With a broken heart we watched the Notre Dame cathedral burn down, we watched as a symbol of French Catholicism, architecture and history evaporates in front of our eyes. As we all watched, we all wondered if this destruction was another terrorist attack. Every Muslim was hoping it is not someone with an Arabic sounding name. The news came in, it was an accident and it was not a Muslim, but we still mourn the loss of this piece of beautiful art. Considered to be one of the greatest examples of French Gothic architecture, thousands of people poured their donations for the restoration of the cathedral. People’s response to the fire is almost unprecedented from both Christians and non-religious people alike.
While the World mourns the destruction of the cathedral, China has been destroying mosques and almost nobody is paying attention. Among the destroyed mosques is the 800-year-old Keriya Aitika Mosque in the city of Hotan, which was built in 1237 and inducted to the Chinese Architectural Heritage in late 2017. As part of its crack down on the Muslim community known is Uyghur Muslims, China has been detaining Muslims in what it calls “reeducation camps.” in attempt to erase any Islamic identity in the country. Erasing the Islamic identity in China unfortunately includes the destruction of many mosques.
Activists with the help of experts in the field used open sources and satellite imagery to locate the mosque and narrow down when the destruction took place. The Guardian reported that over 200 of the region’s 800 mosques had already been destroyed.
