28 March, 2024

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Sri Lankan Muslims Are Low Caste Tamil Hindu Converts Not Arab Descendants

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.

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Latest comments

  • 0
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    The Government and The defense dept should use their Power to make sure no one Ethnicity is Monopolizing any Part of Sri Lanka- Akurana should be the first to be cleaned up.. They think they own the pace they do not even allow Muslims from other areas to do business in Akurana and The defense dept must have a high vigilance on “Doctor” Marina Refai her treatment when it comes to Medical as well as people both sucks.

    She promotes a lot of hate all her institutions should be shut down… she is the Niece of All Seen countries Hameed – that is all he did and nothing else at the expenses of the poor People of Sri Lanka and I kindly request His Excellency not to trust Faizer under any circumstance.

  • 0
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    The Government and The defense dept should use their Power to make sure no one Ethnicity is Monopolizing any Part of Sri Lanka- Akurana should be the first to be cleaned up.. They think they own the pace they do not even allow Muslims from other areas to do business in Akurana and The defense dept must have a high vigilance on “Doctor” Marina Refai her treatment when it comes to Medical as well as people both sucks.

    She promotes a lot of hate all her institutions should be shut down… she is the Niece of All countries Seen Hameed – that is all he did and nothing else at the expenses of the poor People of Sri Lanka and I kindly request His Excellency not to trust Faizer of Akurana under any circumstance and handover Colombo central to him…

  • 3
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    hi rifat halim, i couldn’t agree with you more. you are spot on. all sri lankan muslims are low caste tamil hindu converts of tamil nadu. in order to escape prejudice and oppression from upper caste hindu tamils , lower castes Hindus embraced an alien faith islam. then came christianity and the lower castes hindu tamils embraced another alien faith. ramanathan was absolutely correct when he said sri lankan muslims were tamils by ethnicity . however, malays belong to a different ethnic stock. in any case they are few and far between and they descended from impoverished malays who left their homeland in search of better life. you find malays in madagascar and south africa too. malays are part of the cape coloured community in south africa.
    apart from muslims 85% of the sinhala population are descendants of tamils who occupy the coastal areas of tamil nadu. in other words lower caste tamils. these lower castes were brought to sri lanka by portuguese to catch sardines.

    • 0
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      Rama,

      The face of the majority and other non-Tamil communities here will have a new look in a century from now here – thanks to the Addendum of the Mahawansa now re-done by Sobita Thero and other frauds. JHU and other religious fanatics and pseudo-nationalists are busy removing all traces of Tamil presence from Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and other sites to fall in that frantic “the island must be cleansed of all defilements (Tamil)” before the 4th coming.

      Senguttuvan

  • 0
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    Rama,

    I beg to differ. I have witnessed a geneology tree of one muslim grand family (now spread into countless families in the tamil speaking region of Sri Lanka) documented to trace their paternal ancestry all the way back to arabia. the tree also touches kerala at some node. there is another that i know of (couldn’t get to see the authentic family tree of theirs though) that has a lineage from afghanistan. these are just cases that disprove by contradiction the argument made by the author out of his half baked knowledge and supported by you on partial information. no offense.

    it really doesn’t matter much where we come from. we interbreed! as long as one played the game by its rules while immigrating, their descendents are legitimate inheritants of the land they live in.

    further, the above said two families do have their share of local ancestry. you may say the sri lankan muslims are either 1. cross breeds of arabs/some other foreigners and lankans 2. or converts from ethnic tamils/ sinhalese. usually the immigrant gene, if there was, comes through one male long long ago.

    why sri lankan muslims traditionally identify themselves as a different race than tamils (a fact that is hard to be digested by some tamil nadu fellows) is because they are a multilingual society taken as a whole all over the island. i mean the sinhala speaking muslims and tamil speaking muslims have much in common culturally than the tamil speaking hindus and tamil speaking muslims have. further, most of tamil cultural elements, for instance the pongal, have rituals taht are too influenced by the panthiestic (advaidam) version of hinduism, which makes muslims only be able to be a spectating guest – a place where beliefs contradict,hence you co-existance not active participation. muslims have their share of stupidity too, the obsession with circumcision as if it’s a fundamental necessity in the religion. these are deeply rooted cultural aspects which we cannot criticise from standing on the other side as is done in many internet forums. we can only work towards a peaceful coexistance in harmony. the current status with respect to the greater differences in the ways of life of different communities are influenced by cultural diffusion, cultural separation, globalization, geo-politics, ethnic conflicts etc.

