By Rifat Halim –
The recent execution of Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia has underlined the bogus claim of Arab ancestry by Sri Lankan Muslims (formerly known as Ceylon Moors). Ms. Nafeek, a domestic worker from a poor family in the East of Sri Lanka, spoke no language but Tamil. She requested a Tamil translator but was provided with a Malayalam-speaking minor employee whose command of the Tamil language was said to be insufficient. The Saudi authorities showed no clemency. Also, they refused to recognize her as a person of Arab descent. Her status was indistinguishable from that of any foreigner in that country.
Ponnanbalam Ramanathan in 1906 with his future wife, Ms. Harrison (right)
A fierce controversy has been raging for many years in the country about the origins of the Tamil-speaking Muslims. In 1885, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan stated in a speech to the Ceylon Legislative Council that the Tamil-speaking Muslims are low caste Hindus who converted to Islam. Ramanathan’s thesis was that the Ceylon Moors, as the Sri Lankan Muslims were then called, were Muslim by religion and Tamil by ethnicity. Therefore, they did not deserve a separate seat in the Legislative Council.
In a paper presented to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1888, Ramanathan said the Tamil-speaking Muslims share more than just a language with the Tamils. He provided clinching evidence of the Tamil cultural features of the Tamil-speaking Muslims in the island. He pointed to Tamil customs such as tying the Tali , the eating of Patchoru, and the use of Alatti, that were prevalent among the Tamil-speaking Muslims. Many Sri Lankan Muslim names such as Periya Marikkar and Sinna Lebbe are clearly Tamil. Also, he said that the Tamil Hindus and the Tamil-speaking Muslims were physically indistinguishable.
Ramanathan later became the first elected leader of the country. He defeated Sir Marcus Fernando in the famous battle for the Educated Ceylonese Seat in 1911.
Over 128 years after Ramanathan’s speech, his thesis is intensely relevant. In every part of the Indian subcontinent, the Muslims claim South Asian descent except for the Tamil-speaking Muslims of Sri Lanka. The Tamil-speaking Muslims in India identify themselves as Tamils. The former President of India Abdul Kalam, a nuclear scientist, unequivocally calls himself a Tamil. AR Rahman, the Grammy award-winning musician states considers himself a Tamil.
Other leaders of Indian subcontinent have similarly embraced their South Asian ancestry. In India, many Muslims identify themselves as Kannadigas, Gujaratis, Kashmiris, Tamils and Malayalees. MA Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, said he was a Gujarati. ZA Bhutto always said that he was a Sindi. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman stated that he was a Bengali. The vast majority of Bangladeshi say they are Bengalis. The largest ethnic group in Pakistan are the Punjabis. There is even a small Tamil Muslim community in Karachi.
Tamil is the mother tongue of over 99% of the Sri Lankan Muslims. The Islamic sermons are overwhelmingly delivered in Tamil even in the Sinhalese majority districts of Kandy, Matara and Galle. Gujarati Muslims in Sri Lanka like myself cannot follow the Islamic sermons in that inpenetrable Dravidian language.
The Sri Lankan Muslim claim of Arab ancestry is not corroborated by the Arabs themselves. They treat the Sri Lankan Muslims as lowly converts speaking a strange tongue. Many Tamil-speaking Muslims from Sri Lanka have gone to the Middle-East looking for a homecoming. But, the homecoming was not forthcoming, as the cruelty inflicted on Rizana Nafeek shows.
There can be no greater endorsement of Ramanathan’s view than the hysterical response of the Sri Lankan Muslims. Massive tomes consisting of fake geneology and spurious theories have published to support the Arab origins. Ramanathan has been angrily vilified well into the 21st century. Anger often follows an uncomfortable truth.
The angry authors include ILM Abdul Azeez, the President of the Moors Union, who claimed in the Muslim Guardian in 1907 that “Most of the ancestors of the Ceylon Moors were, according to tradition, members of the family of Hashim.” He did not explain how the vast majority of the Ceylon Moors do not speak a single word of Arabic, but overwhelming speak Tamil. Other specious claims have been made by irate academics such as Qadri Ismail and Mirak Raheem. These include the curious claim that the Arab traders spoke Tamil because they married Tamil women.
The anti-Halal campaign of the Bodhu Bala Sena has put the Muslims of Sri Lanka back in the spotlight. Former Ambassador Izeth Hussain has written in the Island recently that the Sri Lankan Muslims are the most servile minority in the country.
Izeth Hussain is correct. Sri Lankan Muslims have prostrated themselves in front of the communal Sinhalese politicians. Sir Razik Fareed voted for Sinhala to be made the sole official language in 1944 and 1956. In 1948-9, Dr. MCM Kaleel and Dr. TB Jayah, who were both in the Cabinet, supported the disenfranchisement of the Indian community. In August 1983, Dr Kaleel, then President of All Ceylon Muslim League, justified the massacre as a legitimate response to the Tamil demand for separate state. He objected to the walkout in the Indian Parliament by the Indian Muslim League, who were protesting against the anti-Tamil pogrom. Dr. Kaleel was blind to the fact that many Muslims were killed in the 1983 as they were mistaken for Tamils.
The Sri Lankan Muslim are neither fish nor fowl. The Arabs have rejected them. The Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus are aghast at their specious claims.
Hence, it is high time that the Sri Lankan Muslims embrace their Tamil ethnicity. Tamil is the oldest spoken language in the Indian subcontinent. Islamic Tamil literature has a thousand year heritage. Tamil is the most secular language in this region. There is a vast body of Tamil literature that embraces Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism and Islam. Ramanathan was an apostle of peace and unity. Following him will bring unity to this island and end the misgivings of this complexed minority.
Ain / May 6, 2013
We are all the children of Adam and Eve, that’s all matters. Please learnt to live as the children of one parents. All these conflicts are created by the so called leaders and their under hands for their survival. Please, all of us don’t fall for their machinations, think and live well as the children of one father and mother.
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Netizen / May 6, 2013
In fact, we are all descendants of an African primate called Lucy.
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Leela / May 6, 2013
Ain,
Don’t be silly and blame political leaders. Read the Bibles and the Koran. All the worst murders in history, be it slaughter and massacre under crusades or tortures and persecution and killings under heresy or vandalism and beheading under spreading of Islam was forced upon on the indolent and the naive by irresponsible and venomous utterances by the prophets or the messengers whose words are written as the word of the so-called Creator God.
It seems Jews and Christians are ashamed of the nasty verses in their Bibles and seemingly have ignored them as if it is not there any more but Muslims cannot do so for if they ignore the nasty verses in the Koran, there will be nothing left in it.
Leela
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Ceylon Moor / May 6, 2013
This could be your work too Leela.
You are a BBS member and an ardent Gota supporter.
I doubt this Rifat Halim very much, some choosen a Muslim name similar to Rauf Hakim.
Besides Ponnampalam Ramanathan was a ponna fellow.
We dont give a shit.
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fazli meezan / May 7, 2013
@ceylon moor
Love your “Ponnampalam Ramanathan was a ponna fellow.
We dont give a shit.”
Heh, heh…..
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Lion / May 7, 2013
Fazeel I never thought truth heart so much.
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M.Sivananthan / May 7, 2013
Do you know what is “PONNA” used by Sri lankans? It is a Tamil word “PONNU” means “GIRLISH”. But PON means GOLD in Tamil.
Pon.Ramanathan dead and gone but his words are still there to tell who you are.
What the hell the Muslims contributed to Sri Lanka?
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Goraka / May 8, 2013
What the hell the Muslims contributed to Sri Lanka? ask Sivananthan.
