Page 247 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

HARUN YAHYA (ADNAN OKTAR)
245

vive. The most important LAOS
THAILAND
element of that agriculture
is the rice paddies stretch- CAMBODIA
VIETNAM
ing from one end of the
country to the other.
By far the greater
part of the population con-
sists of Khmers, the oldest
ethnic group in the area,
with substantial Chinese
and Buddhist minorities.
Muslims form yet another
minority.
Islam came to Cambodia by sea, carried by Muslim merchants and
travelers. Most of the Muslims in Cambodia are of Thai origin, from a
kingdom which was destroyed in wars and uprisings. Although, until
1975, there were still some 75 historic mosques.
We have already examined communism's hatred of religion and
the terrible slaughter communists have wreaked on Islamic lands. The
fiercely Maoist Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which came to
power with Chinese support, was one example of this. During the
regime's days in power, there was an attempt to break all the Muslims'
links with Islam.
The Khmer Rouge was a communist group formed and led by a
Maoist called Pol Pot. They spent years in the jungles of Cambodia
dreaming of coming to power, and in 1975 it finally happened. After
taking over the country, they set up a cruel and totalitarian regime, the
like of which had never before been seen. The Khmer Rouge regime de-
cided that the sole national duty of a communist was to work to death
in the rice paddies, and so began to force the whole population of the
country to labor in them. Tens of thousands of people living in the cities
– politicians, civil servants, teachers and intellectuals – were sent off to
villages and made to work in collectives under truly terrible conditions.
Stopping to rest during working hours, eating even a tiny part of