Background It is a fact that the important and controversial subject of ‘Polygamy’ is not mentioned in any of the Hadith Books and is only referred to in just two verses (4:3 and 4:129) in the Holy Quran. Quran 4:3 states : If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of ...
On the 31st of October 2017, a research article based on secondary data, titled “Child Marriage in the Muslim Sri Lankan Community”, was posted in my Blog. (Please see: https://bisthanbatcha.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/child-marriage-in-the-muslim-sri-lankan-community/). The objective of that article was to estimate the extent to which female child marriages existed at that time in the Muslim Community. The analysis was based on data from ...
On the 31st of October 2017, an article titled “Child Marriage in the Muslim Sri Lankan Community” was posted in my Blog. The objective of that article was to estimate the extent to which female child marriages existed at that time in the Muslim Community. The analysis was based on data from the 2012 Census of Population conducted by the ...
The rule that all Covid-19 infected patients who succumb to the virus must be cremated was introduced by the GOSL on the 11th of April 2020. The Path Taken The response of the Muslim community which was traumatized by this new rule had the following timeline : Initially, pressure was brought to bear on the Authorities by way of protests, ...
Since early 2020, our Motherland has been facing one of the most terrifying health-related crises of recent times which has had and will continue to have life-threatening effects, directly or indirectly, on all of it’s citizens over a relatively long period of time. Covid-19 is here to stay and the steps that we take now, severally and collectively, will determine ...
Dear Mr Sabry As you are aware, Muslim marriages in Sri Lanka centre around the Nikah and Walima in accordance with the tenets of Islam. The Nikah, which is Shariah-based and therefore immutable, is essentially a brief ceremony where, under the guidance of a pious Muslim male, vows are exchanged between the Bride’s guardian (Wali) and the Groom and is ...
[The first Open Letter was sent to the NSC in June 2015] [See : https://bisthanbatcha.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/an-open-letter-to-the-national-shoora-council-of-sri-lanka/ ] The National Shoora Council of Sri Lanka has made available in it’s website a Questionnaire which they claim is being shared with ‘selected people like you’ by way of being password-protected and these lucky selected people are urged not to forward or share ...
For purposes of this article, the definition of the word ‘Child’ as per the Oxford Dictionary will be adopted. Accordingly, a child is any ‘young human being below the legal age of majority’, which in the local case is 18 years. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as “a human being below the age ...
A common belief, bordering on paranoia, among many Sinhala Buddhists is that some time in the foreseeable future the Sri Lankan Muslims, driven by unfettered population growth, will emerge as the Majority Community in this Island Nation, thereby reducing the Sinhala Buddhists to a minority in what they often describe very emotionally as “the only Country in the World that ...
There is a significant difference between the ‘stipulated code’ and the ‘implemented code’ for a specific purpose. In many instances, a serious mistake is often made by referring to the ‘implemented code’ as being the ‘stipulated code’. Take for instance the highway code. There was a time before the advent of the wheeled vehicle, when the need for such a ...
Sometime towards the end of March 2016, a study commissioned by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) reportedly claimed that there are no ‘Islamic Jihadist groups in Sri Lanka’. The reliability of this inference unfortunately is highly debatable in view of the fact that the methodology adopted for the study was qualitative in nature and the analysis of data ...
“The mind is everything. The way one thinks, one becomes” : The Buddha The Dimensions of Speech Should the proposed Hate Speech Laws (in it’s present or amended form) be incorporated into our Penal Code or should it not be so ? Opponents and proponents of these new laws have raised various arguments in support of their respective points of ...
The last three decades have witnessed a growing sense of religiosity among members of the Sri Lanka Muslim community resulting primarily from a heightened awareness and better understanding of correct Islamic rituals and practices. Unfortunately, there are reasons to believe that the potential to impose a specific brand of Islam among Sri Lankan Muslims was identified by certain Islamic Nations, ...
Over the past 1000 years, as the members of the Muslim Community of this Island began to take root and become an intrinsic part of it’s political, social and economic fabric, there were certain specific attributes that came to be associated strongly with this Community by the Majority Community. Some attributes were seen as the ‘strengths’ of the Community, while ...
“What’s in a name ? That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet” goes the oft-quoted line from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. So, is ‘name’ merely an ‘identification label’ as the good Bard of Avon would like to tell us ? Is it something that can easily be superseded by another without any significant ...
Many articles and papers have been written over the past few years by various Commentators attempting to analyze the sudden emergence of stridently anti-Muslim Groups in Sri Lanka. The conceptual framework which underlies most of these analyses is based on the postulate that the cause of the ‘Muslim Problems’ is the emergence of these Groups. This amounts to a convenient ...
The National Shoora Council (NSC) describes itself as “… a consultative body comprising several Muslim Organisations and individuals which was formed to address the challenges currently faced by the Muslims in Sri Lanka in a proactive manner.” The NSC identified the “… sudden surge in anti-Muslim activity through hate websites, public meetings, press conferences, demonstrations, media publications, attacks on places of religious worship, business ...
“Electoral reforms are not meant to satisfy political parties. They are meant to strengthen people’s representation” – Kusal Perera in ‘20A must have a Referendum’ (https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/20a-must-have-a-referendum/) The process of alienation between the two largest Communities in Sri Lanka, driven by the hegemonistic aspirations of the Upper-caste Tamils, was set in motion in the 1940’s with the establishment of the All ...
A striking feature of the First-Pass-The-Post (FPTP) system of electing Members of Parliament, that existed until the introduction of the new Constitution in 1978, was the election of Muslim MP’s from predominantly Non-Muslim Electorates and the ready support extended to Non-Muslim Candidates by Muslim Voters in all electorates. Muslims voted for Candidates, irrespective of race or religion, who won their ...
A point made in passing in the previous Post deserves elaboration if only to emphasize it’s critical importance at the present moment in time. After the advent of the new Government on the 8th of January 2015, the SL Muslims have begun to once again feel safe from the threats of verbal assaults and risks to life and limb posed ...
