[2024 Ramadan Day1] Uyghur, nation that will unite all nations with the cross

Uyghur, which means union or alliance, is one of the least evangelized Turkic peoples in the world, with approximately 16 million Uyghurs currently living in northwestern China, where the Silk Road once began, and in Central Asian countries like Kazakhstan, and also Turkiye.

Once a Buddhist civilization that developed across the Mongolian Plateau and Central Asia, the Uyghur people became Islamized with the eastward movement of Islam around 960 A.D. For the next 1,000 years, Islam became the most important ethnic identity of the Uyghur people. The Uyghur people are a strongly Islamic people, over 99.99% Muslim.

The majority of Uyghurs live as an ethnic minority within China, and the oppressive nature of Chinese policies led to a massive bloodbath in Urumqi in July 2009 that resulted in more than 3,000 casualties. Continued anti-government actions since then have created unsolvable resentment and hatred between the Uyghurs and the Chinese government.

Furthermore, with the launch of China's "One Belt and Road" project for global hegemony, governments have taken a hardline stance to further control the northwestern region where most of the Uyghur population  to prevent any untoward incidents that could interfere with the "One Belt and Road" project.Uighurs, in particular, have been forced to undergo Chinese-style communist indoctrination since early 2018 in the name of "re-education and extremism prevention. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination claims that at least one million Uyghurs are currently imprisoned in more than 1,000 secret political indoctrination camps, where they are subjected to harsh torture.

This situation has led to a growing fear of the government, and Ramadan is a time when Uyghurs may outwardly conform to the policies while hiding their religion, but inwardly crave Islam even more.

Uyghurs living in Kazakhstan and Turkiye are angry at what is happening to the Uyghurs in China and are finding their identity as they are united by their religion, Islam.

Most Christians have also suffered hardships, such as being held in concentration camps or being released after long periods of imprisonment, but they have continued in their faith. Despite the difficulties of even meeting together, they continue to worship at the same time in different places and are praying for revival among the Uyghurs.

While missionaries are now unable to enter northwestern China due to extreme surveillance and control, the Chinese church that remains there stands with them in this battle of faith.

The gospel also continues to be witnessed to the Uyghurs in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, and also in Turkiye. As one of the least evangelized Turkic peoples in the world, we believe the revival among the Uyghurs will be a revival that, like the wine Jesus made at the wedding feast in Cana, will prepare the way for the final wedding feast that will complete God's history.

[Today’s Prayer]

1. The Uyghur people are dying spiritually and in ignorance of the truth as they live in hopelessness under worldly surveillance and oppression. Lord, would you begin a new work among the Uyghur people now. Let the powers of darkness that bind the Uyghur people be case away, any may they become a people who worships and prepares the revival of the Silk Road.

2. Would you raise up the global church to remember and pray for the Uyghur people during Ramadan. Through our prayers, may the suffering Uyghur people come to know Jesus Christ, and not Islam, and become they become disciples of Jesus. May our prayers be unceasing, and may our prayers that is lifted up bring the Uyghur people from death to life and from suffering to glory, uniting all nations to the cross.