By ; A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.

Tamils who are champions to mislead the world with bogus ancestry, history and origins do not hesitate to conveniently claim anyone as people belonging to their community and work against the same people after getting their sinister aims achieved.   The claim being made by these Tamil cists about Muslims of Sri Lanka as part of their community attaching the convenient label, the Tamil speaking, is a horrendous part of this claim, when the Sri Lanka Muslim community hails from around 7th century onwards and these distorters of history are aliens who only has a history beginning with Dutch colonial times and then got empowered to higher present positions in the country by British imperialist colonialists.

As per historical records the original Muslims hail with the arrival of Arab traders in the 7th century A.D.  By the 8th century A.D., Arab traders had controlled much of the trade on the Indian Ocean, including that of Sri Lanka. Many of them settled down on the island in large numbers, encouraging the spread of Islam. However, when the Portuguese arrived during the 16th century, many of their descendants now called the Sri Lankan Moors were mainly traders and merchants with spice trading networks spanning to the Middle East. The Portuguese colonists attacked, persecuted and destroyed the Sri Lankan Moor settlements, warehouses and trading networks. Many defeated Moors refugees escaped from the persecution to the interior in central Sri Lanka. The population of Sri Lankan Moors significantly declined during the Portuguese colonial rule due to the pogroms against the Moors. The Sinhalese ruler King Senarat of Kandy, the son of King Wimaladharmasuriya  gave refuge to some of the Muslims in the central highlands and Eastern Province, Historical records indicate the large numbers of Muslims fought the Portuguese in the army of King Wimaladharmasuriya in his battles agaimnst the Portuguese. [2]

During 18th and 19th centuries, Javanese and Malaysian Muslims bought over by the Dutch and British rulers contributed to the growing Muslim population in Sri Lanka. Their descendants, now the Sri Lankan Malays, adapted several Sri Lankan Moor Islamic traditions while also contributing their unique cultural Islamic practices to other Muslim groups on the Island.

The arrival of Muslims from India during the 19th and 20th centuries has also contributed to the growth of Islam in Sri Lanka. Most notably, Pakistani and South Indian Muslims have introduced Shafi’i and the Hanafi school of thought into Sri Lanka, however although most Muslims on the island still adhere to the traditional practices of Sunni Islam.

Muslims generally follow Sufi traditions. The Fassiya ash Shazuliya tariqa flourished by the Al-Fassi family in the 1870s is the most prevalent sufi order among the Srilankan muslims followed by Aroosiyathul qadiriya. The Deobandi Tablighi Jamaat, jamathe islame and thawheed jamath etc. too have centers in Colombo..^[4]

In modern times, Muslims in Sri Lanka are handled by the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Department, which was established to prevent the continual isolation of the Muslim community from the rest of Sri Lanka.

the Arab traders who were sea farers and arrived settled down on the coastal belt of the country from Godawaya (Hambantota) to Mannar and thrived  as world recognized exporters of spices, gems, pearls and other local produce such as cinnamon, areca nut betel, pepper etc.  They married Sinhala ladies and these ladies became the matriarchs of the Sri Lankan Muslim society.

Later on another wave of South Indian Muslims belonginmg to  Marakkar, Rawthar. Lebbey and other groups arrived in the country and got integrated with the original Muslim Arab descent settlers. There were some Indian origin sects who periodical migrants..

Claiming Arabic descent, he Marakayar sect has dominated the educational and economic landscape in Tamil Nadu since the 17th century. One notable sea-faring merchant, as recorded in the Chronicles of Thondaiman, was Periya Thambi Nainar Marakkayar who is widely believed to be the first rupee millionaire in the community. His son Seethakaathi, an altruist, was commissioned the penning of Seerapuranam by Umaru Pulavar. By the 20th century, B. S. Abdur Rahman had emerged as the first dollar billionaire. The 11th president of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was also born to a Marakkayar boat-builder

Mappila Muslim

They are predominantly foun in Kerala and they constitute around 26% Kerala Muslims, and they are  are the oldest settled native Muslim community in South Asia.they are reported to have originated primarily as a result of the West Asian contacts with Kerala. As per local tradition, Islam reached Malabar Coast as early as the 7th century AD before being vertaken by the Europeans in the spice trade..

Rawthar Society

Considered to be having Turkic, Arab and Central Asiandescent. The Rowther sect is the second most prosperous sect within the community

Thye Lebbey Society

They were descendents of Arab sea fearers who performed trade with Tamil Nadu and Kerala and they settled in various places along the trade posts, the Labbay sect mainly engaged in religious scholarship.

Mukkuvar Society

The Sri Lankan Moors along with Mukkuvar dominated in medieval era the pearl trade in Sri Lanka. Alliances and intermarriages between both communities were observed in this period.  They held close contact with other Muslims of Southern India through coastal trade.

