Muslims, be vigilant over distasteful scenarios

 People have to be vigilant and take precautions, and respond in ways that make the proponents of ill will or bitterness or animosity realise what they are doing would in the long run do more harm to them, or to the philosophy they follow, than to those who they are hurting now – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Changing times bring in a variety of changes in people’s thinking, faiths, ideologies, lifestyles, interactions, etc. One’s changes in thinking or behaviour should not affect others. People speak and act without any regard for others, and call it freedom of speech – yet that freedom has its boundaries. People insulting and hating others must be made to understand that their actions will affect them and the philosophy they follow more than the people they attack now. Presently, the Muslim community is at the receiving end, due to the actions and activities of their leadership, which are fake, fraudulent and of no benefit to the Muslim community. The motion in Parliament to repeal the MMDA emerges from the ill-conceived notion of ‘One Country One Law’. One Country is correct; One Law is impractical in a pluralistic Sri Lanka. It is dangerous to twist the psyche of the Buddhist to make them believe they are the lead citizens and all others peripheral. Stereotyping the unacceptable behaviour of some Muslims as applicable to other Muslims, and suspicions regarding Madrasa education, are dangerous patterns that prevail now and Muslims are sometimes part of the problem. Muslims as business people and entrepreneurs must be accepted as contributors to the economy of Sri Lanka. The President’s 72nd Independence Day assurance to all citizens of their dignity, religious freedom and equality, and the Prime Minister’s earlier statement that the government will directly handle the Hajj travel, are well appreciated by the Muslim community and they pray to Almighty Allah (swt) to bless these two personalities for their assurances and commitments. Ameen.

Times are changing and people think in new and unimaginable ways. This is not new, it is historical. People have changed in their faith, ideology, lifestyles, interactions, and so on. Change is inevitable, as per the saying that change is the only constant, and that is a good metaphor. We also can add another metaphor: ‘Change is an Ocean’. Change, so long as it is embraced or taking place within oneself or a group without hurting others, may to a certain extent be acceptable or tolerated. But when a change in one’s thinking or behaviour affects others, then there is definitely cause for concern. 

This is the scourge of the present world. People or groups, without identifying the truth or otherwise of their ways of thinking, religion, ideology, philosophy, lifestyles, etc., are jumping on to the bandwagon of inquisitiveness regarding others to assign faults on the latter. Though these may sometimes be done pejoratively, on the premise of freedom of speech, they are not so. Freedom of speech has its defined boundaries. These are instances purposely put forward to insult, create hatred and chaos, and also carry forward vested interests. People have to be vigilant and take precautions, and respond in ways that make the proponents of ill will or bitterness or animosity realise what they are doing would in the long run do more harm to them, or to the philosophy they follow, than to those who they are hurting now.

Fake community ‘leaders’

The main group that was physically attacked in the recent past and is psychologically being pressurised at present in Sri Lanka is the Muslim community, for no faults of their own actions or behaviour as a collective and coherent community, except maybe for the wrongful and/or nasty actions and behaviours of their community leadership. One must understand that community leadership, in any community, does not represent the rank and file of any said community, and thus ‘community leadership’ as such is fake, fraudulent and definitely harmful to the community they project as representatives.  

Muslim personalities who are in the scene as (self-claimed) leaders of the Muslim community – political, religious, societal etc. – are facing ‘accusations’, insults, and aspersions by politicians, clergymen and even laymen on a variety of issues. Here, we are paying attention to what is being said and done by persons of other communities, especially the Buddhists, and not on ‘attacks’ perpetuated by other Muslims on Muslim ‘leadership’, which is a separate intra-issue that will not be taken up in this write-up. Some of these accusations could be true: in which case the accusations must specifically focus on the respective leaders only, without the Muslim community being dragged into the issues of accusation. 

Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan pattern, especially by the Sinhalese Buddhists, is to shame the Muslim community for the wrongdoings of any Muslim ‘leader(s)’ – politician, clergy, educationist, professional, or even a single ordinary lay Muslim. These ‘leaders’ or persons may not be anywhere Islamic in their lifestyles, interactions, and even in their religious (Islamic) practices. Thus the Muslim community has to face the attacks by the Buddhists for the sins of the pseudo-leaders of all types, who have pushed themselves towards the various leadership positions – political, religious, communal, social etc. – largely for their own personal benefits, and who do little in the way of helping the Muslim community. The same could be said about the leaders of other communities too, but that is an entirely different matter that should be taken up by the respective community. Muslims have to look after the affairs of their community only – thus far and no further.   

‘One Country, One Law’

There had been essentially two types of attacks viz. (1) racist speeches against Muslims and insults on Islam; attacks on mosques, Muslim businesses, homes, persons, wearing of Islamic dress styles (males and females), boycotting of Muslim businesses; (2) under the ill-conceived concept/banner ‘One Country One Law’, initiated by a microscopic group of racist-extremist Buddhists based on an opportunistic political agenda going contrary to Buddhism, the proponents of this idea, in the guise of helping the Sinhala Buddhists to become active participants in their business affairs (challenging Muslim businesses) and family life (more children per Buddhist family), are all out to ‘destroy’ the lifestyles, culture and religious (Islamic) practices of the Muslims. This is a sad state of affairs which must be nipped in the bud for religious and ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka.

The concept ‘One Country One Law’ should not have ever been thought of in Sri Lanka, a plural society, let alone be articulated by the microscopic few Buddhist extremists, or apparently and covertly shown a sign of appreciation or affirmativeness by the avowed silence of the majority of Buddhists. This is the principal reason that Sri Lanka as a country faces an inability to move forward on the required development path. 

Sri Lanka is in dire need of workable (not slogan-type) development strategies to uplift itself from the present state of poor productivity, unhealthy economic performances, and importantly, prevailing overall corruption, starting from the governing elites through public officials down to the working class Government servants – all these are not secrets but public knowledge. These three defects are quite enough to ruin a nation, and that is what had happened to Sri Lanka. Successive Governments of self-rule, after gaining independence in 1948, has allowed this sad state of affairs to remain, without taking the required corrective measures. 

The twisting of the Sinhala Buddhist psyche

Added to these sad state of affairs there has emerged, in intensified ways, racist deliberations, ethnic hatred actions and activities, and a twisting of the psyche of Sinhalese Buddhists to believe that they as the majority are the rightful citizens of Sri Lanka, and all other religious and/or ethnic groups as lesser citizens. This process of claiming superiority is nothing but sowing the seeds of destruction on Sri Lanka in the long run. Let us, for the sake of building up Sri Lanka to a glorious and progressive nation, formulate strategies to enhance productivity, better economic performances, try our best to put a halt to corruption, and finally allow sanity to prevail, to endeavour our best to make the plural society of Sri Lanka one of a kind in being tolerant to one another, and live in unity and harmony within the framework of Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lanka. 

The emergence of make-believe glorification of the Sinhala Buddhists as the only rightful citizens of Sri Lanka, leaving other religious-ethnic minorities in the periphery, has given rise to a multitude of harmful deliberations and actions by a few self-seeking Buddhists, especially by extremist cum racist Buddhist monks, to disturb the hitherto peaceful interrelationship between the (70%) Sinhala majority and the (10%) Muslim minority. There is nothing wrong in uplifting the Sinhala Buddhist community to its rightful place, taking pride in their heritage, and the importance of the Buddhist way of life. That should definitely be done, and this can only be done by the Buddhists upholding Buddhism in its righteous sense themselves, and not by persons of other religions. Similarly, all affairs of the Muslim community have to be looked into by Muslims themselves in complying with the presently prevailing laws of Sri Lanka. 

The problem arises when a few Buddhist personalities, especially the Buddhist monks, come forward and cherry-pick some of the unresolved issues within the Muslim community, projecting that those issues are detrimental to the Muslim community and therefore need solutions. Definitely these unresolved issues need solutions – not by interventions by other religionists but by the Muslims themselves. Common issues pertaining to society can be taken up for resolution by groups of people irrespective of their religious and/or ethnic identities. But issues based on religious or ethnic matters should be resolved by the respective religious/ethnic communities and no others – anything contrary to this will be hypocrisy of the highest order. 

Islamophobia in the Buddha’s country

The issue of Islamophobia, covertly if not openly, plays a major role in the interactions between Muslims and people of other faiths, especially Sinhala Buddhists, in Sri Lanka as it is happening worldwide. Islamophobia is a worldwide phenomenon based on unfounded allegations, misunderstanding about Islam, propaganda by enemies of Islam, and finally the activities and agenda of politically deviant-Muslim groups who are variously labelled as Islamists, militants, extremists etc., who are in reality not within the fold of Islam, and therefore are not Muslims. Be that as it may, the point in question is for the Muslim community in Sri Lanka to note the various forms of anti-Muslim submissions by others, which are based on delusions that are extremely distasteful to the entire Muslim community. 

Thus the Muslims have to be vigilant yet peaceful in showing their resistance to the unfolding of anti-Muslim scenarios. The higher echelons of every community in Sri Lanka would see the Pyrrhic political mileage that may accrue to the proponents of communal deliberations, yet the ordinary majority Buddhists could blindly believe what is being levelled against Muslims. In this sense, it is ‘danger in waiting’ for all Sri Lankans, due to the selfish manipulations of a few misguidedly overzealous persons, whoever they may be. 

The unfolding of undesirable episodes against the Muslim community, in the immediate present, started after the end of the thirty-year ethnic war in 2009 in small ways and progressed through a journey of attacks on Muslims, their assets, etc., and remain today in the form of a psychological agenda to harm the religious, legal, cultural, social, and also political aspects that are near and dear to the Muslim community. These undesirable events should not have ever happened in Sri Lanka, which has, from time immemorial, given pride of place to Buddhism, which as a philosophy, if not as a religion, gave primacy to human dignity as in the monotheistic revealed religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Buddhism elaborates on the expected human behaviour in terms of metta (loving kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy or empathy) and upekkha (equanimity). With such teachings of Buddhism, one is at a loss to understand the racist and hatred-based behaviour through which a small group of Buddhists, particularly the extremist Buddhist monks and their cohorts, indulge in unwanted interference in the affairs of the Muslims. This is hurting the minds, hearts and souls of the Muslim community, which is not healthy for the multi-religious and multi-ethnic Sri Lankan society.

Amend, not repeal, the MMDA

Even if the Muslims were to ‘forget’ the intermittent attacks on their properties and persons as from 2014 as ‘let bygones be bygones’, they have to be on alert and vigilant to what is being brought forward against them at present. The first and foremost is the submission of a motion in Parliament of Sri Lanka by Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero, to repeal the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) (1951) which he claims, inter alia, is to help Muslim women be free from predicaments in divorce proceedings in the Qazi Courts. But the real purpose is to foster the idea ‘One Country One Law’, which had been advocated initially by Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) during their heyday of anti-Muslim propaganda. 

Definitely, Sri Lanka is a single and indivisible ‘One Country’ for each and every citizen, irrespective of religion, race and ethnicity. Even if the ‘One Country’ concept is not presently functioning/functional due to a variety of divisional ideas and tactics nurtured in the past within the Tamil community, that thinking has been avowedly given up at present. Therefore it is very pertinent to get the idea of ‘One Country’ psychologically engraved in the minds of all citizens, through the processes of mutual respect and care for all the religious and ethnic groups of Sri Lankan citizens. For this to materialise politicians must be persuaded and ‘educated’ to win their seats to Parliament on policy issues, and not on communal politics. 

It is also necessary that the Sinhala Buddhist majority must uphold a liberal outlook towards the minorities, in making the minorities be participants in the development, economic growth, nation-building, and progress of Sri Lanka.  If these become reality, then Sri Lanka will become a leading star in South Asia.

Like many of the Statutory Acts that have been amended from time to time to reflect better, more workable, and effective solutions in any unforeseen situational issues that crop up in the working of such Acts, the MMDA too needs some amendments in its administrative aspects, without giving a blow to its core sections, which had been formulated with due regard and care to the injunctions of the Quran and the Hadiths – this is fundamental and very important to Muslims. The writer of this article has written four articles on the MMDA, emphasising to maintain the MMDA as it is now, with reasonable amendments to the administrative area where they are needed – one such article, ‘MMDA had been effective throughout Muslim marriages’ appeared in the Colombo Telegraph of 28 August 2018. 

Political power or governance of a nation, in a democratic set-up, goes to the political party or coalition that gets the majority of votes. In the same sense, when the large majority of Muslims are satisfied with the letter and spirit of MMDA and its functioning, except for there being concerns over some dysfunctional issues in its administrative matters, the only meaningful action would be to rectify the dysfunctional issues through informed amendments to the MMDA, and not abandoning or redrafting it altogether. One does not throw the baby out with the bath water! The motion by Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero to repeal the MMDA is a gross injustice to Muslims, and we call upon Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero to withdraw the said motion, and play a constructive role in uniting all religious and ethnic groups to work in unison, to build Sri Lanka up spiritually to be progressive in the future.   

Stereotyping and scapegoating

Another disturbing feature faced by the Muslim community is stereotyping. When an individual Muslim has committed an offence, civil or criminal, it gets projected by the Sinhalese as if it had been done with the involvement of the Muslim community, or as a conspiracy hatched by the participation of other Muslims, and in the worst case scenario, as if done due to financial or other rewards from foreign Islamic sources. The fault of a Muslim in committing an offense is similar to any other individual committing an offence, and is due to a variety of personal mind-sets of the offender at the time of the offence. 

