Fatwa #48966

This is from a site called Islam Question and Answers. Greeting a kaafir first.

Is it permissible for a Muslim to great a non-Muslim first?

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen was asked about the ruling on greeting non-Muslims. He replied as follows:
Greeting a non-Muslim first is haraam and is not permitted, because the Prophet said: “Do not initiate the greeting with the Jews and Christians, and if you meet them in the street push them towards the narrowest part of it.” But if they greet us we have to respond to them, because of the general meaning of the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally”
The Jews used to greet the Prophet by saying, “Al-saam ‘alaykum ya Muhammad (Death be upon you, O Muhammad),” praying that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would die. So the Prophet said: “The Jews say ‘al-saam ‘alaykum (death be upon you),’ so if they greet you, then say, ‘Wa ‘alaykum (and also upon you).’”
If a non-Muslim greets a Muslim by saying “al-saamu ‘alaykum,” then we should respond by saying “wa ‘alaykum (and also upon you).” The fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said “wa ‘alaykum” indicates that if they were saying “al-salaamu ‘alaykum (peace be upon you),” then peace will also be upon them, i.e., whatever they say to us, we say to them. Hence some of the scholars said that if a Jew, Christian or other non-Muslim clearly says “al-salaamu ‘alaykum,” it is permissible for us to say “ ‘alaykum al-salaam (upon you be peace).”
Similarly it is not permissible to initiate a greeting such as Ahlan wa sahlan (welcome) and the like, because that is a kind of honouring them. But if they say something like that to us, then we should say something similar to them, because the greeting should be returned in like manner and each person should be given his due. It is well known that the Muslims are higher in status before Allaah, so they should not humiliate themselves in front of non-Muslims by greeting them first.
So, in conclusion, it is not permissible for us to greet non-Muslims first, because the Prophet forbade that, and because this is a humiliation for the Muslim when he starts to honour a non-Muslim. The Muslim is higher in status before Allaah, so he should not humiliate himself in this manner. But if we are greeted then we should return the greeting in similar terms.
Similarly it is not permissible for us to greet them first with words such as Ahlan wa sahlan (welcome), Marhaban (hello) and so on, because that is a kind of honouring them, so it is like initiating the greeting of salaams with them. Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 3/33.
If there is a need to greet a kaafir first, there is no sin in that, but it should be something other than the greeting of salaam, such as saying Ahlan wa sahlan or How are you, etc. In that case the greeting is for a reason, not to honour him.
See al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 25/168.
Ibn al-Qayyim said in Zaad al-Ma’aad (2/424), concerning greeting a kaafir first:
A group of scholars said: It is permissible to greet him first if that serves a purpose, or for fear of his harm, or because of blood ties, or for a reason that requires that.

Creeping Sharia has come to the US

This makes me sick to see this in the US. Just another example of creeping sharia. Give muslims an inch and they demand a mile.

Syrian foreign minister accuses U.S. of "terrorism" in raid on al-Qaeda cell

NOW THIS IS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK.

London, 27 Oct.(AKI) - Syria's Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, on Monday accused the United States of "terrorist aggression" over an alleged weekend raid on a village near the Iraqi border. Speaking in London after talks with British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, Muallem said the attack was in breach of international law.
"We consider this criminal and terrorist aggression. We put the responsibility on the American government," he told a media conference in London.
"Killing civilians in international law means a terrorist aggression," he added, in the first comments by a Syrian minister since the reported attack on the village of Al-Sukkariya, eight kilometres from the border.
Earlier on Monday, Iran joined Syria in condemning the alleged US attack.
Asked if Syria would use force if the Americans mounted a similar operation again, he said: "As long as you are saying if, I tell you, if they do it again, we will defend our territories."
Muallem stressed that all the victims were unarmed Syrian civilians who were killed on Syrian territory.
The Syrian minister said that four American helicopters had crossed the border around 5 p.m/ on Sunday local time. Two of them landed at the village site, while the other two aircraft protected them.
In Washington, White House spokeswoman, Dana M. Perino, refused to comment on the reported attack. However, media reports say that an unnamed US military official confirmed the attack.
[...] The US military said it was targeting the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria to help fight in Iraq. Syria said troops in four helicopters attacked a building and killed eight people, including four children.
"They know full well that we stand against al-Qaida," al-Moallem said. "They know full well we are trying to tighten our border with Iraq."

