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Persecution of Muslims in Myanmar


Religion in Burma (Pew 2010)

Myanmar has a Buddhist majority. The Muslim minority in Myanmar are the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China (the ancestors of Chinese Muslims in Myanmar came from the Yunnan province), as well as descendants of earlier Arab settlers and the recognised Kamein minority and the Rohingya people, intermarried with local races of Myanmar. According to Human Rights Watch the Burmese government has denied citizenship to any Rohingya persons who cannot prove their ancestors settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of British occupation of what is now Rakhine State (also known as Arakan).

Muslims have lived in Burma since the 11th century AD. The first Muslim documented in Burmese history (recorded in Hmannan Yazawin or Glass Palace Chronicle) was Byat Wi during the reign of Mon, a Thaton King, circa 1050 AD. The two sons of Byat Wi's brother Byat Ta, known as Shwe Byin brothers, were executed as children either because of their Islamic faith, or because they refused forced labour. It was clearly recorded in the Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma that they were no longer trusted. During a time of war, King Kyansittha sent a hunter as a sniper to assassinate him.

The Burmese king Bayinnaung (1550–1581 AD) imposed restrictions upon his Muslim subjects, but not actual persecution. In 1559 AD, after conquering Bago (Pegu), Bayinnaung banned Islamic ritual slaughter, thereby prohibiting Muslims from consuming halal meals of goats and chicken. He also banned Eid al-Adha and Qurbani, regarding killing animals in the name of religion as a cruel custom.


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