Madrasahs, Extremism and National Security

Photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe, via Deseret News

RIZA YEHIYA-13/2019

The nexus between Madrasah education and Islamic extremism have been in the global discussions ever since the emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. This phenomenon emerged in Afghanistan in the Post-Soviet Occupation era where those who fought against the Soviets got engulfed in a bitter civil war between factions upon the exit of the Soviets. This brought lawlessness and anarchy in the country. It was about this time that the Taliban (plural for taleb, which means student) hitherto were never engaged in politics, appeared on the scene to put an end to anarchy and stabilize the country.

Whether Taliban were right or wrong is another discussion, the entry of Taliban into politics and governance is a historical factor to be seen in the backdrop of Soviet invasion, the Afghani liberation struggle and Western funded armed mercenaries. Discussions on the nexus between Madrasah and extremism found currency after 9/11 World Trade Center attacks in New York which culminated in the United States and their coalition forces attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.

The narrative of the nexus of Madrasah and extremism is relevant and is confined to Afghanistan only but not to Iraq.  Taliban who resisted American invasion of Afghanistan were madrasah (schools & university) students. Contrary to this, the Iraqis who resisted American invasion were their regular army. Therefore, Madrasah does not appear in discussion in Iraq. Other than in Afghanistan, nowhere is to be found traditional madrasah students in militancy, instead, it was college educated and products from secular schools and universities evidently in militancy. Interestingly, none of the 9/11 attackers were madrasah educated, neither were the Easter Sunday attackers in Sri Lanka.

Ever since 9/11 and the American invasion of Afghanistan, Madrasahs all over the world became western targets, islamophobia was spun around it – scare mongering ordinary people about the role of madrasahs in society by an Islamophobic western media. Whether in the case of Afghanistan or any other country for instance, fending off foreign invasions are obligatory not only to the armed forces but also to other capable citizens. What will be the role of the patriotic and nationalistic student populace in a country at the time of a foreign invasion? Would they not join the mainstream society to fight for their country against foreign invasions? How come students, the life blood of a nation be termed extremists and terrorists when they participate in their patriotic war against invasion? Islamophobia and the western media spun nexus of madrasahs with extremism as an isolationist strategy to tarnish the image of potential defenders of a nation against western geopolitical strangulations.

Islamophobia and Madrasahs

Since 9/11 and in particular since 2009 end of war in Sri Lanka, attribution of nexus between madrasah and extremism got traction in local discussions with the emergence of Buddhist extremist forces in Sri Lanka. Since then, this negative image has seeped into the psyche of our people without any evidence to the substantiate this. With the Easter Sunday terror attack, this perceived fear has transformed into panic mode. This as a result is effectively diverting attention from intelligently probing who is behind the Easter Sunday attack to things that are not connected therewith. This is a very dangerous situation where perception is used instead of empirical evidence to fight a threat to national security. Fighting terrorism requires holistic understanding of the terrain of conflict. Contrary to this, attention of the people is deliberately diverted by the islamophobes and geopolitical strategists who potentially may be part and parcel of the total game plan of geopolitical strangulation of Sri Lanka thereby victimizing madrasahs and polarizing Sri Lankan communities making them fear each other.

What is a Madrasah?

Madrasah in Arabic, is a school. In traditional Muslim societies like in Sri Lanka, in spite of the anglicization of the society by British colonialism, schools especially Muslim religious schools are called Madrasahs. The category of these madrasahs ranges from madrasah for children under 15 who are imparted the rudiments of the Islamic faith and Arabic reading capacity which enables them to recite the Qur’an. Mowlavi Madrasas or Arabic Colleges  impart knowledge in Islamic sciences to produce Mowlavis or Muslim religious scholars and Imams,similar to Pirivena education to Buddhist monks. Madhrasahs can be categorized as follows:

Qur’an Madrasah: This is for under 15 students imparting the rudiments of the faith, teaching how to do the rituals and the recitation of the Qur’an. This is equivalent to Daham Pasela. Children in these attend school and attend madrasah in the evenings.

Hiflul Qur’an Madrasah: This is a school for memorization of the Qur’an where basic Arabic phonetics and rules of memorization and recitation are taught. These are generally attended by children to youth below 20 years as part-time courses at their conveniences.

Mowlavi Madrasa or Arabic Colleges: These are colleges of Islamic higher studies equivalent to Pirivena. These madrasahsproduce Mowlavis and Imams serving the community, mosques and officiating religious functions. Generally, these are 4-6-year full time residential courses catering to age ranging between 15 to 21 years. There are schools for boys and girls who join full time education after completing grade eight or completion of GCE Ordinary Level Examinations. Few madrasahs which also function as orphanages do admit children from the age of six where formal general education is imparted up to GCE Ordinary Level whilst parallelly Islamic education is imparted.

Of the three categorizations above, Qur’an madrasahsare generally conducted in the Mosques for boys and girls and in some cases where there are no community facilities, these are conducted at homes of the tutors conducting these classes. Similarly, Hiflul Qu’ran Madrasahsare conducted mostly in mosques. Other than these two, the Mowlavi Madrasaor Arabic Colleges are large facilities normally accommodating between 50 to 500 students at the time. Most of the programmes are residential and largely these are attended by children of poor families and orphans who have no family supports. Some madrasah may levy a small fee but to a large extent these are subsidized by philanthropy from the community.

The quality of education in a Mowlavi madrasa varies depending on the financial and economic capacity of the organization that is managing them. The more capable and organized madrasahs enable students to complete general education up to advanced level status whilst parallelly imparting knowledge in Arabic language and Islamic sciences. The poorer madrasahs fail achieving key performance indicators in quality management. There are also madrasahs whose alumni have reached academic excellence reaching Master’s Degree and PhD levels and some go on to achieve professional qualifications. 

Mosques and Madrasahs

Mosques and madrasahs are centers of spiritual upliftment and education. Historically, madrasahs were an integral part of the mosque where the community congregate five times a day for their daily prayers. Therefore, it is unlike a Buddhist or Hindu temple which attract large gathering only on special occasions. Mosques are attended by the community five times daily, full time meditation during the last 10 days of Ramadan, for the conducting of funeral prayers, Friday Jumma praye, Ramadan & Hajj festival prayers and wedding ceremonies. All these attract large crowds on a regular basis requiring large spaces for congregation. Therefore, wherever Muslims live, mosque and madrasah are pivotal centers sustaining community life.