Former slave wins landmark compo case

The West African country of Niger has been found guilty of failing to protect a woman sold into slavery.
A court has ordered the Niger Government to pay the woman $32,000.
Hadijatou Mani was just 12 years old when she sold to a man, who forced her to perform domestic and agricultural work.
She served him for 10 years and also became his sex slave, bearing him children.
"My master has four wives. We the slaves were doing all the housework like cooking, fetching water and firewood. I was beaten so many times."
Ms Mani accused the Niger government of failing to protect her from slavery, which was criminalised five years ago.
Her lawyer, Ibrahim Kane, says the judgement will bring hope to other slaves.
"There are thousands and thousands of slaves in Niger who will be today relieved to hear that you know the practice of slavery in this country is not allowed," he said.

Anti Slavery International estimates there are still at least 43,000 slaves in Niger.

Religion of Peace at it Again

Woman buried to neck and stoned to death for adultery.

THOUSANDS of people gathered to witness 50 Somali men stone a woman to death after an Islamic court found her guilty of adultery, witnesses say.
Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow, who had been found guilty of extra-marital intercourse by a court in the southern port of Kismayo, was buried in the ground up to her neck while the men pelted her head with rocks today, the witnesses said.
"Our sister Aisho asked the Islamic Sharia court in Kismayo to be charged and punished for the crime she committed," local Islamist leader Sheikh Hayakallah told the crowd.
"She admitted in front of the court to engaging in adulterous sexual intercourse," he said.
"She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply."
The execution was carried out in one of the city's main squares.
The port of Kismayo was seized in August by a coalition of forces loyal to rebel leader Hassan Turki, and the Shebab, the country's main radical Islamist insurgent organisation.
The new administration began implementing a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law).
"This afternoon we are telling the people of Kismayo that we are practising a punishment that is rare in this region and was carried out in Kismayo for the first time," Sheikh Hayakallah said.
Cameras were banned from the public stoning but print and radio journalists were allowed to attend.

Thousands of people gathered for the slaughter.

Palestinian pol: Unless we get a state, "instability" will continue

Of course, what Musa Abu Zaid doesn't tell you is that "instability" will continue even after the "Palestinians" get a state, as is made clear by his own organization's insistence on the total destruction of Israel.

The Palestinian people are "asking for a fair and total peace", which can only be reached "through the proclamation of a sovereign State, with Jerusalem as its capital and within the territory occupied in 1967. This is the basis for "peaceful coexistence with the Israeli people". Otherwise, "the region will encounter yet further problems and will remain a cause of instability in the world". These are the words of the Palestinian National Authority's Vice-Minister for Youth and Sport, Musa Abu Zaid, who was speaking today in Rende at the Euro-Mediterranean conference on the charity sector, which is linked to the 2008 Rexpò forum on social responsibility. "The Palestinian people", added the PNA's government representative, "have played an active and guiding role in the resistance of the occupation of Israel, acting in the love of liberty and independence. Consequently, they have paid a high price in terms of martyrs, wounded people, and those who have been arrested and expelled, just as they have suffered the destruction of economic, social and educational infrastructures, which has had a serious impact on the younger generations, in particular".

HORSES FIGHTING TO THE DEATH IS MUSLIM FESTIVAL TRADITION

Horse fighting to the death - conducted on the Phillipine Island of Mindanao - by muslims in the name of "fun" & also as a source of gambling -is equally if not more despicable.

Hold on! Gambling is illegal in the cult of islam. That is what I have been told.

Families gather in their thousands and children climb trees for a better view of the festival taking place below.
The crowd cheer and laugh — the object of their excitement a bloodied stallion kicked so brutally by another that its eyeballs have been dislodged from their sockets.
Welcome to the vile spectator sport of HORSE-FIGHTING.
A mare in season is tethered to the side of a filthy, makeshift pen to ignite sexual rivalry among the stallions and guns are fired into the air to panic them into violence.
In the wild, the gentle giants never fight to the death. Males clash over mates, as well as leadership rights, but the weaker ones give in to the stronger ones before they are seriously injured or killed.
Yet in the depraved, man-made heat of the fight ring, they are not allowed to back down and thousands of stallions are maimed, crippled or killed each year.

