China bans overly religious Muslim names in Xinjiang
Picking names for babies just got tougher in China’s restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, with authorities issuing a list of banned names for Muslim newborns whose use could deprive children of government benefits.
A list accessed by Hindustan Times puts the number of banned names at 29. According to the new ruling by the Communist Party of China, names such as Islam, Saddam, Medina and Imam have been deemed “overly religious” and banned.
Names which connote the star and moon, symbols widely used in Islam, too were banned.
Critics have called the rule “absurd” and part of a wider and increasingly intense crackdown on the Muslim Uyghur minority, including restrictions on beards and veils. Some members of the community have been accused of fomenting separatism, violence and terrorism. Xinjiang is home to some 10 million Muslim Uyghurs, a little less than half of China’s 23 million Muslims.
Children with the banned names will not be given a “hukou” or local household registration, without which there is no access to civic amenities such as education and healthcare.
“You're not allowed to give names with a strong religious flavour, such as Jihad or names like that. The most important thing here is the connotations of the name... (it mustn't have) connotations of holy war or of splittism (Xinjiang independence),” an unnamed official told Radio Free Asia. Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, told HT: “This is another example of an extremely hostile attitude towards the Uyghur community. If the Uyghurs don’t accept (the rules) there will be allegations and punishment.”
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