Recent Growth of Madrasahs and Mediocre International Schools

The perception of the many when considering the recent growth of madrasahs points to their fear of supposed Arabization or Islamization of Muslim society. Contrarily, the reality is that quite a lot of Muslim children particularly in urban areas hail from poor families and due to living in rented residences do not get government school admissions owing to very high competition. In Colombo alone, according to studies, nearly 5,000 children do not get admission to government schools. As a result, a sizable number of Muslim children are forced to go to mediocre international schools or madrasahs as a last choice or end up receiving no formal education. Often these children, quite a lot of them attend international schools or end up as dropouts due to the inability to pay academic fees. Those going to madrasas too end up as dropouts due to access and poor quality of education. The successive governments have failed to respond to this problem that is threatening communities and the nation at large by failing to equip the citizens befittingly.

The failure of the free education system to ensure equality in access and quality, is depriving one segment of population the right to education for no fault of theirs. Consequently, responsibility for destroying the social fabric of the country must be borne by the government and political leadership. Unwittingly, this phenomenal growth of madrasahs and mediocre international schools producing isolated citizens should not be blamed on the Muslim community or misconstrued as Islamization. It is a failure of responsibility of successive governments and political leadership to contribute to citizenship and nation building. Their failure, marginalizing a segment of the society contributes to undermining the economy and social sustainability in the country.

Urbanization and Megapolis Development

The rapid pace of urbanization and the megapolis development that is taking place is a welcome developmental drive but seemingly social and economic impact on marginalized communities are possibly left out of the calculation. Urbanization and megapolis development are reshaping demographics in society by breaking and segregating communities, where the rich and affluent live in particular areas and the poor in other areas. This phenomenon is greatly impacting access to education and is creating an unequal society. This will also render rich areas becoming unserviceable by the low income workers due to the increasing cost of access undermining facilities management of the city. This will in turn polarize communities and deprive the poor from receiving equal access to education and other opportunities. It is observable that due to new residential condominium developments in affluent parts of the Colombo City, popular schools are under pressure with surging applications seeking school admissions. Geographically their catering radius or their serving catchment area is shrinking due to this. This deprives large segments of urbanites from accessing quality education. Similarly, development of housing for the low income groups concentrated in other parts of Colombo where demographics are increasing and the serving capacity of schools are diminishing. This denies a vast majority of the poor from access to education. The under privileged and in particular the majority poorer segment of the Muslim community who are living below poverty lines have no collaterals to support with credentials required for school admissions. Because of this, they are deprived of the right to education and are blamed for sending their children to madrasahs, thereby contributing to a supposed Islamization of society.

Thus, should there be a link between madrasahs and extremism, it is important that empirical evidence in respect to this is produced.  Policy makers should not marginalize a community and deprive their rights to educational opportunity on flimsy grounds.  Sri Lanka needs a robust nation building programme that respects diversity, reciprocates dignity and homogenizes society as Sri Lankans. We   need an inclusive society that accommodates diversities of race, religion  and economic statuses. We need to build a sustainable nation that is capable of withstanding external geopolitical threats which use social polarization as a tool for destruction of our nation.

Fight Terrorism. Avoid Islamophobia

BY JAYADEVA UYANGODA-12 May, 2019

NOTE: The Sunday Observer has inadvertently published an erroneous version of this article in the print version of the newspaper. The following is the article as it was intended for publication both in print and online. We regret the error.

Islamophobia is a term that gained currency in the 1980s in British English. It referred to prejudices against the Islam and Muslim people that had begun to spread in the UK since the 1970s.
As a cultural, intellectual and political phenomenon, Islamophobia began to spread throughout the Western world after the 9/11 attacks in the US. The Christian Right in America has been the leading force that promoted Islamophobia as a new strand of political ideology in the world. It spread to the Hindu and Buddhists worlds as well amidst the rapid rise of ethnic identity politics and conflict.


India and Myanmar

In India, the BJP and Right-wing Hindu groups politically benefitted by cleverly introducing Islamophobia as a devise to divide the citizens along ‘national’ and anti-national’ --Hindu versus Muslim -- binary. As a result, India’s political and cultural face has now changed beyond recognition.
Contemporary India is no longer the modern, progressive, secular, and tolerant India that Gandhi, Nehru, and Ambedhkar built. It is now a land of ethnic, cultural and political intolerance and hatred. Ideologies of ethno-cultural phobia against the minorities even get official sanction quite easily.

In Myanmar, Islamophobia entered Buddhist radical politics, leading to wave of violence against the Muslim Rohingiya communities. It even rocked the Aung San Suu Kyi government, forcing the human rights icon to do nothing to stop violence, carried out as organized ethnic cleansing with tacit support from state agencies.

Myanmar is a Buddhist majority nation-state in the transition to democracy. There, Islamophobic violence has gained religious sanctity as well. That is why the government could not control it and Prime Minister Suu Kyi had to practice a vow of silence about grave human rights violations against the Rohingiya people.

After the 4/21 attacks in Sri Lanka, Islamophobia seems to be gaining ground as a new form of political consciousness, particularly in the Sinhalese society.

We must recall these and similar instances of Islamophobia in other countries because they offer us important lessons. Leaders of the government, defence establishment and the media should reflect on those lessons to prevent the rising consciousness of Islamophobia poisoning the political life of Sri Lankan citizens. It has the potential to polarize the Sinhalese and Muslim communities in a frightening manner.

It is of course understandable why and how the government has been forced to launch the current phase of counter-insurgency operations against the Muslim militants who organized and carried out a series of such horrendous terrorist attacks on a holy day. By those attacks, the terrorist leaders, particularly those who conceptualized and organized it and did not perish in the process, seem to have achieved a distinctly sinister objective too: subjecting Sri Lanka’s Muslim community to Islamophobia of other communities as well the state. The kind of religio-anarchist political ideology of the contemporary Islamic militancy that has swept the Muslim world and Europe has this strange and patently irrational element of provoking hatred against mainstream Muslim communities.

Fear as Paranoia

Meanwhile, the kind of conversations taking place these days among our fellow non-Muslim citizens, irrespective of their social or educational status, point to a wave of Islamophobic consciousness. More disturbingly, the social psychology that is manifested through this consciousness borders on something like a collective paranoia. Largely fuelled by exaggerated media reporting and irresponsible statements by politicians, all communities live in everyday fear, afraid of imminent suicide attacks in schools, Buddhist temples, market places, and the neighbourhoods.

Quite paradoxically, the daily security reporting by the print and electronic media has also begun to contribute to a generalized fear about the Muslim community as an immediate source of threat to people’s life. Fear of violence and death at the hand of suicide bombers from the Muslim community has actually paralyzed not only the country’s economy and the public life, but also the capacity for rational thinking even among the well-educated.