Here is the answer:
“TO BE MURDERED BY YOUR TAMIL BROTHERS WHEN THEY WERE PRAYING”
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Lion / May 7, 2013
Leela has said what actually in Qur’an and bible and proved what Leela was saying.Ceylon Moor must prove his point instead of accusing Leela as a Gotha supporter.
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Jamal / May 9, 2013
The alleged mountebank Leela states:
All the verses that Leela and his henchman Lester, have quoted about killing etc were taken out of context. In some case they were only part of the verse. In other cases the verses that followed or the verse that preceded should have been quoted but it was not done. Why? because it would have exposed their real intention to mislead and blacken Islam. They appear to be like naked men with their hands crossed to hide their private parts. In any case the verses were revealed when there was a war taking place between the non-believers (Meccans supported by the treacherous Jews who pretended to support the Prophet but were in connivance with the enemy) One would hardly expect the Muslims to give in to the marauding enemy whose only purpose was to blot the Muslims from the face of the Earth. Hence the order and encouragement to fight. I will quote an example. Take the following verse
Leela and Lester aka Laurel and Hardy will only quote 2:191 And kill them wherever you find them Where is the Intellectual Honesty in these miserable miscreants?
Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
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M.I.M Noordeen / May 6, 2013
What this author has said (whoever he may be) is the actual fact. We Muslims of Sri Lanka should not be ashamed by telling the truth about our origin. I have written a similar article to Sri Lanka Guardian long time ago under the heading “Lankan Muslims and their freedom of choice/expression”.
The Arabs as distinct from the ‘Sonakar’ were known in South India as ‘Thulukar’. Those who adopted the religion of the Arabs in the Tamil country came to be referred to as ‘Sonakar’ irrespective of their racial origin. The fact is that Islam had come to South India direct from the country of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the 7th century, while it reached North India much later. The ‘Sonakar’ were not Arabs but Malabars/Tamils (Hindus) from the Malabar and Coromandal coasts of South India who were the earliest converts to Islam in South India. Writers such as Humayun Kabir (Indian Heritage) has pointed out that the majority of the Muslims of South India are converts to Islam (from Hinduism) and not Arabs.
The Sri Lankan Moors (commonly referred to as Muslims) are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country’s total population. The bulk of the ‘Moors’ in Sri Lanka, as it has been amply demonstrated again and again, are not Arabs but ‘Sonakar’ who came from South India. This has been testified to by Marco Polo in the 13th century and by Barbosa in his account of the island in 1519. Every Moor village from South-West to North-East carries with it a Tamil name (Peruveli aka Beruwela, Sammanturai, etc), a pointer to the fact that the original Moor occupants had hailed from the Tamil country in South India and spoke from the beginning the Tamil language, whatever their present ‘nationality’, ‘race’ and ‘language’ might be. The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic customs and the South Indian language/culture. There are other similar Muslim settlements in the North-Eastern sea-board, viz. Kuchaveli, Nilaveli, Uppuveli, etc. These “velis” occupied by the Muslims were all settlements along the sea coast, while the cultivable lands they occupied they called in Tamil Ur e.g. Eravur, Nindavur, Muthur, Puthur etc. The fact is that the Muslims who settled down in the South-Western and North-Eastern Coasts of Sri Lanka as traders were all Tamil speaking Muslims from the Malabar and Coromandal coasts of South India.
There is hardly any difference between ‘Ceylon Moors’ and ‘Coast Moors’. The difference between ‘Ceylon Moors’ and ‘Coast Moors’ is, the ‘Ceylon Moors’ represent the earlier Muslim settlers in Ceylon from South India. The ‘Coast Moors’ consists of those who came recently to Ceylon from South India for trade (during the colonial period). Other than Ceylon Moors and Coast Moors there are also other Muslim communities in Sri Lanka such as the Malays/Javas, the Borahs, and the Memens.
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Nabil / May 6, 2013
I have heard my grandfather telling that his grandparents came to Sri Lanka from Kerela in South India. We also had many relatives in Tamil Nadu. The famous delicacy that the SL Muslims enjoy called wattalappam is actually a Kerela food known as Wattil appam. It was not the Arabs but the Tamil/Malayalam speaking South Indian Muslims who came to SL as traders. However I totally disagree what this writer says about low caste Hindus. Of course, the South Indian Hindus may have got converted to Islam but it is definitely not the low caste (nobody has ever said this before).
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Mohd Rafi / May 7, 2013
Nabil,
There were many Muslim families, for example the Markar family (Bakeer Markar, Markan Marker and so on) are all from Kerela. Markar is a common name in Kochin / Ernakulam area in Kerala. Even the name ‘Maraikkar’ is actually a malyalee name.
It was the Cochin Markar who traded in cinnamon with Sri Lanka and sold them to the Portuguese in Cochin and Calicut (Kozhikode). They are the ones who took the ‘Parangiya to Kotte’ when the Portuguese wanted to meet the King of Kotte and you know how the Parangiya went to Kotte.
Wattilappam is a Kerala dish introduced to Sri Lanka by the Malayaalee Muslims. Since then it has got modified in Sri Lanka and certain amount of its tastes has changed. Even the banana known today as Koolikutu in Sinhala (Kappal palam in Tamil because it came from Kerela by ship) was originally from Kozhikode, Kerela introduced by the Malayaalee Muslims.
The Sri Lankan Muslims used to practice martial arts called ‘Cheena Adi.’ They still continue it in places like Trincomalee, another evidence of Malayalee influence among Sri Lankan Muslims.
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Mohideen Bawa / May 8, 2013
Very true!
I work in the mid-East and I have visited kerela many times (have many friends). The strange thing I observed in Calicut (Kozhikode) in the Malabar region is the Muslim community who also call themselves Malayalees are identical to the Sri Lankan Moors. Their skin color, features, dress code, food, traditions, culture, marriage ceremonies, etc, etc are all ditto (very identical). The only difference is they speak Malayalam with the same accent like how we (SL Moors) speak Tamil. Only thing is they are not aware of their history, they are not sure if the Arab merchants/traders/missionaries came and settled in Malabar and married their women or they converted the Hindus into Muslims. However they call themselves Malayalees and they also have a Malayalam place name along with their Muslim names (eg: Koozhimoola Abdul Aziz). I have not visited Tamil Nadu yet so I cannot comment about the Muslim community there.
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manisekaran / May 8, 2013
The muslims in TN and kerala are same and they do marriages between them. I see many similarity and take for exmaple Dr. APJ abdulkalam belongs to marakkaiyar group of muslim, identical to Srilanka muslim
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Siva / May 7, 2013
Out of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka, more than 90% are Moors (the Sinhalese call them Marakala/Thamby and the Tamils call them Sonakar) and their mother tongue is Tamil. Then comes the Malays/Javas from Malaysia/Indonesia who first landed and settled in Hambantota (the Sinhalese call them Hambankarayas or Hambayas) and they speak Malay/Java. Then comes a very few Memons and Boraas (commonly called Baai people) from North India/Pakistan who speak Urudu.
We know that the Portuguese (Vasco da Gama) first landed in Malabar/Kerela and then went to other places (including Sri Lanka). Similarly, the Arabs traders and Islam missionary first landed in Malabar/Kerela in the 7th Century. From there they penetrated to other parts of South India converting the Hindu Malayalees and Tamils into Islam/Muslims. All those Hindus of South India who got converted to Islam/Muslims were called Sonakar by the Tamils where as those Arab traders/missionaries were called Thulukar by the Tamils (they clearly differentiated the Arabs from the Hindu converts). A very few Arabs may have settled in South India and married the South Indian women but the majority of the South Indian Muslims do not have any blood relationship with the Arabs, they were simply converts. These same Sonakar were called Moors by the European colonials.
