Islamic institute steps up training to fight extremism(2)

Hearts and minds

Besides distorting the Quran, extremists have extended the definition of "halal" from food to almost everything in order to cast their shadow on people's lives, said Abulet Asan, an official in the regional Religious Affairs Bureau.

"In fact, the pan-halal trend became so strong in past two years that people even refused to drive Chevrolet cars because its logo is shaped like a cross," he said.

Labels marking "halal" on daily necessities other than food have all been removed in southern Xinjiang in an effort to eliminate the pan-halal trend. Religious extremism had a wide and severe influence in rural areas of Xinjiang, especially on farmers who have little education.

"The first task is to let them know the laws and real Islamic doctrine," Abulet said.

The region has conducted many training classes in its prefectures to teach law, regulations, policies and religious knowledge.

By early March, Shanshan county, in the eastern Turpan prefecture, had run 14 sessions of closed training classes, with about 100 trainees for each session.

"Each class lasted a week, with different lecturers in accordance to the needs of different trainees," said Abulikem Abudurem, counselor of the classes.

Abudurehman Memet, 47, a farmer from the Lukqun township, is a devout Muslim. "I learned about illegal religion at the class and also religious policies I never knew about before," he said.

Township officials determined who needed training and the type of training. People with extremist religious thoughts were trained one-on-one.

"When we visited them at home, we were always accompanied by religious personnel who explained the Quran and answered their questions about the religion," said Sayit Yusup, a Turpan official working in Lukqun's Amanxia village. "We found young people and the less-educated were more easily influenced by religious extremism."

The extremism did not originate here and was introduced by the migrant population, said Simayi Matniyaz, 62, Party chief of the village, which has a population of nearly 4,700.

"The extremists come and go, but they leave the seeds of extremism to grow in people's minds," he said.

"The management of videos showing terrorism, brought in by outsiders, has become one of our priorities. We cannot let more people from the village have contact with such material any more," he added.

Three people from Amanxia, which was heavily influenced by religious extremism, were shot dead after their involvement in the terrorist attack in Lukqun on June 26, 2013. Twenty-four innocent people were killed in the attack.

A police investigation showed that before the attack, the attackers had been indoctrinated by religious extremism spread by foreigners, carried out secretive and illegal religious activities, watched terrorist video footage, purchased criminal tools and familiarized themselves with the environment surrounding the targets.

Simayi said he has to try his best to serve the villagers around the clock. "If I didn't serve them well and solve their difficulties in time, they might have complaints against us, or the Party, which would be dangerous," he said.

Ahmet Ablimit, Party chief of the neighboring village, agreed. "Villagers may imitate each other, and if we fail to persuade them to stand with us, they may be drawn to the other side," he said.

Zhang Wenquan, Party chief of Turpan prefecture, likened the education of villagers to dripping irrigation directed at the roots of crops.

"Nearly 97 percent of those affected by extremism have pulled back," Zhang said. "We must help them stay on the right track and not be drawn back again by evil forces.

"The measures we took to eliminate religious extremism have been effective so far. However, it is a tough and complicated job, which may last for a long period," said Abulet from the Religious Affairs Bureau. "The expressions of religious extremism are easy to get rid of, but it is difficult to tell if people have given it up in their hearts."