Extreme Othering

This process of extreme othering and demonizing of the entire Muslim community, spread through rumours shared in the social media, email, telephone calls as well as casual conversations with neighbours and relatives, is perhaps the most pernicious collective response generated among the civilian populace to the Easter Sunday tragedy. One does not have to be a trained sociologist to sense how the news people often share about the possibility of imminent threats to the life and security is always verbalized in a language of extreme ethnic and cultural prejudice, stereo-typing and demonizing.

The rapidity and frequency with which the tales of insecurity circulate amidst the state of emergency suggest that these are not spontaneous or casual responses to constant media reports of discovering swords, knives, explosives and ‘ISIS trainees’ from urban as well as rural neighborhoods. Rather, they have the trappings of some organized efforts towards a distinct political end. It appears that creating a condition of ‘ungovernability’ in the country by further deepening and widening the trust gap between the government and the citizens has to be part of a hidden political agenda.

The leaders of the government can only ill afford to ignore the political consequences of this wave of insecurity-making, particularly among the citizens of the Sinhalese community.

If this trend is allowed to continue unchecked, it has the potential to eat into the very foundations of our collective polity as Sri Lankans of several ethnic, religious and cultural communities. It will also produce a popular culture of extreme forms of ethnic and cultural intolerance towards one ethnic minority, who happen to be the Muslims.

Abyss of Violence

This dangerous possibility of Sri Lankan society falling once again deeply into the abyss of inter-community conflict and violence needs to be acknowledged without delay. The gestures of reconciliation being made by the President and the Prime Minister are probably responses arising from such a realization. But they seem to be inadequate to stem the present wave of Islamophobia.

The two leaders need to re-double their efforts to manage the crisis politically and it requires unity of purpose and intent on their part. That is one way to overcome the massive trust deficit that erupted soon after Easter Sunday between the Government and the citizens.

We must not fail to recognize that the ISIS-inspired suicide bombers have already pushed Sri Lanka towards the global war between the US-led West and the radicalized Islamic groups. Our government should also aim at extricating the country from this trap of a global counter-terrorism war. It may even be the case that the location of that global war is now shifting towards some parts of South Asia.

That is why the present counter-insurgency operations, executed through emergency regulations, should not ignore the unintended political consequences of restoring security exclusively within a ‘national security’ frame. Sri Lanka’s government and security leadership should be sensitive to both meanings of that much - maligned phrase ‘intelligence failures.’ The cultural insensitivity to the Muslim community in securing state security should not be buttressed by any lapses at the level of political leadership, in the enlightened sense of the word ‘intelligence’.

Erasing the evil

A special service and mass was held at St. Sebastian’s Church for the souls of those who died on Easter Sunday bomb attacks. Picture by Sulochana Gamage

Fr. Augustine Fernando (Diocese of Badulla)-Tuesday, May 14, 2019

The ‘radicalization’ of some young Muslims and they’re going astray to extreme militancy caused death in three places of worship and three hotels. What has actually made them go astray is an interpretation of some Quranic texts in a manner that is unacceptable and instigative of immeasurable disaster not only to fellow Muslims and followers of other religions but to mankind itself. People of many nations are not only sympathizing with Sri Lanka over the tragic loss of so many innocent lives and are willing to help her recover and return to normalcy. All wish to be engaged in eradicating this terrorism because all of humanity is threatened with unimaginable calamity. People anywhere being suddenly terrorized by any extremist religious fanatic must be prevented.

The vast majority of Muslims, more than 99.99% of them, do not agree with the belief, lifestyle and action of the extremist fanatical terrorists who have imbibed anti-social interpretations of religious texts and acted on them causing irreparable destruction to life and property while also destroying themselves. The Statement by a Collective of Sri Lankan Muslims, among whom are many distinguished and respected persons, conveying heartfelt sympathies and expressing the sorrow of the Muslims to the families of the victims is ample evidence of their genuine solidarity with the grieving community and with all other Sri Lankan citizens and their loyalty to Sri Lanka our common motherland.

The misguided group that carried out the barbaric and heinous acts has done so in the midst of much wealth and prosperity they had and in the face of the possibility of legitimately earning further gainful means to live a contented and happy life.

What has made them follow an ideology, get brainwashed to plot and plan through simultaneous suicide bombing the killing of a mass of people unknown to them who have done them no wrong?

The minds of these fanatics have been so distorted by a fanaticism that had made them think that what they do is a service to Allah! They have been captivated in their youthful years by an ideology with a flawed understanding of Allah and Islam, themselves and humankind.

Now we have forgotten that before Independence some young men who studied abroad, were captivated by the Marxist ideology of economic liberation through a violent overthrow of the existing system of government and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The misled JVP insurgents of 1971 and 1989 were Marxist inspired. (The Marxist inspired Communism of Russia did not last 75 years as since 1991 it been outlawed.) This shows that all human beings need to be guided without any admixture of error of judgement to non-violent and peaceful ways of living and social reform. Even a small error at the beginning could lead to the social tragedy at the end. (As Aristotle said, ‘To en arche micron en teh teleuteh ginehtai pammegethes’, what is small at the beginning becomes big at the end of the process). Today, those at the summits of power, in certain instances, can make no errors of judgement, as an error can cost hundreds of lives.

HELP PARENTS TO BE PRIMARY EDUCATORS

Nevertheless, there is a change of attitude that is very much needed in Sri Lanka in the field of education including religious education and in the whole of our society. A conversion of the hearts of our people is very necessary for social integration.

Right from the beginning, all education including religious instruction should begin from what is most natural and fundamental. And that is to grow in humanness, to relate, to be welcoming, friendly, kind, gentle, pleasing. This is going to the root, starting at the bottom and focusing first on the most fundamental, important human and social values.

When a child is born, the most fundamental thing focused on is enabling the child to survive, preserving its life and ensuring the possibility of the child’s healthy growth. Even the pain of injections or surgical interventions are to ensure healthy growth. Every child’s mother and father rejoice at the birth of their child and look on him as the extension, enhancement and fulfilment of their union and love. They do everything possible to assure their child’s life, survival and comfort and give it appropriate nourishment aiding the process of development. As the child is totally dependent on the parents, they attend to many other things that aid their child to properly relate to others besides the parents, siblings and family members and mature towards an acceptable level and standard of human maturity and adulthood so that their child could associate well with others, become independent, able to think properly on his own and act with responsibility within one’s own family and with all others.

