Thread by @qin_duke

Another example of Journalists lieing out their ass relying on reader ignorance to create fictional narratives. In this case though, it's probably the reverse as the Journalists was already wedded to a narrative and just started making up reality to fit it. The Utsul Hijabs that

are depicted in the photo and referred through the article as traditional are anything but. They are normative to the pre-modern middle east perhaps but are completely alien to South-East Asian Muslims. It would be as if claiming the three piece suit as traditional Chinese attire

Hijabs as depicted did not even exist in SE Asia until the latter half of the 20th century, that is how recent they are. Much of the nominally Muslim population women didn't even cover their breasts let alone their hair up into the last century as part of traditional wear.

That style of Hijab is even more alien to the Utsul having only come into adoption in the 21st century, that is how "traditional" they are. The reality is that rather than being an ethnic or religious tradition, it is a sign of the homogenization and standardization of Islam in

the direction of Middle Eastern practice. It is the mirror of the Sinicization the author decries in that it is functionally Saudization of Islam away from local norms towards a global Islam. Here in lies the problem that the Communist Party recognizes this as a potential threat

to community social peace while Liberalism is deliberately blind to it's ramifications. Thus Party policy in China to sever foreign linkages and roll back Islam in China to being Chinese Islam rather than a manifestation of Islamic standard in China. The removal of arabic script,

the mosque redesigns away from Arabesque patterns, the banning of Hijabs, etc all serve to reverse undesirable trends towards Islamic homogenization towards alien custom rather than destroying tradition. The laughable bit at the end where the author cites a Hui making threats via

Malaysia and Indonesia serves as ample proof why this is necessary. The Chinese in those countries are de jure second class citizens already having suffered actual murderous pogroms and live continuously under the threat of more. Yet it is the Chinese who should care about the

sensitivities of alien hostile Muslims. 🤮 The Utsul should consider themselves lucky and thank Allah that the Party hasn't considered escalating things further and that their majority Chinese neighbors don't burn their homes and businesses at the mere hint of sectarian conflict

as is the norm in countries having adopted Saudi style Islamic norms as their default definition of Muslimness.