Jihadist sentiments rising in Middle East!

CAIRO, Egypt – The Muslim call to prayer fills the halls of a Cairo computer shopping center, followed immediately by the click of locking doors as the young, bearded tech salesmen close shop and line up in rows to pray.
Business grinding to a halt for daily prayers is not unusual in conservative Saudi Arabia, but until recently it was rare in the Egyptian capital, especially in affluent commercial districts like Mohandiseen, where the mall is located.
But nearly the entire three-story mall is made up of computer stores run by Salafis, an ultraconservative Islamic movement that has grown dramatically across the Middle East in recent years....
Critics worry that the rise of Salafists in Egypt, as well as in other Arab countries such as Jordan and Lebanon, will crowd out the more liberal and tolerant version of Islam long practiced there. They also warn that the doctrine is only a few shades away from that of violent groups like al-Qaida — that it effectively preaches "Yes to jihad, just not now."...
Salafist groups are gaining in numbers and influence across the Middle East. In Jordan, a Salafist was chosen as head of the old-guard opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood. In Kuwait, Salafists were elected to parliament and are leading the resistance to any change they believe threatens traditional Islamic values.
The growth of Salafism is visible in dress. In many parts of Cairo women wear the "niqab," a veil which shows at most the eyes rather than the "hijab" scarf that merely covers the hair. The men grow their beards long and often shave off mustaches, a style said to imitate the Prophet Muhammad.
The word "salafi" in Arabic means "ancestor," harking back to a supposedly purer form of Islam said to have been practiced by Muhammad and his companions in the 7th century. Salafism preaches strict segregation of the sexes and resists any innovation in religion or adoption of Western ways seen as immoral....
Its preachers often glorify martyrdom and jihad — or holy war — but always with the caveat that Muslims should not launch jihad until their leaders call for it. The idea is that the decision to overturn the political order is up to God, not the average citizen.
The Salafi way contrasts with the Islam long practiced in Egypt. Here the population is religious but with a relatively liberal slant. Traditionally, Egyptian men and women mix rather freely and Islamic doctrine has been influenced by local, traditional practices and an easygoing attitude to moral foibles.
But Salafism has proved highly adaptable, appealing to Egypt's wealthy businessmen, the middle class and even the urban poor — cutting across class in an otherwise rigidly hierarchical society.
In Cairo's wealthy enclaves of Maadi and Nasr City, robed, upper-class Salafis drive BMWs to their engineering firms, while their wives stay inside large homes surrounded by servants and children.
Sara Soliman and her businessman husband, Ahmed el-Shafei, both received the best education Egypt had to offer, first at a German-run school, then at the elite American University in Cairo. But they have now chosen the Salafi path.
"We were losing our identity. Our identity is Islamic," 27-year-old Soliman said from behind an all-covering black niqab as she sat with her husband in a Maadi restaurant.
A dozen satellite TV channels, most Saudi-funded, are perhaps Salafism's most effective vehicle. They feature conservative preachers, call-in advice shows and discussion programs on proper Islamic behavior.
Cairo's many Salafist mosques are packed on Fridays. Outside Shaeriyah mosque, a bookstall featured dozens of cassettes by Mohammed Hasaan, a prolific conservative preacher who sermonizes on the necessity of jihad and the injustices inflicted on Muslims.
Alongside the cassettes, a book titled "The Sinful Behaviors of Women" displayed lipstick, playing cards, perfumes and cell phones on the cover. Another was titled "The Excesses of American Hubris."
Critics of Salafism say it has spread so quickly in part because the Egyptian and Saudi governments encouraged it as an apolitical, nonviolent alternative to hard-line jihadi groups.

Obama's ties to CAIR, Nation of Islam mean that he would "fail the standard security clearance process for Federal employees"

With Colin Powell now repeating the lie that Barack Obama has "always been a Christian," despite new information further confirming Obama's Muslim childhood (such as the Indonesian school registration listing him as Muslim), one watches with dismay as the Democratic candidate manages to hide the truth on this issue.

Instead, then, let us review a related subject – Obama's connections and even indebtedness, throughout his career, to extremist Islam. Specifically, he has longstanding, if indirect ties to two institutions, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), listed by the U.S. government in 2007 as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas-funding trial; and the Nation of Islam (NoI), condemned by the Anti-Defamation League for its "consistent record of racism and anti-Semitism."

That Obama's biography touches so frequently on such unsavory organizations as CAIR and the Nation of Islam should give pause. How many of politicians have a single tie to either group, much less seven of them? John McCain charitably calls Obama "a person you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States," but Obama's multiple links to anti-Americans and subversives mean he would fail the standard security clearance process for Federal employees.

Russia: Jihad against slot machines

Morality: gambling? No way! Armed kidnapping? Fine.

NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) - Armed men drove into Russia's Ingushetia region and abducted up to 15 people including policemen from a checkpoint and a slot machine parlour, police and witnesses said on Friday.
Witnesses said the gunmen, dressed in camouflage, entered Ingushetia from neighbouring Chechnya late on Thursday and presented themselves as police officers. Chechen authorities said they had nothing to do with the raid.
Islamist groups fighting an insurgency in Ingushetia against Moscow's rule frequently target gambling halls and shops selling alcohol, saying they contradict Islam....

Saudi beheaded for beating wife to death

If he had only stopped at beating her, all would be well. One imam explains it thusly: "The [wife-]beating must never be in exaggerated, blind anger, in order to avoid serious harm [to the woman]. It is forbidden to beat her on the sensitive parts of her body, such as the face, breast, abdomen, and head. Instead, she should be beaten on the arms and legs," using a "rod that must not be stiff, but slim and lightweight so that no wounds, scars, or bruises are caused." Similarly, "[the blows] must not be hard."

Riyadh - A Saudi national was beheaded Wednesday after being found guilty of beating his Yemeni wife to death with a stick, an interior ministry satetment said.
It said the killing happened in the southern Jizan region. A Saudi national had already been executed Tuesday in Jeddah for killing his wife during an argument.
The latest executions bring to 78 the number carried out this year in the kingdom, where Islamic sharia law pertains.

Man beheads woman, parades with head in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh: Police detained a man accused of chopping off the head of a tenant in his apartment Thursday and then parading with it in the streets of Bangladesh's capital shouting, "I've killed my wife," officials said.
The man, identified only as Amin, 34, had quarreled with his wife and left home for three days, Dhaka metropolitan official Anwarul Islam said.
When he returned home Thursday his wife was not there, and he burst into the room of the 22-year-old tenant, Tuli, and severed her head with a sharp kitchen knife, Islam said. He then paraded with the head on the streets outside, he said.
Police detained Amin after receiving calls from frightened witnesses, he said.
Islam said Amin's mother, Rokeya Begum, had a three-room apartment in Dhaka's Segunbagicha area and began renting one room to Tuli about two months ago. Begum also was injured when she tried to stop her son from attacking Tuli, he said.
Islam said Amin was being examined at the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital to determine whether he was mentally normal.
Police said they are still investigating the incident.

Of course he is mental, HE IS A MUSLIM!!!!

Spencer: The Hate Crimes Racket

Students at Illinois’s Elmhurst College can rest easy: an arrest was finally made last Thursday in the alarming case of Safia Jilani, a Muslim Elmhurst student who told police two weeks ago that a masked man hit her on the head with a gun in a campus restroom -- and that on the mirror was written the blood-chilling words, “Kill the Muslims.”

When Jilani originally reported this incident, college officials acted quickly, locking down the campus for a thoroughgoing police search. Hundreds of students out of the 3,300-member student body held a rally protesting the “hate crime,” and campus police offered Muslim students free rides and escorts around campus.

But now the crisis is over: the culprit has been arrested and charged with a felony -- and turns out to have been…Safia Jilani. After investigating the incident all week, police announced Friday that no one had hit Jilani on the head at all, and charged her with filing a false police report -- a felony that could get her three years in prison.

This is how they work. They play the victims and everyone runs to their side and say look how bad. Then we find out, more often than not, that the claims are false.