Most parents do not have a basic understanding that they are the primary educators of their children. The State does not consider the family as the most important unit in society and does next to nothing to equip young couples to assume the responsibilities of parenthood which are new to them. Parenting needs preparation. Parents seek the help of the schools to equip their children with the knowledge of certain subjects that are needed for them to maintain and improve on the needs and services to their fellowmen in society and also earn their living. Unfortunately, rather than doing one’s best, collaborating with and serving fellow human beings, outwitting and overcoming them, cheating them and even destroying others for one’s own survival and selfish purposes have become quite ordinary.

STUDY TO SERVE HUMANITY

Humanity needs a wide variety of studies. Training of minds, hearts, spirits, discovery and enrichment of talents, skills and the cultivation of a vital aesthetic sense in every individual in society, need orderly attention and disciplined development. A wholesome and integral education should see to that.

Though all parents may not have clear ideas about what type of education their children need, all do have a vague notion about a good education that would make their children good citizens. Most parents want their children to have an education in a good school so that their children may study to pass exams, do further studies, gain professional qualifications and do a well-paid job for all to live comfortably. Though study of religious teachings and testing in examinations have today become a part of education and school curricula, application to life of what has been learnt, and living according to religious principles though never monitored, clearly appear in some people’s lives as their compassion, loving-kindness, sense of service, friendliness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness and joyfulness shine forth in them. Application of extremist teachings that has been learnt has been fiercely demonstrated by the suicide bombers.

People also need to have greater exposure to social thinkers and reformers and all those who uphold democratic social values such as artists, dramatists, film directors, social philosophers, journalists, writers and poets who promote refined and decent human values. They should still prevail in society and not be submerged by commercialism, acquisitive consumerism and inward-looking distorted and stagnant apathetic religious traditions. People need to be more intellectually engaged at least through newspapers which often lie unread and are used to wrap things. Most of our people are far from the culture of ongoing education and life-long interests in pursuits of a loving heart, of the intellect and the spiritual life.

One begins to wonder as to what has become of our people and what kind of heart and intellectual calibre they have got after their spending more than a decade in school. Even religious observance and practice is based more on feelings, thoughtless emotions and routine practice rather than on a meaningful grasp of doctrine founded on compatibility with human enhancement, reasoning and understanding. Just as misguided religious education has distorted the human and has affected the Muslim extremist fanatics, others could have become unthinking performers of rituals. Followers of other religions and misguided political activists too could be affected likewise and grow to act like terrorist fanatics if they do not hold on to the enduring values of life among human beings. These have happened in Sri Lanka and they could happen again.

SOCIAL STABILITY

The focus of all parties and all governments are mainly on increasing production, economic advancement, progress and general well-being with extra comforts added to life. But social stability is not built solely from the satisfaction of material aspects of life.

Stability of any society is engendered by the inner satisfaction, contentment and a sense of security that people feel prevailing in society as a result of sound interpersonal and community relationships, transparent trust, communication and reconciliation that is true and sincere. Governments should strengthen these relationships by establishing equality of all before the law and extending to all communities and individuals constituting the national community honour and respect.

Ego absorbed politicians deficient in education and intelligence and self-centred public administrators do not have the breadth of vision and insight to care about the whole national community and the security of all citizens. Social thinkers, journalists and those who are critical of the style of governance are persecuted by those in power.

Perceptive religious leaders give sound leadership to all men of goodwill and point out to the most pressing social issues disregarded by power-hungry politicians but which are of crucial importance to people’s general well-being.

EDUCATION TO INSPIRE

A society on the way to righteousness should have just laws as unjust laws could bring on excruciating sufferings on innocent people. A good example of it is Pakistan’s blasphemy laws which some Muslims use to forcibly take over other people’s land and take revenge. To its great credit and due to lack of evidence and contradictions in the testimonies of witnesses the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned the convictions of blasphemy and set free Asia Bibi, after ten years of unjust imprisonment. It is the humanness of the judges that made law and reason prevail. Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court under Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva did not remain unblemished in its treatment of a petitioner Tony Emmanuel who was not even given an opportunity to speak in his own defence.

An acceptable democratic model of society is founded on a just system of education. While the State should apportion sufficient funds to provide to all its citizens a quality education, including university, medical and legal education, and through good educationists exercise a judicious direction and supervision, a hegemony and State monopoly of education should be avoided.

Today, in the sphere of education, the focus is on the politics of school admissions, distribution of uniforms, tabs, provision of facilities. Everything is influenced by oncoming provincial, parliamentary and presidential elections.

The system of Education patronized by governments of diverse political strands and ideologies has over seven decades also produced generations of mediocre and uncouth politicians and crooked public servants who have abused their positions, remained inert facing challenges, misbehaved in Parliament, embezzled the state and enriched themselves by cheating the people who have become highly disillusioned.

However, education that inspires, forms, transforms and humanly enhances students should be given appropriate attention. Such an integral education can be managed only by well qualified, well trained, highly motivated teachers whose very personalities impact on the students, change and humanly improve them. Politicians who politicize education ruin not only education but the country and its people. 

Sri Lanka: We Shall Overcome

We Sri Lankans are still in a state of shock and fear for being the target of such cowardice and horrific attacks as on the holiest day in our Christian calendar.

by Amaranath Cumaraswamy -2019-05-14

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As a person who has worked in the hospitality industry for the past 45 years, and from 1970-2019, I have witnessed all civil unrest, ethnic violence, bloodshed, war and economic destruction in our country.

I was just 19 years of age when the JVP insurgency started in 1970 and I have seen the death and destruction and the severe impact it had on our societies and economy, when tourism in our country was just picking up.

In 1972 I joined the first five-star hotel, The Ceylon Intercontinental, and there were only a handful who joined the tourism sector. With the liberalisation of the economy in 1976 more five-star hotels were opened and there was a boom in this sector. However with the war in the north and the communal violence in July 1983 the tourism industry was badly affected and it took some time for recover. I have worked in five-star hotels during these turbulent times and the agony and stress felt by the management and staff is enormous.

After end of the civil war in 2009 there was a rapid boom in the tourism industry and 2018 it was at its peak with more five-star class hotels opening and new hotels under construction and this year the tourist arrivals were close to 2.5 million with an aim to reach three million at the end of this year.

Then disaster struck on Easter Sunday morning; I was in the Church of the Upper Room, Wattala, celebrating the Easter Sunday service and when the Holy Communion was in progress, messages started coming in about these brutal, inhumane attacks on churches and five-star hotels.

