Historical Relationship between the Buddhists and the Muslims in Sri Lanka (original) (raw)
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Journal of Politics and Law, 2016
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country comprising four of the world’s major religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Buddhists are the predominant ethnic group, constituting 70.19% of the total population, while Muslims make up the second largest minority in the country. There are many records in the history to prove well the cordial relationship between Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka. However, in the past couple of years, particularly during the aftermath of the civil war, tension may be observed in the relationship between these two religious groups. This is due to a campaign undertaken by a several Buddhist nationalist groups whose intensions are to create a division among these respective societies. These groups have been carrying protests against Muslim social, cultural and religious aspects, including issuing Halal certification, slaughtering of cattle, conducting prayer services, etc. Moreover, they have disseminated misinterpretations about Mu...
Post-war Tension between the Buddhists and the Muslims in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a multi religious, multi lingual and multi cultural environment, and the members of all communities lived in peace and harmony with good social integration with one another. Since the arrival of Arab-Muslims in Sri Lanka in the early period the Buddhists and the Muslims have been maintaining a cordial relationship between them for more than ten centuries. However, in recent past years, particularly aftermath of ethnic war (1983-2009) in Sri Lanka, considerably from 2011 to later part of 2014, the unsteadiness of the relationship-a kind of tension-between the above two communities has come to be observed. In the case of Sri Lanka, the Muslims are most privileged society in terms of religious rights comparing to other minorities. Because of this reason, a few Buddhist nationalist groups posed questions on socio-cultural practices of the Muslims such as religious beliefs and practices, dressing culture and social customs. In fact, these factors have been transformed into i...
Buddhist and Muslim Interaction in the Post-War of Sri Lanka
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT, 2021
Sri Lanka is a small pluralistic state. This is a multi-racial social environment, members of all communities lived in peace and harmony with social integration with one another. Each community practised and its own religious cultural values. This situation has changed aftermath of the government's victory in the war (1983-2009) against the Liberation Tigers Tamil Elam (LTTE). Now there is a series of tense between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist Nationalist Groups (BNGs) have been questioned the social and religious features of the Muslims, and their religious obligations were heavily and unduly questioned via provocations from these respective groups. On this background, the study attempts to explore the religious interaction between Muslims and Buddhists in Sri Lanka. The questionnaire survey used as a key tool, and the semi-structured interview conducted among the Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka. The findings of the study show that the relationship between the two communities is generally seen to be in a healthy state. However, the few notable features have exacerbated the tension between the two communities.
Historical Threads of Buddhist–Muslim Relations in Sri Lanka
2020
Understanding relations between Sri Lanka’s Buddhist and Muslim communities should not commence with simple concepts of ethnic groups and boundaries and an associated identity politics. This assumes a consistency across time for such communities depicted as collective individuals; that is, as communities imagined in modern terms as discrete and internally homogenous entities. By considering relations between communities over time, this chapter argues for much closer attention to the ways that ethnicity is more of an emergent property of practical action and the larger cultural values associated with that action. The chapter concludes that the biases in Sinhala Buddhist ideology informing its sense of Sri Lankan history need to be redressed so that greater accommodation of minorities can be achieved.
A Study on Religious Interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in Sri Lanka
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 2015
In Sri Lanka, the religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Christianity are practicing, although it is a predominantly Buddhist country. However, since recent past years onward, it has been proliferated the various misinterpretations about the religions among the societies by a few nationalist groups in Sri Lanka. This effort poses a suspicious situation on the religious interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims, and the same situation could be observable even in Moneragala district as well. On the above backdrop, the main objective of this paper is to examine the religious interaction through measuring the religious understanding between the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in Moneragala, one of the 25 administrative districts in Sri Lanka. There are followers of two major religions, Buddhism and Islam, forming two religious communities living side by side in a few traditional villages namely Bakinigahawela, Godigamuwa, Kanulwela and Medagama which are located in Moneragala district. This is an ethno-religious study of the religious interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in said location, and the religious understanding has been selected as an indicator in order to measure the religious interaction among them. This was measured through a questionnaire survey on a total of one hundred respondents drawn from the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in selected villages. The samples together with the above mentioned indicator proved that the negative religious interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in Moneragala district, and also the lack of understanding of other religious teachings was the determinant factor to hinder their positive religious interaction.
