Two Uyghur activists write to a Caribbean Islamic preacher who claimed that the Uyghur genocide is an invention of the CIA.
by Kok Bayraq and Rebiya Kadeer*
*Rebiya Kadeer, who co-authored this article, is the former President of the World Uyghur Congress
Today, we came across the claims of Sheikh Imran Hussein, an Islamic preacher from Trinidad and Tobago, regarding the Uyghur issue on the Internet, where he has a large following for his lectures on Muslim eschatology. The category of the “useful idiot” immediately came to the mind. It is not an insult, and perhaps the Sheik is personally very intelligent. It is a technical term used during the Cold War to designate those in the West the Soviet Communists persuaded to act like idiots and support their propaganda.
The Sheikh claimed the Uyghur issue is just an American game without supporting his statement with any facts. The growth of this army of propagandists who speak the same language as China on the Uyghur issue from the Middle East to the Caribbean both surprises and infuriates us.
In the past, a number of Islamic scholars and officials such as Pakistani President Imran Khan, United Arab Emirates alim Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Russia’s Mufti Rawil Gaynetdin, Turkish presidential candidate Sinan Ogun, and Interior Minister Sulayman Soylu, and most recently Algerian official Muhemmed Sayeb, have all publicly stated or hinted that the Uyghur issue is an American game. In response to these claims, we would like to address Sheikh Imran Hussein directly:
Dear Mr. Imran Hussein,
You started your speech by stating that the Uyghur lands are on China’s “One Belt, One Road” project and that the USA has its eyes on these lands due to their strategic importance.
But you did not mention who the real owners of these lands are, and that its name is East Turkestan in Uyghur language and Xinjiang (“new border”) in Chinese.
Since the subject is the Uyghur situation, shouldn’t the discussion start from this point of the issue? OK, let’s say this is your style, not an escape from the root of the problem.
Regarding the Uyghurs in Syria, you said, “The warriors of the Dajjal [an evil eschatological figure in Islam similar to the “Antichrist” in Christianity] will go to China and try to bring about an uprising.” Therefore, you claimed that China has the right to protect its national integrity. If China has such a right, don’t Uyghur Muslims also have the right to save their lands from the enemy, re-establish the two republics created in 1933 and 1944, and rebuild their lives in freedom? Why does it make you so angry that Uyghurs miss the Islamic life they lived under the Karakhanid dynasty and the Yarkent Khanate, which lasted from the 9th to the 18th centuries?
Yes, there are Uyghurs in Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Germany, the United States and at least another thirty countries in the world. They are all doing their best to save their homeland from colonialism and genocide. Why is it wrong for Uyghurs to seek help from other states to protect their national existence and gain national freedom and to seek partners in international conflicts, while the country of Pakistan, where you studied, has the right to receive help from China at the expense of sacrificing the rights of Uyghur Muslims to feed its own people with blood-tainted Chinese money?
Indeed, we are very curious about what theory in Islamic teaching makes you believe that Uyghur Muslims should live under the Communist Chinese regime.
“This is the propaganda that is sweeping the world now, i.e Muslims in China are being oppressed,” you complain. So, you may have read China’s white papers on the situation of the Uyghurs very well, and you may have participated in the “Xinjiang tours” orchestrated by China, stayed in high-end hotels paid by the Chinese, attended banquets, and memorized the CCP’s “Xinjiang stories.” OK, it’s your pleasure. But every pleasure must have its ethical measure. So, you unquestioningly believed China’s propaganda and proudly declared your sanity.
Apart from the fact that the region is under occupation, how can a sane person not know that there is no freedom of the press in a country governed by a one-party regime, that the real situation cannot be revealed without a free press, and that state propaganda must be examined with an impartial eye?
Your shout “I will stomp it out” referred to the Uyghur narrative about Xinjiang is even louder than Xi Jinping’s shout of showing “absolutely no mercy” to the Uyghurs. We know that Xi Jinping’s hatred comes from the fear of being deprived of rich and strategic lands. But what is your problem with the Uyghurs? What is the source of your uncontrolled anger towards the Uyghurs?
As a Caribbean, you cannot possibly have any problems with the Uyghurs. So, it seems it is not the Uyghur situation that is making you talk, it is just hatred for America or love for China. This hatred and love may have led you to ignore the plight of an oppressed people and of more than three million Muslims who have suffered in the camps for six years.
You may be dissatisfied with the United States’ Palestine policy or its view of the Islamic world, you may be angry—but if this anger spreads to the West’s rightful stance on the Uyghur issue, this means that the mind is losing balance. Isn’t there a saying among Islamic scholars that even the truth spoken by an enemy is part of the truth?
Of course, as many scientific and religious teachings confirm, when emotions reach their peak, the mind is braked. Your followers may not doubt your intellectual balance, but we cannot help but doubt it. We do not accept anyone, who applauds and approves the elimination of our people from the face of the earth, as a genuine Islamic scholar, we consider him at the service of the Dajjal.
You complained throughout the video that the United States is playing the Uyghur card to cause trouble for China.
The truth is that the United States has ample reason to stand against China, including its theft of technology, its violation of the world trade rules, its support for dictators around the world, and so on. China’s responsibility for the spread of COVID-19, which has caused the death of more than one million Americans, would be reason enough for the United States to go against China. You have linked the CIA with the Uyghurs and claimed that the United States is preparing a large campaign against China on the Uyghur issue. This is not true, but we would like it to be true. A tougher American stand on the issue should be welcome as a blessing from God.
“So don’t come to me and cry ‘China oppresses Uyghur Muslims,’ don’t bring such a thing to me, take it to the CIA, because it started with them,” you said.
If you are addressing the Uyghurs, be clear: we are not crying, we are just reminding all those who care about humanity and human rights of their responsibilities. But then “useful idiots” of totalitarian regimes do not normally care for human rights.
Rebiya Kadeer
Kok Bayraq.
Shohret Hoshur (who until 2025 used the pseudonym of Kok Bayraq) is a political émigré from East Turkestan (Ch. Xinjiang) and an opponent of the Sinicization of his homeland. He left China in 1995 when his journalism got him “into trouble with the authorities,”and is now living in Washington, D.C.. His unique thoughts and feelings published in Taipei Times and Global Voice comment on the ongoing Uyghur genocide.