None of the worshippers and guests in the hotels would have never thought that they would have to sacrifice their precious lives in a most brutal manner inside churches and hotels on Easter Sunday morning. Families were completely wiped out. It was complete bloodshed, mayhem and manslaughter inside these churches and hotels.

I am ashamed and angry that we could not save the lives of the innocent worshippers and foreign tourists who came to our country to spend their holidays with the loved ones and had to lose their precious lives in this brutal manner.

I was watching CNN news with agony and frustration when Danish billionaire Andrew Holos and his wife paid an emotional farewell to their three little children. I could see the tears in their eyes and look of extreme pain and agony on their faces as they comforted each other as they watched the three small coffins arrive in three hearses. Their loss was utterly incomprehensible. I felt guilty because these three little angels lost their tender lives on our soil.

We Sri Lankans are still in a state of shock and fear for being the target of such cowardice and horrific attacks as on the holiest day in our Christian calendar.

Sri Lanka is a resilient nation; there was violence against caste, creed, ethnicity and religion and finally we fought 30-year civil war with our own people. Still we survived all that. Sri Lankans have the grit and capacity to face these challenges. We believe we can rise against from the ashes and we will overcome.

Finally I quote few verses from the Holy Bible:

“Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices. You will grieve but your grief will turn to joy…” John 16V29

“Forgive the people that hurt you, God will pay you back with double the joy and double the victory.”

(The writer is a lecturer at the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management.)

SRI LANKA: Facing not merely a security problem but also an acute constitutional crisis

May 13, 2019

Although there was a two day parliamentary debate held to discuss the Easter Sunday carnage caused by the bombs that were exploded in three churches and several tourist hotels, no consensus has yet emerged as to the primary causes that led to the complete breakdown of the security situation and such an abject failure on the part of the state to protect the lives of the people.

If there is to be a solution to such colossal failures, there has to be a consensus in the political establishment, as well as among the people themselves, as to the causes of the failures and the ways to overcome them.

Mere talk about some particular person taking the leadership does not answer any of the more pressing questions. While the Maithripala Sirisena / Ranil Wickramasinghe leadership has pathetically failed to deliver the promises that were made in 2015 to create the requisite constitutional changes and generate other measures to restore the rule of law and order situation in the country, the decisions made by the former government to dismantle apparatus of the democratic state, in favour of one man rule, cannot be disconnected from what has happened in the previous weeks.

A security failure of such magnitude is not just failure of the security apparatus: it is the result of the state as a whole. When Thomas Hobbes wrote his famous “Leviathan” in which he formulated the need for a strong state that can make and uphold rules by which society can be held together, he provided the basis for the only way security could be provided for the people. By a strong state, he did not mean a theory. What Hobbes meant was the fully functioning institutions of the state, held together by strict adherence to the law, and the capacity of the state to sustain such a development.

Humans by their very nature are competitive and unless a well-enforced legal apparatus can control such competition, one person or a single group will try to destroy others and take everything for their sole benefit. This has been the universal experience of humanity throughout its history.

Perhaps no one saw man’s mean nature better than Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who exposed and described people’s capacity to behave much worse than animals if they are not restrained from doing so. What we have seen in the events of Easter Sunday is a behaviour in which no animal would ever engage. It was meanness and cruelty at its worst.

No amount of rhetoric can convincingly deny that this capacity in human nature to be mean and brutish equally applies to Sri Lanka. In fact, the removal of restraining mechanisms has made the situation of Sri Lanka worse than in many other countries. This restraining capacity was removed by the 1978 Constitution, based on what is now described as unitary executive theory. There is no better prescription for ruining a nation than the practice of this theory. In Sri Lanka, this theory has now been in practice for more than forty years. This means that over the past forty years there has been a continuous disintegration of the restraining power of the state to control all forces of violence and unbridled greed.

The complaint of all the people today is that the politicians who play the leading role in both the government and the opposition are themselves mean-natured. Instead of leading the way to restrain the weak side of human nature, these leaders themselves exhibit these dark sides to such a degree that the topic about how to get rid of such leadership is perhaps the major theme being discussed among the people.

However, despite a consensus that the political predicament has gone terribly wrong, the people of Sri Lanka, including those who belong to the most educated sectors of society have not yet truly noticed the abyss into which they have fallen, nor do they have any ideas or ways to get out of this.

What is sadly lacking is the will of the people themselves to re-establish a strong state structure on the basis of the re-establishment of constitutional rules and legal structures by which the state can run its institutions for the benefit of everyone. The heart of the darkness in Sri Lanka is lawlessness. This darkness is so dense that all leaders can no longer see.

When the individuals who are responsible for running the basic mechanisms of the state are themselves so demoralized, no serious change can be expected. This political blindness can only cured by those who will be willing to think seriously about this problem and take upon themselves the task of bringing about the required measures that will guide the people to make a decisive change from the disabled state that Sri Lanka has become since 1978.

The mere mobilizing of military and the police, though necessary at the present moment, is not the final solution. In fact, this could bring about a ridiculous situation. Last week some police stations had only handful of officers to deal with complaints, as most of them were mobilized to assist with security operations elsewhere. In those places, the police officers could not attend to their normal routine duties.

Sri Lanka’s security problem needs to be understood in its full political context. What this means is that we need to look into the historically proven methods of restraining violence in societies. Unless the thought process of people in the country is directed towards discussion and debate on that approach, the present calamity will continue to worsen.

Male Fragility & The Sri Lankan Crisis: A Queer Feminist Reading – II

By Chamindra Weerawardhana –MAY 13, 2019

Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana

In the first article of this series, this writer highlighted how the frontline male leadership has been complicit in allowing major national security lapses, letting an unprecedent tragedy happen under their watch. The first article also dwelled upon Gotabaya Rajapaksa, due to his position as a presidential hopeful, his 2010-2015 role as the holder of full oversight over national security, and his public proclamations in the aftermath of the devastating Easter Sunday tragedy. As people were mourning their loved ones, as little children who dressed up to go to mass on Easter Sunday lay dead and brutally dismembered in three churches, as the lives of many innocent citizens who had done nothing wrong were shattered, Gotabaya was quick to talk to Reuters and reiterate his preparedness to enter the forthcoming presidential race. Hence the importance of devoting attention to his claims and aspects of his work in the first article. What follows below is very much an essential ‘prelude’ to a queer feminist reading of the foreign policy and national security intersections of the current crisis. 

