Persecution of Muslims

Overview of hostility, discrimination and persecution of Muslims This article is about acts of religious persecution which have been committed against Muslims because of their faith . Religious persecution Traditional African religions Serers Atheism Baháʼí Faith Buddhism Christianity Christophobia post–Cold War era Catholicism Catholic Church Mormonism Jehovah's Witness Eastern Orthodox Christianity Oriental Orthodox Christianity Protestantism Falun Gong Hinduism ( Anti-Hindu sentiment ) Islam Sunni Shi'a Ahmadiyya Alevism Sufis Islamophobia Persecution of non-believers Judaism Antisemitism Anti-Judaism Religious antisemitism New religious movements Christian countercult movement Neopaganism Rastafari Zoroastrianism Religion portal v t e sidebar The persecution of Muslims has been recorded throughout the history of Islam , beginning with its founding by Muhammad in the 7th century.¹ In the early days of Islam in Mecca , pre-Islamic Arabia , the new Muslims were frequently subjected to abuse and persecution by the Meccans (also called Mushrikun by Muslims), a polytheistic Arab tribal confederation .² In the contemporary period, Muslims have faced religious restrictions in some countries. Various incidents of Islamophobia have also occurred, such as the Christchurch mosque shootings .³ Some global conflicts have seen religiously and/or politically motivated belligerents persecute the Muslim population of a region. Notable examples of such persecution have occurred in the Xinjiang conflict in China , the Yugoslav Wars , and many other conflicts. As part of the ongoing Rohingya conflict in Myanmar , the Rohingya genocide has resulted in over 25,000 deaths as of 2018 , the displacement of over 700,000 refugees, large-scale sexual violence committed against Rohingya women and girls, the burning of Rohingya homes and mosques , and many other human rights violations . The ongoing conflict in Xinjiang has led to the internment of more than one million Muslims (the majority of them being ethnic Uyghurs ) in secret detention camps without any legal process. As a result, Muslim birth rates have plummeted in Xinjiang, falling by nearly 24 percent in 2019 alone, compared to just 4.2 percent in the rest of China. These abuses have often been characterized as genocide .⁴