Muslims need more room to worship in Hong Kong
Muslims in Hong Kong are grateful to be able to practise their religion in peace but need more facilities, saysCharley Lanyon
Violence marred the holiday marking the end of Ramadan in Syria last month, and in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on the mainland, the Uygur minority reported attempts by authorities to prevent fasting and praying during working hours. In Europe, Muslims are facing rising Islamophobia and support for anti-immigration policies. So, for many Muslims, Hong Kong is a peaceful refuge.
"I'm very happy to be able to freely practise my religion ... I've never heard anyone say they were discriminated against," says Ali Diallo, a businessman and president of African Community Hong Kong, an organisation that promotes unity and understanding between the African community and locals. Diallo, from Guinea in West Africa, came here via Guangzhou three years ago after studying economics in Britain.
"Apart from Africa, I've felt most free in Britain until recent times, when all these problems started coming up," he says. "Now I would say I prefer Hong Kong because I've never experienced any aggression or any hostility because I am Muslim."
Kashif Akhtar feels the same. He moved to Hong Kong from Pakistan 15 years ago to join family members. They have since returned to Pakistan, but Akhtar has found success here, first as an information technology expert and now working in sales for a halal restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. He chose to stay here with his wife and 14-year-old daughter.
"As a Muslim, I'm lucky I have not faced anything like anti-Muslim discrimination. Nobody picks on you or targets you or sees you differently. Sometimes maybe somebody will look at you if you're dressed differently or your appearance is different, but from a religious point of view, I don't have any problems here," he says.
There are an estimated 2.1 billion Muslims in the world from a wide variety of countries and cultures representing varying degrees of religiosity. This diversity is addressed in the very foundation of Islam, which has never been defined by race, ethnicity or culture. Technically, all a person must do to become a Muslim is to recite the Shahada: "There is no god apart from God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God." All Muslims are considered equal in God's eyes.