Understanding the problem

First and foremost, what happened in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday 2019 cannot be understood as a domestic problem. When something of this nature happens in a strategically vital place in the global South, the initial, if not most popular tendency among many is to frame this as a ‘local’ problem. This is what Western media did from the 21st April 2019 onwards. This ‘local framing’ is also the preferred mantra of many in Colombo’s NGO lobby. The current situation is highly beneficial to them, as they now have the prospect of obtaining increased funding for their ‘projects’ and careerist agendas. The same goes for the so-called ‘Sri Lanka experts’ in the West – white people clueless about Sinhala and/or Tamil, who, having spent short periods ‘researching’ in Sri Lanka, getting their ‘field’ research translated with the help of someone, and subsequently getting published in English. They often assume that they are absolute experts on all things Sri Lankan. The worst reality is that the work produced by these individuals is widely considered in Western and supranational lobbies as credible knowledge. These ‘experts’ are highly reluctant to acknowledge the limits of their work, and the tremendous racial, socio-political and financial privileges they have. 

They perceive Sri Lankan scholars and academics only as their auxiliaries. Given these exploitative racial politics and power dynamics, a necessary national security mechanism is to enforce strict monitoring on the work of these self-serving ‘Sri Lanka experts’ in the West, as well as their local counterparts, mostly in the NGO sector and to a lesser yet non-negligible extent in the academy.  

In sum, if we are to make sense of what happened on Easter Sunday 2019 and what is currently going on in Sri Lanka, we need to look beyond the desperate efforts by many people to frame these attacks as a result of a ‘local’ problem – of ethnonationalism, ethno-religious nationalism/antagonism or ethno-religious outbidding. 

The key to the truth lies outside our shores. 

This is a matter of Sri Lanka becoming a highly strategic pawn in an international, if not global power struggle between the united states of america, a white-settler colony on the unceded sovereign Indigenous territories of Turtle Island, and the rise of China as a key player in world affairs. Some call this the rise of ‘Eastphalia’ with special reference to the rise of India and China as world powers.  

In what follows, I will focus on some aspects of the intersections of national security and foreign policy. 

Why President Rajapaksa Lost

A robust national security strategy cannot be put in place without an equally robust foreign policy focus. Lapses in foreign policy were a key reason behind the international challenges faced by the Rajapaksa administration. Or, to correct that sentence along a queer feminist-political perspective, the absence of a national security strategy that clearly identified foreign policy priorities and deployed the best resources and talent to manage foreign policy, happened to be a key reason behind the majority of the problems the Rajapaksa administration [especially in the second mandate] confronted on the world stage. During the war effort, strategically useful decisions, such as the rapprochement with China, reinforcement of relations with Iran, engaging in a balancing act with Congress-led Delhi, and arms-length collaborations with US defence structures in the war effort, were all in motion. 

However, the post-war scenario required a higher plane of expertise and innovation. A war that the West assumed to be unwinnable was won, something that the West considered [and still considers] to be an undue if not un-endorsed aggression by a South Asian government. Hence the continued USA-led emphasis on pushing Sri Lanka against the wall, not to mention their strong resolve to orchestrate the regime change operation of 2015. 

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Who is Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi ? Can the Medamulana bastard who nurtured terrorism and the Royal gay boys can save the country..? (Video)

By A former army intelligence officer

(Lanka-e-News -11.May.2019,9.45PM) During the end of the world war one the Turkish Ottoman Empire was destroyed. The British intelligence did a decisive role during the war. They influenced the local leaders of the Arabian Gulf against the Turks. The movie such as Lawrence of Arabia was filmed following that. Wahabism is a snare created by the west against the Ottoman Empire in order to mobilize the Muslims. Like before Wahabism serves for the west. Countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bhrain UAE and Qatar were declared after the First World War. These countries were created for the leaders of Arabian Gulf by the west to support the white skin. Tribal heads who became Kings and prince were the inhabitants who were living in the tents. These tribes followed a pro western policy and in return the west secured them.

Black gold – Crude oil

US first came to Arabian Gulf for oil exploration in 1930’s. The US explored the oil belong to Saudi not as a help but to strength their economy. During 1906’s the US incurred large profits from Saudi oil. This situation created a rift between prince Faizal and King Saud. In 1964 King Faizal overthrew King Saud and came to power. It was during King Faizal time there was a six day war between the Israel and the Arabs. King Faizal reduced the oil supplies to the west. Few days following this King Faizal was murdered. He was shot by his nephew Bin Mussaid who came from the US. King Faizal assassination was an intensive operation of the Mossad.

Turning point

The same fate was enchanted to Saddam Hussain. It was Saddam Hussains Bath party which built Iraq. 70% of the Iraqi populations were Shias. Saddam Hussain was a Sunni minority. Saddam opposed the oil racket done by US companies in Kuwait. US invaded Iraq by fabricating a false chemical weapons conspiracy. Iraq was named the cradle of the Mesapotemia civilization. World famous museums were found in Iraq. US invasion in Iraq was a turning point of the world history.

Terror groups, Paramilitary Forces and Double Agents

During the US invasion of Iraq 70% of Iraq’s defensive operations were carried out by private military forces licensed by the US government. It was the first time in history a war was conducted on contract basis. The infamous Black Water Alias Academy and the US forces worked together. Without capturing the land the Americans armed selected gangs and groups. The US pumped weapons, money and technology to terror groups and militias operating in the Arabian Gulf. These were not mere war secrets but projects approved by the US state department. The west created terror groups, paramilitary forces and double agents within Iraq and plundered the Iraqi oil resource.

Who is Simon Elliot..?

Simon Elliot was born in Iraq In1972 in the town Samara. His parents were Jewish and he became a mossad agent when he was 12 years. He used Ibahim Bin Awad Al Badri as his duplicate name and appeared as an Iraqi Citizen. Once he applied to join the Iraqi Army as a soldier but he was disqualified due to poor physical fitness. Later he was graduated from an Islamic university of Bagdad. He became a pastor in a Sunni mosque in Iraq. When US invaded Iraq he was 32 years old. Mossad played a large role in support for the US operation in Iraq. Simon Elliot alias Ibrahim Bin Awad joined the American operation and later he personified as Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi.

Facts to justify that ISIS is a geo political noose and joke of the era

It is the Russian president Vladimir Putin who said that Islamic State (IS) is a noose of the US. If one cannot believe Russia’s Putin you can see the following video of the US president Donald Trump. Clinton created ISIS with Obama – Trump. Islamic State (IS) terror group, who not attack Israel and Saudi Arabia. IS does not target the US. IS does not say a word about Jerusalam. Islamic State (IS) is not against the US, they perform a contract given by the US. However the ironic point is the US state department issue statement that it gives a reward of USD 25 million to anyone who catch Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi. It is a great joke of the Era. When an IS attack is imminent or following an attack the US state department reward post also comes out.

