CITY OF PUTTALAM
Battuta’s record of his travels the Rihla is one of the most famous travel journals.
“First, though the book is commonly referred to as “the Rihla,”that” is not its title, properly speaking, but its genre. (The title is Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara’ib al-Amsar wa-’Aja’ib al-Asfar, or A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling.) The Prophet Muhammad’s traditional injunction to “seek knowledge, even as far as China” had the effect of legitimating travel, or even wanderlust, and, in the Islamic middle ages, gave rise to the concept of al-rihla fi talab al-’ilm, travel in search of knowledge. In Islamic North Africa in the 12th to 14th centuries, as paper became increasingly widely available, educated men began to pen and circulate first-hand descriptions of their pilgrimages the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah. ( Editors of the Longest Hajj by Douglas Bullis)”.
In medieval Sri Lanka travellers’ rest stops were called Ambalama’s and were made of stone and wood pillars. The peripatetics may have cooled off in a nearby stream, had their home wrapped parcel of food , chewed their packet of betel, snoozed on a stone slab in an Ambalama before proceeding on their journey.
Now, couple of centuries down the line from Battuta’s day, we are spoilt for choice. There are inns, cafes, the good old colonial relics the Rest Houses and an abundance of little kades or wayside boutiques that carry name boards grandly denoting it is a Hotels. These please note are quite different from the star class variety. “Hotel” is a term used quite generously on name boards, but basically they are pitstop cafes catering for travellers, truckers -lodging is not always available. This one we stopped at was on the Puttalam- Anuradhapura road.
Was Puttalam and Galle then rich markets where traders of many nationalities roamed? Did the Sinhalese. Tamils and Muslims live together amicably?
A unique trilingual slab found in Galle in 1911, now in the Colombo Museum has inscriptions in Chinese, Persian and Tamil. The inscription is dated 1403 AD, the tenth regnal year of the Chinese Emperor, Ying Lo. the slab is said to have been installed in Galle by Chen Ho (1371-1435).
Did Battuta determinedly set out to have a good time, or did he just take off with only the adventure lust and stars to guide him? We as travelers cannot hold a candle to him. Sometimes, we spend a lot of money, select destinations carefully, and yet the magic eludes us. Sometimes, in life too we think we’ve got it all right to have a good time and someone or something moves the goals or puts a spoke in the plan. Often the nicest experiences in my life have come my way more subtly, when I am least expecting them. They don’t seem like much to write home about, but then I am here writing because this is precisely what I’d like to remember.
After 43 years of service to the community, In 1923 the mosque was rehabilitated by the head of the Moor’s movement
"Sak Hamid Hussain Marikkar" Since 1880 the mosque has been a great asset for the muslim community of Puttalam. In 2000 it was decided that the mosque was in need of major reconstruction to suite the needs of the growing muslim community of Puttalam. And in 2000 work started on re-construction but was stoped due to reasons unknown.
2003 the re-construction was initiated with new vision in providing worshippers with better facilities. Construction began on the "20th of August 2003" in memory of late"Shahul Hameed Abu Haniffa".
And in a very short time of "50 weeks" the new "Moulam Makam Mosque" was completed!
On the "6th of August 2004" the grand opening was held with the Friday Jumma prayers
The mosque can accomodate approxmately 3000 (2000 inside 1000 in the mosque garden). Over 3500 worshipers were gatherd on that friday from Puttalam and neighbouring areas for Jumma prayers. Showing the ability of Moulam Makam Mosque to unite muslims as it did in 1880!
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