About Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon before 1972) is an island nation in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India. It is home to around nineteen million people.
Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia, and has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times. Today, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation, with more than a quarter of the population following faiths other than Buddhism, notably Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population, with Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, forming the largest ethnic minority. The Muslim Moors and Malays and the Burghers form the other minorities.
Brief History of Muslims in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, known to the ancients as Ceylon, has been recorded in history books as a country that has had many visitations from foreign travellers throughout the ages. The people are mainly Buddhist, with a complex mixture of Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations. The main race are the Sinhalese while the Tamils, Muslims and Burghers (Anglo-Sri Lankans) form the remaining. The Muslims of Sri Lanka are a very small minority amounting to approximately 10% of a total population of 19 Million people. They claim descendancy from the Arab traders, who made Sri Lanka their home even before the advent of Islam..
There have been Muslims in Sri Lanka for well over a thousand years. Trading dhows plied the waters between the Middle East and the island known to Arab sailors - like the legendary Sinbad - as Serendib even in pre-Islamic times. The first Muslim merchants and sailors may have landed on its shores during the Prophet Muhammad(OWBP)'s life time. By the 10th century this predominantly Arab community had grown influential enough to control the trade of the south-western ports, whilst the Sinhalese kings generally employed Muslim ministers to direct the state's commercial affairs. In 1157 the king of the neighbouring Maldive Islands was converted to Islam, and in 1238 an embassy to Egypt sent by King Bhuvaneka Bahu I was headed by Sri Lankan Muslims.
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon before 1972) is an island nation in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India. It is home to around nineteen million people.
Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia, and has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times. Today, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation, with more than a quarter of the population following faiths other than Buddhism, notably Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population, with Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, forming the largest ethnic minority. The Muslim Moors and Malays and the Burghers form the other minorities.
Brief History of Muslims in Sri Lanka
The green band on the Sri Lankan flag represents Islam and the Muslim ethnic group
Sri Lankan Muslims can be categorized into two distinct sub groups, the Moors and the Malays. The former is the name given to them by the Portuguese colonial rulers who used the word Moros to identify Arabs in general. The Malays are a group of Muslims who originated from Java and the Malaysian Peninsula. They differed from the Moors, both, in their physical appearance as well as in the language they spoke which was a mixture of Malay and local dialects.
The Muslims of Sri Lanka have a colorful history behind them punctuated by a long spell of hardship suffered during the Portuguese and Dutch occupation of the Island. It is much to their credit that they withstood the onslaught of economic constraints, political intrigues and religious persecution to stay
Another one of the Oldest mosques located in Beruwala
behind and survive. Most other peoples may have packed their bags and left for good. They not only saved their religion from the enemies but also rebuilt the economy, slowly and steadily, by the 18th century when the British took over control of the island from the Dutch.
Being geographically isolated from the main centers of Islamic culture and civilization the Muslims of Sri Lanka were forced to interact closely with their neighbours, the Muslims of South India, in order to preserve their identity. Had they been denied this slender link, it is possible that, they may have lost their distinct Islamic character completely, although it must be observed that this link has also caused many Indian (Hindu) traditions and rituals to creep into their culture and life style, some of which, were anti-Islamic. Lack of a correct understanding of the teachings of Islam had been the main cause of this situation.
Having adapted to the local conditions in various ways and also contributing largely to the Island's economic prosperity, the Muslim community of Sri Lanka, unlike the Hindu Tamils of the Northern Province, has saved itself from any major clash with the indigenous Sinhalese population. They have also been able to receive a fair share in the country’s Politics and Administration by virtue of their hard work and also of being an important minority whose support has been vital to all the political groups in the country. Although it may be said that the Muslim community was not politically dominant at any stage, yet, it is certainly true that they manouvered their political activity without much noise.
Most Moors speak Tamil as their first language, regarding Sinhalese and English as languages of commerce to be used in their business dealings. Despite this linguistic affinity they do not consider themselves Tamil, however, and have precious little sympathy for the Tamil Tigers' cause. Rather they tend to support the government, albeit passively, wishing simply to pursue their business interests with the full freedom of religion they have long been accustomed too. Subsequently, as the LTTE struggle for secession developed into open warfare with the government in Colombo targeted the Muslims for ethnic cleansing" - that is, physical expulsion or elimination - from the lands sought by the Tigers as a Tamil homeland.. An estimated one hundred thousand people were affected by this threat, many of who have since fled to government-controlled areas in the centre and south of the island. Tens of thousands were made destitute, the majority of whom still eke out a living in refugee camps. Caught in the intricate and seemingly endless web of violence between Tamil Hindu and Sinhalese Buddhist, Sri Lanka's Muslims are increasingly desperate, unsure which way to turn, and whom to trust. Forgotten victims of a particularly vicious war, they are trapped between hammer and anvil, a long way indeed from the Garden of Eden.
(Sources : internet accounts in wikepedia and by Ms Lorna Dewarajah on the subject)
The Muslims of Sri Lanka have a colorful history behind them punctuated by a long spell of hardship suffered during the Portuguese and Dutch occupation of the Island. It is much to their credit that they withstood the onslaught of economic constraints, political intrigues and religious persecution to stay
The Jami Ul Alfar mosque in pettah area one of the oldest mosques in Colombo
behind and survive. Most other peoples may have packed their bags and left for good. They not only saved their religion from the enemies but also rebuilt the economy, slowly and steadily, by the 18th century when the British took over control of the island from the Dutch.
Being geographically isolated from the main centers of Islamic culture and civilization the Muslims of Sri Lanka were forced to interact closely with their neighbours, the Muslims of South India, in order to preserve their identity. Had they been denied this slender link, it is possible that, they may have lost their distinct Islamic character completely, although it must be observed that this link has also caused many Indian (Hindu) traditions and rituals to creep into their culture and life style, some of which, were anti-Islamic. Lack of a correct understanding of the teachings of Islam had been the main cause of this situation.
Having adapted to the local conditions in various ways and also contributing largely to the Island's economic prosperity, the Muslim community of Sri Lanka, unlike the Hindu Tamils of the Northern Province, has saved itself from any major clash with the indigenous Sinhalese population. They have also been able to receive a fair share in the country’s Politics and Administration by virtue of their hard work and also of being an important minority whose support has been vital to all the political groups in the country. Although it may be said that the Muslim community was not politically dominant at any stage, yet, it is certainly true that they manouvered their political activity without much noise.
Most Moors speak Tamil as their first language, regarding Sinhalese and English as languages of commerce to be used in their business dealings. Despite this linguistic affinity they do not consider themselves Tamil, however, and have precious little sympathy for the Tamil Tigers' cause. Rather they tend to support the government, albeit passively, wishing simply to pursue their business interests with the full freedom of religion they have long been accustomed too. Subsequently, as the LTTE struggle for secession developed into open warfare with the government in Colombo targeted the Muslims for ethnic cleansing" - that is, physical expulsion or elimination - from the lands sought by the Tigers as a Tamil homeland.. An estimated one hundred thousand people were affected by this threat, many of who have since fled to government-controlled areas in the centre and south of the island. Tens of thousands were made destitute, the majority of whom still eke out a living in refugee camps. Caught in the intricate and seemingly endless web of violence between Tamil Hindu and Sinhalese Buddhist, Sri Lanka's Muslims are increasingly desperate, unsure which way to turn, and whom to trust. Forgotten victims of a particularly vicious war, they are trapped between hammer and anvil, a long way indeed from the Garden of Eden.
(Sources : internet accounts in wikepedia and by Ms Lorna Dewarajah on the subject)
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