It was not the Arabs but the South Indian Tamil speaking Moors/ Sonakar who came and settled in Sri Lanka as Muslim traders. In Tamil Nadu the Sonakar are known as Muslim Tamils, in Kerela they are known as Malayalee Muslims. In Sri Lanka they found it was an advantage to remove the Tamil Muslim identity and call themselves as Arab settlers but still they could not remove their mother tongue (Tamil) to Arabic.
It is interesting to note that even though it is believed that the Moors first settled in Beruwela, the Arab traveler Ibn Batuta who visited the island in 1344 makes no mention of Beruwela (or any Muslim settlements) though it lay directly on his route from Galle to Colombo. The Moor settlement in Beruwela must have taken place only after 1344.
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The Professional / May 8, 2013
So Azath Salley was tryng to unite Tamil Hindus, Tamil Christians and “Tamil Islamists”?
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Suresh / May 7, 2013
Most of the comments here are only personal attacks against the writer Rifat Halim but only a very few are rational/logical and meaningful. When someone writes a controversial article as the above, we should be able to counter argue to disprove it with facts/evidence. Here unfortunately it is not happening, most of the readers are getting emotional and personally attacking and criticizing the writer.
Please leave the writer aside, let him be a member of BBS or a racist Tamil or whatever, what he has written here is an article, why don’t we challenge him and prove him wrong.
Please look for evidence to prove him wrong. If Pon Ramanathan has said something then what is the point in personally attacking him, instead try to prove him wrong with some solid arguments.
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Lester / May 9, 2013
Adam and Eve did not exist. The legend of Adam and Eve comes from a Sumerian fairy tale. Do you really think Allah revealed this fairy tale to Muhammed? The Zoroastrians also have an Adam and Eve fairy tale.
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Jamal / May 9, 2013
So what? If the human race originated from Adam and Eve and their story is recorded at some stage after them, then it only gives credence to the story. The Zoroastrian version may not be 100 per cent accurate. The bible version did give a more accurate picture. We believe the Quranic version is the most accurate as it was the last revelation from GOD. That is our belief. You are of course welcome to believe whatever your brother Satan whispers into your ears. The fact that the Quran mentions stories in the Bible should not trouble anyone since Muslims, Christians and Jews Believe in the same GOD, and the same Prophets. To claim the Quran was plaigarised is utter nonsense as any scholar ( does not include Lester the fraud) knows there are important differences which the Muslims say are corrections to the Bibilical version!
“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
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AYMAN / May 19, 2013
THE ORIGIN OF SINHALESE FROM SINHABAHU,VIA VIJAYA AND KUVENI TOO IS
LEGEND.THE MANY VISITS OF THE BUDDHA TO SRI LANKA IS LEGEND.
ALL THE THOUSANDS OF BUDDHA RELICS LEGEND,
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Nas / May 6, 2013
What a stupidity is this? Srilankan Muslims are mixture of many races. Some are Arab origins and many from Yemen. Morroco settled down here. We have a lots of evidence for this. Go to some coastal town like Galle, Berulawa and some inside towns see Inscrptions with Arabic letters dating with hijri calendar or Read Arabic history books like that of Ibn Batutha. Because of Ramanathan did know Arabic to know history of Arabs in SL it does not mean that Srilankan Muslims are not from Arab decentants. Arabs did not bring their wives when they came here but they married Sinhalese ladies. Do you need evidence read history.
We have Muslims who came from Malabar/ Indian Muslims / we have still Pakistnai origin Muslims/ we have still Afghanistan Muslims in Srilankan/ we have also Muslims who intermarried wi Tamils and singhale people. All these groups formed Srilankan Mulsims. You see different between Kathandudu Muslims and Tamil villages around them: you could see different in features and complex . of course some people embraced Islam from Tamil and Hnidus in India as well. After all Arab and all other race embraced Islam gradually in history after prophet was sent down by Almighty Allah as a last prophet in Arabia. Before that even Arabs were bowing down to stone and statues as all others do now. so what does matter in any sent if Srilankan Muslim were low/ cast or high cast. We know well how cast system work in India. Some even not allowed to enter temple and even some singhalese are not allowed to go in front line in some temple. But if you embrace Islam today from whichever cast or race you are you could in first row in any mosque at any time even in Maaka. It is Hindu descrimnation to divide humity into low and high cast: all have same blood and same biology . All hail from Adam and Eve. Best one among humanity is best one in the eye of God. It is shame in this modern world we talk about this cast system. I know well many low cast girls are married English people Do they see such cast when they marry ? It is babasrism of Indian culture. And soon it will disappear from Indian as slavery disappeared.
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Sun / May 6, 2013
Who is this writer ? Does anybody know more about him ?
His message is not clear to me by this article ? I guess they just want to hang lanken muslims under tamil community in order to make one single community, for what purpose ? There are also Sudanese and Somalians in those countries that speak arabic – do not they have arabic ethnicities ? As one of the commentators points out, lanken muslims should be a mixture of many in the course of the few hundreds years since their ancestors have migrated to lanka.
So are the Pakstanis and Bangaldesis, even if they call today Pakistanis and Bagaladesis respectively, they are both originally from India.
The same could be with Sinhalese too, going to be to the origin – then we the sinhalese are indians…. ? funny ? but the truth…
I thoguht muslims in general dont consider those caste systems. But the writer s contents tell us the contradictory views ?
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M.Sivananthan / May 6, 2013
Did the Muslims and Christians eliminate caste system in their 1200> years of rule in India? They never touch the subject but converted people to their religion.
Caste system is always followed in different forms. Can you tell Saudi Arabian Muslim = Sri lankan Muslim? All the converted Muslims are lower than Saudis or FAKIRS.
Try to marry a woman from S/Arabia. Then you will be beheaded in public. So, where is the equality in Islam?
In Sri lanka Kerala Muslims dont mix with the Muslims of Lanka.
Muslims always try to fool Hindus and others by mentioning Hindu caste system.
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David Blacker / May 6, 2013
There was no such nation of India before British rule, so it is incorrect to say that Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are originally from India. In reality, there were kingdoms such as Bengal and various tribes. It was the British that created India as a single nation.
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manisekaran / May 6, 2013
For thousand years, it was as one united kingdom under many rulers, like kushans, gupta and maurya and later under many mughal rulers except kingdoms below vidhya hills. So it is incorrect to say that only britsh annexed all part. They integrated few kingdoms from south which were never under any rule from north kings.
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David Blacker / May 16, 2013
Nonsense. India was a large group of variously ruled kingdoms that occasionally came under more powerful rulers who conquered their neighbours, or invaded from outside (such as the Moghuls and the British). There was never a single sovereign nation known as India before independence from Britain. Northern India was once part of a larger Moghul Empire which included territories outside India, but that didn’t mean India was a sovereign nation. I didn’t say that Britain annexed all of India, but that they created India as a nation. Before that it was just a territory with large portions occasionally ruled by one empire.
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Sama / May 7, 2013
History of Bangladesh:
For centuries, the area that is now Bangladesh was part of the Bengal region of India. It was ruled by the same empires that ruled central India, from the Maurya (321 – 184 BCE) to the Mughal (1526 – 1858 CE). When the British took control of the region and created their Raj in India (1858-1947), Bangladesh was included.
The Partition of India
During the negotiations surrounding independence and the partition of British India, predominantly-Muslim Bangladesh was separated from majority-Hindu India. In the Muslim League’s 1940 Lahore Resolution, one of the demands was that the majority-Muslim sections of the Punjab and Bengal would be included in Muslim states, rather than remaining with India. After communal violence broke out in India, some politicians suggested that a unified Bengali state would be a better solution. This idea was vetoed by the Indian National Congress, led by the Mahatma Gandhi.
