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Sri Lanka Islam
The religion of Islam began, like Buddhism, with the
experience of a single man, but the religious environment of
early Islam was the Judeo-Christian world of Arabia. Many of the
basic premises and beliefs of Islam are thus quite different than
those of Buddhism or Hinduism and more closely resemble the
systems of Judaism or Christianity. During the last 1,000 years,
however, Islam has played a major part in the cultures of South
and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka. Islam in Sri Lanka has
preserved the doctrines derived from Arabia, while adapting to
the social environment of South Asia.
During the early seventh century A.D., Muhammad experienced a
series of messages from God in the city of Mecca, a trading
center in western Arabia. He became a prophet, one of the line of
Biblical prophets including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ (in
Arabic, Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa), and he conveyed to the people of
Mecca the last and greatest of the revelations given by God to
the world. The message was simple and powerful: "submission"
(Islam) to the mercy of a single, all-powerful God (Allah). God
exists for eternity, but out of love he created the world and
mankind, endowing both men and women with immortal souls. Human
beings have only one life, and when it ends their souls go to
either heaven or hell according to their behavior on earth.
Correct behavior is known through the revelation of prophets
inspired by God, and Muhammad is the last of these prophets. To
believe in Islam, to become "one who submits" (a Muslim), one
must accept the will of the one true God and the message of
Muhammad, which is encapsulated in the shahada: "There is
no God but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet." His message is
immortalized in the Quran, a series of revelations conveyed by
the angel Gabriel, and in the hadith, the sayings and example of
the prophet Muhammad.
Muhammad described some of the most important actions
necessary for a believer who wished to submit to God's love and
will. In addition to commandments against lying, stealing,
killing and other crimes, the moral code includes prayer five
times daily, fasting, giving alms to the poor, pilgrimage to
Mecca if financially possible, abstention from gambling and wine,
and dietary restrictions similar to those of Judaism. The Prophet
linked behavior to salvation so closely that bodies of Islamic
law (sharia) grew up in order to interpret all human activity
according to the spirit of the Quran. In practice, to be a Muslim
requires not simply a belief in God and in Muhammad's status as
the final prophet, but acceptance of the rules of Islamic law and
following them in one's own life. Islam thus encompasses a rich
theology and moral system, and it also includes a distinctive
body of laws and customs that distinguish Muslims from followers
of other faiths. Islam is theoretically a democratic union of all
believers without priests, but in practice scholars
(ulama) learned in Islamic law interpret the Quran
according to local conditions, legal officials (qazi)
regulate Muslim life according to Islamic law, and local prayer
leaders coordinate group recitation of prayers in mosques
(masjid, or palli).
By the fifteenth century, Arab traders dominated the trade
routes through the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. Some of them
settled down along the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, married
local women, and spoke Arabized Tamil rather than pure Arabic.
Their families followed Islam and preserved the basic doctrines
and Islamic law, while also adopting some local social customs
(such as matrilineal and matrilocal families) that were not part
of early Islamic society in the Arabian Peninsula. When the
Portuguese took control in the sixteenth century, they persecuted
the Muslim traders of the southwest coast, and many Muslims had
to relocate in the Central Highlands or on the east coast
(see Sri Lanka - European Encroachment and Dominance, 1500-1948
, ch. 1). They
retained their separate religious identity, but also adopted some
aspects of popular religion. For example, pilgrimage sites, such
as Kataragama, may be the same for Muslims as for Hindus or
Buddhists, although Muslims will worship at mosques rather than
reverence the Buddha or worship Hindu gods
(see Sri Lanka - Buddhism
, this
ch.).
The growth in ethnic consciousness during the last two
centuries has affected the Muslim community of Sri Lanka. Muslim
revivalism has included an interest in the Arabic roots of the
community, increased emphasis on the study of Arabic as the basis
for understanding the Quran, and an emphasis on separate schools
for Muslim children. Whether there should be an independent
Islamic law for Muslims, preserving the distinct moral culture
passed down from Muhammad, is a continuing issue. On a number of
occasions, agitation has developed over attempts by the Sri
Lankan government to regulate Muslim marriage and inheritance. In
order to prevent further alienation of the Muslim community, in
the 1980s the government handled its dealings with Muslims
through a Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Department.
Data as of October 1988
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