Iran mulling pre-emptive strike against Israel

Senior Tehran officials are recommending a preemptive strike against Israel to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear reactors, a senior Islamic Republic official told foreign diplomats two weeks ago in London.
The official, Dr. Seyed G. Safavi, said recent threats by Israeli authorities strengthened this position, but that as of yet, a preemptive strike has not been integrated into Iranian policy.
Safavi said a small, experienced group of officials is lobbying for a preemptive strike against Israel. "The recent Israeli declarations and harsh rhetoric on a strike against Iran put ammunition in these individuals' hands," he said.

Regarding dialogue with the United States and the West, Safavi said Iran's decision would be influenced by the results of the U.S. presidential elections next month, as well as by the Iranian presidential elections in June and the economic situation in the Islamic Republic.

Two female Kuwaiti ministers risk "dismissal" for not wearing the veil

A parliamentary committee has decided that their attire, without the hijab, violates the constitution and the electoral law. The matter will now be submitted to a vote in parliament.

The only two women in Kuwait's executive branch risk being driven out from the government. The parliamentary legal committee has decided that their presence violates the constitution and the law, because they do not wear the hijab, the Islamic veil. The committee's statement will now be submitted to voting by the fifty members of parliament.

The Kuwaiti parliament is dominated by conservatives, who had four of the seven seats on the committee. But three "liberals" also voted against the two women. "The committee unanimously decided that appointing the two ministers in the cabinet violated article 82 of the constitution and article one of the election law for failing to abide by Islamic regulations," says Ali al-Hajeri, spokesman for the legal and legislative committee.

The two women under accusation (shown in the photo at a parliamentary session) are education minister Nuriya al-Sebih and administrative development minister Mudhi al-Humoud. Appointed following the elections on May 17, the two women immediately met with negative reactions from conservatives. At its first session, on June 1, parliament approved submission of the matter to the committee, which has now decided. That same day, as cabinet members took the oath, nine parliamentarians left the hall in protest against the "un-Islamic" attire of the two women.

Iran: We busted a pigeon spy ring

Hot on the heels of last year's Spy Squirrel bust comes this victory for counter-espionage. "Iran arrests pigeons 'spying' on nuclear site."

One of the pigeons was caught near a rose water production plant in the city of Kashan in Isfahan province, the Etemad Melli newspaper reported. It said that some metal rings and "invisible" strings were attached to the bird, suggesting that it might have been somehow communicating what it had seen with the equipment it was carrying.
"Early this month, a black pigeon was caught bearing a blue-coated metal ring, with invisible strings," a source told the newspaper.
The source gave no further description of the pigeons, nor what their fate might be.
Natanz is home to Iran's heavily-bunkered underground uranium enrichment plant, which is also not far from Kashan.
The activity at Iran's controversial uranium enrichment facility is the focus of Iran's five-year standoff with the West, which fears it aims to develop nuclear weapons. The Tehran government insists its programme is intended to generate power for civilian use only.
Last year, Iran issued a formal protest over the use of espionage by the United States to produce a key intelligence report on the country's controversial nuclear programme.
It is also highly suspicious of Israel, whose extensive intelligence activities are not known to include the use of pigeons.

Denmark: Two jihadists found guilty of preparing attack

Copenhagen, 21 Oct. (AKI) - A Danish citizen of Pakistani origin and an Afghani national were found guilty on Tuesday of preparing a terrorist attack after they were filmed mixing explosives.
Hammad Khuershid was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Abdoulghani Tokhi was sentenced to seven years by a court in the town of Glostrup, just outside the capital of Copenhagen. Both are in their early 20s.
The men were arrested after an anti-terror raid that saw Danish agents filming them as they were carrying out a test blast. The explosives were reportedly the same as those used in the 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people.
Both men claimed the explosives were going to be used for fireworks.
At the trial prosecutors alleged that Khuershid had ties to an Al-Qaeda operative but they were unsure whether the attack was going to take place in Denmark or abroad.
Investigators claimed to have found bomb-making manuals in the men's homes.
Tokhi has a residency permit to live legally in Denmark, but authorities said he would be deported after completing his sentence.
There have been several anti-terrorism raids, arrests of terrorism suspects and a terrorism trial in Denmark since 2005. That was the same year that the country attracted widespread condemnation from Muslims around the world after Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
Denmark is also involved in the war in Afghanistan and maintains a small contingent of troops in Iraq.