In the end, when British India gained its independence in August 1947, the Muslim section of Bengal became a non-contiguous part of the new nation of Pakistan. It was called “East Pakistan.”
East Pakistan was in an odd position, separated from Pakistan proper by a 1,000-mile stretch of India. It was also separated from the main body of Pakistan by ethnicity and language; Pakistanis are primarily Punjabi and Pashtun, as opposed to the Bengali East Pakistanis.
For twenty-four years, East Pakistan struggled under financial and political neglect from West Pakistan. Political unrest was endemic in the region, as military regimes repeatedly overthrew democratically elected governments. Between 1958 and 1962, and from 1969 to 1971, East Pakistan was under martial law.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 7, 2013
Sun, this guy could have been a descendant of the Planet of Apes, if one could judge his idiotic behavior.!
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AYMAN / May 24, 2013
I TOO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHO THIS WRITER IS.
ONCE I READ THE FIRST PARA I DID NOT BOTHER TO READ HIS “HOGWASH”
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M.Sivananthan / May 6, 2013
Muslims ruled India for more than 800 years. Did any Muslim king marry any low caste woman?
Few years ago a Pakistani low caste girl was gang raped by the order of the Sharia court in Panjab because her brother had sex with a HIGH caste Muslim woman.
So, dont bluff!
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 7, 2013
Siva, its just a another foul deed by the ignorant people doctrined to believe what others think is write. In this case ‘sharia court ‘ is doubtful but could be a ‘panchayat’ which will twist and bend rulings as per se. As it still happens in India,Pakistan and Bangladesh, entrusted to some glorified village heads.
‘ Muslims’ were ruled by Indian Kings'(how many Kings?) during the pre-British era.. I don’t know whether they married any low caste women, but certainly would have ‘banged’ many a caste during those days with their wealth and idling strength below their waist, like the many Kings,Presidents,Prime Minister, Government aides and the super rich of today do in ample ways.To put it to you lightly…. you would two ways you can put that down when its up… restrain with calm or release without morals!
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M.Sivananthan / May 7, 2013
Pakistan is a Muslim country and still practice CASTE system. But you Muslims cry against Hindus for CASTE.Dont cry Panchayat and Sharia court because both are same in a MUSLIM country!
“Banging” created Muslims and not the others. Read Salman Rushdy!
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 8, 2013
Siva, In Pakistan,India and Bangladesh the Christians do exist.They practice their religion and live in peace until some loose cannons provoke ethnic hatred and problems.
Rushdy is crap… ever read his books and learn’t anything?
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M.Sivananthan / May 8, 2013
In Pakistan the Christians/Hindus are now forced to get converted and to follow Islamic code of dress. Why?
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thambi / May 6, 2013
haha here we go again about the supposed Arab ancestry. this is like the mythical mahavamsa that perpetuates north indian origin to sinhalese. please go serve the sinhalese masters like a good muslim.
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Siva / May 6, 2013
The mother tongue of Sri Lankan Muslims (Moors) is Tamil and nothing but Tamil. The Malay Muslims of SL speak Malay, the Mamen Muslims of SL speak Urudu but the majority Moors speak Tamil. If the Arabs came to SL and took Sinhala women as their wives, the mother tongue should have been either Sinhala or Arabic but how come it became Tamil? It is an obvious fact that the SL Muslims (Moors) are actually South Indians (Tamils and Malayalees).
Muslim in SL are historically known as Thoppi piratti (hat flippers). Everyone knows that the Muslims in SL were wearing a pro Sinhala hat and their political leaders are still doing it for the sake of profit. We know how they backstabbed the Tamils to get material benefits from the Sinhalese. It is a well known fact that many Sri Lankan Muslims perfected the art of flipping the hat whenever they can make a buck. If you do not know your people go and ask your elders. With all these, the Tamil political leaders are still voicing for the Muslims in parliament while all your Muslim politicians are keeping mum.
Prophet Mohammed would have been an Arab but the SL Muslims are Profit Mohammeds from South India who will flip their hats for profits.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Rifat Halim,…. How you arrived at this theory ‘sri-lankan muslims are low caste hindu converts and not arabs descendants’beats me. Even in this age of advance science and DNA theory you will not know what caste you nor i belong to.So, you have literally insulted the muslims of Srilanka virtually by your cock-eyed theory or belief.
Next,you will have to clarify whether we were born out of an incest relation, since Adam and Eve were the first man and woman!virtually a father and mother!
A.R. Rahaman was from the south,hence a tamil.Benazir Bhutto was from Sind, hence a Sindi.The large Countries, unlike our tear drop size, have huge provinces and those who came from them identified themselves as Bengali,Sindi,Gujarati,marathi etc but all are Indians or Pakistanis or bangladeshis’. Ancient records manifest that the origin of Srilanka muslims could be the outcome of the liason, mind you liason of the arab traders and sailors who came to trade( not that it mattters a pence for me) Whether they bred their breed in Greater India and Greater China en route to Sailan/Ceylon/lanka is history….. in matters like this.. only a mother can vouch for her offsprings legitimate father(no pun intended please).
The Arabs are a tribal nation, with all their wealth and fame they still live in a closed society,why should they encourage any predators who will only take away what they own.
When God(Allah) created mankind he made them equal….mankind opted for divisions and created caste,creed and mischief.
all politicians of Ceylon/Sri lanka A-Z were and are never of the virtous kind… that’s ploitics, please don’t make comparisons on the dead… they living,yes you have the right.( Finally, i stand to be corrected if i have erred.)
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M.Sivananthan / May 6, 2013
Gujarati Muslims or Bengali Muslims never claim they are the mix of Arabs.
Only SL Muslims tells they are mix of Arabs and Sinhalese but 99.99% speak Tamil. How that happen? Arabic + Sinhala = Tamil? This is the real sign of Muslim political opportunism in Sri lanka to fool the majority Sinhalese!
Muslims of Tamil nadu never say they have Arab connection.
All Sri lankans are mixed in some way. Sinhalese claim they are ARYAN. If that is true how they dont have the COLOR of Aryans (German or Iraniyan)?
In a nation of mixed people what is the point of promoting foolish religious theories and practices and separation?
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manisekaran / May 6, 2013
All Indian muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils were descendants of Indua valley civilization which were later distorted at the invasion of Aryan. Stupids still they fight at each other due to false history.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Mr.Sivanathan, Any idea of the origins of muslims in India today ?
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M.Sivananthan / May 7, 2013
Harems! Read Salaman Rushdy!
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Citizen / May 7, 2013
Mohamed Fazly Ilyas,
Some of the Muslims are from Afghanistan. It is these Afghan Muslims from the East of Tamil Nadu later settled down in Kandy, who in 1915 were instrumental for the communal riots between the Sinhalese and the Muslims., and Sir P.Ramanathan had come forward to rescue the Sinhalese. This is history.
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AYMAN / May 19, 2013
According to Chossudovsky, the “war on terrorism” is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The “war on terrorism” is a war of conquest. Globalization is the final march to the “New World Order”, dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.
September 11, 2001 provides a justification for waging a war without borders. Washington’s agenda consists in extending the frontiers of the American Empire to facilitate complete U.S. corporate control, while installing within America the institutions of the Homeland Security State
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Siva, read and learn the subject, before you think of voicing your bull thoughts.
