{"id":88497,"date":"2019-05-10T00:12:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T06:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88497"},"modified":"2019-05-09T16:45:56","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T23:45:56","slug":"muslim-madrasas-implications-for-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/10\/muslim-madrasas-implications-for-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"MUSLIM MADRASAS – implications for Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane <\/strong>Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka <\/strong>March 2009<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The following is an article I wrote ten years ago, in March 2009, and published in the Lankaweb in the same year, warning the then government to take necessary action immediately on the establishment of Muslim Madrasas, so that possible problems in the future, can be avoided. I also presented this matter as one of my observations\u2019 in a \u00a0Cabinet Memorandum in 2009 regarding the NGO\u00a0<\/strong>Al Haj Adul Jawad Alim Valiyullah Trust.\u00a0The highly harmful consequences of inaction in this regard, on the part of the then government, is well evident today.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

MUSLIM MADRASAS – implications for Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The recent trend in Sri Lanka has been the\nestablishment of Muslim Madrasas in various names – a major Madrasas that has\nbeen proposed to be established is in the form of an  NGO  called Al\nHaj Adul Jawad Alim Valiyullah Trust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslim Madrasas in several countries have been\nidentified today, to be education and training centres of Muslim\nfundamentalism, extremism and violence, especially those in Muslim dominated\ncountries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan alone has more than\n13,000 mandasas of which many are said to be promoting Muslim fundamentalism\nand extremism.  It is noteworthy that Madrasas have been banned in several\nnon-Muslim countries. It is widely reported that some Taliban and Al Qaeda\nleaders have obtained radical political views at Madrasas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some allege that Madrasas provide Islamic extremism\nand militancy and are a recruiting ground for terrorism. Some Mandasa are well\nrecorded to be promoting a militant form of Islam and teach and train Muslim\nstudents to fight non-believers and stand against the moral standards of the\nwestern society. Some who have investigated the functioning of certain\nMadrasas  say that they are wholly concerned with teaching violence. The\nsuicide bombers involved in the July 2005 London terror attack are said to have\nspent time in Pakistani Madrasas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details of the curriculum and training activities of\nMuslim Madrasas, already started in Sri Lanka and especially of those proposed\nto be established in Sri Lanka should necessarily be known in full in order to\navoid possible socio-religious problems in the future.  This trend should\nreceive cautious attention by all Sri Lankans, including members of the Muslim\ncommunity, some of whom may not be fully aware of this trend and more, about\nthe possible negative impacts of this trend.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is necessary that we take necessary action to avoid\npossible problems in the future that can have serious direct and indirect\nnegative social-religious-political implications for the nation as a whole. It\nis important that authorities, especially religious leaders in our country take\nserious note of this trend. There need to be an open dialogue and polite\ninteraction between the Muslim leaders and other religious communities in the\ncountry, in order to have an in-depth understanding of the specific mission and\nspecific objectives of establishing Madrasas in this country.   \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some countries such as India, Pakistan, Afganistan\nand Bangladesh, Muslims are among the most deprived communities in terms of\neducation and therefore establishment of certain type of Madrasas for basic\neducational purposes has become necessary and most people find them to be\naffordable as compared to other educational institutions in these countries.\nThis is definitely not the case with Sri Lanka where there is no Muslim\neducational deprivation or backwardness as far as the Muslims are concerned. In\nfact, our school system is open to all Muslims if they wish to attend them, and\nthere are many Muslim students attending regular schools in Sri Lanka. Also,\nthere are exclusively Muslim national schools in Sri Lanka and importantly,\nmost international schools in the country are owned and operated by Muslims\nwhere Muslim students predominate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madrasas as educational institutions are said to offer\ninstructions in Islamic subjects including but not limited to the Quoran. It\nalso includes Jurisprudence or “figh” and Muslim law or Sharia Law\nand the teaching and practice of “sufi” which encompasses Islamic\nmysticism. These teachings and practices should be investigated and known in\nsufficient detail in order to understand their impact on social harmony and national\nunity and solidarity in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Muslim Sharia law is given official recognition by\nmeans of registering Madrasas as NGOs, it can result in serious legal problems\nin the future. There can be only one law in our country and that is a secular\nlaw which is applicable to all citizens irrespective of their ethnicity or\nreligious affiliations. There is no need to introduce any other law, especially\nreligious law such as Muslim Sharia Law, and cause problems in our\ncountry.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is known that Muslim Madrasas work in collaboration\nwith other foreign Muslim organizations and Madrasas in providing vocational\ntraining for Muslim youth. This again should be of concern to Sri\nLanka.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the light of the increased interest in the country\nfor consolidation of national unity, divisive tendencies of any nature should\nnot be encouraged under any circumstances.  With our massive success in\ncontaining LTTE terrorism and our determined efforts to bring the various\ncommunities together as One Nation, it is important that divisive tendencies in\nour society be eliminated. This is especially necessary in the light of a\nnational resurgence that is clearly noticeable in the country at the present\ntime and increased interest in fully restoring democratic principles of social\norganization. It is  important that we try to prevent polarization of our\ncommunities by all means available.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka March 2009 The following is an article I wrote ten years ago, in March 2009, and published in the Lankaweb in the same year, warning the then government to take necessary action immediately on the establishment of Muslim Madrasas, so that possible problems in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}