Tensions between Hui Muslims and Uyghurs have arisen because Hui troops and officials often dominated the Uyghurs and crushed Uyghur revolts.
[259] Xinjiang's Hui population increased by more than 520 per cent between 1940 and 1982, an average annual growth of 4.4 percent, while the Uyghur population only grew at 1.7 percent. This dramatic increase in Hui population led inevitably to significant tensions between the Hui and Uyghur populations. Many Hui Muslim civilians were killed by Uyghur rebellion troops known as
Kizil massacre (1933).
[260] Some Uyghurs in
Kashgar remember that the Hui army at the
Battle of Kashgar (1934) massacred 2,000 to 8,000 Uyghurs, which causes tension as more Hui moved into Kashgar from other parts of China.
[261] Some Hui criticize Uyghur separatism and generally do not want to get involved in conflict in other countries.
[262] Hui and Uyghur live separately, attending different mosques.
[263] During the 2009 rioting in Xinjiang that killed around 200 people, "Kill the Han, kill the Hui." is a common cry spread across social media among Uyghur extremists.
[264]
The Uyghur militant organization
East Turkestan Islamic Movement's magazine
Islamic Turkistan has accused the Chinese "Muslim Brotherhood" (the
Yihewani) of being responsible for the moderation of Hui Muslims and the lack of Hui joining militant jihadist groups in addition to blaming other things for the lack of Hui Jihadists, such as the fact that for more than 300 years Hui and Uyghurs have been enemies of each other, no separatist Islamist organizations among the Hui, the fact that the Hui view China as their home, and the fact that the "infidel Chinese" language is the language of the Hui.
[265][266]
Even among Hui Salafis (
Sailaifengye) and Uyghur Salafis, there is little coordination or cooperation and the two have totally different political agendas, with the Hui Salafists content to carry out their own teachings and remain politically neutral.
[267][268] However, in recent years, the Hui Salafi movement has begun to receive massive investments from the Gulf states like
Saudi Arabia and
Qatar, which functioned Salafism as the major Islamic sect, resulted with expansion of Hui Salafism and a number of Hui Salafis started to share sympathy with Uyghur separatism, which was a major change from the past.
Hui Muslim
drug dealers are accused by
Uyghur Muslims of pushing heroin onto Uyghurs.
[269][270] There is a typecast image in the public eye of heroin being the province of Hui dealers.
[271] Hui have been involved in the
Golden Triangle drug area.
[272]
Some prominent Hui, such as Imam Ma Chao-yen[
dubious – discuss], refer to themselves and other Hui people as simply Chinese in English, and practice
Confucian culture.
[41][
self-published source]
Throughout history the identity of Hui people has been fluid, changing as was convenient.
[58] Some identified as Hui out of interest in their ancestry or because of government benefits. These Hui are concentrated on the southeast coast of China, especially
Fujian province.
[59]
Some Hui clans around
Quanzhou in Fujian, such as the
Ding and
Guo families, identify themselves by nationality but do not practice Islam. In recent years more of these clans identified as Hui, increasing the official population.
[60][61][62] They provided evidence of their ancestry and were recognized as Hui.
[62] Many clans across Fujian had genealogies that demonstrated Hui ancestry.
[63] These clans inhabited Fujian, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
[64]
On Taiwan, some Hui who came with
Koxinga no longer observe Islam. The Taiwan branch of the Guo (Kuo in Taiwan) family does not practice Islam, yet does not offer pork at ancestral shrines. The
Chinese Muslim Association counts these people as Muslims.
[65] Also on
Taiwan, one branch of this Ding (Ting) family descended from
Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar and resides in
Taisi Township in
Yunlin County. They trace their descent through him via the Quanzhou Ding family of Fujian. While pretending to be
Han Chinese in Fujian, they initially practiced Islam when they came to Taiwan 200 years ago, but became Buddhist or Daoist.
[66]
An attempt was made by the Chinese Islamic Society to convert the Fujian Hui of Fujian back to Islam in 1983, sending 4 Ningxia Imams to Fujian.
[67] This futile endeavour ended in 1986, when the final Ningxia Imam left. A similar endeavour in Taiwan also failed.
[68]
Before 1982, it was possible for a Han to "become" Hui by converting. Thereafter converted Han counted instead as "Muslim Han". Hui people consider other Hui who do not observe Islamic practices to still be Hui. They consider it impossible to lose their Hui nationality.