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Siva / May 6, 2013
Go to the middle-east and see for yourself how the Arabs treat you. The Arabs treat the Indian and Sri Lankan Muslims as dirt. If you tell those Arabs that Arab blood flows in your veins they will jump up and down and laugh from both ends. The Arabs in the mid-east know very well that the SL and Indian Muslims are pure converts and have nothing to do with Arabs except that they share their religion.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 7, 2013
Siva, I have spent a good many years in Saudi Arabia. The arabs have never troubled me because i never questioned my lineage or theirs.Left alone, they are the most peaceful people, but you go and try to mess with their wealth and morals they will react as violent or meaningfully, like all other citizens of other Countries whose priorities are in safeguarding their Nation.
Its your wayward brotheren that who are asking for a slice and a major one of that of a peaceful Country of Ours. I have and have know many a peaceful tamil but a terrorist is a terroist, no matter what community he belongs to and that does not give him rights to speak for others of his kind.
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Citizen / May 7, 2013
Mohamed Fazly Ilyas,
Terrorist is a terrorist – this is agreed. But the majority of the people who attacked the Twin Tower are of Arabic origin. Safe-guarding their nation does not necessarily mean that other cities should be attacked, at a time several foreign national have considered those places are their homes.
‘Its your wayward brotheren that who are asking for a slice’ – this is a matter of debate. When the legitimate aspirations are not met and if it is oppressed, then it gives rise to the birth of insurgency & eventually culminated to terrorism. The best solution would have been Federalism. But the Muslims never supported it. They were cunning. Neverthless the Tamils have to voice for the poor girl Rizana who was executed.
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manisekaran / May 7, 2013
True
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Siva / May 8, 2013
mohamed fazly ilyas
Your response has nothing to do with what I have commented. You tell the Arabs in the Mid-East that you have Arab blood running in your veins and they will only laugh at you.
Citizen
The Tamils have to voice not only for the poor girl Rizana who was executed, they are also voicing in Parliment (Sambandan and Sumandiran) for the poor SL Muslims who are being attacked by the GOSL created BBS thugs while all the Muslim ministers/MPs are keeping silent.
If Assad Sally was in the government he also would have kept quite. Now, since he is not in parliment he became a hero among the Muslims.
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Lester / May 9, 2013
If that is true how they dont have the COLOR of Aryans (German or Iraniyan)?
Have you heard of albino Indians? There is a theory that says Northern Europeans are really albino Indians.
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Rohan / May 6, 2013
“A.R. Rahman was from the south,hence a tamil”….?
Aiyo…A R Rehaman (A. S. Dileep Kumar) was a Tamil Hindu, son of Rajagopala Kulasekara Shekhar and Kasthuri.’ The version of Islam followed by Rahman is considered haram by the strict Mulims.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Many a kumar,kapoor and kannans have embraced Islam. If AR is a former tamil or hindu it does not matter as he practices is religion. You last sentence does not make sense.
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M.Sivananthan / May 7, 2013
A.R.Rahman is a SUFI Muslim. But Taliban rejects Music!
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Citizen / May 8, 2013
M.Sivanathan,
You can add this also. Knowing A.R.Rahuman is a SUFI Muslim, his Charity was partly financed by Y.Ratheeshan, main architecht of the Lebara Group. Tamils have the habit of helping others who engages in Charity.
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Rifkha Roshanaara / May 7, 2013
A R Rahman is a pride for majority Muslims all across the world ! And it’s a well known fact that he is a very pious, righteous, disciplined and patriotic Muslim.
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AYMAN / May 24, 2013
OBVIOUSLY HE HAS ARRIVED AT THIS FROM HIS GENEALOGY.
HIS FAMILY MUST HAVE COME FROM THE SAKKILIARS
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Wuliangguobinjiu / May 6, 2013
Islam was first spread to Indonesia by the Guajarati’s.
The author is right to say these low caste Tamils were converted to Islam. Due to the India/Pakistan conflict low caste Dr Ambedkar wanted all the low caste to embrace Buddhism.
Sri lankan muslims to date been living off the miseries of Tamils in general Now its pay back time at the hands of the sinhala buddhist.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Wu……. you too are another misguided missile!
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ONE / May 6, 2013
Long live Israel down with the Rajaporkistan regime.
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Sun / May 6, 2013
Had Rizana been of Arab ethinicity, would they have stopped beheading poor girl ?
That means their punishments are ethincity biased ones. These are beyond being primitive. With all respect to their religion, but I find their punishments are absurd. Lanken state should stop sending any housemaids to those countries. If adequate training programs are provided to lanken youth, there are developed nations that would hire lanken skill workers (nurses and IT personnels)at any time. Proper training programs can open the door for that. They the authorities should have to stop sending anyone to those countries without adequate tranings. Records prove that there are just housemaids that left to those countries and now spend their lives on unbelievable sorta of camps. So long politicians would not pay wholehearted interests about own folks – giving them due values as our people, nothing can change. Poor people have to sacrifice their lives being victimized to those oil rich but socially abused arab men and women. Statistics prove many of the arab people are not educated enough to get on with other folks. They treat with aggression to their servants. There islam is being used as a religion, just to cover all these. Islam itself is not a harmful religion, but the muslims of varied kinds behave according to them tarnish the image of the islam.
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J.Muthu / May 6, 2013
Hooray this mongrel find new stupid invention…..Eliminate and kill every tamil in shit lanka, problem solved…peace will be back for ever…good luck…
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piranha / May 6, 2013
Mr Halim’s claim may be true. The muslims of Sri lanka look more like tamils than arabs. The claim of muslims that they are of a different ethnicity appears to be spurious and it may be motivated by politics – a desire to distance themselves from the more assertive and troublesome tamils and curry favour with the Sinhalese governments in power. The Sinhalese governments have cottoned on to this and are treating them with contempt as seen by the government sponsored BBS actions against them.I am no expert on this but this is my humble take on it.
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AYMAN / May 24, 2013
HALIM LOOKS DRAVIDIAN
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chamchaa / May 6, 2013
I think u are talking about typical communalism and racism which is happening in Gujarat and killed so many muslim in your mother state of Gujarat. If you do not understand Dravidian Language in our mosques, you should join Modi’s temple and worship with him. Do not stay in Sri Lanka and redicule Muslims and complain about Tamil language.
Do you know the original language of the Muslims of Sri Lanka?
That is Arabic Tamil!!!!!!!. You may not know this, because these language was in practice before your forefathers landed in Sri Lanka by Kallaththonis from India for fearing their lives after partition of India.
Thank you MADAYA.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
“should join Modi’s temple and worship with him”
kutta chamche,its Modi the accountable and transparent who is being wooed by the west to be India’s next PM.
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lionel / May 6, 2013
What a load of rubbish!
His ignorance is very clear in his very first sentence. Saudi Authorities let go scott free a lot of criminals of European nationality. Then this must be proof that the Europeans and Arabs are of same ethnicity.
No matter how hard one attempts to portray himself as what he in reality is not, he or she always fail. The author is very unlikely to be a Muslim. His language closely resembles that of an Islamophobe!
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JimSofty / May 6, 2013
What I read here is that as Sinhala Buddhists neglected both Tamils and Hindus were converted to Islam and christianity.
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shahran / May 6, 2013
this article is like talking with out knowing the facts.. Moors are a race in sri lanka as same as malays, bohras or memons i’m pretty sure your a gujarati descendant most likely to be a memon, name me a single person calling themselves as gujaratis they call themselves memons. well if you look at the history arabs came down and settled in srilanka marrying the local women and adapting the local language and culture. muslims in sri lanka are known as sri lankan muslims. people don”t go around and call us selves moors or arab descendants, moors is the name given for the muslims in srilanka. if you speak to a tamil person with a different religious background, you’ll find the different as some of the arabic words have been integrated into the tamil muslims speak. and what ur saying from ramanathan he wanted muslims to come under tamil as it will have a different impact on the country’s politics. correct me if i have stated anything wrong.
