{"id":89237,"date":"2019-05-22T22:47:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T04:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89237"},"modified":"2019-05-22T15:33:51","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T22:33:51","slug":"the-muslims-of-sri-lanka-part-2a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/22\/the-muslims-of-sri-lanka-part-2a\/","title":{"rendered":"THE MUSLIMS OF SRI LANKA Part 2A"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

This essay\nlooks at the various Islamic sects and groups operating in Sri Lanka. There are\ntwo schools of Islam in the world, Sunni and Shia and they simply hate each\nother. Therefore, most countries follow one or other, not both.  In Sri Lanka, as in India, the majority of\nthe Muslims are Sunni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Sri Lanka followed orthodox Sunni Islam, for\ngenerations, said Izzeth Hussein. The mainstream Sri Lankan Muslim remains\nresolutely Sunni, he emphasized. Virtually\n98 percent or so of the Sri Lankan Muslims are Sunni, agreed Michael Roberts.  All Ceylon Jamiyyatul Ulama (ACJU), the apex body of Islamic theologians in Sri Lanka, provided the\nreligious leadership to the Sunni Muslims. It had branches in a number of\nMuslim dominated towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a very small community of Shias in\nOttamavadi, Batticaloa, with their own mosque. They keep to themselves.  Colombo has a small business community of\nShias as well,   said Faslan and\nVanniasinkam.    After the Iranian revolution of 1979, there\narose a devout Shia group of Sri Lanka Muslims, said Izzeth Hussein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Foreign\nMuslim movements started coming into the country, without publicity, soon after\nindependence. Jamaath Islami\u201d and \u2018Thablighi Jamaat\u2019, from Pakistan and India,\nrespectively, arrived in Sri Lanka in the 1950s. Both are movements committed\nto the creation of a worldwide Islamic state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Opening of Kattankudy’s 58th mosque with Saudi princes and Mr Hizbullah in attendance. <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in 1941 in India by Abul Ala Maududi<\/a>, with the objective of making   India an Islamic state<\/a>. Jamaate Islami helped to create Pakistan and\nit is now based in Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami said the Islamic state\nwould not stop at India or Pakistan, it would eventually control the whole\nworld. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tablighi Jamaat was founded in 1927 in India by Muhammad\nIlyas Kandhalawi. It has been called “one of the most influential\nreligious movements in 20th century Islam”.  It urged Muslims to return to primary Sunni\nIslam,  particularly in matters of\nritual, dress, and personal behavior. The women in the movement observe complete hijab<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tablighi Jamaat has branches all over the world , including\nSri Lanka . Its international headquarters, \nis in Delhi. The organization is estimated to have between 12 million\nand 150 million adherents ,mainly in South Asia, and a presence  in 150  to 200 countries, according to Wikipedia.\nIt  operates  freely, without hindrance  in countries where activist Islamic groups\ncannot  do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tablighi Jamaat follows an informal\norganizational structure, does not seek donations,  and is not funded by anyone. Since there is\nno formal registration process and no official membership count has ever been\ntaken, the exact membership statistics remain unknown, said Wikipedia. It operates largely in secrecy, and its\nmissionaries  lead austere lifestyles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tablighi Jamaat is  intolerant towards other religions, and is\ncommitted towards Islamizing the entire planet. Its goals include the\n“planned conquest of the World”. Wikipedia says that Tablighi\nJamaat  can  therefore be considered a passive supporter\nof  jihadist movements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighty percent of the Islamist extremists in\nFrance  have come from Tablighi Jamaat,\nsaid France. Fourteen suspects arrested in the 2008 bombing plot in Barcelona,\nSpain were members of Tablighi Jamaat. In \n2016, Pakistan, banned Tablighi Jamaat as well as  others, from preaching and staying in campus\nhostels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sri Lanka, the Thablighi Jamaat and Jamaate\nIslami movements have put aside their political ideology of an Islamic state\nand instead have adapted to the local context by focusing only on purifying\nIslamic practices, said Faslan and  Vanniasinkam\n Thablighi Jamaat\nand Jamaate Islami follow a very neutral line, when it came to ACJU matters and\nSri Lankan issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In Sri Lanka Jamaate Islami, mainly targets\neducated middle class Muslims. Jamaate Islami is popular among this group. Its\nchief activity in Sri Lanka  has been to\npublish an Islamic scholarly magazine in the Tamil language called Al Hasanath.