The Moors (the name wasconnoted to Sri Muslim by Portuguese adopted from the similar society of Iberians – in Sinhala Yonaka) had their own court of justice for settling their disputes. Upon arrival of the Portuguese colonizers in the 16th century, larger population of Moors were expelled from cities such as the capital city Colombo, which had been a Moor-dominated city at that time. The Moors were thus migrating towards east and were settled there by King Senarath of the Kingdom of Kandy to save them from brutal persecution of Portuguese.  The Muslims have played a leading role as soldiers ijn the army of King WimalaDharmasuriya in the battles against the Portuguese.  Robert Knox, a British sea captain of the 17th century, has noted that the Kings of Kandy Kingdom built mosques for the Moors.

Legends and rituals

As a mark of modesty, Sri Lanka Muslim women usually wear white thuppatti (whilst travelling only) which is draped over their body on top of the saree but revealing face. Many used to visit shrines (Dargah) on major life milestones like births, marriages and deaths.

Literature

Culture and literature were heavily influenced by the Qadiri flavour of Sufism. Histoprical evidence point out that ttheir domain ranged from mystical to medical, from fictional to political, from philosophical to legal and spiritual. It should be noted that the Sri Lankan Moorswrote Tamil in the Nastaliq script, known colloquially as Arwi.

Sri Lankan Civil War

The Sri Lankan civil war was a brutal Tamil terrorist aggression against the people of Sri Lanka to establish an exclusive Tamil separatist State in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country covering 1/3 of the land territory and 2/3 of the coastal areas with a maritime zone extending to 200 nautical miles and this iollegal aggression lasted for nearly 30 years until it was totally crushed and vanquished under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Rajapaksa ended this terrorist aggression on 18th May, 2009 after 3 ½ years of coming to power in 2005 that had lasted covering the tenures of four Presidents and a Prime Minister.

Since 1888 under the initiative of Ponnambalam Ramanathan, the Sri Lankan Tamils launched a campaign to classify Sri Lankan Moors who spoke Tamil as Tamils, primarily to bolster their population numbers for the impending transition to democratic rule in Sri Lanka. Their view holds that the Sri Lankan Moors were simply Tamil converts to Islam. The claim that the Moors were the progeny of the original Arab settlers might hold good for a few families but not for the entire bulk of the community

According to some Tamil nationalists, the concept of Arab descent among Tamil speaking moors was, invented just to keep the community away from the Tamils and this ‘separate identity’ intended to check the latter’s demand for the separate state Tamil Eelam and to flare up hostilities between the two groups in the broader Tamil-Sinhalese conflict.

Muslim Ministers, MPs and politicians have vehyemently opposed racisrt Tamils chauvunism against the Sinhalese and extended their fullest cooperation to the Sinhala community. They include Sir Marcan Markar, Sir Razik Fareed, Dr. Badiudeen Mahmoud, Dr. T.B.Jayah, Dr. M.C.M. Kaleel, Minister A.C.S.Hameed, and M.H.Mohamed to name a few.  It isbeing said that Sir Razik Fareed and Dr. Badiudeen Mahmoud have on numerous occasionschallenged Chelvanayagam and other Tamil racist leaders to prove their so-claimed claim of Muslims asa part of the Tamil communitywhich they have failed to rspond.

Unlike the racist Tamils, the Sinhala community has elected many Muslims to the Parliament from the Sinhala majority electorates devoid of party politics  which could never be expected from the Tamils.  The list of members elected in this manner include C.A.S.Marikkar (well known as Sinhala Marikkar from Galagrdera, Aboosaly from Balangoda, M.H.Mohamed continuously elected from Borella which has over 90% of Sinhalese voters and Mrs Anjan Umma from Minuwangoda and the latest S.M.Marikka from the Sinhala majority Kolonnawa electorate despite Marikkar being a person from the deep South Dickwella in the Devinuwara electorate and Cader Masthan from Sinhala majority Vavuniya electorate.  It is said that the Sinhalese people in this diswtrict  are frpom Gndara, Kottegoda and Devinuwara in the Soiuth and from Padaviuya.  Tamils have never nominated a Muslim for any of their electorates.  Unfortunately this Sinhala-Muslim amity as been shattere4d to some extent by power hungry, commercial minded, business politicians like Rauf Hakeem and Rishad Badiudeen who have become vermins eating into the centuries old brotherhood between Sinhala and Muslim communities.

The expulsion of the Muslims from the Northern province was an act of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization in October 1990. In order to achieve their goal of creating a mono ethnic Tamil state in the North Sri Lanka, the LTTE forcibly expelled around100, Muslim population from the Northern Province and confiscated their properties and destroyed the Mosques.

It is widely reported that the expulsion by LTTE still carries bitter memories amongst the Sri Lanka’s Muslims.. There were numerous storied relating to atrocities faced by these expelled Muslims in the hands of LTTE cadres supervising the operation and some families have not even being allo0wed to take with t5he the milk powder they wanted to take with them for their infants.  Ladies have not been allowed to take any jewellry and even their ear rings have been forcibly removed regardless of damage to their ear lobes.

Under these circumstances iot was indeed shameful to find Rauf Hakeem, the self appointed Muslim Congress leader on the instigation of Ranil Wickremasinghe held a meeting with the megalomaniac Prabhakaran and signed an agreement which was adhered to only in breach.  It was also shameful to find Rauf Hakeem advisinf Muslim youths in the East to follow Prabharan as a model.

