Islam in Sri Lanka

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Islam in Sri Lanka is practiced entirely by Sri Lankan Muslims, who make up approximately 8% of the population, comprise a group of minorities practicing the religion of Islam in Sri Lanka. In the past, the Muslim community was divided into three main sections; the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian Moors, and the Malays, each with its own history and traditions. But now a days all are identified as just Muslims.

Contents 1 Sri Lankan Moors 1.1 East coast Moors 2 Indian Moors 3 The Malays 4 Conversions 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Sri Lankan Moors

The Sri Lankan Moors make up 93 % of the Muslim population and 7 % of the total population of the country (1,404,534 people in 2005).They are predominantly Sunni Muslims of Shafi School. They trace their ancestry to Arab traders who moved to southern India and Sri Lanka some time between the eighth and fifteenth centuries and local converts. They used to speak Arwi or Arabic-Tamil. They currently speak Tamil as their mother tongue but differ from their Hindu counterparts because they include many words arrived from Arabic as well as having a minor arab accent which would explain their background. Many Moors can also speak Sinhala.

The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs. During the period of Portuguese colonization, the Moors suffered from persecution, and many moved to the Central Highlands, where their descendants remain. They adhere to Shafi and Salafi sects of Islam mostly.

[edit] East coast Moors

On the east coast, Sri Lankan moors are primarily Tamil speaking agriculturalists, fishers and traders. 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.[1]. There are some Sufis among this group ad violence between Sunni Moors is not unheard of.

[edit] Indian Moors

The Indian Moors are Muslims who trace their origins to immigrants searching for business opportunities during the colonial period. Some of these people came to the country as far back as Portuguese times; others arrived during the British period from various parts of India. Majority of them came from Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. The Memon, originally from Sindh (in modern Pakistan), first arrived in 1870; in the 1980s they numbered only about 3,000,they mostly follow the [[Hanafi] sect of Islam.

The Dawoodi Bohras and the Khoja are Shi'a Muslims came from northwestern India (Gujarat state) after 1880; in the 1980s they collectively numbered fewer than 2,000. These groups tended to retain their own places of worship and the languages of their ancestral homelands.

[edit] The Malays

The Malays originated in Southeast Asia. Their ancestors came to the country when both Sri Lanka and Indonesia were colonies of the Dutch. Most of the early Malay immigrants were soldiers, 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 Tamil, and is spoken at home. In the 1980s, the Malays comprised about 5 % of the Muslim population in Sri Lanka.

[edit] Conversions

Sri Lankan muslims, relatively, have not been passionate in spreading Islam among the majority population and have remained quite insular. However, there is now steady rise in the number of converts. These converts are coming from the traditional Tamil Hindu and Roman Catholic communities. Tamil newspapers contain the names of converts on an almost daily basis.

[edit] See also

Similar Muslim ethnic identities in South India

• Marakkar - A subset of Tamil speaking Muslims of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu
• Mappila - Muslims from Kerala
• Beary - Muslims from Tulunadu

[edit] References

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.