Photo Essay: Who Are the Uighurs?

Mosque and state: Most Uighurs practice Sunni or Sufi Islam, infused with a fair amount of local folklore and tradition. Uighur Islam is traditionally extremely moderate on social issues, though in recent decades, more fundamentalist traditions were introduced by students who studied abroad in Central Asian and Pakistani madrasas. The Uighur independence movement has had a strongly Islamic character since the 1980s. Until recently, there was almost no tradition of Islamist militancy in Xinjiang, but there have been reports that the Central Asian jihadist group Hizb ut-Tahrir has made inroads in the region. The government tightly regulates the practice of Islam and accreditation of clerics. Above, Uighur women and children leave a mosque in Kashgar on June 14, 2008.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

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