P.s what about the muslim weddings does it follow the christian method of conducting it. as there suits and dress even though some weddings men and women are separated in to different sections. in those days they used to wear a sarong and blazer over it.
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Safa / May 6, 2013
Caste, Race, Colour, Language is not an issue in Islam. We resepect all in the same way. In the mosque or during the pilgrimage or in fasting no discrimination on the grounds of caste, race. So this so called research to discect a lump of excrement is a complete waste of time.
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Bannon / May 6, 2013
Most of us Sri Lankans have always thought that the Muslims -were descendants of Arabs.But in reality ,the so called Arab descendants are a few,as evidenced by their appearance,also because Lankan Muslims are descended from India/Pakistan,Afhanistan,Indonesia,who are non Arabs.
Just like Sri Lankan Christians who were originally Buddhist or Hindhu,the majority of local Mohammeddans(Muslims) are of Sri Lanakan origin.It is also conceivable that poorer Tamil community members were converted to Islam.
Most of members of the Muslim community speak Tamil,unlike Lankan Tamils,and this is likened to an extent to the difference between spoken Tamil and Malayalam. Hence we have a Muslim -Tamil dialect in Sri Lanka.
It is more than probable that most Muslims were always Tamil speakers,because they continue to speak Tamil(as their mother tongue) for many generations even while living in predominantly Sinhala speaking areas.Hence only a minority of Muslims would be of Arab descent.
Trust none are offended by my view.
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Fazli Sameer / May 6, 2013
My Y-DNA test shows that my ancestors came from the Middle East
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Malayali origin mohamed V / May 6, 2013
Fazli,
Who the F… Cares…..!!
Your desperate attempts to source your DNA to random ” Arab ” sperm
Is seen on the net!
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AYMAN / May 24, 2013
FAZLI YOU OPENED YOUR MOUTH AND PUT BOTH FOOT IN.
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Piranha / May 6, 2013
Then you are a kallathoni. Only joking.
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Sama / May 8, 2013
Yeah then we need to be really careful – having seen middle east Arabs while for transit not once many a times, I thought most of them in Qutar,,Dubai and Doha are not civilised enough to meet the international standards. But I considered lanken Muslims as highly civilzed ones – but not studying their origins properly.. just seeing the manner they get on with their fellow ones in the country for the many many years we are known.
F
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thivya / May 6, 2013
Mr.Halim,
Very good article. The Sri Lankan Muslims have been trying so hard to disassociate any connection whatsoever with Tamils by creating Arab genealogy, you came and dismantled everything in one article. That is actually funny, actually the Tamil speaking Sri Lankan Muslims know very well about their Tamil/ South Indian ancestry but they are reluctant to admit that because joining with Tamils in Sri Lanka is not profitable in any way.
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oopla / May 6, 2013
well said sir. thanks
Much of Tamil Nadu muslims are happy to be Tamil too
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Senguttuvan / May 6, 2013
When some of us advance the reality which Dr. Rifat Halim confirms here that Lankan Muslims are, in the very large number, from the littoral cost of South India – we are reviled and called names. Language and physical features – and indeed truth – are deliberately ignored to advance the dubious theory local Muslims are of Arabic origin. While Halim’s recent articles are accepted as gospel truth, from now on he may will be under attack from the Muslim extreme side.
BTW, music maestro from Chennai A.R. Rahuman is a born Hindu
of Mudaliar stock. The family converted to Islam for reasons connected with illness to a family member/s. His mother is said to have Muslim ancestry.
But notwithstanding all this, the Muslims of Ceylon/Sri Lanka have been a peaceful, law-abiding, deeply religious community who contributed to the cultural, educational, professional and other positive features of the composite Nation’s good for a long time.
It was only recently certain external factors brought in some causes for division. This, I like to think, is now quietly receding into the background. And that is welcome in the interest of both the Muslims and the country.
Senguttuvan
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Nizam / May 6, 2013
I agree with the writer. Ceylon Moors are now called Sri Lanka Muslims which is absolutely wrong and a mistake. Any race, be it Moor, Burgher, Englishman, American, Arab, Sinhalese, Indian or whoever, follows Islam is a called a Muslim. Moors mean moors and not Muslims. Malays in Sri Lanka follow Islam and therefore, they are part of Muslims. There are Malays who follow Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity in Malaysia besides majority Malays who follow Islam and can all of them be called Muslims? In Sri Lanka, it is a ploy of Moor politicians as they feel ashamed of calling Moor because they come from nowhere, either Arab or any other race. Moor is not a race even. They speak someone’s language. They can’t claim any country of origin. They didn’t have a country and a King. Nevertheless, they chose Islam as their religion. Being called Sri Lanka Muslims, they have deprived the rights of Malay Muslims whom people consider as Moors. Malays are a different and a strong ethnic group respected by the people in the past and present. This trend must change. We should call Ceylon Moor, a Ceylon Moor or Sri Lankan Moor. Malay, a Malay or Sri Lankan Malay as in the past.
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Ahmed / May 6, 2013
Then how come some Muslims are very fare?
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Ceylon Moor / May 6, 2013
Simple, thats becos our forefather were Moors so we are fare and good looking and Rifat Halim looks like ponnaRamanathan becos ha ha ha you know why.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
Islam is not a religion of the subcontinent.
The Parsi’s (Indo Europeans) were the original folk of Iran not Muslims.
The Mughal conquest of India makes the low caste converts fair not the pseudo Aryan link.
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thambi / May 7, 2013
some tamils and sinhalese are fair too. are you now going to come up with a european/arab ancestry to the entire race?
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AYMAN / May 24, 2013
THEY USE “FAIR AND LOVELY”
YOUR SPELLING IS NOT CORRECT
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Amerasiri / May 6, 2013
The Natives and Religions of Sri Lanka
Sinhala Buddhists Monk Mahanama and Tamil Hindus and Racism
1. A fraction of Sinhalese Buddhists now are racists. They were NOT racists to begin with. They were TAUGHT by Monk Mahanama to be racists with MYTHS written to Mahawamsa. This was perpetuated later on by other monks and other racists. In fact, DNA analysis of the so-called Sinhalese will show that they are not much different genetically from the Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhalese_people
2. Sri Lanka was originally Animist, Hindu and Jain with Veddah, Yakka and Naga people. Even Vijaya and the other immigrants were either Jain or Hindu. Even Lord Buddha’s parents were Hindu.
3. Monk Mahanama and other monks used the kings, and the kings used the monks, to reinforce each other’s position and hegemony and promoted Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism. This has nothing to do with Buddhism. Like Arab Nationalism and Islam.
4. Buddhism and racism became rallying points for the monks and kings. This monk-king axis has nothing to do with achieving Nirvana and rebirth, which are all MYTHS.
Studies looking at the origin of the Sinhalese have been contradictory. Older studies suggest a predominantly Sri Lankan Tamil contribution followed by a significant Bengali contribution with no North Western Indian contribution,[42][43] while more modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil and North Western Indian (Gujarati & Punjabi) contribution.[44][45][46] Multiple studies have found no significant genetic difference between the Sinhalese and the three other major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka (Sri Lankan Tamil, Indian Tamil and Sri Lankan Moor).[43][47][48][49][50][51]
It is debatable whether the Sri Lankan population have genetic links to Far East Asian populations however due to their close links to North East India, there is a likelihood of some traces of East Asian genes.[52]
Original Natives were Vedda, Naga and Yakka, who came from South India.
Veddahs were the First to arrive in Lanka, like the Australian Aborigines and the Native America Indians, After they left East Africa about 70,000 years ago, Yes, the Veddahs are the Original Natives.