\nIt also  publishes monthly and quarterly\nnewspapers such as Prabodaya and Engal Thesam in Sinhala and Tamil\nrespectively. This movement also arranges religious classes for men and women\nseparately and has a social service \norganization  which carries\nout  activities such as disaster relief\nand Zakat distribution across the island. \n(Zakat is the donation of a portion of one\u2019s income to charity)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sri Lanka , Thablighi Jamaat,  is a leading revivalist movement with an\nisland wide network. Its primary motive is to draw Muslims to the mosque for\nthe five prayers. This is done by going door to door to Muslim houses.\nThablighis  engage in three-day,\nforty-day and four-month missions preaching in far away mosques with the aim of\nbringing Muslims to mosques. They also have a women\u2019s wing and conduct separate\nreligious programs for Muslim women, said Faslan and  Vanniasinkam   Thablighi Jamaat does not have a separate\nmosque. It preaches in any mosque that welcomes them.  Certain mosques, particularly Thawheed Jamaat\nmosques, do not allowed them to enter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thablighi Jamaat  holds an annual national gathering called\nIjithima. Thablighi Jamaat  runs a social\nservice unit called NIDA Foundation. Its primary objective is to help those who\nhave newly converted to Islam, but they do not have a mission to convert non-Muslims. Thablighi Jamaat has  a dress code. The men wear white Jubbas,\nwhite thoppis, white turbans and   grow\nbeards. The women are required to cover their faces and wear black shapeless\ngowns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faslan and \nVanniasinkam  say that Thablighi\nJamaat is a harmless reformist movement which follows a nonviolent approach. It\ndoes not have a political agenda. Ameer Ali says Tabligh Jamaat in Sri Lanka is\na very peaceful movement, whose mission was to convert nominal Muslims into\nreal Muslims<\/strong>.<\/strong> That\ncontinues even today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next set of Islamic movements to arrive in\nSri Lanka, with a bang, were from the Wahhabi movement of Saudi Arabia. The\nWahhabi ideology was developed by Shaykh Muhammad ibn \u2018Abd al-Wahhab\n(1703- 1792) in the Najd region of central \nSaudi Arabia. Muhammad\nibn Saud,\nthe ruler of Najd, picked it up,\nused it legitimize his rule and  to  establish the \nHouse of Saud which rules Saudi Arabia today. From that day to this,\nWahabism has been the political ideology of the Saudi state, said Middle East\nInstitute. Wahhabism is    the official religion of Saudi Arabia. Qatar\nalso recognizes Wahhabism.\nThe state mosque<\/a> of Qatar<\/a> is named after Al- Wahhab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wahhabis say that Muslims should follow only\nthe Quran and Prophet Mohammed\u2019s teachings. To them, all other Sufi and Shia\ngroups are not Muslim. Wahhabi<\/a>sm is \ntherefore disliked by  other\nMuslims. Ibn\n\u02bfAbd al-Wahhab’s teachings  have been\ncriticized by a number of Islamic scholars. Wahhabism gave\ntraditional warfare a high moral purpose and justification, said Middle East\nInstitute     Ibn\nWahhab  supported the classical Islamic\ninterpretation of jihad, that of   Jihad\nby the Sword\u201d  meaning holy war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wahhabism  was exported to other countries after World\nWar II. Saudi Arabia exported Wahhabism because   USA asked Saudi Arabia to help counter\nSoviet Union influence during the Cold War of 1947-1991,\u201d said Crown Prince\nMohammed bin Salman in a confidential interview with Washington Post in 2018.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi Arabia’s\nwestern allies had urged the country to invest in mosques and madrasas\noverseas, to prevent Russia getting into Muslim countries. Saudi Arabia\ntherefore built Islamic schools and mosques throughout the\nMuslim world. <\/em> Saudi\nArabia has spent billions of dollars over several decades propagating the\nWahhabi version of militant Islam, said analysts. Today,  funding is   \ndone mostly by Saudi “foundations,”<\/em>\nrather than Saudi government.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In Sri Lanka ,Wahhabis work through Thawheed\norganizations and their madrasas. With the exception of Thablighi Jamaat and\nthe Jamaate IslamI, all the Islamic groups in Sri Lanka, today are Wahhabist\ngroups, intent on the purification of Islam in Sri Lanka, said Faslan and\nVanniasinkam in 2015.  