Historians said thatt Sinhalese language is spoken Moors whose maternal lineage is Sinhalese and Tamil is the mother tongue of the community whose maternal lineage are Tamil, however depending on where they live in the country, they may also additionally speak Tamil, Sinhala and or English. According to the 2012 Census 58.7% ( the  ma jority  ) or 862,397 Sri Lankan Moors spoke Sinhala and 30.4% or 446,146 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke English and Moorish Tamil which bears the influence of Arabic.

Religious sermons, especially on Fridays’ Qutba sermons used to be delivered in Tamil but now there is a growing trend that these sermons are delivered regularly or on alternate Fridays in Sinhala in certain mosques in Colombo and outstations as there is a growing Muslim youth Muslim population who cannot read, write and understand Tamil.

Culture

The Sri Lankan Moors have been strongly shaped by Islamic culture, with many customs and practices according to Islamic law. While preserving many of their ancestral customs, the Moors have also adopted several South Asian practices.

The Moors practice several customs and beliefs, which they closely share with the Arab, Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese People. Tamil and Sinhala customs such as wearing the Thaali (a fast vanishing practice)  or eating Kiribath were widely prevalent among the Moors. Arab customs such as congregational eating using a large shared plate called the ‘sahn’ and wearing of the North African fez during marriage ceremonies feed to the view that Moors are of mixed Sinhalese, Tamil and Arab heritage.

There have been a growing trend amongst Moors to rediscover their Arab heritage and the Arab customs that are the norm amongst Arabs in Middle East and North Africa. These include  replacing the sari, salwar and other traditional clothing associated with Sinhalese and Tamil culture in favour of the abaya and hijab by the women, the Arab long dress instead of Sarong and shirt by men  as well as increased interest in learning Arabic and appetite for Arab food by opening restaurants and takeaways that serve Arab food such as shawarma and Arab bread Qubus. .

The late 19th century saw the phase of islamization of Sri Lankan Moors, primarily under the influence of M. C. Siddi Lebbe. He was a leading figure in the Islamic revival movement, and strengthened the Muslim identity of the Sri Lankan Moors. He was responsible for the ideological framework for the M uslim ethnicity in Sri Lanka.

Population

The districts of Ampara (43%), Trincomalee (42%) and Batticaloa (26%) The Eastern Province have the highest share of Muslims in Sri Lanka, followed byPuttalam (20%), Mannar (17%), Kandy (14%) and Colombo (12%).

Sri Lankan Moors

The Sri Lankan Moors are mostly native speakers of the Tamil language while a few of them speak Sinhala as primary language, and follow Islam as their religion. Sri Lankan Moors comprise 9.30% (2012 Census) of Sri Lanka’s population,

Islam was spread to Sri Lanka by contacts with the merchant ships operated by the Moor traders between Serendib (Old Persian / Arabic name for Sri Lanka), and various ports in the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa.

Education

Muslim professionals in accounting, medicine, engineering, etc., but at present they are exceeding the national average. Due to the lack of opportunity in Sri Lanka, many Muslim professionals are emigrating to get jobs abroad, such as to the Middle East, United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe.

East Coast Moors

In the eastern province of the country Muslims are predominant. These Muslims were settled on land given by the Sinhalese King Senarat of Kandyafter the Muslims were persecuted by the Portuguese. The  East coast Sri Lankan Moors are primarily farmers, fishermen, and traders. According to the controversial census of 2007, the Moors are 5% (only Moors, not the entire Muslim population of the eastern province.  This is reported to be a deliberate conspiracy made by Tamils to identify the rest of the Muslim population as Tamils to enhance the so-called Tamil speaking people concept)). Their family lines are traced through women, as in kinship systems of the southwest Indian state of Kerala, but they govern themselves through Islamic law.

West Coast Moors[

Many moors in the west of the island are traders, professionals or civil servants and are mainly concentrated in Colombo, Kalutara, Beruwala, Dharga Town, Puttalam, Jaffna and Mannar. Moors in the west coast trace their family lines through their father along with those in the Central Province.

The surname of many Moors in Colombo, Kalutara and Puttalam is joined with their fathers’ first name, thus retaining similarity to the traditional Arab and middle eastern kinship system.

: Sri Lankan Malays

The Malays of Sri Lanka are reported to have originated in Southeast Asia and today consist of over  50,000 persons. Their ancestors came to the country when both Sri Lanka and Indonesia were colonies of the Dutch. Most of the early Malay immigrants were indentured labours, posted by the Dutch colonial administration to Sri Lanka, who decided to settle on the island. Other immigrants were convicts or members of noble houses from Indonesia who were exiled to Sri Lanka and who never left. The main source of a continuing Malay identity is their common Malay language(Bahasa Melayu), which includes numerous words absorbed from Sinhalese and the Moorish variants In the 1980s, the Malays made up about 5% of the Muslim population in Sri Lanka and, like the Moors, predominantly follow the Shafi school of thought within Sunni Islamithin Sunni Islam