#9

"In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners."

- Albert Camus

What exactly does the term 'The Great Game' refer to? Well, it basically refers to two periods of British-Russian competition over the occupation of the greater Central Asia. Historically speaking the first of these periods was larger, both time wise and significance from a scholarly stand point. The term 'Great Game' was coined itself by popular British spy Arthur Conolly sometime during the early 1800s.

The first segment of the Great Game took place for roughly a hundred years from the early 19th century to the early 20th century. At the time Britain had a strong presence in the nearby territories due to the British East India Trading company, largely in India. Central Asia itself was constructed far differently than how it is today. Instead of 5 large nations, there were many smaller self-governing Emirates.

Russia saw these people, rich in their natural goods, as an easy profit. We give them civilization, they trade with us. Slowly but surely Russian influence was spreading and some of the locals even accepted it, others however put up a fight. The Brits naturally saw this as a threat to their empire so something was going to have to be done.

What came out of this? Harsh British resentment in the region, Russian puppet states in areas such as Afghanistan, and two Anglo-Afghan wars. As World War I approached though and German domination in the near Middle East was looming, the two enemies put their differences aside in order to fend off what was perceived to be a greater enemy. A peace treaty was signed and the Great Game was finished.

Or at least temporarily. In 1917 something groundbreaking occured which not only changed the fate of the world but also the Great Game's. When the Soviet's disbanded the Russian hierarchy and took control of the nation, many allegiances the nation held with other states were broken. This included Great Britain.

As a result the past armistice was broken and tensions once again arose, the game was in play again but this time for a slightly shorter amount of time. This time around many things changed but some stayed the same, Afghanistan was once again a major battle front even providing the setting for the third installment of an Anglo-Afghan war, this time with a more favorable result for the British.

Things ended here the same way they did the first time around. In the late 1930s Germany's power in the region was growing and with a second World War in everyone's nightmares, certain enemies were made friends with the flick of a pen. The Great Game hasn't been played in many years, but who knows maybe it shall re-occur.

Some say it has, but the rules have changed. It is no longer strictly a British-Russian feud, but both sides are still present. N.A.T.O. led by the U.S. is in quite the silent battle against the Russian-Chinese dominated Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). What's at stake? Oil pipelines. This modern day issue may not necessarily mirror the historic Great Game, but it surely goes to show that Central Asia has always been quite the commodity for the global powers.

#8

"I am totally against the idea that a Muslim woman should not have the same opportunities as a Muslim man to learn, to open up, to work, help shape the future. To close Islam down to a sexist approach is totally intolerable and ridiculous. It's not Islam."

-King Hussein I

For us as Canadians, modernity and Islam seem to be always clashing. The September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S.A.proved to be the major catalyst for this apprehension as before that date much of the western world were rather ignorant towards this religious faith.

With the ever present and continued rise of America's war with Muslim extremists in the East, Islam's image has only been getting more negative. Common attitudes and beliefs of Americans hold that Islam is a violent and backwards religion. Granted, this is not as true as it used to be as people are beginning to educate themselves.

All of this hostility towards the worlds seconds most numerous faith, behind Christianity, would be completely preposterous if one were to examine the faith from an external lens, unaffected by society. Islam's tenets and practices make it one of the most peaceful religions as a matter of fact.

Modern statistics show that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, and as we have seen on many Youtube videos, many non-Muslim background Americans are converting to the religion. Now why would this be if the faith is so anti-American? Reports believe that within around the next 10-20 years, Islam will surpass Christianity as the world's most popular religion.

Islam is very similar to Christianity and Judaism, as it evolved from these two previous faiths. So why the hostility? I do not need to go into the precepts or pillars of Muslim belief, as I'm sure many of us know them by now, and I believe that with regards to Islam's worthiness, the prior statistics stand out as markers.

Overall simply due to War and problems with civilian interaction, be it over goods such as oil or military action, Islam has attained an extremely negative image for such a popular religion. These are all outside of the religion itself and therefore should not be used to describe it at all. Thankfully people in the West are becoming less ignorant and correcting the misconceptions of their fathers.

#7

"America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."

-Barack Obama

When faced with the topic of the global spread of Islam, one immediately may conjure up beliefs of war and forced conversions. Now it may be true to a certain extent that Islam was spread martially with the rise of certain empires, but this is not true for the entire sphere of Muslim thought. In many regions, China being one, Islam was spread through knowledge and peaceful trade.

If we look at modern China we will notice that the majority of Chinese Muslims (the Uyghur & Hui) live in the western and northwestern parts of the country, particularly Xinjiang. What does this imply about the history of Islam in China? Surely it must imply that Islam was introduced to the country by the merchants and missionaries traveling from Central Asia.

It is a Chinese Muslim legend that Islam was first introduced to China as early as 650 C.E. when the uncle of the prophet Muhammad sent an official envoy to the Chinese Emperor. Now the validity of this statement will forever be uncertain due to a lack of evidence. It is unfortunate that the early Chinese were so negative of foreigners as now we are left with hardly any information on Islam in China before the 17th century.

Of the information we are left with we can notice that it was not always very easy for Muslims to mix into regular society. At first they were segregated in their own port towns. At first they were not culturally assimilated either maintaining Arabic and Persian as vernacular. The Mongol founded Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) saw them gain more freedom and power. The Mongols even went as far as giving them elevated status over the ethnic Han majority. Finally Chinese Muslims could work for the government and gain higher incomes.

It now would appear that this Chinese minority was finally assimilating culturally into society, by adopting Chinese dialects and names, but just as the kinship of China was regularly changing, so were Chinese-Muslim relations. By the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Muslims were faced with many problems. Many of their cultural and religious practices were outlawed such as their ritual animal slaughter and pilgrimage to Mecca.

This oppressive rule was put to an end after the fall of the Qing Dynasty by Sun Yat Sen, but just as soon as things were looking to clear up, the Communist Cultural Revolution occured and Muslims were once again targets of abuse. Mosques were destroyed and citizens murdered. As we move to our modern time we can notice that since the 80s the Communist government has relaxed its policies towards the Muslims and there is a Islamic revival taking place.

As with other regions of recent Islamic upsurge, many wrongful actors present themselves such as terrorist organizations promoting war and separatism. Some of this is occuring currently in Xinjiang by the purpotrators of the alleged East Turkestan independance movement. Calls for the Muslim-majority areas of Xinjiang to be allowed sovereignty from the rest of the nation have caused ethnic tensions in the region.

Though at times sad, the Islamic history of China is very diverse and expansive. When referring to Global Islamic history in general, one can notice that China is in fact one of its largest contributors. Though only 1-2% of the national population, there are around 20 million Muslims in China, making it one of the top 20 nations with the highest populations of Muslims. Islam is constantly growing in China and its future seems bright.