  • 0
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    @ Rama -you are a waste of time to reply,,,,, anyone with the right mind and knowledge whether Tamil ,Muslim or Sinhalese will notice that your comment is utter shop… and you need to do some Pojahs to clean your inner Soul to rid off the hate toxic inside you…

    Go ahead and make my Day Rama ..!!!!!!!!!

  • 0
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    Need to keep repeating, because the scientific evidence shows that

    1. Ponnambalam Ramanathan and the so called higher caste Tamils have the same gene composition as the
    so called low caste Tamils, the Sakkiliyas and the Rhodias .

    2. Budu Bala Sena Monks, their goons, their thugs, and their racist political backers have the same gene composition as the
    so called low caste Tamils, the Sakkiliyas and the Rhodias .

    1. The Racist Sinhalese and the Racist Tamils have the same gene composition as the
    so called low caste Tamils, the Sakkiliyas and the Rhodias .

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project

    HERE IS SOME SPECULATION:You Decide if true or Not True, based on data.

    1. Ponnambalam Ramanathan is a politician and opportunist, like people before him, Monk Mahanama, and after him like SWRD, JR, Chelvanayakam, Budu Bala Sena, Rajapaksa etc.

    2. Ponnabalam Ramananathan is a Low cast Tamil Sakkiliya, because he has the same Southern Indian Gene composition as the Sakkiliyas and Low case Tamils.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project

    There is a Table There that shows the gene diversity and original location of the genes.

    3. Ponnabalam Ramananathan is a Low cast Tamil Sakkiliya, who came from East Africa and Arabia, like the low caste Sakkiliyas, because he has the same Southern Indian Gene composition as the Sakkiliyas and Low case Tamils.

    4. The Sinhalese and Tamils are the same as Ponnambalam Ramanathan.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project

  • 0
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    @Rifat Halim Alias -Rama-Alias “ONE” Alias Siva ,etc etc.. we smoked you out of your Hiding rat hole …………..Huh!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Please accept our Charity of 200 odd Comments you were begging for…
    -:))))))))))))))))))

  • 1
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    who are malays?. how did they reach sri lanka?. it all happened during dutch rule. dutch east india company transported thousands of malay slaves from their colonies in the far east to south africa. besides slaves dutch exiled political dissidents and muslim leaders who opposed their presence in what is now indonesia. as the journey from indonesia to south africa was long and arduous, sri lanka was used as a stop over. in the process some malays either slipped through the net or may be the dutch decided to keep some of them as slaves in sri lanka. dutch also exiled malay convicts and criminals to south africa.
    however, it appears that the dutch decided to exile some of them in sri lanka for the simple reason that sri lanka always welcomed convicts and criminals. the sad truth is these convicts and criminals couldn’t be rehabilitated and to this day they remain as dangerous as they were 2,500 years ago.

  • 1
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    The author’s use of words are too harsh which could hurt some Muslims feelings. But there is some truth in it.

    Caucasian looking Northern Arabs(Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis etc) look down on Southern Arabs (Yemenis, Omanis, Saudis). Also northern Arabs claim that they are the genuine Arabs not their southern counterpart who look Indian.

    By the way, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan was a prominent, upper class, upper caste, knighted, educated and respected politician who was also a philanthropist.

  • 0
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    @Jones– Ponnambalam Ramanathan was noting but a racist,fagot ,a philanthropist my Foot………. , what Upper class ,upper cast ,educated ,knighted ,was he the only one who was educated and Knighted?

    We all know how Tamils became the educated lot when they had the whole education institutions under them and the way they manipulated it.

    Ponnambalam was a traitor. and always wanted to dive the country,, The worlds worst and ruthless Terrorist who is no more was the by products of people like ponnambalam.

    • 3
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      oi halal butcher don’t feel jealous of ponnambalam ramanathan. whether you like it not he was an aristocrat and an educated gentleman. how can we expect a halal butcher like you to appreciate ones aristocracy and literacy. don’t feel jealous of tamils either about our success and achievements. you muslim lot are good only at slaughtering poor animals in abattoirs. you lot are so primitive and backward. by the way traitors are the muslims who open up madrassas all over the place and pray five times a day at stinking mosques . in my opinion all alien faiths should be driven out of indian subcontinent. i tell you prabhakaran wasn’t a terrorist at all. your description of him as the world’s most ruthless terrorist was used by sinhala and muslim terrorists just to discredit him and for propaganda purposes. prabha was a defender of tamil freedom. he wanted to free the tamil people from the clutches of sinhala terrorists who have been terrorising the tamil population since 1948. pabha was a guy with lots of guts and determination who stood supreme against all odds for well over 30 years. in sri lankan terrorists are the sinhala and muslim lot. sinhala buddhist monks and imams are the worst terrorists in the world. anyway don’t accuse tamil of manipulating the education system. if you lot are thick surely we can’t take the blame for it. if the sinhala lot are thick and wanted positive discrimination in favour of the majority then again it’s not our problem. sinhala lot gave all sorts idiotic explanations for introducing standardisation. we tamils know too well the sinhala lot couldn’t compete with tamils in real terms. by the way muslims are losers in sri lanka or india or wherever. after burning the hindus by setting alight to the train in which they were travelling in gujarat , muslims were complaining about the anti muslim riots that ensued. what did the muslims expect , a medal. in my opinion expelling the muslims from the north was justifiable under the circumstances. who would want spies and informers as you neighbours. i don’t know what sumanthiran was going on about. tamils don’t have to say sorry at all.

  • 0
    2

    Rama oh Rama ..Have a glass of water ..see how your blood boils? Like my favorite saying goes on,do not dish out, if you can not take it – so stop discriminating people, be nice to others and they will be nice in return, dump your age old supremacy of cast system in the dust bin and treat all people as equal in your minds ,if you guys thought Moors speak Tamil you just can not talk with a loose tongue branding people Low cast, you branding a community low cast to prove a case is the worst damage one can do to any community for that matter.

    you talk so of now of branding Muslims as a terrorists.. what did you guys do to innocent women and children ?what about the killing of worshipers in the mosques ,what about the massacre of poor Muslim villagers? and many more?

    so we are halal butchers? oh so very unkind to animals? what do you guys do at the Kovil to animals? now do not dare get me started ,what is the sickness in you guys? such damn losers ,you guys can not have a debate on an independent subject with any Muslim without dragging their religion which has been twisted and slandered to the wimps of bigots,hey in a discussion on a social media on a certain subject,one should be consistent not wondering away in your wild emotions when people are talking of peanut and butter, don’t go on monkeying around, stick to the subject concerned. do not bother to reply am not going to waste my time with you..wish you a blood boiling weekend.

  • 0
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    I missed out on to say Tamil speaking as Tamils. apologies readers.

    ======================================================================

  • 0
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    Late Mr.Ponnambalam Ramanathan,

    “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.”

    There is a way to find out:

    1. If The Sri Lanka Muslims have Arab and Middle Eastern Blood and intermarried with locals of Kerala, South India and Lanka.

    2. If the Punnambalam Ramanathan and the High caste Tamils are related to Low-caste Tamils and Sakkiliyas ( No disrespect or offense, and this has been defined by the “high Caste” Tamils).

    3. If the Sinhala Buddhists and the High caste Sinhala are related to Low-caste Tamils, Sakkiliyas and Rhodias( No disrespect or offense, and this has been defined by the “high Caste” Sinhala).

    How?

    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%

    METHOD.

    1.Test the DNA samples of the so-called “High” Caste Tamils, “Low” Caste Tamils, “Sakkiliyas”, “High” Caste Sinhala, “Low” Caste Sinhala, “Rhodias”, Western Seaboard Muslims light-skinned and dark skinned, Eastern Seaboard Muslims light-skinned and dark skinned, Estate Tamils, Up Country Sinhala, Low Country Sinhala, Portuguese Descendants, Burghers light-skinned and dark skinned, Dutch Descendants and English descendants and Veddahs.

    2. Categorize the source of the gene pool, like the project below.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genographic_Project

    This will give, with a sufficient number of statistically relevant samples, the truth.

    Now I speculate, what the results are likely to be

    Group 1: Predominantly South Indian

    The so-called “High” Caste Tamils, “Low” Caste Tamils, “Sakkiliyas”, “High” Caste Sinhala, “Low” Caste Sinhala, “Rhodias”, Western Seaboard Muslims dark skinned, Eastern Seaboard Muslims dark skinned, Estate Tamils, Up Country Sinhala, Low Country Sinhala,

    Group 2: Predominantly South Indian with high percentages of West Asian and Mediterranean.

    Light skinned Muslims from the Western and Eastern Seaboards.

    Group 3: Predominantly South Indian with high percentages of European and Mediterranean.

    Burghers from the Western and Eastern Seaboards.

    Group 4: Mediterranean and European
    Portuguese, Dutch and English

    Group 5: South Indian
    Native Veddahs

  • 2
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    Hard to believe Tamils would willingly convert to Islam. Intelligent people tend to reject extremist philosophies, and Tamils are fairly renowned for their intellect. The best way to test this theory is with DNA.

  • 0
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    @ Amarasiri alias Rifat,alis siva , alias Ram,the subject is closed.. go enjoy life while you can ,life is to short ,tomorrow it not promised to no one…

    Adios Amigo ..

  • 0
    0

    THis is a pointless debate

  • 0
    1

    Yes, pointless debate, as the MYTH holders will never give up.

    As Francis Bacon said, “If it was NOT REASON that got them there, they will NOT GET OUT from there”

    We all await for the NEXT MYTH. . . . . .

  • 0
    1

    Thanks, this article and the comments made me laugh. Badly written and historically inaccurate, pretty much what I have come to expect of journalism in this country.

  • 0
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    With the arrival of Arab traders in the 8th century, Islam began to flourish in Sri Lanka. The first people to profess the Islamic faith were Arab merchants and their native wives, whom they married after converting to Islam. By the 15th century, Arab traders had controlled much of the trade on the Indian Ocean, including that of Sri Lanka. Many of them settled down on the island in large numbers, encouraging the spread of Islam. However, when the Portuguese arrived during the 16th century, many of their descendants – the Sri Lankan Moors – were persecuted.The Sinhalese ruler King Senarat of Kandy gave refuge to the Muslims in the central highlands and Eastern Province, Sri Lanka.[3]
    THERE IE NO CASTE SYSTEM AMONG MUSLIMS

    See also: Caste system in Sri Lanka
    Typical line housing of estate workers

    The social structure of the plantations resembles the South Indian rural social structure. The community is generally bound by caste system. In a plantation, the tea factory is the center of activities and it stands in the central part of the plantation. The office adjoins this and these are surrounded by the quarters of the staff members such as clerks, tea makers, conductors, petty accountants or kanakkupillais, and supervisors. The bungalows of the planter and his assistants are in an isolated areas. These will be in close proximity to the office. The dwellings of the workers called line rooms are situated a little further away from the factories.[8]

    Those who are considered to be of higher castes such as Vellalas, Kallar, Agamudaiyar, Maravar, Naidus, Reddiars and Nairs occupy the first row of line rooms. They perform respectable jobs such as factory work and grinding of tea as minor labor work. Even though they belong to the labor category they are influential among conductors, tea makers, kanganies (or supervisors) and other officials. The workers considered low castes live in the dwellings that are away from the center and these dwellings are called distant or lower lines. This group consists of Pallar, Paraiyars, Sakkiliar, washers and barbers. The yard sweepers and changers of clothes are in the lowest range

    BECAUSE OF THE CASTE SYSTEM AMONGST TAMILS,
    SOME “SAKKILIARS” COULD HAVE CONVERTED TO ISLAM.

    TO SAY MUSLIMS ARE NOT OF ARAB DESCENT, AND CONVERTED LOW CASTE
    TAMILS IS PLAIN BULLSHIT out of A “COW’S ARSE”

    THE PROPHET SAID THAT NO ARAB IS SUPERIOR TO A NON-ARAB EXCEPT ON
    GROUNDS OF PIETY.

  • 0
    1

    Sounds like a load of bull from a Guji Dalit with a chip on his shoulder.

  • 0
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    PLEASE write instead of posting links – CT

  • 0
    0

    @Elizabeth – May 14, so chick give us your best .eeek.. at least people here are trying and remember ,these are not people who are milk with little khahate mix lot, they are people who’s native language is not English and also they are not professional Journalist ,don’t think yourself brave hiding behind the screen and Laughing your ass out…. give me a break , almara top having nicely squeeze squeeze and take.

    most are amateurs ,you sound like a sapatharuwa , see corner kade lalee open,if you can do better than this, let us meet up in public show your more Milk with a drop of thay kahate mixed brave face and lets hit it out hit it out.name the place and date and time.on camera.

    BTW There is nothing wrong with SL ,but then what do you expect with karapathos in the corners.

  • 0
    0

    BTW -CT how come people bashing religion which has nothing to do with race which is the whole debate is about has become very relevant when it is all about bashing Islam, while the slightest variation of my comments were mercilessly deleted and strictly warned..

    CT are you trying to say here that any bashing on Islam not other religions are relevant and well accommodated?
    ====================================
    you should have removed all degrading remarks on the religion Islam , whilst the whole debate was about ethnicity and ethnicity do not represent any religion or its scriptures,with all your professionalism in journalism right from the beginning you have blundered -your writer’s heading says Muslim which means someone who follows the religion of Islam ,he can belong to any ethnicity ,moor.malay,borah,many more ,,, then he says the Sri Lankan Muslims were low cast Hindus who converted to Islam ,, is he referring to all the Muslims? because when you use the word Muslims all races who follow Islam comes under the same umbrella- you should have corrected it from the beginning- is he referring to Malays? a lot of Malays also speak Tamil very well ,so does Borahs,so does memons ,so does Coast Moors and then the Moors? CT Please clarify.
    Thank you
    Happy Friday!

    ===================================================================
    CC:All SL Bloggers
    Canada Bloggers
    UK Bloggers

    USA Bloggers
    Singapore Bloggers

    Kindly comment on above Tks UN quote:

    • 0
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      CT is run by rednecks, what else would they vie of, deception?

  • 1
    0

    If Muslims don’t believe in castes – why have these arguments. Muslims should not reply these comments if they do not think caste system is important.

  • 0
    1

    @ Piya -Thathay-you missed the whole point – that is the very reason this thread is still going on as the writer with no knowledge of a community have picked up a absurd assumption to pass time and many are still caught up in his absurd thread, ,actually the writer is such an idiot has stated his Article heading referring to a Religious group and continues the rest of the whole article about ethnicity………… and mean while CT is deleting everything that may seem irrelevant except comments bashing Islam which is 100% irrelevant to the subject ethnicity -well it has become today’s accepted stress release to bash Islam….. -:)))

  • 0
    0

    Can you prove they are of Tamil ancestry by blood? Of course, there is no “pure blooded Arabians”, all are inter-mixed with something, but that does not discount Arabian blood, when Arab traders used to visit Sri Lanka even before Islam came. Well known, well documented.

    2. Why should they speak Arabic in Sri Lanka? The Arabian language gets lost from them, just as Hebrew was lost from the Jews, for centuries until they revived it to speak it in Israel. Previous they spoke Yiddish or adopted the languages of their respective countries in Europe. It is logical to speak Tamil or Sinhalese in Sri lanka, when you stay there.

    3. There is a huge difference between an Arab, and a person of Arabian ancestry.

    4. There is no such identity known as “Hindu” and “Indian”, these are created identities, that over lap existing regional/ethnic identities, the word “Hindu” was given to people living near the Indus river by Greeks and Arabs and Iranians do Tamils live near the “Sindhu river” that flows through Pakistan?

    Your blood is your blood, if you carry that from your Arab forefathers, you inherit it, regardless of wether you follow Islam or Christianity.

  • 1
    0

    yes ,proto dravidians (now they are tamils,malayalees, kannadigas,telugus,tuluvas)lived in those areas and formed indus valley civilization.

  • 0
    1

    This is a misleading and historically inaccurate article. The best way to verify it has already been suggested by other commentators above. Test DNA (join the geneology project) and you will see.

    In fact some Sri Lankan Muslims have already got their DNA tested and the results completely go against the Ramanathan worshipping hypothesis put forward by the author. At the same time, they show that Moors who got these tests share common Y chromosomes of some Eastern European groups as well as from North Africa and countries like Yemen.\

    Go figure

  • 6
    1

    I have born and bred in eastern province. later, I lived in southern for 10 years and now I am residing in Western province for last 10 years. This is my view and is the fact too that where ever I live, and what ever said by some people for their own benefit I feel, and I am proud to say that “I AM A TAMIL MUSLIM”. Tamil and Islam are like my 2 lungs which are needed for my breath.

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