Do Sri Lankan Muslims have a dual identity problem when singing the national anthem?
Posted on August 18th, 2013
By Bisthan Batcha
The first two words of the term ‘Sri Lankan Muslim’ reflects the national identity while the last word reflects the global identity of any member of the Muslim community of our motherland. A Sri Lankan Muslim should be able to identify the appropriate ‘hat’ that he should wear in a particular situation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
If the occasion demands that a Sri Lankan Muslim sing the national anthem of his motherland, then he should not hesitate to demonstrate his national identity with pride. Not doing so will create an impression among the other communities that the Sri Lankan Muslims are unpatriotic and utterly disinterested in being Sri Lankans. How can we expect the members of the other communities to treat us as fellow-citizens of Sri Lanka if we fail by choice to do so at such times ? All talk of unity with other communities on our part becomes useless and amounts to a joke. The national anthem unites the people of a nation however diverse they may be in terms of religion, ethnicity and socio-economic status.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Choosing to wear the wrong ‘hat’ at a specific occasion will create perceptions which will be very difficult to correct or even explain subsequently. A classic example is when some Sri Lankan Muslims choose to cloak themselves with their global identity whenever Sri Lanka plays a cricket match against Pakistan.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
So I say to my Brothers and Sisters when the occasion demands that you sing our Sri Lankan national anthem, please do so with pride and gusto since your intention (Niyath) is to only affirm your national identity.
August 18th, 2013 at 2:17 pm
May be SL needs an ARABIC version of the national anthem!!
If Tamil version is OK, Arabic version MUST be OK.
Se-rendib Ommah
Sere-ndeeeb naa
………………………………….
August 18th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
When I visited Sri Lanka in 2009 the war just ended and I was cheated by a Muslim jeweler who sold me three smokey quarts stones for a high price. I and my American friend approached the police and during the many encounters between the police. myself and this jeweler the police inspector replied to a comment made by one of us that “We all get along in Sri Lanka” to which my friend gave him a quizzical look and then he admitted that his statement was not true and that there is a friction between the general population and the Muslim community.
This fits into my own experience as a child in then what was called Ceylon where I found only one small Mosque in Colombo. There may have been others but they were not noticed.
But when I visited Sri Lanka in 2009 to my amazement there was a Mosque, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist Vihara practically every other block in Colombo. During my month long stay I visited the town where I was born; Nuwera Elliya and stayed at the Club. That was a town full of the sounds of Church bells but instead I heard the Muslim call for prayer echo through that valley. It was so irritating that I burst into a chorus of “Amazing Grace” a Christian hymn. Sri Lank has changed. The Muslims were definitely taking over with the blessing of the politicians.
I realized Sri Lanka will be lost to the Muslims unless Sri Lanka takes drastic steps. One of them is to copy the Muslim nations who ban any construction of religious buildings of other faiths in their Muslim lands. Ban the practice of any other faith, and demand that non Muslims adhere to the customs of their dress code and behavior or be banished or punished. Has the UN condemned these nations of gross violations of human rights? NO has the “holier than thou” Western nations especially the US taken it upon themselves to condemn such acts? NO have they even condemned the human rights violations embedded in the Sharia laws of these nations such as stoning or beheading for minor crimes again the Answer is NO. In that light why can’t Sri Lanka use this very model to protect her Buddhist heritage which is the oldest in the world outside of India and unlike India was never broken. The final example is Japan who has a set of laws specifically aimed at the Muslims which I will down load on my next comment.
August 18th, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Did you know this about Japan..
Have you ever read in the newspaper that a political leader or a Prime Minister from an Islam Nation has visited Japan?
Have you ever come across news that the King of Iran or a Saudi Arabia prince has visited Japan?
‘Japan, a Country keeping Islam at bay. Japan has put strict restrictions on Islam and all Muslims.
The reasons are:
a) ‘Japan is the only Nation that does not give Citizenship to Muslims.
b) In Japan permanent residency is not given to Muslims.
c) There is a strong ban on the propagation of Islam in Japan .
d) In the University of Japan, Arabic or any Islamic language is not taught.
e) One cannot import the Koran published in Arabic language.
f) According to data published by Japanese government, it has given temporary residency to only 2 lakhs
Muslims, who need to follow the Japanese Law of the Land. These Muslims should speak Japanese
and carry their religious rituals in their homes.
g) Japan is the only Country in the World that has a negligible number of embassies of Islamic Countries.
h) Japanese people are not attracted to Islam at all.
i) Muslims residing in Japan are the employees of foreign companies.
j) Even today visas are not granted to Muslim doctors, engineers or managers sent by foreign companies.
k) In the majority of companies, it is stated in their regulations that no Muslims should apply for a job.
l) The Japanese government is of the opinion that Muslims are fundamentalist and even in the era of globalization, they are not willing to change their Muslim laws.
m) Muslims cannot even think about getting a rented house in Japan .
n) If anyone comes to know that his neighbor is a Muslim then the whole neighborhood stays alert.
o) No one can start an Islamic cell or Arabic Madrasa in Japan
p) There is no personal (Sharia) law in Japan .
q) If a Japanese woman marries a Muslim then she is considered an outcast forever.
r) According to Mr. Komico Yagi (Head of Department, Tokyo University ) There is a mind frame in Japan
that Islam is a very narrow minded religion and one should stay away from it.
s) Freelance journalist Mohammed Juber toured many Islamic Countries after 9/11 including Japan . He found
that the Japanese were confident that extremists could do harm
This information can be found by Googling “Japan a country keeping Islam at bay”
Here is a major Buddhist nation with strict laws against Islam and the world has not condemned Japan of being a bigoted nation. On the contrary the world sees Japan and her culture as highly civilized.
August 18th, 2013 at 7:09 pm
This is YET another case of “Hitha honda gani emadama budding”.
Wise people created this proverb from experience of themselves and others.
FOOLS who pretend to be patriots today don’t realise it. They blame the Hitha honda gani (Mother Lanka) for everything.
Now the Hitha honda gani has to learn the sutras from the ancient Endian dirty book to satisfy the new client. Otherwise she becomes a Hitha naraka gani.
August 19th, 2013 at 1:32 am
So you do have two hats! One is the real hat, the brotherhood hat. The other to fool the others hat.
Typical. You all are bunch of crafty sods. That’s all. Fool them, rob them. Ultimately rob them of their country.
That’s the truth.
When your so called relgion of peace says kill non-believers. How could a any human with an iota of conscience
live in other people’s country. It’s hypocracy to the hilt.
August 19th, 2013 at 4:08 am
BREAKING NEWS: Tamils barbarians plan animal sacrifice this Wednesday.
Munneswaram barbarians are going to kill a thousand animals for no reason this Wednesday.
Do something to STOP it.
Killing innocent animals is a CURSE which brings BAD LUCK and DISASTERS to the country. Kill the killers!