China to rewrite Quran, Bible to 'reflect socialist values' amid crackdown on Uighur Muslims

Beijing says all translated classic religious books should be 're-evaluated' amid China's widely-condemned Xinjiang crackdown.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

27 December, 2019

The Quran will be amended or re-translated in China [Getty]

China plans to rewrite the Quran and Bible to "reflect socialist values" amid a crackdown on the country's religious minority groups, according to local reports.

Modified versions of the Quran and the Bible will exclude any content deemed to go against the beliefs of the country's Communist Party, a top party official said.

Content seen by censors as a deviation from the party's beliefs will be amended or re-translated, the party official added.

Although the Bible and Quran were not specifically named, the party has called for a "comprehensive evaluation of the existing religious classics aiming at contents which do not conform to the progress of the times".

China has faced growing international condemnation for rounding up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in a network of internment camps.

Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps, but now says they are "vocational training centres" necessary to combat terrorism.

Read also: 10 things you need to know about China's Xinjiang crisis

It said earlier this month that all "students" have graduated but indicated people were still "entering and exiting" the facilities.

Last month, the New York Times obtained 403 documents on Beijing's crackdown on mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region, including unpublished speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who urged officials to show "absolutely no mercy" to extremists.

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