Islamic Imams Preached the HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention

——Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region launched the health education activity on HIV/AIDS prevention and control among the believers

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Center for disease control and prevention

As the largest Hui people-inhabited area of China, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has the well-established Islam religion system. In the event that the religious resources can be efficiently mobilized, HIV/AIDS prevention and control in the whole region will be greatly pushed forward. Ningxia Health Bureau utilizes the project resources to mobilize the religious circles to support and takes advantage of the prestige of Imams among the believers to bring the knowledge and skills on HIV/AIDS prevention and control into the conventional religious activities, during which, besides the Islamic associations at all levels, the religious bureau and so on who have played very important role in organizing and coordinating, the Imams in various mosques play the leading role.
—— Editor

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is the largest Hui people-inhabited area of China with numerous Islamic believers and more than 7,000 mosques. Since the first HIV infection was found in Ningxia in 1994, PLWHs have increased year by year, of whom the Muslim account for a relatively high proportion, namely AIDS has become a serious problem to threaten the health and the normal living orders of the Islamic population.

In an attempt to make the work of HIV/AIDS prevention and control well done, the organizations of religious bureau and Islam associations as well as the Islamic clergies put forward that the Muslim must carry out Islamic Saint’s instruction of ‘neither hurt yourself nor make others hurt’ with the attitude of being highly responsible for oneself, for family, for the nationality and for the society to properly know and understand the significant meanings of the HIV/AIDS prevention and control and pay attention to HIV/AIDS prevention and control from the angle of caring the health and loving the life.

Since the HIV/AIDS prevention and care project of China-UNICEF was carried out in 2001, the education activity on HIV/AIDS prevention and control launched by Islamic system had experienced the pattern from exploring to gradually thorough and relatively well-established.

During the period of 2003~2004, the ethnic affairs commission of the autonomous region, Health Bureau and Ningxia Islam Association jointly held two ‘training courses on the ADIS prevention and control for the Islamic clergies of Ningxia’ in Yinchuan, and totally 130 Imams in various mosques of the cities and counties, Islam association of the autonomous region and the relevant municipals of the Islam associations of the cities and counties participated in the trainings.

Dear Sir and Gemenduosidi: ‘Selan’!  Now I’m so honorable and so pleased to participate in the opening ceremony of the training course on the HIV/AIDS prevention and control for the Islamic clergies of the autonomous region. The Health Bureau of the autonomous region and the ethnic affairs commission of the autonomous region (religions bureau) specially held such a training course for us Islamic clergies, which fully demonstrates the Party and the government’s care for the physical and mental health of our Islamic clergies and the Islamic people…

—— Speech of the Vice-president of the Islam Association of the Autonomous Region in the first training course on HIV/AIDS prevention and control for the Islamic clergies of the autonomous region

After finishing the second training, the ethnic affairs commission of the autonomous region and the Islam Association of the autonomous region distributed the Notice on the Schedule of the Advocacy and Education Activity on HIV/AIDS prevention and control among the Islamic Believers of the Mosques to specify the requirements in detail for the time, place and the transition of the exhibition board of the advocacy activity. For helping to make this advocacy activity well done, the Health Bureau and the center for disease control and prevention of the autonomous region made 150 pieces of exhibition board for advocacy and 200 copies of educational materials. In 2004, the religious persons of 43 mosques widely publicized the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control in various ways in Litong District of Wuzhong City, Qingtongxia, Tongxin and etc. 7 counties (cities and districts) during Ramadan (the end of October~ the end of November) when more religious activities of the Islamic masses were held.

During the period of the advocacy, the Imams explained the harms of AIDS, the national policy on the HIV/AIDS prevention and control and the responsibility of each believer to participate in the activity on HIV/AIDS prevention integrating with the Moslem faith in their own mosques.
 