Everybody else is an Illegal, Kallathonis.
That includes the Subsequent Migration of Dravidian (Tamil) Hindus and Dravidian Tamil Janins from South India.
That includes the Kalinga-Orissa-Bengali who were Hindus and Jains.
Later Dravidian Tamils.
Later Malayalees.
Later Buddhists.
Later Muslims, the ethnic stock is actually a mixture of Middle Eastern traders who were trading with Sri Lanka before the advent of Islam, called “Yonaka”, and these foreign traders who were mostly Middle Eastern converted to Islam, and got absorbed to both South India and Sri Lanka. So the gene pool of Sri Lanka Muslims contain Middle Easterners, South Indians, native Sinhala, and others. However, it is likely a large percentage of this pool is South Indian, but is not exclusively South Indian.
Later Portuguese
Later Dutch
Later Malays
Later English
Later Estate Tamils.
All these arrivals have one thing in common. Myths.
However, one good thing happened. The genes became diversified, and created a more healthy population, instead of too many birth defects due to inbreeding.
Myths of Rebirth, Nirvana, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory etc.
The monks, priests and mullahs exploited the people, in order for them to stay in power and have hegemony over the people.
In Sri Lanka, Monk Mahanama with his myths tat are being believed by many is the cause of the problem.
It is really sad, that Lanka did not stay Native Veddah all these years.
Religion is the Opium of the masses-Karl Marx. How true today.
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manisekaran / May 6, 2013
This is the truth.
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Malayali origin mohamed V / May 6, 2013
Well said,Sir.
A learned gentleman talking sense .
The author should take a lesson from
After forfeiting his Dr. title.
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Kennath / May 7, 2013
and you beleive greater myths of failed Karl-marks whoes theories has been rejected by all developed nations. You reject Mahavamsha coz you have a mal informed education about history and archeology. Every places mentioned in mahavansha has been prooved by stone scripts and archeological excavations. probably your beloved karl marks didn’t know this when he was writing his Bull.. to secure white supremacy in the world socio political erena.
Mahavamsha is not only written by Ven.. mahanama, it was written time to time by later writers who lived in those eras, so its a clear myth to rejects its claims as hypothetical made-up stories. This is done mostly by people who hasn’t read mahavamsha themselves. On the otherhand when someone wants to challenge the Sinhala Buddhist civilization and the ownership of this Island the first opponant they come acros is Mahavamsha. coz its a written, proven established fact of the civilization of this country. So they starts to condemn it as you do. But they couldn’t go beyond condemning it as Mahavamsha’s claims are rock solid than their madeup stories about another way of history.
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Amerasiri / May 7, 2013
Kennath – May 7, 2013 Wrote:
“And you beleive greater myths of failed Karl-marks whoes theories has been rejected by all developed nations. You reject Mahavamsha coz you have a mal informed education about history and archeology”
Comments: Stick to facts. Call a spade a spade. To say the grandfather of Vijaya a lion, claim Lord Buddha landed in Lanka or Born in Lanka, and demonize the original natives, is myth, not fact, like Lanka belongs to Buddhists etc. These myths were added to history. What happened to the original Jains and Hindus? Why is that thete is hardly any Tamil Buddhists? Mahanama?
Kennth, here is a Quick Summary of Mahawansa. It is better to stick to facts.
Mahanama re-wrote Mahawansa in 5th Century AD.
Two Parts.
a) History from earlier sources
b) Mahanama Myths. Example: Grandfather of Vijaya was a lion?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project
HERE IS SOME SPECULATION: You Decide if true or Not True, based on data.
Most taken from Chulawansa and other historical documents, that is considered to be accurate, EXCEPT the Mahanama MYTHS, which he introduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavamsa
The first printed edition and English translation of the Mahavamsa was published in 1837 by George Turnour, an historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service. A German translation of Mahavamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. This was then translated intoEnglish by Mabel Haynes Bode, and revised by Geiger.[3]
From the emphasis of its point-of-view, it can be said to have been compiled to record the good deeds of the kings who were patrons of the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura.
Buddhist monks of the Mahavihara maintained chronicles of Sri Lankan history, starting from the 3rd century BCE. These annals were combined and compiled into a single document in the 5th century by the Buddhist monk Mahathera Mahanama. It was written based on prior ancient compilations known as Sinhala Atthakatha, which were commentaries written in Sinhala[citation needed]. Mahathera Mahanama relied on this text, as he mentions in Mahavamse tika, that is the preface to Mahavamse.[4] Another, earlier document known as theDipavamsa, which survives today, is much simpler and contains less information than the Mahavamsa, and was probably compiled using the Sinhala Mahavamse Atthakatha as well.
A companion volume, the Culavamsa (“lesser chronicle”), compiled by Sinhala Buddhist monks, covers the period from the 4th century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in 1815. The Culavamsa was compiled by a number of authors of different time periods.
The combined work, sometimes referred to collectively as the Mahavamsa, provides a continuous historical record of over two millennia, and is considered one of the world’s longest unbroken historical accounts[citation needed]. It is one of the few documents containing material relating to the Nāgas and Yakkhas, the dwellers of Lanka prior to the legendary arrival of Vijaya.
This date of Vijaya’s arrival is thought to have been artificially fixed to coincide with the Ceylonese date for the death of Buddha, that is 543 BCE. The story of Vijaya’s arrival was also written much later after it had occurred, as the Mahavansa is thought to have been written in 6 CE to 1877 CE by Buddhist monks.[12][13]
The historical accuracy of Mahinda converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism is also debated. Professor Hermann Oldenberg, a German scholar of Indology who has published studies on the Buddha and translated many Pali texts, considers this story a “pure invention”. V. A. Smith (Author of Asoka and Early history of India) also refers to this story as “a tissue of absurdities”. V. A. Smith and Professor Hermann came to this conclusion due to Ashoka not mentioning the handing over of his son, Mahinda, to the temple to become a Buddhist missionary and Mahinda’s role in converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism, in his 13th year Rock Edicts. Particularly the Rock-Edict XIII.[14]
There is also an inconsistency with the year on which Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. According to the Mahavamsa the missionaries arrived in 255 BCE, but according to Ashoka’s Rock-Edict XIII it was 5 years earlier in 260 BCE.[14]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhalese_people
According to the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese are descended from the exiled Prince Vijayaand his party of seven hundred followers who arrived on the island in 543 BCE. Vijaya and his followers were said to have arrived in Sri Lanka after being exiled from the city of Sinhapura in West Bengal, East India.[15]Buddhism is then said to have been introduced to the Sinhalese from India byMahinda, son of the Mauryan EmperorAshoka the Great, during the 3rd century BCE.
Re Karl Marx :Religion is the Opium of the Masses.
Corollary: Religion allows for hegemony of the masses by the Monks, Priests and Mullahs.
You mix that with Racism, like in Sri Lanka, you have an explosive mix. The curse of Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka should have remained Veddah or Jain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism
The Marxism-Leninist worldview promotes atheism as a fundamental tenet.[32][33] Marxist-Leninist atheism has its roots in the philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, and V.I. Lenin.[34] Materialism, the philosophical standpoint that the universe exists independently of human consciousness consisting of only atoms and physical forces, is central to the worldview of Marxism–Leninism in the form of dialectical materialism. Vitaly Ginzburg, a Soviet physicist, wrote that the “Bolshevik communists were not merely atheists but, according to Lenin’s terminology, militant atheists.”[35] Therefore, many Marxist-Leninist states, historically and currently, are also atheist states.[36] Under these regimes, several religions and their adherents were targeted to be “stamped out.”[37]
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DODU / May 6, 2013
Islam has no cast system and all mulims are equal. Islam welcome more and more people who are suffering from dirty cast system. We are all sons and daughters of Adam. Dalits, schedule cast, parayas, Karawas are all welcome to Islam they will be treated like Kings in Islam.
If a fool says that Muslims in Sri Lanka are not descendents of Arabs, then we must get his mettle conditiond thoroughly checked.
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Amerasiri / May 7, 2013
All,except the Africans, descended from Africans by way of Arabia, before they spread out.
Africans stayed in Africa.
Read
SOME FACTS:
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/35877.wss
The Genographic Project Confirms Humans Migrated Out of Africa through Arabia. New analytical method approaches the unstudied 99% of the human genome.
WASHINGTON, D.C., – 02 Nov 2011: Evolutionary history shows that human populations likely originated in Africa, and the Genographic Project, the most extensive survey of human population genetic data to date, suggests where they went next. A study by the Project finds that modern humans migrated out of Africa via a southern route through Arabia, rather than a northern route by way of Egypt. These findings will be highlighted today at a conference at the National Geographic Society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project
There is a Table There that shows the gene diversity and original location of the genes.
SOUTHERN INDIAN GENE POOL:
Mediterranean 4%
Northern European; 2%
Southwest Asian” 58%
Southeast Asian 35%
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Siva / May 7, 2013
Dodo
“[If a fool says that Muslims in Sri Lanka are not descendents of Arabs, then we must get his mettle conditiond thoroughly checked.]”
If you go to the Mid-east and tell this to an Arab he will roll on the floor and laugh at you because they know very well that the Indian and Sri Lankan Muslims or for that matter any South Asian and East Asian country Muslims have no blood connection with the Arabs (only Religion connection).
The Muslims in Sri Lanka are not descendents of Arabs, they are descendents of Sonakar of South India and the Sonakar are Hindus who got converted to Islam/Muslims.
Btw Dodo, what is your mother tounge? Is it Arabic or Tamil? Why are the descendents of Arabs who settled in the Sinhala South such as Beruwela speaking Tamil as their mother tounge instead of Arabic or Sinhala?
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Amerasiri / May 6, 2013
Are All Indian Buddhists Low Caste Hindus?
Are All Sri Lanka Buddhists Low Caste Hindus?
After all, Hinduism was there before Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
Are All Sri Lankan Muslims Low Cast Hindus?
Are All Tamil Christians, Low Cast Hindus?
Are All Sinhala Christians, Low Cast Sinhala Buddhists?
The answer is some, but it varies.
At least for the Christian Fisher Folk, they are mostly low cast Hindus and Low Cast Buddhists in Sri Lanka.
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manisekaran / May 6, 2013
In ancient India, except brahmins, everyone else was low caste Hindhu. Hence all those who were converted to Budhhsism were low caste. Many dont know that budhdhism became popular for its strong stand against casteism prevalent in those vedic peiods and Vedas.
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manisekaran / May 6, 2013
Plus Budhdha was a philisopher and atheist.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Manisekeran, who gave the brahims the ‘high caste’ tag? and any difference in their Anatomy to depict same? Go back to the begining of the universe and creation of mankind.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
How is it that Jewish folk have a very high vocal IQ? They run the worlds media not a muslim. Similarily the Brahmins have that IQ.
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manisekaran / May 7, 2013
Did I support that anywhere, I just mentioned what was considered during vedic period.
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Citizen / May 8, 2013
Amarasiri,
At the beginning there was no caste. Caste is man-made, and not God-created. This is what the ancient Hindu scripture Rig Veda says.
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lanka saanka / May 6, 2013
what nonsense is this? a new song?
as long as we are sri lankans , what does it matter whether you are a Buddhist or Christian or muslim or a hindu?
In this birth I am a Buddhist. As Buddhist do, I believe in rebirth – what if I am born to a pious muslim family in my next birth?
I would expect to live peacefully without any fear because of my religious beliefs and race and caste
Its all nothing but greed – to own it all
I wish Buddhists, Christians, hindus and muslims would take it in to their heads & hearts to live according to basic founding principals of their religions and stop this nonsense
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zindabad / May 6, 2013
This imposter Rifat Halim seems to be having a serious problem of personal identity. To atone for his own lack of pedigree, he thinks he can cast the entire lineage of a whole respectable community on the theory of a deviously mischievous politician who did not deem it fit enough to marry his own breed. Doesnt that speak enough of the mans own self-respect – respect for himself, let alone for any other person or community. This rake is also perhaps a descendent of this politician and is maybe using a fake name to add credence to his idiotic supposition. Deviousness knows no bounds.
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Rifkha Roshanaara / May 6, 2013
Since there’s no personal information provided about the author of this article (unlike in most cases) I infer that this is some under hand work of a person who is hiding behind a Muslim name and who is desperate to prove something impossible. 55 likes for this article and we will see some pro-BBS sites circulating this article soon on social networking pages. And I wonder the purpose of publishing such third grade, unauthenticated, unsubstantiated articles. Pure bull crap !!!
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 6, 2013
Rifka, I thing this guy must be insane or a trojan planted to stir a problem.He is confused and mad hatter.
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Halim Iblees / May 6, 2013
Rifat Halim, if you are indeed a Mussalmaan by that name
and not tracing your ancestry to some aboroginal tribe or
Veddahs of an earlier generation, ponder for a while. Are
you not trying to re-write history? It is regrettable that
CT lent its space for an umitigated idiot to insult all
Muslims with just one stroke – they are descendants of
slaves.
Haleem (I doubt there is one like that), please think twice.
Your mother and father would have found it very distasteful to
produce another slave like you. Types like you are scum of
society whose only occupation is to trace the legitimacy of a
community. Ask your father and mother if they are still living.
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Mohamed Marzook / May 6, 2013
Reasons given by the writer shows his ignorance of the history of Muslims and his stupidity. Certainly it appears he is working for an ulterior agenda of some group that wants to create new issues.
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Siva / May 7, 2013
Do you know the history of Muslims in Sri Lanka? What is it?
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Rinas Mohamed / May 6, 2013
Is it need to write a big article like this to prove a contradiction part?? I have never seen such an insane writer… Go and read some valuable history books, other than praising Ramanathan as an apostle…
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AYMAN / May 6, 2013
RIFAT HALIM THE AUTHOR HAS TRACED HIS ANCESTRY,AND FOUND THAT HE IS A LOW CASTE TAMIL.HE SHOULD KNOW WHO HE IS.RIZANA NAFEEK’S CASE HAS NOTHING TO SUPPORT YOUR “PARROTING” SIR PONNAMBALAMS VIEWS.
WHEN IT COMES TO ADMINISTERING JUSTICE ANCESTRY HAS NO PLACE.
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Hussein / May 6, 2013
Absolutely right.
You took the words from my mouth.
Thank you Ayman.
He should correct his name as Ponnampalam Rifat.
low cast pinhead nitwit.
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mattala / May 6, 2013
may be rifat halim grand parnets were low casted converts doesnt meen all the muslims are. Mentally unsound people trying pen their opinions. there are sri lankan sinhalse buddhist who are abroad who cannot speak sinhala anymore. So whats the justification for accepting them as sinhalese. If sri lankans go abroad and give up their nationality can they still be considerd sri lankan and apply the local law from the?? These majority of the people behind the BBS and Ravaya including the rajapaksa hail from the low caste sinhalese which is why they dont like people earning money and want to grab money…
When bill clinton came to sri lanka he ate hoppers and roti now does that make him a sri lankan? What about people eating bread does that make them british? And kawum kokis an all the foods made for the new year are not pure sri lanlan they evolved from chennai and portuguse etc…
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