The media, too, play leading roles in blowing the issues out of proportion, which may help the media to be prominent or popular, without realising the harm that is done to society. We have seen this especially in the Easter Sunday (April 2019) mayhem, where the perpetrators of the massacre were Muslims by name only, and by deeds, deviants from Islam and for all purposes had left the fold of Islam. Yet the general public, especially the Sinhala Buddhists, had a bad notion about the Muslim community, as if all Muslims were indirectly involved. 

Suspicions by the Sinhalese and the State regarding the functioning of Madrasa education have given rise to the idea that these Madrasas are teaching and training Muslim youth in extremism, terrorism, etc., which is far from the truth. Madrasas – like Daham classes – teach the Muslim youth the fundamentals of Islam, to recite the Qur’an (Arabic) properly, the essentials of daily prayers, and the ritual of doing the prayers, etc., and nothing else.  

Muslims must be flexible

There is also another side to the story too. Some Muslims are sometimes the cause of the issues or the problem itself. For example, face-covering is not an Islamic ruling for Muslim women. Islam specifically states which parts of a woman’s body must be covered, and the face is not one of them. Yet some Muslim women cover their faces, and that may be alright in situations where covering the face may not pose a risk in terms of the identity of the person concerned. Islam is rigid in its obligations, yet flexible, especially in public affairs as in public safety. So when public safety/security is ensured through facial identity, it becomes necessary to avoid face covering, without creating unnecessary issues in public spaces. The behaviour of some Muslims in executing their Islamic obligations and/or rituals as a form of exhibitionism may be loathsome, not only to people of other faiths, but also to righteous Muslims who do perform their Islamic obligations in a strict manner without any showing-off or any physical or psychological disturbances to anyone, Muslims or any others.    

It is an acknowledged fact in Sri Lanka that the Muslim community mostly, if not wholly, is involved in businesses, from shop-keeping, trading, retailing, wholesaling, importing, exporting, roadside hawking, etc. Though these are self-employment businesses, yet there also exist various entrepreneurial businesses among the Muslims. Self- employment and entrepreneurship are major contributors to the economy of any nation, and that includes Sri Lanka too. Thus, it becomes the bounden duty of not only the Government, but also every citizen, irrespective of their religious/ethnic identities, to protect all businesses, whoever the owners may be, from any harm by mischief-makers at times of political and/or racial turbulences. 

A somewhat silver lining

If the Muslim community were to reflect on the various downsides indicated in this write-up to this point, by various persons and groups, it will be heartening to them to see a somewhat silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud that has engulfed them to date. There are two instances to note: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his 72nd Independence address to the nation, assured the entire citizenry the right to their dignity, religious freedom, and equality; while Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has given relief to the Muslims in their Hajj pilgrimage.

Excerpts from the speech (translation) of Gotabaya Rajapaksa:

Every citizen living in Sri Lanka has the right to live freely and securely. We will always ensure their right to think freely, hold independent opinions, and express themselves without any hindrance.

As the President today, I represent the entire Sri Lankan nation irrespective of ethnicity, religion, party affiliation or other differences.

We must give our people the opportunity and real freedom to live law-abiding, disciplined, and virtuous lives.

Sri Lanka is a country with an ancient history. It is a country that has been nurtured by the Buddhist philosophy, and a country that has been a haven for people of all ethnicities and religious beliefs. During my term of office, I will guarantee the freedom of all persons to follow the religion of their choice.

I wish to fully strengthen the freedom of people to think and to write freely. It is then that visionaries and quality works of art will be created. My Government is always ready to tolerate and accommodate opposing views. The media has complete freedom today. We have ensured that everyone has the right to freely express themselves.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that the Government will directly handle the Hajj pilgrims performing the Hajj this year (2020), and that travel agents will not be permitted to handle them. The Government will levy only a sum of Rs. 500,000 from a Hajj pilgrim. The need for the Government of Sri Lanka to directly handle the Hajj journey is long overdue, to put an end to the exploitation of Hajj pilgrims by Hajj travel agents charging exorbitant fees, which has been going on for a long time without any checks and balances, either by the Government or Muslim cleric organisations. The author of this write-up has written two to three letters to the Director, Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs (MRCA), as regards the exploitative high cost of Hajj charged by Hajj travel operators, and an article: ‘Cost of Hajj today’ which appeared in the Ceylon Daily News of 5 April 2019.  

We the Muslims of Sri Lanka pray to the Almighty Allah (swt) to strengthen the hands of the President to uphold the declarations made by him in the five important areas mentioned above, and seek the blessings of Allah (swt) on the Prime Minister for his courageous and timely decision to take over the Hajj travel to be handled by the Government.