Abu Bakr Bagdadi and the Islamic State (IS)

Abu Gharib is the prison used to punish the pro Saddam supporters during the invasion of Iraq by the US. The US forces used many methods to acquire information from the prisoners. Simon Elliot alias Ibrahim Bin Awad started his amateur surveillance as a CIA agent inside the Abu Gharib prison. American forces masked and put him among Saddam supporters as a anti western agent. US gathered Iraqi military intelligence through him. In 2013 it was the same Simon Elliot alias Ibrahim Bin Awad who became the leader of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq & Syria). He used the name Abubakr Al Bagdadi for the above operation. It is the same person who represented as Simon Elliot, Ibrahim Bin and Abubakr Al Bagdadi. There are many facts to justify this. The photograph with John Mcaine and the speech given by Haji Backr and Salem Adriss is an ideal proof.

Whose contract is IS alias Islamic State?

The true reason behind the creation of Islamic State is not to declare a Khalifa but an oil pipeline. Russia is the main oil supply for Europe. However Russia’s cost is relatively too large when compared with the gulf. Russia planned to lay a pipeline and sell Iran’s oil to Europe underhand. This pipeline was laid through Iraq and Syria. However, US and Saudi brought a contrary proposal, that is to pump Saudi oil to Europe through Syria, Jordan and Turky. Whatever the pipeline, finally it has to come through Syria. Syrian president Basher Al Asad rejected the US-Saudi proposal and agreed to the Russian proposal. Basher Al Asad signed a MOU with Gasfrom Company of Russia. When this happen US was furious against Syria and started a conspiracy to oust Syrian president. They created IS terror group with the leadership of Abubakr Al Bagdadi. They took over the area supposed to lay the pipeline and declared the area as Islamic State of Iraq & Syria.

Saudi Arabia is headquarters for Jamath (religious) organizations. They who createdwahabism. Wahabism was created to protect the Saudi monarchy. They follow sharia law (Islamic law) of beheading and chopping of hands as prescribed by prophet Muhammed. But the fact is those laws existed during moses time but not during Muhammeds era. Saudis promote and fund wahabism and try to create a local wahabi state in Sri Lanka. Saudi’s formation is primitive and majority of the people still has tribal mindset. Saudis don’t go to mosque as in books. They don’t grow beard and it is not compulsory for the women to cover their faces. They indulge in prayers by pressing the mobiles. There are more divorces among Saudis and many Saudis are homosexuals. Saudis dance to the tune of Americans and Israel. It is astonishing that Saudis teach Islam to our Sri Lankan Muslims. Saudis wahabi concept is a western agenda.

Before 1977 Sri Lankan Sunni Muslims were following Sufi traditions. After 1977 when Sri Lankan Muslim went to Saudi for employment and brought Wahabi traditions to Sri Lanka and started the group thawheed. Thawheed following Wahabi traditions doesn’t have religious coexistence with other faiths. They consider Muslims following other traditions as enemies and if that is the case nothing much to talk about none muslims. Thawheeds (wahabis’s) likes to promote the Islamic law (sharia law) in the country they live and around the world ignoring the law of the country. They isolate themselves from rest of the community and create a separate identity in forms and attire. They are fond of raising awareness about wahabism to people following other traditions and about Islam to none Muslims. Due to this increasing wahabi campaigns, the traditional Muslims in Sri Lanka is inclined towards wahabism. Unless shia Muslims sunni muslims does not talk about this bitter truth.

Rajapaksas created and formed the Bodu Bala Sena, Thawheed Jamath and Shiva Sena is to secure their power

Sanga and clergies should exist in all religions. Demented doctrines arise from those. Religions should be secured to bring mankind to the right path but no religions should be promoted by the government in power or by a community. Religions should develop on its own. That cannot be promoted by Thawheed jamath funded by the saudi’s, Ashin Virathu of Burma or giving contracts to Abdul Razik of thawheed and Gnansara of Bodu Bala. Abdul Razik is a person who received wages from Rajapaksas. He was the person who nurtured Buddhist extremist against Muslims by telling that Lord Buddha ate human flesh. Not only Bodu Bala and Thawheed but Shiva Sena too was in Rajapaksas pay list. Therefore the uprising of Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi is not an up rise of global terrorism but dangerous rehearsal of a geo political sack race. (We would write another article about how Rajapaksas formed terror groups)

How medamulana nurtured terror groups and the clumsy Royal group

It’s not a secret that Rajapaksas liked Chinese Yuwan and mortgaged the country. It is invalid to say that Sri Lanka is a non aligned country anymore. It was Rajapaksas who signed the Acquisition and Cross Service Agreement (ACSA) at first. The US would never be a silent spectator allowing China to acquire Sri Lanka’s economic and military blind spots. Easter Sunday attack was the first indication. AAGC (Asia Africa growth corridor) is an American plan against Chinese authority. Not only Sri Lanka but India’s fate too lies in this. Future operations of the Trincomalee harbor, too is described in this AAGC proposal. Sri Lanka is a country in the world of the worst begger. From the time of independence the leaders were enjoying the luxuries and took the people as a scapegoat. Now the country does not a need an idiot who castigate the west but a non eunuch, intelligent, mature person who can manage global forces. We should eliminate Medamulana Rajapaksa nincompoops who nurture terrorism together with Royal gay boys. We should immediately start the dialogue of a new leader who can build the country.

By Keerthi Rathnayake

A former army intelligence officer

Translated by Azgar

Watch Trump's Video 

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by     (2019-05-11 16:49:12)

Weapons buried in a land at Kuda-Oya

13 May 2019

Several firearms and ammunition buried in a land at Kuda-Oya in Wellawaya were recovered by the Kuda Oya Police and the army personnel today.

Kattankudy needs new leadership and direction

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

 Surrounded by the Indian Ocean to the East, a lagoon to the West and two Tamil settlements, Arayampathi and Manchanthoduwai, to the South and North respectively, Kattankudy in Batticaloa district is almost 100% Muslim populated.

This township, with land area of just 6 km2, is crowded with around 50,000 people. Its population density will look more striking if one subtracts land occupied by public buildings such as the 60-odd mosques, about half a dozen schools, a hospital, main roads and byroads and so on. With increasing population and an expensive custom of gifting a house as part of dowry to each daughter, Kattankudy has no room to expand except grow skywards.


