The Asymmetric Relationship of Buddhist-Muslim Bond in Sri Lanka
Photo via IBN Live, taken by Reuters
Riza Yehiya-1 Jun, 2013
The Buddhist –Muslim relationship in Sri Lanka is centuries old.
It grew from the pre-Islamic Arab relationship with Sri Lanka and continued beyond the advent of Islam. Principally, the Arabs who built vibrant trade relation with Sri Lanka put their roots here and made Sri Lanka a second home. With the advent of Islam in the 7th Century, the Arabs became Muslims; hence the Arab-Muslim relationship with Sri Lanka became ever stronger and prominent with the ascendency of Islam as a global power. As a result, the relationship that originated as commercial links extended beyond to other areas like internal and external trade, defense, diplomatic relationship and Arab-Muslim settlements and domicile etc.