The Wahabi\nmovement in Sri Lanka is  supported by\nSaudi Arabia. A Saudi-funded Centre for Islamic Guidance was set up in\n1990s.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faslan and\nVanniasinkam say that Thawheed ideology came to Sri Lanka during the 1950s, was\ninstitutionalized as Thawheed Jamath and is now a leading Islamic revivalist\nmovement in Sri Lanka.  According to\nNuhuman (2004), the first Thawheed Jamaat in Sri Lanka   was founded in 1947 by Abdul Hameed Al Bakry\nin Paragahadeniya. It was called Jammiyathu Ansari Sunnathul Muhammadiya\n(JASM). If this date is correct, then this is the earliest foreign Islam\nmovement to come to Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JASM is one of\nthe leading Thawheed Jamaat institutes and it is the main wing of the Thawheed\nJamaat. It also functions as an Arabic college and produces Muslim scholars\n(Moulavis) who are called Salafis, said Faslan and  Vanniasinkam.    Additionally Thowheed Jamath  also has prayer centers, observed Namini\nWijedasa. They are not Jummah mosques but they are numerous and are established\nin ordinary buildings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thawheed ideology is also propagated, through\nsocial service organizations such as Jammiyathush SHABAB (Association of Muslim\nYouth of Saylan) and International Islamic Relief Organisation (IIRO) or as\nDhahwa (preaching) organizations, said Faslan and  Vanniasinkam . These Dhahwa groups are institutionalized\nunder various names. Dharus Salaf is a Thawheed Jamaat group based in Dehiwala.\nMany more formal and informal sub-movements exist but are difficult to access,\nsaid  Faslan and  Vanniasinkam \nin 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Towheed Jamath movement came into this\ncountry in the early 1980s, said Azath Salley. The open economy which started  after 1977, made it possible for  a large number of  Muslim \nyouths  from modest and simple\nbackgrounds\u201d,  to go to Saudi Arabia for\nwork in the 1980s.  “There, they\nwere introduced to Wahabism in special preaching centers. ” Through these  persons, puritanical  ultra -fundamentalist Wahhabi thinking  was introduced to Sri Lanka   in\nthe 1980s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter, young men from Kattankudy began to get scholarships to study in\nreligious universities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is these young men who\nspearheaded Wahabism when they got back, said Izzeth Hussein. The Wahhabi\npreachers are a motley collection of returnees, making house to house visits in\nflowing robes and rosaries and are visible to us all, said one observer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wahhabi\ninfluence in Sri Lanka  became a powerful\none in the 1980s. The\nchange in Islamic thinking began to show in the mid-1980s, said Izzeth Hussein. It was from the 1980s that one could witness a\ndistinct change in the Muslim male and female attire and appearance in the\ncountry and it was from that period that one could also see a proliferation of\nmosques and madrasas with elaborate designs and an open display of Islamic\nrituals, said Ameer Ali.<\/strong>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The black\nabaya and niqab for females and the long gown known as kaftan for males,\ninappropriate to the climate and alien to the culture of Sri Lanka, became\nincreasingly fashionable after 1980s and added a degree of Islamicity to the\nwearer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attitude\nto the  Islam doctrine and  Islamic rituals also changed. Those who worked\nin the Middle East have gained first hand knowledge  of Islamic practices said the converts. Many\nnon-Islamic practices were introduced to Sri \nLanka  by south Indian Muslims who\nhave adopted practices from non-Muslims in India . Many un-Islamic practices\nsuch as feasts and the sacrifice of animal in mosques were practiced for\ncenturies  because no one knew Islam\nproperly, largely because of a lack of knowledge of the Arabic language, the Wahhabi  converts said . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wahhabi\nconverts forcibly changed  the way\nMuslims worshipped. Azath Salley  spoke\nof the changes in Kattankudy. Kattankudy was \na traditional Muslim village.  Traditional\nMuslims are a very peaceful people, he said. Every week there would be\nfunctions at home, there would be recitals and the entire community would share\na meal. \u2018When these extremists came in, they said everything we were doing was\nwrong – those gatherings, what we were reciting, and even the shared meal was\nwrong\u2019 . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Towheed\nadherents started coming into our mosques. They became a nuisance to us .They\nhave the practice of rotating their fingers disturbing all other worshippers. The\nway traditional Muslims pray is different. Fights have broken out as a result\nof this, concluded Azath Salley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wahhabis\nreplaced the traditional rituals with something much more deadly. Ameer Ali\nwriting in   May 2019 said, that a couple\nof years ago he, a native of Kattankudy, attended a Friday sermon in one of the\nmosques there, after almost forty years. \n  The sermon lasted forty-five minutes. The Imam, speaking\nfluent Tamil, spent\nthe entire sermon attacking Christians and Jews<\/strong>.  \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>A fellow academic with whom Ameer\nAli discussed this later,  told him that\nthis was the case in majority of mosques in the country. These sermons were seeding\nhatred and the community was slowly self-alienating, while leaders were looking\nthe other way, said Ameer Ali. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thawheed movement\nkept splitting into newer groups. As a result  there were multiple, competing Wahhabi groups in Sri\nLanka , with bases in Kattankudy, Batticaloa, Dehiwela, Dematagoda and\nelsewhere. However, the  \ngroups are not  growing stronger,\nthey are limited to small numbers of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a doubt whether the splintering and\nmushrooming of Islamic groups is due to theological disputes and not money,\nsaid Faslan and Vanniasinkam. The interviews they conducted showed that it was\nnot disagreements on religious doctrines and practices, it was the ample supply\nof funds that contributed to the increase of Islamic groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azath Salley \nput it bluntly. \u2018Every time money came in,\ndistribution became a problem and they broke up into splinter groups. So you\nfind several factions, called the SLT, CTJ, NTJ and so on altogether about ten\nto twelve factions,\u2019 he said in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each  group has its own mosque and conducted\nseparate Friday prayers where they conveyed their message to the Muslim\ncommunity said Faslan and \nVanniasinkam.  Each group has\nseveral branches in different parts of the Island, and global links as well. Each \ngroup also engages in social and community service alongside their\npurification efforts among Muslims and has their own social service unit. These\ngroups are very confrontational and very vocal, concluded Faslan and  Vanniasinkam      They are not registered with\nthe  All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema, though\nall Muslim organizations come under the purview of the  ACJU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nlarge imposing mosques,  coming up\nall over the place are Wahhabi mosques. A group is formed by first building a\nmosque as this helps the group to get donations\u201d The bigger the mosque, the\ngreater the profit\u201d said Sri  Lanka\nThawfeed Jamath.  Mosques are beingopened like  boutiques \u2018said traditional Muslims. Islam\nis sold these days \u2013 it\u2019s a business. We are against this\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this explains the increasing number of\nmosques in Sri Lanka, it also reveals the ulterior monetary motives of\ninstituting new\/sub-movements, said Faslan and \nVanniasinkam . This is further encouraged by the absence of strict state\nregulations restricting the erection of mosques, they observed. The  lack of state regulation was gratefully\nmentioned by one of the interviewees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, the Sunday\nTimes<\/em> witnessed the opening of Kattankudy\u2019s 58th mosque in Sinna\nKaburady Road. The mosque was funded by a Saudi Arabian outfit called the International\nCommission for Human Development. Saudi princes had come for the opening. They\nposed for photographs. A local speaker said: In the past, we had to collect\nmoney from villages and among ourselves to build mosques like this. Now, we get\nhelp from Saudi Arabia.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2005, some\nmembers of  All Ceylon Thawheed Jamaat\nformed a new group called Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamaat (SLTJ) .The Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamaat (SLTJ) is a\nleading Islamic revivalist movement in Sri Lanka, said  Faslan and \nVanniasinkam. The SLTJ has  63\nbranches all over the island . The SLTJ \npublishes religious books and magazines and conducts religious classes\nfor men and women separately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLTJ said that\ntheir organization  preached Islam island\nwide,  and has done much for the\nuplifting of Muslims and non Muslims in Sri Lanka. They  had released the Sinhala translation and\ntransliteration of the Quran. The Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jammath Quran,\nhas been translated into Sinhala from Tamil and \ngiven the name “Thowheed Jamat Sinhala Quran”  . Muslim religious scholars in Sri Lanka  are objecting to this translation, saying\nthat it is at variance with the Holy Quran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLTJ    is\nthe most vocal of the Thawheed movements and has made several controversial\npublic statements in recent years.  