Per a request from authorities, Apple removes “Quran Majeed”, a popular Qur’an app, for users in China

In a statement from the app’s maker, PDMS, the company said: “According to Apple, our app “Quran Majeed” has been removed from the China App store because it includes content that requires additional documentation from Chinese authorities”.

The app has nearly one million users in China, and the company is continuing its efforts to resolve this issue.

Muslims in China

There are no accurate information about the population of Chinese Muslims today. Due to authorities censorship, monitors are sceptic regarding the official numbers. Estimations vary between 6 million to nearly 50 million Muslims in China,

Although the Chinese authorities recognise Islam as an official religion in China, accusations of human rights violations have been raised against the Chinese government. Especially against the Uyghur minority in “Xinjiang” or what the Uyghur call “East Turkestan”.

Many Muslims of China are one of the least minorities to enjoy their rights of practising their faith freely. Reports confirmed the Chinese authorities are forcing Muslims to eat pork, drink wine, remove Hijab from Muslim women. Several mosques have been demolished and replaced with other religious or tourist cites.

The Uyghur Crisis

Uyghurs form a majority of Muslims in Xinjiang, a region in northwest China. They call for independence of their region, which they call “East Turkestan” and recognise it as an occupied state.

The Uyghur minority has been victim to numerous human rights violation, including forced displacement, ban of worship, ethnic cleansing and forced demographic alteration.

In addition to that, more than two million Uyghurs have been detained in concentration camps for what the authorities are calling “re-education”.