Pray for the Uighur of China

Tucked away in the Northwest corner of China, Xinjiang, are approximately 12 million Turkic Chinese Muslims known as the Uighur (also spelled Uyghur and pronounced we-gur). These ancient travelers of the Silk Road were possibly once Christians before being forcibly converted to Islam under Mongol oppression between the 10th and the 14th century.

The Uighur are Sunni Muslim and embrace their Turkish heritage, mostly speaking the Uighur language instead of Mandarin like the Hui, that we prayed for last week. This key difference is one of the key factors in their ongoing persecution in China. The Xinjiang region was only conquered and added to China in the latter part of the 1800s. The Uighur would love to have their own sovereign nation similar to the ‘stan countries that border China (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan).

The Uighur have recently experienced more extreme forms of oppression from the government. The Chinese government claims that this is a crackdown aimed at rooting our Muslim extremism. However, there are reports that the Uighur people in particular are subject to intense surveillance and are made to give DNA samples. It is reported by the Human Rights Watch that those with relatives in 26 “sensitive” countries have reportedly been rounded up, and up to a million detained in re-education camps where they are made to learn Mandarin Chinese and renounce their faith. While we disagree with the Muslim beliefs of the Uighur, we would condemn the mistreatment and human rights violation of these people. God loves the Uighur and wants to see them come to know and love Jesus.

We pray that the persecution against these people is stopped. We pray that in the midst of it that many of the Christians in the Han majority would vocalize their defense of the Uighur. We pray that the Holy Spirit would move the hearts of Christians to love and speak to their Uighur neighbors and countrymen. We pray that the Holy Spirit would soften the hearts of the Uighur and make them receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ.