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.
K.A Sumanasekera / May 6, 2013
Very interesting.
If Mr Sally wanted to help the Muslims who are in fact the low caste Tamils and obviously poor folk, who convereted to Islam,he didn’t choose wisely when it came to picking the Masthead.
TNA is the Bastion of the Vellala North.
All office holders of the TNA are Vellas,and descendents of the loyal royals like the guy who didn’t want the Muslims in the legitative assembly of the British Raj.
Even the non Vellala Mr Prabakaran, the idol of some senior TNA members , especially its leader, didn’t care much about these low caste “Tamil converts” as one hundred thousand of them were ejected from the North with only 24 hours notice.
Our Catholic Bishop Raiappu whose diocese also has only low caste Tamils although they haven’t converetd, is now holding counselling sessions for the TNA.
Wonder whether, accommodating these low caste converts and giving them due reconition as equals among the Vellalas, is on the agenda, now that the M TNA leader is isolated from his subjects.
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Native Vedda / May 6, 2013
K.A Sumanasekera
“All office holders of the TNA are Vellas,and descendents of the loyal royals like the guy who didn’t want the Muslims in the legitative assembly of the British Raj.”
Then you should be a prominent member of TNA.
Please apply for membership enclosing a copy of your caste certificate.
They understand the generations of close relation between Vellalas and the Govias, undermining rest of the people.
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Zaneera Farook / May 6, 2013
Agreed that most of the Muslims may have come from South India- WHO CARES. I do not know about whether they are from low or high castes but even then it does not matter. I suppose it may be so as when they are oppressed and if Islam treats them like equal citizens, they would have converted to Islam. As Muslims we do not believe in castes.
White Australians origins are traced to criminals. Sinhalese traced their origin to a relationship between a lion and a woman and later from a brother and a sister. Children of Adam and Eve also had children from a relationship between brother and sister. North Americans are killers of natives. Both Muslims and Christians believe in Adam and Eve as the first human beings
What matters now is how we behave and not the origin. Do we behave honourably now or are we behaving like savages is what matters. I find unscrupulous behavior among the nobles and kings who can trace their ancestry to some great man. Nobles may have treated their kind well, but they would not hesitate to murder a lesser being or the so called lower caste.
In India sexual relationship with Dalits by the so called high caste Zamindars’ are common but for all other purposes they are the despised lot.
Thank you Rifat for coming out with this, but your name sound Muslim and if so why are you worried about castes.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
“As Muslims we do not believe in castes.”
We all believe that we wont die and that is wonderful but Practice is different and we die.
Go to mecca and get embalmed like a pharaoh. The Muslims of the sub-continent are treated like
Sub humans by the Muslims of the Middle East anywhere in the world. Even in the Christian west there is class/caste. Just because one dines together does not mean one would produce with a lower rung person.
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thambi / May 6, 2013
This is the bitter truth that very few Sri Lankan Muslims will be ready to embrace. The Arabs won’t treat them any different to other Sri Lankans. Let them keep electing these servile Muslim leaders. They deserve it.
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iman fahim hameed / May 6, 2013
Each country has its own way of classifying ethnicitiet. In India, any muslim who speaks tamil, is Tamil by race, Muslim by religion.
In Singapore, A Sri Lankan who becomes a citizen can only either be classes as an ‘Indian’ or ‘Others’.
In China, there are hundreds of different ‘races’. But in Singapore, only a single Chinese race exists.
Therefore, just because muslims in India are called “Tamilians’ one cannot argure that the same applies in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, you have maimans who are muslims of pakistani origin, Bohras- muslims of Ghujrati origin, MAlays from Javanese origin and the MOORS of moorish origin. You even have a few arab families like the AL-Ayads.
We are not of Arab descent. We are called Moors and not Arabs for a reason. But either way, hundreds of years after assimiliating into a completely different culture in a secluded island, we no longer have anything in common with the Arabs.
This is the same for many other races that have migrated. The chinese in Singapore are an obvious example. For all their oriental features, they are completely different from their China ancestors. They still celebrate Chinese NEw Year in both countries, but neither like accepting the other. Similarly, while all muslims celebrate Eid and Haj, Sri Lankan Moors are as different from the tamils as they are from the maimans and bhoras within the country.
All races after a period of inter-marrying and borrowing of cultures, grow into their own unique group, shaped by space and time.
As for the article itself, the writer seems to have trouble making up his mind whether the subject is on the origins of the Moor race or how barbaric arabs are.
Again, we who live on the other end of the world, make great generalistic remarks. First of all, the Arab race is not just those in Saudi Arabia. The people of Saudi are from the various tribes that unified under the Saud family. They were all bedouins. The bedouin culture is harsh and those tribal practices are still practised in their modern laws. This has nothing to do with muslims worldwide, it does not mean that all Arabs (i.e. gulf, kuwaitis etc etc) are all bad.
We are also extremely hipocritical in pointing fingers at a government in a foreign country but strangely choose to ignore the horrors and atrocities committed by our own country folk.
So please, the next time someoone resorts to writing an article, try to make it unbiased, and please, out with the asweeping generalization.
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Rahmathullah / May 6, 2013
I am sure the writer has given himself a Muslim name to hide his identity. He is trying to push Muslims towards Tamils for the reason only he knows. It doesn’t matter whether we are descendants of Arabs, Sinhalese or Tamils but now WE ARE MUSLIMS. His argument that Rizana would have been spared if she is proved to be the descendant of Arab is ridiculous.
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Fahim / May 6, 2013
First and foremost I am more than certain this writer is not a Muslim ,he is a Tamil deeply prejudiced against the Muslims and now trying to tell you with a tongue in the cheek that we deserve the persecution we are facing by a group of Sinhalese Buddhist extremist and he wants to rub it in by trying to quote the age old claim made by Ponnamblam for political gains and was successfully refuted and accepted . our ancestors wrote Tamil in Arabic transliteration called Arwi which was lost due to the introduction of Sinhala only education and the Muslims felt comfortable as They had already adopted Tamil as their Mother Tongue not because they are Tamils , the close trade relations and they availability of Islamic Teaching in the Tamil language ,was one of the main reason Tamil was preferred to be adopted as mother tongue, as no Islamic religious literature was available at that time and thanks to Late Premadasa it was his time when the first Sinhalese Quran translation was done. Just because someone adopts a language does not convert him to that ethnicity ,There a many Indonesians who were taken as slaves to South Africa who can not speak , write or understand a word of Malay , they have adopted Zulu or Afrikaan does that make them Africans? There are Sri Lankan Tamils Sinhalese , Muslims who have sttled down in Europe,UK Australia ,USA ,Canada South America and can not read, write or speak one single word of their ancestors ,does that change their ethnicity? and besides we do not look like Tamils what we speak is nothing like Tamil although it does have a Tamil base , our food is totally different and one thing for sure no matter dark or fair some of us look more closer to Sinhalese I admit ,but not even the slightest resemblance of Low High or Middle cast Tamils.
And what a stupid logic that Rizana was beheaded because she was not an Arab, the writer has a poor horizon ,I suggest he must read more , even a Saudi Princes had been executed ,although I agree the death penalty is not 100% in accordance to Quranic Law ,it is more a modified Saudi Monarchy Law -but unlike some Asian countries the Law is the same to all Muslim Arabs or one Muslims , etc. However I wonder if the writer will publish my comment as I sometimes find The Telegraph biased and tend to lean more towards The Tamils cause -however I have got screen shots and copied the whole article so I can publish it on my Blog and other sites. The writer using a Muslim name as a Nick is shameful.if he is a Muslim let him prove his Identity.
Please read the Article I have posted below.. on Google
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Quote:
[PDF]
A Criticism of Mr Ramanathan’s “Ethnology of the ‘Moors’ of Ceylon …
http://www.sonakar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/…/Abdul-Azeez-English.pd…
without the slightest justification that the ancestors of the Ceylon Moors were Tamils …… I think I need not labor more to refute Mr Ramanathan’s contention on the point of …… Ismail, whilst Egypt was ruled by Abdul Malik’s brother, Abdul Aziz.
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Siva / May 7, 2013
If the SL Muslims were Arab settlers, the Islamic Teaching was freely avalaible in Arabic and not Tamil. They could have easily kept Arabic as their mother tounge. Secondly, they were mostly trading with Sinhalese and not Tamils and therefore they could have adopted Sinhala as their mother tounge. What made them adopt Tamil as their mother tounge instead of Arabic/Sinhala?
The Malay Muslims of SL speak Malay as their mother tounge because they came from Malasiya. The Memons speak Urudu because they came from North India/Pakistan. The Moor Muslims of SL speak Tamil as their mother tounge because they came from South India.
You find Arab settlements in many parts of the world and their mother tounge remained as Arabic even today. How come they changed to Tamil in SL?
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Native Vedda / May 7, 2013
Siva
“they were mostly trading with Sinhalese and not Tamils and therefore they could have adopted”
Please read IBN Battuta’s travels in Sri Lanka, his meetings with Battala Arya Chackravarthy.
IBN Battuta was a Moroccan Muslim.
“If the SL Muslims were Arab settlers, the Islamic Teaching was freely avalaible in Arabic and not Tamil”
If the Sri Lankan Tamils were Hindus, Veddas and commentaries were freely available in Sanskrit. They could have easily kept Sanskrit as their mother tongue.
If the Sinhalese were Buddhists Buddha’s teaching and commentaries were freely available in Pali. They could have easily kept Pali as their mother tongue.
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Siva / May 7, 2013
Native Vedda,
You seem to be continuously exposing your stupidity. I hope you would have seen my replies to all your stupid/ignorant questions in many other threads.
Now, let me come to this. I hope you would have read Fahim’s comment before reading my reply to him. For the reason why the Sri Lankan Muslims speak Tamil as their mother tongue, this is what Fahim says,
“The Sri Lankan Muslims adopted Tamil as their Mother Tongue not because they are Tamils , the close trade relations and the availability of Islamic Teaching in the Tamil language ,was one of the main reason Tamil was preferred to be adopted as mother tongue”
Now, what the SL Muslims are claiming is that they are Arabs (Arab decedents) and they traded with the Sinhalese (Sinhala South).
If the SL Muslims were Arabs as they claim, then their original mother tongue would have been Arabic and the Islamic Teaching (including the Quran) was already freely available in their mother tongue Arabic and therefore there is no reason what so ever why they should adopt Tamil to learn the Islamic Teaching (Quran). Secondly, they were trading with the Sinhalese and some even believe they married Sinhala women. In that case they should have adopted Sinhala as their mother tongue and not Tamil.
Now, let me come to your stupid analogy.
Unlike the Arabs whose mother tongue is Arabic and their religion, Islamic teachings are also written in Arabic, the mother tongue of the Sri Lankan Tamils is Tamil and not Sanskrit but their religion Hinduism is written not in their mother tongue. Similarly, the mother tongue of the Sinhalese is Sinhala and not Pali. Buddha’s teaching and commentaries are not written in their mother tongue. The SL Tamils and Sinhalese did not discard their mother tongue and adopt the language of their religion where as the SL Muslims have discarded their mother tongue which also happens to be the language of their religion.
Hope this simple logic gets into your thick skull.
Regarding the Arab traveler Ibn Batuta who visited the island in 1344, he has not mentioned anything about of Beruwela (or any Muslim settlements) though it lay directly on his route from Galle to Colombo where as he refers to Battalan (Putalam) as the capital of a Tamil King Aryachakravarti.
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Native Vedda / May 9, 2013
Siva
Please refer to my comment above about Ibn Battuta.
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Citizen / May 8, 2013
Siva,
why not consider the following. The traders who came first to the Malabar coast were the Greeks and the Romans.
1. It is the Roamns who introduced the worship of Lord Shiva to European countries.
2. There are historical records that the Romans and Greeks had trade links with Cheras (now Kerala)
3. The Arabs came later.
4. In the meantime, Afghans also spread to South India after the invasion of India.
5. The Muslims from Kerala are a very few, but the majority of Tamils are from Thiruvanmiyoor from Kerala, while some are from Karur, Ramanathapuram, etc.
6. After the invasion of Cholas in Sri Lanka and having made Pollonaruwa as their capital, there is a possibility the Chola warriors could have moved towards the Eastern coast of Batticaloa and mingled with the few Arab traders.
With the passage of time the names of persons also can change.
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iman fahim hameed / May 6, 2013
Ok, anyone planning on writing an article like the one below, please take a sociology class first. In Sri Lanka, people generalize the largest group of muslims as ‘Muslims’ which is erroneous. All who follow Islam are muslims alike. The ones referred to in the article below are the Sri Lankan Moors. OF course, the person writing this article isn’t one himself, he does not comprehend the suttle differences in ethinic categorizing unique to each country and thus ends up with a rather idiotic explanation.
Another major thing to note when reading this article, Arabs do not only live in Saudi Arabia for crying out loud! Arabs are those who live in the Arabian world, i.e. middle eastern AND NORTH AFRICAN people, which is why our ancestors were Moors (who are arabs) which is why we wear the FEZ cap and not the kheffiyeh.
For anyone who also wants to argue on the whole Moors speak tamil issue, please take a moment to perhaps compare us to the Peranakans A race created by the intermarriage of the malays and chinese. They have a creole of malay mixed with Hokkien. My own fathers sisters have books written in aravi thamil- a creole of arabic and tamil that has now been lost to the modern moors. Their distinct identity and mix of cultures is very akin to how our moors in sri lanka have become.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
Maybe your cap not your DNA.
I have never come across an Arab or a poor Palestinian saying that the subcontinents Muslims are his/her blood relatives. They treat you like shit. Heard of Genghis Khan the man who ruled half the world including China and Russia up to Poland well the Chinese component may have come from that crusade.
Religion and Patriotism are emotions and there is nothing rational about it. Long Live Israel.
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Wickramasiri / May 6, 2013
The gist of what is said is that Muslims are Tamil. The motives for raising this issue with the Northern elections round the corner is suspicious. However we must realize that we are all mixed and therefore richer for it. I am sure there are Muslims with Arab, Tamil, Sinhala, and other backgrounds. Sinhala people too will have Tamil and/or other Indian/Arab ancestry. This is fine. When we look at commonalities instead of differences we will see that we are after all one and the same.
It is an opportune time for all of us to be genetically mapped. I will not be surprised if Mahinda Rajapaksa has Tamil or Muslim roots.
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Al Seylani / May 6, 2013
The message is clear.
The writer, Rifat Halim is either not a muslim or is from a Low Caste Hindu Family.
1. If he is not muslim, he try to help racist BBS type of people or Tamil Racists.
2. If he is from a Low Caste Hindu family, he tries to paint the same picture on all Sri Lankan Muslims to get himself satisfied.
Story concludes.
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gamini / May 6, 2013
I know many Muslims from Galle who have fair skin and blue/grey eyes indicating having Portuguese and Ducth blood.
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JKhan / May 6, 2013
Mr. Halim, no wonder you are a son of a Dalit for sure. When Ramanadan raised this question, prominent Muslim leader of Sri Lankan, Mr. Siddi Lebbe has asked “Mr. Ramanadan, I can clearly distinguish a Tamil from Moor through his physical appearance”.
We are not Arabs at all, neither, Sinhalese nor treacherous Tamils. We are Moors.
According to the Physical Anthropology of Ceylon (1961), a comprehensive work dealing with the physical characteristics of the country’s various races, the skin colour of over thirty Moor subjects of the Puttalam District measured in the survey. it shows Moors relatively have light skin tone. The work further shows that the Moors are a broad- headed or brachycephalic people as distinct from the long-headed or dolococephalic Native Sri lankans.32 Moors from Puttalamm District measured in the survey showed a brachycephaly (flat Heads)It is more likely that it originated from Southern Arabia or Iraq, especially as there is literary evidence to show that many of the forbears of the Moors hailed from these regions.
The aquiline nose, a characteristic of Semitic races such as the Arabs and Jews, is also prominent among the South Arabians. This too is significant as there are many Moors to-day who do possess prominent aquiline noses.
The adoption of Tamil on the part of the Moors is not inexplicable. It is probable that with the fall of Baghdad – the seat of the Abbasid Caliphate- to the Mongol hordes in the 13th century, the Arab merchants and settlers in the country and their descendants would have had little option but to cease connections with their old home country and increasingly turn towards their South Indian, Dravidian-speaking co- religionists for commercial and cultural intercourse.
This has been the case with the Parsis of Western India who have eschewed their native Iranian speech for Gujarati and the Cape Malays of South Africa whose native Malay speech has been superseded by Afrikaans, an offshoot of Dutch. It is however interesting to note that Tamil is fast dying out as the home language of the Moor youth of the Christian- majority provinces and is being fast replaced by English mainly due to education in the English vernacular. This trend is particularly evident in the upcountry and in the Southern and Western parts of the country. It is therefore clear that whatever their spoken language might be, the Moors form a distinct community with a religious and cultural identity of their own.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
Why does Gota travel Tel Aviv enroot to US?
“This has been the case with the Parsi’s of Western India who have eschewed their native Iranian speech for Gujarat”
The parsis ran away from their homeland because of the Jihadi crusade and have kept their promise to king of Gujarat. The Jewish folk were driven away by the Romans and they received refuge in Kerala and speak Malayalam.
“ Sinhalese nor treacherous Tamils”
If not for the Tamils who gave the world Zero and decimal points you would not be on the internet today but licking camel butt.
Long live Israel the rulers of the Middle East.Down with the syrian regime.
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Real Moor / May 7, 2013
JKhan, your analysis is spot on. Today lot of Malays cant speak their own language unlike their grand parents. They speak Sinhala and same goes to Many moors who spoke Tamil are now more proficient in Sinhala than in Tamil. This is true for many kids in our own families. We even joke telling these kids are “Shingalawan”,
In my own community I have noticed most of the people cant speak proper Tamil, and our dialect of Tamil is totally an alien type of Tamil we find shy to speak in front of those people who speak proper Tamil. Most of us dont even understand the words used in Friday Prayer sermons :) which is delivered in Tamil.
Now for the reason why Moors choose to speak in Tamil in Sri Lanka, It is evident Most of the Kings towards the latter half of last mellinium were of Tamil Origin. Arabs being traders had to learn the lingua franca of Serendeep those days.
check here http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2009/3/41440_space.html
Good enough they never mastered the language well and thats how we have a whole lot of moors who are shy to speak the kind of Tamil in front of those people who speak proper. By the slang we can immediately recognize who is from India.
Some one suggested to me, now Friday prayers in Sri Lanka should be conducted in Sinhala because most of the kids who attend Sinhala medium do not understand most of the words spoken in Friday prayers which is said in Tamil and I am one of them and I am past 50 years now.
Yes it is true we have Muslims who came from South and North of India, and the Moors are a distinct lot so it is very untrue to say we all came from India.
Jkhan you are right our physical features are distinct. Arabs in Middle East has refused to accept me as a Sri Lankan. When I asked them why they said, people from sri lanka are mostly “Aswad” black. I have told them we have many type and you guys have only seen the back side of Sri Lanka :)
Here is a surprise, I know many Sri Lankan house Maids who can speak fantastic Arabic. I am shocked to see how these Sinhalese Buddhist girls can speak Arabic so fantastic. Even the Muslim religious scholars in Sri Lanka will be envious. These girls are the real ambassadors of Sri Lanka. SL government should recognize their effort.
So using or learning a language is due to necessity and yes many people has forgotten their mother tongue as well due to long stay in other countries.
As for other cultural traits of South Indian Origin by the Moors, This is a fashion thing, people learn and adopt from one another cultures. Thaali in the wedding ceremony, even the Arabs do it, only thing they put a big gold chain just like we moors. Check out most of the Moors wedding photos during the days of the British and till late. Moors Bride and Groom dressed western dresses and now the attire is more North Indian after all the Salmaan Khan and Shahruk Khans Bollywood movies. Moors never tie the yellow chord like the Hindus.
If anyone seen how a low cast indian looks like then surely the Moors must be high class brahmins.
Salaam / Saamaya / Shalom
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Anver Sheriff / May 6, 2013
Who is this Rifat Halim? Is he/she an agent of BBS or Tamil diapora? You are insulting the Sri lankan Muslims. Who was the coward Ponnambalam Ramanathan? He was a racist. Not a single Muslim did/do/will like him. If that wicked Ramanadan is a hero to you, you admire him without dragging the Ceylon Moors into this. We are Ceylon Moors and we are proud of that. We have no Tamil blood in us. Where do you see similar physical appearce between us the Tamils? Perhaps you look like a dravidian you stupid plonker.
Look at our features and skin colour in general if you are not blind. We are having similar features of the Arabs or thos of Aryans(North Indian/Paskitan/Afghan/Iranian), and not forgetting the fact that there were some small pertantage of converts too. In the 70s Baduiddin Mahmood preached somewhat a similar blunder asking the Muslims to study in Tamil. That was a grave mistake that the Muslims followed his advise then by accepting it. I am a Moor with a Sinhala Wasagama and some of my friends also start their names with Sinhala Wasagama and I am positive there are many Muslims having similar names. Your silly example is Periya/Sinna two words. Does Markar, Odayar, Jayah, Hakim, Lebbe sounds to you Dravidian?
Ponnampalam Ramanathan was an egoistic, oppotunistic, cowardice racist and you are either a paid agent or your name also a Ponna mPalam Halim?.
CT – Should not allow such article which is an insult to us.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
Long live Israel down with Islamaphobia the curse of the world.
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Fahim / May 6, 2013
My DNA shows am Berber -North African &Arab Mix ..
The biggest mistake Azath Sally ever did was trying to shake hands with Tamils,,,
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ONE / May 6, 2013
In that case BBS is dead right that they must get rid of you terrorist so as to please the west and become rich.
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Fahim / May 6, 2013
@ Lanka Saanka ,hee,hee my only wish is to be born as King Mahinda in my next birth..
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Omar / May 6, 2013
Muslims Must Open Their Eyes Now!
This Rifat Halim is not a Rifat Halim. He is having a mission to acomplish for someone. There is a hidden agenda here. In Sri Lanka everyone knows that Muslim’s features are generally different to the Sinhalse and Tamils although there is some similarity of mixed marrages and due to convertions. Even skin colour of Muslims are slightly different than the others. This Writer most probably got a contract from a Tamil movement. This is the tip of an ice berg.
With BBS and events like this Muslims must be vigilant. The two communities Ceylon Moor (Lanka Yonaka) & Ceylon Malay must be there. Should not and cannot affored to perish.
I would like to (force in fact) request the Muslims, Please name your children carefully with a SURNAME. The major problem we are having is that most of the Muslims DONT HAVE SURNAME or FAMILY NAME. Our so called leaders or Imams or Moulavis all have over looked this important issue for decades. Now they must take the initiative to make the Muslims aware the importance of it. We name our children the same way the Tamils do, sish as ‘Ponnampalam Ramanathan’ oe ‘Muttiah Muralidaran’. Ponnampalam & Muttiah the two first names are Ramanathan’s & Murali’s father name. Sinhalese stoped this practice long back. Follow the Arabic or Islamic or at least the european ways when naming your new born please and not the Indian or Dravidian/Tamil ways. Had this occured to Ponnampalam Ramanathan’s dumb head, he would have given this also as an exaple as to why Ceylon Moors were low class hindus.
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Zaneera Farook / May 6, 2013
Oh Omar
Dont be foolish. It is only by our dress that we can be distinguished and not by colour or features. People do mistake me for a Sinhalese as the way I dress and speak Sinhalese and one day for my friends put a pottu. and put flowers on my hair and then I looked a Tamil.If I am correct,In Islam we should not go by family names. Father’s initials must be written first. I think I am also making a mistake in writing my name. It should read as M.F. Zaneera. I cannot change it now as all my documents go as Zaneera Farook. In that way Islam does not perpetuate family names. You need to earn your reputation and not depend on parents.
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Omar / May 6, 2013
Zaneera, You can call your self MF Zaneera or Zaneera Farook or anything you wish. similarly you can wear pottu or jasmin on your hair and you can wear jeans, miniskirt or anything you wish. Its your choice and changing your name is also is your rights. I am not least bothered. What iam saying was that we dont have an identity. we cannot prove opurself that we belong to the same family. Offsprings of brothers have no similarity or the same surname due to the naming style such as Muttaiah Muralidaran. Thats the reason your great great grand uncle Ponnampalam insulted us as lower class hindus.
This Rifat Halim is an imposter probably working for Gota/BBS/JHU or tamil Diaspora. I hope you are not one of them.
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Zaneera Farook / May 6, 2013
Please check the hadeeth and Quran on using surnames. I am not sure where I read it. I do not think its Islamic to use surnames You can get clarification on it from ACJU if you have doubts. If there are any ACJU members reading this, please reply. It will be good to get the correct information from an ulema on this.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
I have noticed that Brahmins from Kerala and TN use their fathers name as initials too (but not the women)and Hinduism is a subcontinent religion not imported. Did Islam borrow the name bit from the Hindus or the Torah?
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Omar / May 6, 2013
What an ignorant person you were, dod i ask you to clarify anything? you are so comical. I neither want to check with ACJU.
My concern was we Muslims are so ignorant that we dont even know how to name us. when you nam ea child your name should come first and then the father name (forget th esurname or family) Ali Ibn Abu Talib, Umr Ibn Hattbab, Uthman Ibn Affan, Kalid Bin Walid, etc or Khadija Bint Khwailid, Fathima Bint Muhammad, Aisha Bint Abubakr etc. Not for the sake of naming such as Mohamed (father) Niyaz Mohamed (son)Fariz.
I am not into a debate with you since you have no knowledge of basics and you are a support of this horrible pathetic appalling, dreadful write up.
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Rifkha Roshanaara / May 6, 2013
Zaneera,
You wearing a pottu and flowers, and then looking like a Tamil doesn’t validate this meaningless article in any way and only shows how juvenile your arguments and understanding are. There are brahmin Tamils and other Tamils and like in all parts of India and among Hindus and Buddhistsin Sri Lanka, Indian Tamils too have a number of castes from the highest most to lowest most according to Hindu Varna Shasthiram. The Tamil brahmins and some other upper caste communities like Pillai,Namboothiris and Nambiars in Kerala, Raos in Andra and Karnataka are all considered as higher caste from Aryan genes. And Aryans are believed to have migrated to India from Arab/Persian lands and Arabs/Persians are considered as Arya Vamsam. Even the Gods the Hindus worship differ according to their caste. Dravidian community (the Non Aryan community) completely rejects certain Hindu Gods like Rama and Anchaneya (Hanuman) as they believe even Rama is an Aryan who entered India through Khyber pass.
I live in Afghanistan and I can relate most features of Afghan people (specially of Tajik community) to Muslims in many areas in Sri Lanka. The features of Marikar community in Puttalam/Kalpitiya area (and also in other areas) resemble Brahmins in south India to the dot. Even their life style and culture have a lot of similarities (I have loads of Brahmin friens in India). If you read the history of Sri Lankan Muslims you will understand the Arab links of Southern Muslims. My home town is Kalpitiya and the Muslims there have some direct links to Ramanathapuram area in Tamil Nadu and Muslims in Ramanathapuram areas and almost entire India have got a history of Arab connections. This does not mean that all Muslims are of upper caste Hindus from south India or purely of Arab blood. There’s a mix as much as there’s a mix in Buddhist (who claim they are all Aryans, which makes me laugh quite a bit), Hindu and Christian community.
People like you and the author of this article (am quite confident is not a Muslim) who know hardly anything about history of neither India nor Sri Lanka, and conclude things based on how one looks by wearing a puttu and some flowers or based on some meaningless politically motivated statement uttered by Ponnambalam, need to really get your basics checked.
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Siva / May 7, 2013
Omar
Check the skin colour of the Muslims in South India (Kerela and Tamil Nadu). They are identitical to the Muslims (Moors) in Sri Lanka.
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lagata papol / May 6, 2013
An elementary understanding of Islam will reveal that people aren’t judged by race, skin color, wealth, ancestry or any other man made distinction which serves to divide people in Islam. the only criteria that a person can be judged by are the good actions a person has to their names. I need not remind that our race nor our wealth will be of any worth when we die only our good actions will intercede on our behalf. if you feel the need to create divisions among people and create mischief in the land remember that those actions too have their consequences. please stop humiliating your self Mr Rifat try to learn and recognize.
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ONE / May 6, 2013
“of Islam will reveal that people aren’t judged by race, skin color,”
Islam/Jihad is an emotion and there is nothing rational about it- Only I saw! Stupid assholes.
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Fahim / May 6, 2013
@Zindabad -well said n a nutshell ,Salute you……
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faisal / May 6, 2013
Ado Rifat Halim, is your real name not Kottmany Poobalasunderam? The game is up. You have been exposed. So own up now.
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Senguttuvan / May 6, 2013
JKhan speaks of “treacherous Tamils” – a description we have not heard before. Treachery is the congenital trait of some communities – accepted by all for a very long time in the Island. Khan should remind his leader – that Colombo illiterate thug Azath Sally – who day in and day out – is trying to form a Tamil-Muslim alliance. Why he (Sally) suddenly wants to do this now – after he has been thrown out by the UNP, the Rajapakses, SLMC and all – is not surprising. Very little doubt the Tamil political leadership will not fall for this opportunistic overture by a street thug who assaulted a senior CMC official in the Town Hall itself.
Senguttuvan
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Zaneera Farook / May 6, 2013
We have been here for centuries. We are Sri Lankan Muslims and we have no links with Arabs.
The way the Arabs behave, I rather claim that I am a descendant from low caste. In the days gone by, low caste had been mostly poor. In general poor people are victims rather than perpetrators of crimes. Arabs are perpetrators of severe crimes. Look at the the returnee housemaids.
What is so good about claiming our ancestry to Arabs. They are never going to welcome us. In the so called ” dirty ” West, if we have certain skills, we will be given citizenship, but not in Arab countries.Prophet was born in Saudi because they were a terrible race.
I have met some families in Sri Lanka who claim to be direct descendants of Prophet. The way they behave has little to do with Islam. Some of them have no principles whatsoever.
I have no problem in saying that my ancestors are low cast Tamils, Indians or Sri Lankans. How we live is what matters .
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Senguttuvan / May 6, 2013
Zaneera,
Your education and attitude can never make you one of a lower caste.
You are enlightened. The caste-structure of the bygone centuries is long behind us. The modern commerce/industry based economies-societies have seen to that. We still have, however, vestiges of the despised caste system with us. But this is on the way out. Already, class is edging out caste in many parts of the world. It is an affront to the thinking of the modern man. Caste is a way for society to divide itself for the benefit of those who control that society – as in the Brahminic sense.
If everyone takes your exemplary attitude, this will be better and safer world. Your strength of conviction needs to be applauded.
Senguttuvan
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Rifkha Roshanaara / May 6, 2013
// The caste-structure of the bygone centuries is long behind us.//
Means you have no idea about what’s happening in India or Sri Lanka or rest of the world !
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Rifkha Roshanaara / May 6, 2013
You have got thoroughly confused. You liking or disliking something or someone, or you looking like a Tamil when you wear a pottu or some flowers, cannot change the history. Your lack of knowledge and understanding is clearly evident. I too detest Arabs but that doesn’t mean what is said in this baseless, sourceless, faceless, nameless article, is right ! Except the author nobody here has any problems with being low or high caste. A person’s standard is defined by his/her own character and not by some oppressive politically motivated (caste) system created by a particular community.
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M.Sivananthan / May 7, 2013
I appreciate your boldness about the current Arab mentality!
Yes! Poor people are always victims of religeons and politics.
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chinthaka kulatunga / May 6, 2013
I do not believe ‘Rifat Halim’ is Muslim. This is a Tamil writing using a muslim name. After reading this idiotic unsubstantiated claims I have lost all respect for Sir Ponnambalam Ramanthan. If what this writer says is true, Sir Ramanathan is a racist. Thankfully the writer is wrong.
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Muliyawaikkal / May 6, 2013
Dragging Muslims into another war. This is outrageous. I hope Colombo Telegraph verified the author’s name and other details who does not sound like a Muslim to me. Muslims should speak all 3 languages.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / May 6, 2013
The acrimonious nature of the comments prompted me to search google for a readable and believable account of the history of the Muslims in Sri Lanka. I present it below. However, I wish to point out that it is the usual practice for the marginalized and poor in any society to convert to new religions introduced in their midst, if they elevate their status and provide social and economic support. Conversions have also been carried out with the sword. Religions adopted by the King also have been adopted by his subjects..Religions that captured the imagination of the people at particular points in history on account of their relevance had swept over continents peacefully.
Further, however learned and astute Sir. P.Ramanathan may have been, he was also a politician. Many things he said were wrong.He had retrogressive views on the caste system, rights of women and the rights of the plantation Tamils. He was after all human too and his share of foibles. His grandfather had also migrated from India and settled in Kerudavil in the Vadamarachchi area. He was thus a second generation Ceylonese. Which does not detract anything from his visionary contributions to Jaffna and Ceylon.
“Lankan Muslims’ historical links with India
By PK Balachandran
Sri Lanka’s indigenous Muslims, called Ceylon Moors, like other
communities in the island, have had historical ties with India,
especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India.
India’s impact on the Ceylon Moors (a community distinct from Indian
Moors who are more recent Muslim migrants from India) cannot be
ignored because it can be seen in the language, culture and practices
of the community.
The active links have snapped, but the legacy is there for all to see.
Early migration from Kerala
Ceylon Moors are of Arab descent. Although from the earliest times,
Arabs from the Gulf had been coming straight to the island for trade,
the really significant migration for settlement came via the Malabar
coast in what is now Kerala.
Marina Azeez, in her contribution to The Ethnological Survey of the
Muslims of Sri Lanka (The Razik Fareed Foundation, Colombo, 1986)
says: “The first Muslim fleet is said to have sailed to the Indian Ocean
in 636 AD during the Caliphate of Omar; and since then Muslim
traders began settling along the Malabar coast of India wherein
pre-Islamic-time Arabs had settled as far back as the 4th.century AD.”
“According to Tennent (James Emerson Tennent, London, 1859)
when these settlements expanded with increase in trade as well as
migration, the people spread to the coasts of Sri Lanka, settled here
and carried on their trading activities.”
By 7th Century AD the Arabs had settled in Kayalpatnam in what is
now Tamil Nadu. From Kayalpatnam, they spread to the East and
West coasts of Sri Lanka.
Although the Arabs had been traders from the earliest times, Islam
gave their occupation a tremendous boost. Expansion of trade meant
more settlers overseas and more converts from non-Arab peoples.
“By the 9th century AD all trade between Europe and the East was
transferred to the Arabs, and by the 14th. Century AD they were
operating in the region of the Persian gulf, the Indian Ocean, the
Malay Archipelago and China,” says Azeez.
The Muslims of Arab-Indian origin from Malabar and Kayalpatnam,
along with those from Arab lands, settled in Colombo and Beruwela, a
coastal town en route to Galle.
Beruwela, which retains its distinctive Muslim character even today,
received its first Muslim immigrants in 1024. It is acknowledged that
the art of weaving was introduced in Beruwela by migrants from
Kayalpatnam.
Colombo, which has a substantial Muslim population even today, was
predominantly Muslim when the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in
1505, says Azeez.
Muslims of Arab and Arab-Indian descent, married local women in Sri
Lanka. They mostly took Tamil wives because the Tamils populated
the coast and were the local traders too.
Those who headed for the Eastern Sri Lankan coast, arrived first in
Kathankudy near Batticaloa. Today, Kathankudy is perhaps the only
all-Muslim town in Sri Lanka. It also has the largest number of
mosques per square kilometre in the world.
In Batticaloa, the Muslim Arabs and those of Arab-Indian descent
married local women from the dominant Mukkuvar caste.
The Mukkuvars were themselves early migrants from the Malabar
Coast, who came to Eastern Sri Lanka via Mannar and Jaffna in the
4th century AD.
The Muslims and Mukkuvars of Batticaloa practiced matriliny or the
system of tracing descent through the female line and organised
themselves into matrilineal “kudis” or clans.
The administration of temples and mosques was in the hands of the
kudis and the chief of the mosque was the head of the kudi with which
the mosque was identified.
Adoption of Tamil language
The early Muslim settlers in Sri Lanka adopted Tamil as their spoken
language. This was because Tamil was the language of the traders in
South India and Sri Lanka and it is these Tamil trader families the
Muslims married into.
The Portuguese chronicler, Duartes Barbossa, wrote in the
16th.century AD that in the port of Colombo, the Muslims spoke a
mixture of Arabic and Tamil and used the Arabic script to write Tamil.
Tamil, written in the Arabic script, came to be known as “Arabic Tamil”.
Many Muslims in the Sinhala majority areas now say that their mother
tongue is Arabic Tamil.
The Muslims of Sri Lanka produced literature in Arabic-Tamil, as well
as pure Tamil, using the Arabic script, besides the Tamil script.
However, Arabic Tamil as a literary tool is not in vogue now. The
Muslims today use the purest form of Tamil in their writings and formal
speech. But their spoken Tamil remains unique, with the use of Arabic
and Islamic words, terms and expressions.
In his paper “The Language and Literature of the Muslims” MM.Uwise
says that “Muslim Tamil” is different from the Tamil spoken by Sri
Lankan Tamils in terms of words used and also pronunciation.
The use of Arabic words and terms is easily noticeable.
But many of the differences could be traced to the Sri Lankan
Muslims’ historic links with Indian Tamils and Malayalees of Kerala.
To give just one example, “Itam” (Sri Lankan Tamil word for place)
becomes “Etam” in Muslim Tamil. But in Tamil Nadu too, Itam is
pronounced as Etam or Edam.
Some of the Muslim Tamil words are actually classic Tamil words,
which are still in vogue in Tamil Nadu.
The Sri Lankan Muslims use “Nombu” for the “vrat” or “vritham”
(fasting). Recitation of prayers is “Odhudhal” not “vaasithal.” But both
Nombu and Odhudhal are pure Tamil words, which are used in Tamil
Nadu as substitutes for the Sanskritic terms Vritam and Vaasithal.
There are signs of Malayalam influence too. “Kudithen” (drank)
becomes “kudichcha” which is but a variation of the Malayalam
“kudichchu”.
In Tamil Nadu Tamil too, Kudithen is Kudichchen.
Uwise says that the Tamil spoken by the Muslims living in the Sinhala
areas is very different from the Tamil spoken by Muslims in the Tamil
areas. He also says that the Muslims in the Sinhala areas use many
Sinhala words.
But the cases he is able to cite are few and far between, and these
are used only in common speech.
Earlier, Quixotic attempts by some Colombo-based elite politicians to
get the Muslims to accept Arabic or Sinhala as their spoken language
failed, because the love for Tamil ran in the veins of the Sri Lankan
Muslims.
Performing arts
In the field of the performing arts, the influence of Tamil Nadu and
Kerala is clear, though MMM Mahroof in his paper “Performing and
Other Arts of the Muslims” portrays them as being of Arab origin.Even
if some of them are, they do clearly show links with India.
The Silambam or Silambattam, which shows dexterity in the handling
of sticks, is portrayed as being an Arab game. However, Mahroof
admits that Silambam is popular in Kerala and the Tirunelveli district
of Tamil Nadu also.
The Kali Kambu dance, a dance done by men with small sticks, is also
said to be ofby Arab origin. This could well be. But the Moplahs of
Kerala have a similar dance.
The Villu Pattu, a very Tamil art, is also part of the Muslim folk arts.
However, these links with Tamil Nadu and Kerala have either
disappeared, or are fast vanishing because of the Islamisation of the
Sri Lankan Muslims since the 1980s.
Many of these performing arts have been dubbed as being
“un-Islamic” and discouraged.
Portuguese era and the Indian connection
The arrival of the Portuguese in 1505 had a devastating impact on
the Muslims of Sri Lanka because the Portuguese saw them as rivals
in Asian and Euro-Asiatic trade.
The Portuguese took on the Muslims both on the Malabar Coast and
Sri Lanka, with an intention to drive them out, cripple them or
decimate them.
Force was used unabashedly, though traders in the Asian region,
including the Arabs and Arab-Indian/Ceylon Muslims, were men of
peace and never used force.
As it happened, the Portuguese came to Sri Lanka via India. On
hearing that Muslim ships were dodging the Portuguese men-of-war
by going to the Gulf via the Maldives, the Portuguese Governor in
Goa sent nine armed ships under the command of his son Don
Lurenco de Almeida to decimate them. But because of bad
navigation, the Portuguese commander landed in Colombo instead!
The Portuguese began to persecute the Muslims of Colombo from the
word go. The Zamorin of Calicut, who had a lot of problems with the
high handed Portuguese in Malabar, sent a fleet of ships to help the
Muslims of Colombo resist the Portuguese.
But this did not prevent the Portuguese from virtually driving the
Muslims out of the Western seaboard of Sri Lanka.
Taking pity on them, the Sinhala king of Kandy, Senarat, gave them
land to cultivate in Batticaloa district on the Eastern coast.
This had a deep impact on the Muslims because traders became
peasants overnight. Eventually, paddy cultivation became the single
most important occupation of the community.
After the nightmare of Portuguese and Dutch rule, the Muslims rose to
some freedom under British rule. Tolerance, peace and law and
order, helped the growth of Muslim trade.”
[Courtesy Hindustan Times]-http://tamilweek.com/Lankan_Muslims_India_0409.html
Dr.RN
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Hade Sheriff / May 7, 2013
@Narendra Rajasingham
Good analysis this is what i have heard from my ancestors.
My Mother Knew only Arabic Tamil (Arabic writing in Tamil meaning) she could read & write only that .
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oopla / May 6, 2013
The Muslim elite has yemeni..so and other arab, north african sprinklings. But majority are Tamil HIndu ‘low’ class converts and proudly so. The ‘Arab’ elite has led them to this mess to further their wekning genealogy in Sr Lanka.
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Jay / May 6, 2013
Sri lankan Muslims are descendants of Arabs is a heavily exaggerated story, muslims on the coastal line are a settlement came from malabar, muslims must come out of their hypocrisy, no sri lankan muslim speak arabic as their mother tongue, we have to build a secular societ, camouflaging the truth/history will be self deceptive and will be serving
fundamental religious elements like BBS
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Senguttuvan / May 7, 2013
If our Muslims came from the Kerala coast they would certainly be talking in Malayalam – a language no Malayalee will forsake. Often British records referred to some part of present Tamilnadu as Malabari – that may add to the confusion. The original owners of the Pilawoos Hotel in the Pettah in Colombo (Palandy??) – who later secured the Bata Shoe agency in the Pettah – were Malabar Muslims and spoke in Malayalam. And so were the Pettah business houses
P.B. Umbichy and possibly Kunjimusas (of the early 1960s)
Senguttuvan
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / May 7, 2013
Malayalam developed into the presently recognised form around the 9th century AD. The Chera Nadu of old was mostly Tamil-speaking and gradually developed into Malayalam because of the influence of Sanskrit. The script too evolved into Grantham and then into that of modern Malayalam. The Cilapathikaram of Ilanko Adihal was a product of Chera Nadu. Anyone originating from the Malabar of old – most of present day Kerala, would have found the Tamil dialect in Ceylon quite familiar because of the classical affinity and intonation.
Dr.RN
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Jamal / May 8, 2013
Mr Senguttuvan, you are absolutely correct on this. When we were young, I remember there were Malayalees in the upcountry running tea boutiques and I distinctly remember them speaking Malayalam and Tamil with an accent. As for me my ancestry, whether Arab or Tamil is not important except for the records . Muslims should not forget that no race or individual can claim superiority by birth. As the Prophet said “An Arab is not superior to a NonArab ( meaning by birth) except by his acts of good deeds” . Judging by this most of us sadly, do not seem to make the grade except a few. There are more important things in this world to concentrate and appreciate. Instead of the caste system, which is slowly dying out, how many of us know about Tamil which is one of the oldest and richest of Languages? it therefore is not a matter to be ashamed of to be part of such a rich heritage.
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mohamed / May 6, 2013
Now days there is ethics with media professionals they may publish any type of article if they getting traffic??
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Dhaksha / May 6, 2013
If Rizana was accepted as being an Arab descendent, there would have been NO stopping the horrible beheading. Many Arab women have been stoned to death for adultery, and other crimes. The primitive laws of Saudi Arabia do not exclude their own people.
All this talk about ancestry, and the theories that there are some lower than others, is just a load of ignorance. Learned anthropologists have disproved theories that some are “purer” than others. The majority of Sri Lankans are descendants of traders and sailors who stopped in our ports, and of the colonial masters who ruled as throughout the years. Basically ALL human beings have evolved from apes, and their behavior shows!!
Sri Lankan Muslims are descendants of Moors, Moroccans, Arab, Malaysian, Indonesian, and yes even South India. If Sir Ramanathan was a learned Anthropologist, then what he said was worth a second look.
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Buvanes / May 6, 2013
I don’t have much knowledge of Muslims ancesters. But what I know is ordenary sinhala man/women call muslims “Thambila”. And only few thousand muslims have their ancesters from Arab. It is wrong to say Arab muslims marry sinhala/Tamil women, they just have them as “keeps” during their stay in SL. And due to war most of the Tamil families from Vavuniya, Mannar, Trinco, Batti and Ampara converted them to Muslim, just for their safty.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / May 7, 2013
Muslims used to be referred to largely as ‘ Marakkalayas’. By the Sinhalese. The word is believed to Haverfordwest the word ‘ Marakkalan’ meaning wooden sea craft . This implies that they had arrived in boats. The word ‘ Thambiya’ apparently is a more recent colloquial term. It probably originated from the word ‘ Thamby’ meaning younger brother. The Tamils may have used it originally in reference to the Muslims. The Tamils yet call a younger unrelated person ‘ Thamby’.
Dr.RN
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / May 8, 2013
Correction: —- come from the word—
Dr.RN
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 10, 2013
Buvanes..(wari)?,Pathetic man or woman(?) you! Thambila,Demala,Parangiya, Rodiya, etc etc… just some slang used by the slang to overcome emotions or to vent out venom as no self esteem prevails to restrain harmony. Women are a majority in the world and many are kept or taken as seconds by men when the morals of Women fail and give in to greed. The towns that you mention are also highly populated by the muslims. If your ‘thamilans’ ran off to fight a ‘puss’ war or ran from the tigers(LTTE) leaving their women to the vultures, who is to blame if the ‘thambiyas’ gave them a life and shelter. To single out Arabs or Muslims is unbecoming… and do i smell a ‘Wappattee’ speaking!
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Thunderstorm / May 6, 2013
Rifat Halim, what`s the big deal? Low caste tamil hindus are not human beings? Your grandfather must have been a monkey, no doubt!
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ONE / May 6, 2013
Oh so you are landa product of the Arab harem like Mohamed did a 9 year old.
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Senguttuvan / May 7, 2013
High, Middle or Low Castes are all the same children of God.
As Babasaheb Ambedkar proved, “we” and “they” are all Harijans –
Children of God. True education is to understand all men are
created equal – sans class, colour or creed – as the American Declaration of Emancipation eloquently proclaims. When we die the earth consumes us without difference and all of us turn to dust.
Senguttuvan
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Amerasiri / May 6, 2013
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran – May 6, 2013
5:24 pm
FACTS AND MYTHS
Thank You, trying to-stick close to facts, and not Myths. I am giving below scientific data, so that all those Myth followers and Racists can open their eyes, in light of the scientific facts.
The Earth Still goes around the Sun,despite all the preaching by the priests, monks, mullahs, and Joshua stopping the Sun!
Sri Lankan Muslims, and a host of other inhabitants in Lanka,Veddahs, Tamils, Yakkas, Nagas, Kalingas, Bengalis, Sinhala etc. originally came from East Africa between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago, as Homo Sapiens, through Arabia, yes Arabia.
On the way they picked up many MYTHS of Religion, Race,beliefs etc, and these were promoted by those in power or in collision with those in power.
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%
Southern Indian 4 2 58 35
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