the qing authorities decreed that the hui rebels who had taken part in violent attacks were merely heretics and not representative of the entire hui population, just as the heretical white lotus did not represent all buddhists. qing authorities decreed that there were two different muslim sects, the "old" religion and "new" religion. the new were heretics and deviated from islam in the same way that the white lotus deviated from buddhism and daoism, and stated its intention to inform the hui community that it was aware that the original islamic religion was one united sect before the advent of new "heretics", saying they would separate muslim rebels by which sect they belonged to.