Kowloon Masjid and Islamic Centre
More than 20 Muslim groups in Hong Kong have released an open letter calling for religious tolerance and solidarity amid recent reports that ISIS is recruiting Indonesian maids from the city.
The so-called “letter of peace” is a bid to curb Islamophobia and dispel misconceptions about the religion, according to the organisers who produced it in English and Chinese this weekend.
“The Muslims in Hong Kong have lived side by side with their fellow non-Muslims for the best part of the last 175 years, and we certainly desire nothing else but to continue this peaceful coexistence,” the letter read.
“We request everyone not to judge the religion by the actions of a few, rather judge it by its original scriptures and sources. There are bad apples in every basket.”
Adeel Malik, an English teacher who was born and raised in Hong Kong, returned to the city in 2008 after a stint in the UK, partly because of what he perceived as prejudice attitudes in Britain.
He said, however, that since articles emerged about Islamic fundamentalist group ISIS apparently attempting to recruit Indonesian domestic helpers working in Hong Kong, some local women in Muslim dress have been targeted with taunts about terrorism.
“Discrimination is in every society, and we can’t say Hong Kong is absent from that. These [news] articles have brought these issues from the back of the mind to the front of the mind because it’s happening at [our] doorstep. We have felt that as a community, the stories have had a negative impact,” he told the SCMP.
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