MUSLIM BUDDHIST DIALOGUE: A QUEST FOR ETHNIC HARMONY IN THE SRI LANKAN CONTEXT
Sri Lanka International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 2020
Abstract M.Z.M. Nafeel Although there are differences in the belief systems of Islam and Buddhism, there are some shared values that could form a strong basis for dialogue between these two religions. Dialogue of religion involves creating an understanding for people of different faiths to live together in peace and harmony. It is necessary that they should understand each other’s religions, culture and traditions and learn to respect whatever they find good therein. When two civilizations meet, there is always a two-way process of interaction between them, both being influenced and molded by each other. Such interaction must not be seen as necessarily negative, because human existence is based on the principle of give and take. Therefore, along the line of ethics, and in particular on universal humanistic values and social responsibilities Muslims and Buddhists can work together for peace and a harmonious pluralistic living, in order to produce good socialized members who will work towards the progress of the country of Sri Lanka. Keywords Dialogue, pluralism, civilization
Relationship between the Sinhalese and the Muslims in Sri Lanka: A Bibliographical Survey
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Sri Lanka is a diverse country, and home to many religions, ethnicities and languages, all community members lived in peace and harmony with good social integration with one another. Each community practised and preserved its own religious and cultural life. There were historical records of ethnic relation and ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka. The relationship between the Sinhalese (Buddhists) and the Muslims developed over a period of thousand years, that is, from the time of Sri Lanka's first known contacts with Islamic world onward. Sinhalese and Muslims have interacted with one another culturally, politically, economically, and sometimes militarily for the above centuries. However, in postwar context of Sri Lanka, a series of tense situations has been observed in the relationship between the Sinhalese and the Muslim communities. On the above backdrop, therefore, this study reviews the existing literature on the relationship between the Sinhalese and the Muslims in Sri Lanka from ...
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2014
Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka have a history of more than a millennium. During this long period their economic and religious experience had been one of fluctuating fortunes beginning with harmony and prosperity under Buddhist monarchs to repression and misery under Western colonialists. Economic freedom under native rulers, mercantilist restrictions under the Portuguese and Dutch and open economy under the British brought alternative episodes of economic affluence and depression to Muslims. After independence however, under a democratic polity the community adopted a pragmatic approach to the new situation which allowed Muslims and Islam to enjoy once again decades of peaceful coexistence and relative prosperity, until political and economic circumstances of the country changed dramatically to create an environment of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic phobia. What follows is a historical narration of these vicissitude retold from a religio-economic and political perspective.
Muslim-Buddhist Conflict in Contemporary Sri Lanka
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The end of the civil war in 2009 heralded hope that a new era of peace and inter-ethnic cooperation might be possible in post-war Sri Lanka. This hope now seems, at best, mere wishful thinking, as this article highlights an emerging conflict between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and Sri Lankan Muslims. Through detailed analysis of online social data, argued evidence is provided that Muslim Sri Lankans are now at the receiving end of Islamaphobic rhetoric, even violence, from Sinhala Buddhist nationalist organisations, driven by a belief that the Muslim community represent a threat to Buddhism. The article suggests that Sinhala nationalists have skilfully adopted new internet technologies which have proved effective in their anti-Muslim campaigns. It becomes necessary to conclude that these attacks on Muslim minorities are an extension of pre-existing oppression patterns faced by other minorities residing on the island, particularly Tamils. Indeed, the rhetoric behind these attacks bears a striking resemblance to the type of nationalist discourse found during the Sri Lankan civil war.