Imam was making a speech in the third fair on international cooperation experience of HIV/AIDS prevention and control of China

The Islamic Saint said, ‘Learning is the main task of every male and female Muslim.’ If no person in a nationality has the knowledge on medicine, all of the people in the nationality have the sin. To understand and master the basic information on HIV/AIDS prevention and control is categorized as the medical knowledge and is an integrated part of the medical knowledge. As is known to all, the transmission routes of AIDS are mainly the sexual transmission, blood transmission and mother-to-child transmission. All of the evil phenomenon and delinquenent behaviors in the society are what the Islam combats… We will take advantage of this opportunity to know and master the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control by heart and strengthened the consciousness of preventing and treating AIDS. The Islamic Saint said, ‘The most excellent one of the human beings is the one who learns the Koran and imparts it to the others.’ The one who learns and holds the knowledge and imparts it to the other persons is the most outstanding person. The knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control is a kind of helpful knowledge that is crucial for the health of each of us… In my opinion to publicize the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention is a good deed and will get the return of Allah. We ought not to feel ashamed when we mention the word ‘AIDS’, but try to publicize the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control among the Muslim people confidently…
—— Speech of the clergy in the advocacy by the means of religious activity
 
Dear Ahung, I did not know anything about the AIDS before, but since you have explained it for many times, I have understood the harms of it now. I will tell my children about what you have taught us to enable them to know the harms of AIDS and the knowledge on prevention.
—— One believer

A believer once came to me and asked: Whether will the drug-taking incur AIDS or not? My son has got infected through imprudently drug using. Utilizing his great eager for knowledge, I patiently explained to him from the aspects of the national policy, the Islamic rules and the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention to stir him with passion, educate him with reasons and require him to persuade his son to abandon the drug habit. If he failed he should send his son to the detox center, or else the whole family would be affected. Later this believer sent his son to the detox center, and he said to me: Dear Imam, thanks to your direction, or my family will be destroyed.
-The Imam of Dongdasi Mosque in the urban field of Wuzhong City of Ningxia

Ningxia is small in area and population, hence having great advantages in the aspect of large-scale advocacy. The activity of advocacy among the Muslim believers (in the mosques during the period of religious festival) covered more than a half of the Hui people-inhabited areas in the whole autonomous region with wide influence and great effect.

The advocacy integrated with the religions can be quotable in the following aspects:

1. The Islam associations at all levels takes advantage of the chances and sites of ‘San Ding’ learning, the Koran chant and ‘Wu’erzi’ speech contest, as well as various meetings to greatly publicize the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control;
2. The mosques have played the role as the main channel in disseminating the knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention and control. The directors of various mosque management commissions organize and set up the columns on HIV/AIDS prevention and control in the mosques, meanwhile the Imams quote the classics to greatly publicized the knowledge when they preach the ‘Wu’erzi’ on the ‘Zhuma’s Day’ to enable the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control to be known to every household and individual and filter into people’s mind;
3. Considering females and believers working outside seldom have the chance to go to the mosques, they distribute the educaitonal materials to every Muslim who go to the mosques and require them to deliver and publicize the materials to the other family members, relatives and friends.

It is easier for the Muslim people to accept the knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention and control publicized by the Islamic clergies, meanwhile the activity that is integrated and carried out with the faiths has a relatively good dependency to the information in life, which hence become a rather favorable way to spread in the rural minority areas. While the long-term effect will not be achieved until the advocacy is repeatedly launched for a long term, for this reason, the long-term fund support is required in the activity to ensure the continuance of the activity. 

Record about the Imam of Litong District of Wuzhong City, Wu Xuexing

Litong District of Wutong City is located in the hinterland of Ningxia with the total population of 354,4 thousand, of which the population of Muslim accounted for 57.1%. There are 321 mosques, 548 registered Imams and 928 learners in the mosques in this strict, being a typical Muslim people-inhabited area.

Wu Xuexing is an Imam of the mosque of Litong District and the Vice-president of Litong District Islam Association, enjoying a high prestige among local believers. Since China Family Planning Association carried out the project of ‘promoting the education on the reproductive health among the Muslim people’ in Litong District in the year of 1999, he has been actively promoting the activity among believers all the while, which enables him to accumulate abundant experience of training and project working, and he has also ever been to the other countries as Malaysia to introduce the experience of the activity of such project in Ningxia and got favorable reviews. 

