Amidst angry calls for their governments to do more about the treatment of Muslims in the West, the Middle Easterners have been remarkably silent on the treatment of Uyghur people in China. If the death of one Egyptian woman in Dresden should provoke such furor, then the deaths of many Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang should have provoked a more violent reaction towards the People's Republic.
"complicated construction of enemies by Islamists... when atrocities or slights are seen to be committed against Islam and its adherents in a European or North American country, they confirm the pre-existing prejudices and hatreds nursed by the Muslim street and its instigators in positions of power... China does not fit neatly into the binary jihadist classification of the world into dar-ul-Islam (a land where Islamic laws are followed and the ruler is a Muslim) and dar-ul-Harb (a land ruled by infidels and where Muslims suffer)."
If one looks back at all the recent international incidents involving mass demonstrations and public censures in the Middle East they are predominantly, if not solely, targeted towards the "West".
Danish Cartoon Scandal, the El Sherbini murder, Muslim veil issue, etc. The Muslim world seems so focused on the abuses on the Muslim faith and faithfuls, but when the Chinese authorities crack down on the Uyghurs there is little to no reaction from the parts of the world that were burning flags and throwing projectiles at western embassies days before. Why is there such a disproportionate focus on the abstract West?
Professor Sreeram Chaulia concluded in an Asia Times Online article that this phenomenon existed because of:
"complicated construction of enemies by Islamists... when atrocities or slights are seen to be committed against Islam and its adherents in a European or North American country, they confirm the pre-existing prejudices and hatreds nursed by the Muslim street and its instigators in positions of power... China does not fit neatly into the binary jihadist classification of the world into dar-ul-Islam (a land where Islamic laws are followed and the ruler is a Muslim) and dar-ul-Harb (a land ruled by infidels and where Muslims suffer)."
Funny considering that the Mongols and forces from the East did as much to bring ruin to the "golden age" of Islam as did the Ottoman Turks and in due time the French and British.
In short, it seems as though the proclaimed Muslim internationalists are doing a great disservice to their own great cause of Muslim solidarity. In the end it's all about hiding their own socio-economic inadequacies than about God or people. If only hating the west generated more dollars... is that an oxymoron?
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