies China used in cutting young muslims from their roots.
Flashy_Athlete_496 • 62 points • 2025-07-06
The communists tried it in Albania, Bosnia and USSR. Islam came back. InshaAllah Islam in China has greater shelf life then Pooh and friends
TendersFan • -9 points • 2025-07-06
I don’t know. You could barely label the people in those nations as Muslim nowadays due to the profound impact communism had on those places.Â
MaximusStimulus • 18 points • 2025-07-06
You should indeed have left it at “I don’t know.”.
Fickle_Gold_5921 • 31 points • 2025-07-06
Thank you for this informative post. My family and I are actually considering to tour Xinjiang following a post by a tour group on Islam there. But they painted a very different picture. You were able to see through their subtle tactic. I shall certainly forward this info to my circles. Let us all pray Allah protects Islam from being erased there. Ameen.
FatherofWorkers • 9 points • 2025-07-05
What happens if they fast or pray in their dorm room?
Pavme1 • 15 points • 2025-07-06
From what I understand, the students in that school don’t even know much about Islam, so I’m not sure they know how to pray. Even if they did know, I’m not sure how much value they place to prayers, especially when it would risk them getting sent back if caughtÂ
paganorigins • 10 points • 2025-07-06
I hope this backfires! Ameen!
TurkicWarrior • 4 points • 2025-07-06
But I’m pretty sure most students from Xinjiang go to university within Xinjiang right? There’s 12 university in Xinjiang.
Working-Luck8251 • 5 points • 2025-07-06
Does these also apply to others religions as well. If it is, they just wanna eradicate differences in the community by creating single identity to the entire population. Pretty solid stratety to consilidate unity.
laoniang • 9 points • 2025-07-06
Not sure why you’re downvoted. You asked the right question.
At root, there’s just simply low freedom of religion in China. While Xinjiang Muslims are highly discriminated (perhaps an understatement) the situation with Christianity is also highly monitored and controlled (Christian activities are often underground and secret as a result).Â
So are certain sects of Buddhism and Taoism. Many of them were so highly prosecuted and suffered from smear campaigns, so they had to leave for countries like Taiwan. Look also at Tibet at the border, and the pressures the Dalai Lama is facing in its succession planning.
Anything that potentially undermines nationalism shares the same fate. In the past, Emperor Qin Shihuang also suppressed Confucianist scholars. Confucianism values are literally Chinese, and what undermines the authority of any day are not spared.
Deaths, massacres, hard labour conditions, stripping of wealth, raping their women. This is pre-communism, pre-Islam.
I’m Muslim and also Chinese (ethnically, not nationally). Without ignoring what our Muslim ummah is going through in that country, I think we ought to stop thinking that China is out to only oppress the Muslim population.
annymscrt • 2 points • 2025-07-06
Are you Hui or Han?
Fabulous-Jeweler1881 • 2 points • 2025-07-06
Thank you brother
Based_Muslim1234 • 2 points • 2025-07-06
communism died in bosnia, albania and central asia, along with afghanistan
hope uyghurstan, ningxia and communist puppet leaders in central asia also see their ends
harder_said_hodor • 3 points • 2025-07-06
Not a Muslim but did live in a Chinese city for a decade with a famous Islamic quarter and I’d just point out to you guys that the Uighur are not the only Islamic minority in China.
The Hui are larger than the Uyghurs and have no issue and the same is true for the smaller ones as well (those two biggest by a fair distance)
They are completely isolated from Islam.
They are, but it’s not a war on Islam, it’s a war on the Uyghur culture they view as problematic to internal harmony of which they view Islam as an integral part of. If the Uyghur were Buddhists they would do all they could to Sinicize them away from Buddhism
They do not see the Hui’s culture as dangerous to internal harmony and thus have very little problem with them being Muslims. There has definitely been a chill in the past 10 years but for all their faults, the CCP have never had any major issues with Islam before the Xinjiang crackdown/genocide and made it clear that it was fine to be a Muslim, but you had to prioritize your Chinese identity. Incorporating Islam into that though was if anything, encouraged and Islamic minorities were given fairly big exemptions from things like the One Child Policy and allowed to maintain their historical centers while the rest of China was collectivized
Before the Train Station attack, Islam was probably the most visible of the major non Chinese religions, at least in Northern China
pacman99 • 1 points • 2025-07-06
I agree with Uyghur culture being the target rather than Islam per se. But I did notice some things, albeit minor compared to the Uyghurs, that the Hui were subjected to during my travels to various parts of mainly Eastern China about a decade ago. I, of course, only went to a few places, so I’m not sure if this was something specific to the area or a generalized thing. If you’ve seen different, do let me know.
I noticed the Hui were not allowed to go to a mosque for sunset (maghrib), night (isha), and dawn (fajr) prayers. The mosque was ordered by the local government to be closed, citing “high crime rates after sunset” as the reason behind it.
I also noticed a mosque was forced to allow dragons to be incorporated into the design of its structure, because by not doing so, they would be angering the ruler of the time. Statues are, of course, not allowed in a mosque.
Lastly, when I was in Xi’an (yes yes not Eastern China), the taxi driver kept saying to be careful when entering the Muslim quarter because “the Muslims are thieves”. I didn’t have anything stolen and didn’t notice any sketchiness either.
Have you noticed any of these restrictions or discriminatory opinions for/of the Hui people?
20sRandom • 1 points • 2025-07-06
Thanks for this. This gives a much better picture of what’s happening there.