[69] For both these reasons, simply calling them "Chinese Muslims" is no longer strictly speaking accurate, just as with the
Bosniaks in the former Yugoslavia.
Southeastern Muslims have a much longer tradition of synthesizing
Confucian teachings with
Qur'anic teachings and were reported to have contributed to Confucianism from the
Tang period. Among the Northern Hui Central Asian
Sufi schools such as Kubrawiyya, Qadiriyya,
Naqshbandiyya (
Khufiyya and
Jahriyya) were strong influences, mostly of the
Hanafi Madhhab (whereas among the Southeastern communities the
Shafi'i Madhhab is more common). Before the "
Yihewani" movement, a Chinese Muslim sect inspired by the Middle Eastern reform movement, Northern Hui Sufis blended
Taoist teachings and
martial arts practices with Sufi philosophy.
Some Hui believed that Islam was the true religion through which Confucianism could be practiced, accusing Buddhists and Daoists of "
heresy", like most other Confucian scholars. They claimed Islam's superiority to "barbarian" religions.
[280]
French army Commandant Viscount D'Ollone reported in 1910 that Sichuanese Hui did not strictly enforce the Islamic practices of
teetotaling, ritual washing and Friday prayers. Chinese practices like incense burning at ancestral tablets and honoring Confucius were adopted. One practice that was stringently observed was the ban on pork consumption.
[22]
The Sunni
Gedimu and the
Yihewani burned incense during worship. This was viewed as
Daoist or
Buddhist influence.
[290] The Hui were also known as the "White capped". Hui used incense during worship, while the
Salar, also known as "black capped" Hui considered this to be a heathen ritual and denounced it.
[291]
In
Yunnan province, during the Qing Dynasty, tablets that wished the Emperor a long life were placed at mosque entrances. No
minarets were available and no chanting accompanied the call to prayer. The mosques were similar to Buddhist Temples, and incense was burned inside.
[292]
Hui enlisted in the military and were praised for their martial skills.
[175]
Circumcision in Islam is known as
khitan. Islamic scholars agree that it is required (mandatory), or recommended the practice is seen as symbol of Muslim belief. Since circumcision in China does not have the weight of pre-existing traditions as it does elsewhere in the Muslim world, circumcision rates among Hui are much lower than among other Muslim communities (where the procedure is nearly universal).
[293]
ui have supported modern education and reform. Hui such as
Hu Songshan and the
Ma Clique warlords promoted western, modern secular education.
Elite Hui received both Muslim and
Confucian education. They studied the
Quran and Confucian texts like the
Spring and Autumn Annals.
[327]
Hui people refused to follow the
May Fourth Movement. Instead, they taught both western subjects such as science along with traditional Confucian literature and Classical Chinese, along with Islamic education and Arabic.
[328]
Hui warlord
Ma Bufang built a girls' school in
Linxia that taught modern secular subjects.
[329]
The small number of Hui may have become assimilated into mainstream Chinese society and local Muslim populations.
[346] In 1975, five Hui leaders started a campaign to get every clansman to put up a notice listing their ancestral for 40 generations, as a way of reminding them of their origins. The exact Hui population is unclear today as many families left Islam before independence
Tensions with
Uyghurs arose because Qing and Republican Chinese authorities used Hui troops and officials to dominate the Uyghurs and crush Uyghur revolts.
[259] Xinjiang's Hui population increased by over 520 percent between 1940 and 1982, an average annual growth of 4.4 percent, while the Uyghur population only grew at 1.7 percent. This dramatic increase in Hui population led inevitably to significant tensions between the Hui and Uyghur populations. Many Hui Muslim civilians were killed by Uyghur rebel troops in the
Kizil massacre (1933).
[260] Some Uyghurs in
Kashgar remember that the Hui army at the
1934 Battle of Kashgar massacred 2,000 to 8,000 Uyghurs, which causes tension as more Hui moved into Kashgar from other parts of China.
[261] Some Hui criticize Uyghur separatism and generally do not want to get involved in conflict in other countries.
[262] Hui and Uyghur live separately, attending different mosques.
[263] During the 2009 rioting in Xinjiang that killed around 200 people, "Kill the Han, kill the Hui." was the common cry spread across social media among Uyghurs angry that Uyghur workers had been killed by Han co-workers, and that Chinese police had opened fire and killed hundreds according to Uyghur estimates before protests turned violent.
[264]