The\nSLTJ has a strong link with the Tamil Nadu Thawheed Jamaat (TNTJ) and they\nfollow TNTJ\u2019s leader, P.J. Jainulabdeen. This \nconnection is  strongly objected\nto by other Muslims. Jainul Abdeen  was invited by the Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamaat\n(SLTJ) for the release of the Sinhala translation of the Quran, a  few years back. The majority of Lankan\nMuslims opposed his visit and prevailed on the government to cancel his visa.\nEarlier in 2005, he was deported on the same grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azath Salley spoke at length  on this. Since 1994, it is I who have been\ntelling the authorities about this group and its activities and also preventing\ntheir leader P. Jainulabdeen from coming into the country. When Mr. Ranaviraja\nwas the defense secretary, I went to him with Alavi Maulana and told him that\nthis person must not be allowed into the country. But he had already landed in\nSri Lanka. The police went in the morning before the meeting at which he was\nscheduled to speak, put him in a jeep, took him to the airport and deported\nhim. That would have been around 1995 or 1996.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 After\nthat he tried to come to Sri Lanka on three occasions. I blocked it on all\nthree occasions. Now he says he wants to come to Sri Lanka for medical\ntreatment. But we have told him that people were going from Sri Lanka to India\nfor medical treatment and that he should not come here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLTJ is totally\nopposed to any kind of Jihad movement, reported Faslan and  Vanniasinkam . SLTJ Secretary had  told them We can win our goals through the\ndemocratic process\u201d. After the Easter bombings, SLTJ strenuously denied that they had anything to\ndo with the Easter Sunday bombings. .”Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamat would like\nto point out that Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamat has no connection whatsoever with\nthe bombings and has no connection with the organization suspected to have\n<\/p>\n\n\n

[been]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

involved in the incident,” \nit said in a statement.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are six\nThawheed groups in Sri Lanka today, said Rohan Guneratne in April 2019, in an\ninterview after the  Easter Sunday\nbombings . These are \u2018cult groups\u2019. The\nmost important of these is the National Thawheed Jamaat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Thawheed Jamaat (NJT) which carried out the Easter Sunday\nbombing is a   Wahabi    organization, set up in 2011. It is a splinter group of the Sri Lanka Thawheed\nJamaat. NJT has been\ndescribed as a right-wing\nIslamic extremist outfit with a presence mainly in the Eastern Province of Sri\nLanka. It preaches   \u2018Wahabi\u2019 Islamic\nteachings. It aggressively promotes Sharia law, building of mosques, and makes\nits women wear the burqa which hides the whole face except the eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTJ is a tiny organization with few\nhundred followers, said analysts. It consists almost entirely of young people,\nespecially recent graduates of Islamic schools. The group   has no hierarchy or organizational structure\nand no older leaders.  The mostactive branch is the National Thawheed\nJamaat in Kattankudy. NTJ   had refused\nto give Faslan and  Vanniasinkam an\ninterview in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamiyathul\nMillana Ibrahim Fi Sellani (JMI) was started in 2015.  In 2015 Sri Lankan intelligence found an\noutpouring of support for ISIS among some Sri Lankan social media users. Soft\ncopies of ISIS propaganda was shared mainly on chatting platforms, particularly\nTelegram. The users also created their own applications with secret enclosures\nwithin that space  this was how the\ngrooming predominantly took place, intelligence sources said. This group became Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem\n(JMI), led by a man named Umair from Colombo 10. Some JMI members  had wanted to migrate with their families to\nSyria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment issued a gazette notice on 14.5.19, proscribing the National\nThowheed Jama\u2019ath (NTJ), Jama\u2019athe Milla\u2019athe Ibrahim (JMI).  In that gazette Yahapalana  also proscribed a third  organization , ‘Willayath As Seylani\u2019which no\none had heard of before. Information has now emerged about ‘Willayath As\nSeylani\u2019. Willayath As Seylani\u2019 is an ISIS creation.  \u2018Wilayath\u2019 means \u2018province\u201d. ISIS  is planning to declare the formation of  ISIS provincial groups.<\/em> its formation is being discussed at the highest level in the\norganization, now  and its establishment\nis very much on the cards, said Rohan Gunaratne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2014, the ISIS has set up Wilayaths or\nprovinces in various parts of the world. These Wilayaths are not geographical provinces\nbut fields of ISIS operation. in South Asia  there are Wilayath Khorasan (covering Afghanistan\nand Pakistan) and Wilayath al Hind (covering India Kashmir as its centre). To\nthis has been added Wilayath as Seylani.  \u2018Seylan\u2019 is the Arabic name for Sri Lanka. According to Dr.Gunaratne, Mohammad Zaharan\nhad been wanting to set up an ISIS <\/em> Willayath in Sri Lanka. The\nLankan government was probably aware of  the\ndiscussions going on at the highest levels in the ISIS Caliphate about forming Willayath As Seylani\u2019  and has banned it in anticipation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Faslan and \nVanniasinkam (2015)  have listed\nseveral other Islamic  organizations.  All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen  a Sufi order, was founded in the late 1980s\nby Sheihul Mufliheen M.S.M. Abdullah, known as Rah,\u201d in the southeastern Sri\nLanka village of Maruthamunai. It was registered as a cultural society with the\ncivil authorities in 1989. The headquarters of Thareekathul Mufliheen was\nlocated in  Kattankudy, The order\nmaintains branches around the island, and claims 15,000 members as at 2013..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamaatul Muslimeen also known as Baiyath is\nanother new Sufi group in Sri Lanka . A majority of Baiyath followers live in\nEththalai, Puttalam where the ideology emerged. it leader is Umar Ali, a\nleading Thawheed orator in the 1970s He formed this group in 1976 after\nvisiting Pakistan in search of the \u2018true\u2019 Islam. He\nfound it by divine revelation  on a\nposter at a bus stop in Pakistan.  (sic). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to this group, a person is not born\na Muslim and has to take oaths in front of an Imam (appointed leader) to become\nMuslim. Baiyath followers have taken oaths before Umar\nAli and they believe that they are the \u2018true\u2019 Muslims and that all other\nIslamic groups are non-Muslim, as they have not taken oaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another distinguishing feature of this group\nis that they follow some traditional practices such as not registering for\nidentity cards or passports. At one time they did not build their houses with\nbricks, but lived in small tents like their Arab ancestors during the Prophet\u2019s\ntime. Today, however, they have reverted to normal life but do not allow their\nwomenfolk to study and force them to cover their faces. This\ngroup interacts, but does not intermarry with other Muslim groups, said Faslan\nand  Vanniasinkam . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also Abdur Rauf, an Islamic scholar\nand charismatic orator who formed a new Islamic group in 1979  called the\n<\/em>All Ceylon Theological Forum, but commonly referred to as the Abdur Rauf\ngroup. This group has a separate mosque in Kattankudy and all of its\nfollowers live in the area surrounding the mosque. Abdur Rauf is treated like a\ngod and is called Wappa (Father) by his followers who display his photograph in\ntheir houses. the All Ceylon Jammiyathul Ulama (ACJU)  refused to recognize this group and labeled their\nideology as non-Muslim in the first year of their existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Abdur Rauf group is considered\ncontroversial in Kattankudy. in 2004 and 2006, members of the Abdur Rauf group\nwere attacked and chased out of Kattankudy by members of the Thawheed movement.\nHowever, the Abdur Rauf group has managed to survive because of its good\npolitical links and the assurance that all followers will vote for whoever\nWappa decides.  In the Batticaloa\ndistrict in particular, certain Sunni groups such as the Abdur Rauf group are\nsustained by patronage of Muslim politicians who in turn  are sure of a consistent voter base, observed\nFaslan and  Vanniasinkam .  <\/strong>(\ncontinued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay looks at the various Islamic sects and groups operating in Sri Lanka. There are two schools of Islam in the world, Sunni and Shia and they simply hate each other. Therefore, most countries follow one or other, not both.  In Sri Lanka, as in India, the majority of the Muslims are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89237","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=89237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}