Jordanian poet arrested on charges of "harming the Islamic faith"

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Jordanian police arrested a local writer Tuesday for incorporating verses of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, into his love poetry, a judicial official said.
The poet, Islam Samhan, published his collection of poems, "Grace like a Shadow," without the approval of the Jordanian government, and authorities say it insults the holy book, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Samhan was charged with harming the Islamic faith and violating the press and publication law for combining the sacred words of the Quran with sexual themes.
If convicted, the poet could face up to three years in jail.
Jordanian law bans the publication of any books or articles that could be seen as harmful to Islam and its Prophet Muhammad.

A book of love poems can harm Muhammad from beyond the grave?

More than two years ago, the court convicted the editors of two weekly newspapers of insulting Islam and sentenced them to two months in prison after they reprinted Danish newspaper caricatures of Muhammad.
Jordanian writers and artists urged the government in a collective petition to immediately release the poet, saying the arrest is a "retreat in the freedom of expression," and called for an end to the "oppression of freedom and intimidation practiced against intellectuals."

Fort Dix jihadist: "They are the ones, we are going to put bullets in their heads, Allah willing."

Five Muslim men amassed an arsenal of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades for an al-Qaeda-inspired attack on a US army base, a court heard yesterday.
The suspects may have trained by playing paintball but the alleged plot to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey has been presented by the US government as one of the most serious examples of home-grown terrorism since the September 11 attacks.
The five men, all born outside the US but resident in the country, were charged in May 2007 with planning but not executing the attack on the base, which trains troops for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At the start of their trial yesterday, prosecutors said the defendants were inspired by "jihad".
"Their motive was to defend Islam. Their inspiration was al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Their intent was to kill members of the United States armed services," said William Fitzpatrick, prosecuting.
The government alleges that in 2006 and 2007 the men turned paintball games into terrorist training sessions and met at places like Dunkin' Donuts to discuss killing soldiers on the army installation in New Jersey.
The jury was told it would see jihadist videos that the defendants watched and would learn many details of the alleged plot, including claims that one of the men went on reconnaissance missions at Fort Dix and other military installations.
The men, all aged in their 20s, have denied terrorism charges. They include three Albanian-born brothers, illegal immigrants who ran a roofing business in New Jersey.
The others are a Jordanian-born taxi driver and a Turkish-born convenience store assistant.
Their lawyers are expected to question the role of two paid government informants who made hundreds of hours of secret recordings in the case.
Addressing such potential claims, Mr Fitzpatrick said the FBI had to find people who would have credibility with aspiring terrorists.
One of the informants was interested in citizenship and the other was interested in money, he said.
The court heard that conversations recorded by the FBI included one in which Mohamad Shnewer, the Jordanian-born defendant, referred to being tailed by a car.
Quoting Shnewer in the recording, Mr Fitzpatrick said: "They are the ones, we are going to put bullets in their heads, God willing."
A sixth man who admitted supplying firearms to the group was jailed for 20 months in March.

China's Islamic Crackdown has Begun

HEY WESTERN WORLD, TAKE NOTICE. THIS IS HOW YOU CONTROL ISLAM.

With prayers banned in public areas, private hajj trips not allowed, teaching of the Noble Qur'an not allowed in private and students and government officials forced to eat during Ramadan, China in enforcing laws and regulations restricting the practice of Islam.
In Khotan, signs posted in front of the grand mosque say the weekly Friday prayer sermon must not extend beyond than a half-hour.Prayers in public areas outside the mosque is forbidden and residents are banned from worshipping at mosques outside their town.Under the rules, imams are banned from teaching the Qur'an in private and only official versions of the Qur'an are allowed.Studying Arabic is only allowed at special government schools.Government workers are banned from showing the slightest sign of religious devotion.For example, a Muslim civil servant could be sacked for donning hijab.Many of the rules have been on the books for years, but local authorities have publicly highlighted them in recent weeks with banners hanged in towns.They began posting regulations mandating women not to wear hijab and men to shave their beards.
Students and government workers are compelled to eat during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Signs painted on mud-brick walls in the winding alleyways of old Kashgar warn against making "illegal" hajj."Implement the policy of organized and planned pilgrimage; individual pilgrimage is forbidden," reads a red banner hanging on a large mosque in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang.