{"id":67922,"date":"2013-01-05T19:05:15","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T19:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=67922"},"modified":"2013-01-07T07:55:04","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07T07:55:04","slug":"that-halal-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/that-halal-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"That \u2018Halal Controversy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Certain sections of the Sinhala Buddhist<\/a><\/span> population are up in arms against what they call \u2018Islaamikaranaya\u2019<\/em> (Islamization) or \u2018Halalkaranaya\u2019<\/em> (Halal-ism).\u00a0 The more virulent elements of this group have indulged in the most distasteful of anti-Islam<\/a><\/span> hatemongering especially in social media sites such as Facebook.<\/p>\n

The initial objection has been to non-Muslims being forced to play participant to a Muslim<\/a><\/span> religious dictate pertaining to meat, i.e. the slaughtering of animals as per Islamic doctrine.\u00a0 One can argue that if it\u2019s meat that is desired then the \u2018how\u2019 of slaughter should not really matter.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is not that non-Buddhists consuming Halal meat are automatically converted to Islam, after all.\u00a0 On the other hand, perceived intrusions (there have been instances, we note, of Muslims legitimately and systematically purchasing properties to turn formerly \u2018Sinhala\u2019 villages into Muslim-dominated entities) can act as cultural trigger where those who talk the religion but may not practice it preying on natural social fears.<\/p>\n

The Buddhist response would be to treat things with compassion, which would require Buddhists to draw on the principles of tolerance and empathy.\u00a0 If wisdom is also employed, as is required according to Buddhism, then the wise thing would be stop eating meat altogether.\u00a0 Consumption of meat is not necessarily forbidden, but since animal turns to mean only consequent to slaughter, and since slaughter does not sit with the Buddha Vacana<\/em> (May All Beings Be Happy), then abstinence is a choice that takes a culturally unpalatable situation and turns it into a reason for walking closer to prescribed path.<\/p>\n

The attacks on Muslims and Islam, and especially the vilification on sites such as Facebook are quite antithetical to Buddhist teachings of tolerance and equanimity.\u00a0 They have been quite rightly condemned.\u00a0 Some of the condemnation of course comes from those who have an axe to grind with Buddhism and Buddhists, ever ready to vilify but extremely reluctant to point error in other religions, their churches or followers.\u00a0 Such people use the erroneous and misleading blanket descriptive \u2018Sinhala Buddhists\u2019\u00a0 which is as bad as conflating Tamils and the LTTE.\u00a0 The criticism, however, remains valid.<\/p>\n

If these so-called \u2018Buddhist\u2019 groups are in error in their vilifying thrusts, so too, sadly, are some of their detractors, many of whom believe that only the majority community needs to be rebuked fearing perhaps that if other communities are found fault with (as collectives or partial entities or individuals) it amounts to being racist, chauvinistic, religiously intolerant etc.<\/p>\n

A classic case is that of the furor over allegation of Tamil versions of the Law College Examination being leaked.\u00a0 Now this is a competitive examination and the facts certainly raise questions that compromise the integrity of the examination in ways that are far more serious than a leaking of an Ordinary Level examination.\u00a0 And yet, this has been a touch-me-not issue for almost all commentators who have intervened in the \u2018Halal Controversy\u2019.<\/p>\n

If Sri Lanka is to be a nation of less paranoid communities it is imperative that each individual and each community looks within.\u00a0 Sinhalese and Buddhists have shown exemplary tolerance in years gone by.\u00a0 In Europe the only \u2018religious\u2019 holidays are Christian and in countries dominated by Muslims there is even less recognition of other faiths.\u00a0 The intolerance of the Swiss is a well concealed fact that came out when a referendum was held about mosques.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing in Sri Lanka akin to the issuance of Fatwas as are common in Muslim countries.\u00a0 These are good things to think about.<\/p>\n

In the end though, deeper reflection on faith and an abiding by the relevant doctrine would make for better engagement with religious others.\u00a0 In the end all human beings, regardless of faith, share the same will to live and the same apprehension about death.\u00a0 If a symbol of co-existence is required, take any mosque in any part of the island and the chances are there is a Bo sapling coming out of some crevice.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say anything about either faith, but the togetherness is a lesson that can be learnt.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation<\/a>\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThat \u2018Halal Controversy\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/that-halal-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"That \u2018Halal Controversy\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/that-halal-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-05T19:05:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-07T07:55:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/that-halal-controversy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/that-halal-controversy\/\",\"name\":\"That \u2018Halal Controversy\u2019 - 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