In 2003, with the support of the HIV/AIDS prevention and care project of China-UNICEF, the training course on HIV/AIDS prevention and control for the Islamic clergies was held in Yinchuan, which was the first activity of HIV/AIDS prevention and control aimingat religious persons held in Ningxia. The trainees were Imams from various mosques and the personnel of the Islam associations of the autonomous region, and Imam Wu Xuexing was one of them. He was very active in the training with the experience of similar project before. He put forward that, ‘At the beginning the clergies shall realize that the education on HIV/AIDS prevention and control is serving the interest of the Muslim and a good deed for enhancing the health consciousness of the people and improving the population quality. Therefore, as Imams, it is our responsibility to spread the knowledge on the HIV/AIDS prevention among the believers. During the process of advocacy, we shall emphasize on searching for the accurate connotation and relevant basis in conformity with the HIV/AIDS prevention related to the behaviors in the Koran and the words of Saint…’

After the training, when preaching the lection in each Zhuma’s Day (each Friday is the Zhuma’ Day), he usually integrated the faiths to publicize the relevant knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention to the believers. For instance, he said, ‘All of the evil phenomenon and delinquenent conducts are what the Islam combats…’  With regard to the pruriency, he quoted the words in the Section 32, Article 17 of Koran ‘You ought to stand off the cuckoldry, because the cuckoldry is actually a dirty thing and such conduct is so disgusting!’ and the words in Section 2, Article 24 of Koran ‘The man and woman who commit the adultery, you ought to be given 100 lashes respectively.’ This is to some extent in conformity with the main point of preventing the AIDS from transmitting through the sexual route. The above quotations can also be explained as faithful to the sexual peer and the sex outside marriage is a taboo. While for drug-taking, he said, ‘If non of our Muslim contact the drugs, there will be neither the phenomenon of taking drugs through intravenous injection, nor the risk of getting infected with AIDS through drug-taking. We can say that lots of contents advocated in Koran conform to the relevant knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention. AIDS is a kind of disease related to behaviors, therefore, as long as each of us Muslim regulates our own behaviors in accordance with the faiths, we can to a great extent avoid the infection of AIDS.’

Since participating in the training in 2003, Imam Wu usually publicized the relevant knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention among the target population of the project during the process of performing the project of ‘promoting the education on reproductive health among the Muslims’ funded by the Family Planning Association of China. In connection with the issue that numerous Muslim women hide the disease from the physician, he told the believers, ‘The prophet Islamic Saint said ‘When Allah brings any disease to the world he must at the same time have granted the therapy to cure it, so you shall hide nothing from your physician.’ Simultaneously the Islamic laws specified that ‘when a woman is affected with a disease, she ought to see a female doctor, but if there is no female doctor, she can see a male doctor, who can even check any part of your body.’ ‘ These words enabled the Muslim women to get rid of the doubts of unwilling to have the gynecological check-up due to the anxiety of hurting the ‘Yimani’.
Imam Wu said, ‘As the president of the Islam association, I would like to do more good deeds to the Muslims. As far as I am concerned, the children in poverty and the HIV infected peoples are the special disadvantage people, while since the religious organization is the bridge and link of assisting the local government in keeping in touch with the believers, as well as a group organization to give assistance to the religious believers, it is duty-bound to care and support the disadvantage people of the believers.’

Taking the fact that people in Ningxia were not capable of completely accepting the people living with HIV/AIDS into account, he suggested to build an institution for providing care to the PLWHs and the children in poverty within the mosques of Litong District to provide them with a long-term service, by then PLWHs in the care and support service station would not attract too much attention of the publics. He followed the words of the Islamic Saint that, ‘The one who is not concerned about the interest of the public is not the true believer,’ to bring the organization of Islam association into special play to be concerned about the disadvantage people and provide material assistance and mental consolation to the children in poverty and AIDS patients, thus serving the construction of a harmonious society. To build a service station enabling PLWHs to get the care and support in spirit and in substance to face the life and the society with a healthy state of mind. On the other hand, it helps to strengthen the influence of the Islam association in the society, thus driving the Muslim people and the organizations of the society to actively participate in the public welfare undertaking of the society.

With the endeavors of Imam Wu, the local government and the Islam association both agreed to build a care and support service station in the mosque of Litong District, and recorded this plan into the letter of the cooperation project of China Ningxia-UNICEF in 2005 with the authorization. At present, Imam Wu is busy in establishing care and support service station. He is expecting to contribute more to HIV/AIDS prevention and control for the believers of Ningxia Region with his and the other Imams’ joint endeavors.

(Yuan Jingqin, Zha Ganhua Hu Shaowen, Wang Xiuzhen)