Two most outstanding characteristics

The two most outstanding characteristics of Muslims in this township is their pursuit of business activities and commitment to the religion of Islam. A vast majority of Kattankudy men were, until recently, farmers, pedlars, petty traders and retail businessmen, whose shops and boutiques spread out all over the country.

The popular saying that there is no place (in Sri Lanka) without a crow or a man from Kattankudy, amplifies those men’s business ubiquity. Because of their preoccupation with trade and commerce, modern education remained their least preferred pursuit for a long time. The majority of the boys dropped out of school after grade five or six and went into business, whereas girls dropped out even before grade five.

Even though the colonial government opened its first Central College for Muslims in 1930 at Kattankudy, it was only in 1960 that one student from that township was able to enter the University of Ceylon, and that too not from that Central College but from Colombo Zahira College.

Today, the situation is different. Because of dwindling business opportunities due mainly to rise of an aggressive commercial class, particularly among majority Sinhalese, and to a lesser extent among minority Tamils, the Muslim community in general, which historically earned the sobriquet “business community,” had been forced to look for other avenues to survive economically.

Education became a sought-after alternative, especially after the LTTE and other Tamil groups began harassing Muslim businessmen and encroaching into their paddy lands. Facilitated by a number of changes in the National Education Policy after 1970, which made access to higher education more equitable, and aided by a Muslim Minister of Education, who wanted his community to take advantage of the changes, parents of Kattankudy began to show interest in their children’s education. As a result Kattankudy has produced a number of professionals such as doctors, lawyers, dentists, and teachers, both among men and women.

Still, the lure of business has not disappeared. Kattankudy businessmen, who prior to the 1980s had their shops and boutiques established in many Sinhalese and Tamil towns, slowly started closing them because of stiff competition and drifted towards their home town. As a result, the main street of Kattankudy is one of the largest and bustling bazaars in the country today.


Piety and profit motive prosper together

Kattankudy is a Muslim enclave where piety and profit motive prosper together and feed each other. In 2009, I published an article titled ‘Kattankudy in Eastern Sri Lanka: A Mullah-Merchant Urban Complex Caught between Islamist Factionalism and Ethno-Nationalism’ (Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 29, no. 2, June 2009). The following quotes are directly from that article with minor changes:

“After the 1970s however, the religious fervour of this place received a fresh fillip with … migration of Muslim workers to the Middle East, especially to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-returnees brought … with them a strand of Wahhabi thought and practices … They reject Sufism and all rituals and teachings associated with it. They simply categorise Sufism as bid’a or innovation … crept into Islam and marred its purity… In Kattankudy also … Middle Eastern hijab and thobe increasingly becoming part of the female and male attire respectively, and … replacing the traditional sari-veil and sarong, with frequent fatwas from a new crop of inexperienced and young imams condemning music, films and other means of aesthetic and social enjoyment, and with an increasing …(mix) … of Arabic terminology in the spoken Tamil dialect of the elite there are clear indications that … local culture is undergoing a transformation towards Arabisation.”

“Moulvi Abdul Rauf, a native of Kattankudy and … son of a prominent alim, and M. S. Abdul Paylvan, President of All Island Tharikathul Mufliheen of Maruthamunai … were two preachers who believe in the religious legitimacy of Sufism and many of its practices. Rauf has a long history of religious controversy in Kattankudy, but Paylvan’s influence came much later and particularly during and after 1990s. In fact Sufi ideas and … influence of Sufi sects or tarikas had been prevalent among the people … long before Rauf or Paylvan came into the scene. At that time there was no open and violent ostracism of such ideas and their advocates, although there were occasional outbursts against them in the sermons of mainstream ulema.” The ideology and practices of Rauf and Pylvan were rejected not only by the Saudi educated graduates but also the rest of the ulema. However, “the violence that occurred in 2006 after the death of Pylvan, which ended in … destruction of … houses and property, and the fatwa of apostasy against them was something new and mark the culmination of a puritanical trend that was growing since late 1970s. While the Wahhabi driven Islamism is on the rise in Kattankudy, religious factionalism has also crept into politics of the area and is ripping apart the internal peace and tranquillity of the locality.”

These were quoted not to claim that “I said so”, but to demonstrate how Kattankudy was transforming from religious conservatism to religious extremism quite unobtrusively.

Since that article was published, Kattankudy has transformed into a mini Arab town with date palms decorating its main street and Arabic written signs decorating arches and shop entrances. There was also an attempt to change the name of this town to Qahatankudy, claiming, without historical evidence, that the early settlers in this town came from a place in Yemen called Qahatan. Later it was claimed that this was an attempt to attract petrodollars from a rich Saudi family, Qahtan.


Religious conservatism

Even before Wahhabism intruded and Arabised the hearts and minds of its people and the environment, Kattankudy was known for its religious conservatism. However, it was a conservatism of a syncretic Islam mixed with rituals, ceremonies and practices derived partly from Hindu traditions which, in a sociological sense, played a positive role in bringing people together and maintaining social relations. A few examples will illustrate this point.

During the third month of the Islamic calendar, mosques in this town celebrated the birth of the Prophet over 12 nights, by reciting mawlood (panegyric poetry) after the evening prayer, and which ended in distribution of free food, mostly rice cooked with ghee, to all participants. More than a religious ritual it was a social occasion where people, young and old, gathered and dispersed with happy feelings.

Similarly, during the eighth Islamic month there was Bukhari recital, which involved reading the multi-volumes of Imam Bukhari’s Hadith collection, by the ulema in the two big mosques. That also used to end in food distribution.

These were also occasions in which people fulfil their vows taken previously and donate food or oil or even chooks and goats to the mosques, part of which were auctioned and money went to the mosque fund. This was also a Hindu tradition crept from India into local Islam.

There is a shrine in this town called Mawlana Kaburady, which people used to visit and donate money on the eve of a wedding or circumcision. Finally, during the two Eid festivals the main street of Kattankudy would be turned into a carnival site with food and game stalls, music and entertainment.

Spread of Wahhabism

After the 1980s with the spread of Wahhabism all this disappeared and occasions of communal gathering and socialising in public were lost. (Two years ago I visited the shrine at Mawlana Kaburady. It is now a small enclosed compound of about 10 square yards visited rarely by any and cared for by one of the descendants of that Mawlana family). In the name of pure Islam festivals lost their festivities and religious ceremonies lost their sociological significance. Even modern education could not change the puritanical mindset nurtured by the conservative ulema.

Before Wahhabi intrusion and since 1960s, Kattankudy had an island-wide reputation for Tabligh Jamaat (TJ) missionary work. Teachers, students, doctors, engineers and businessmen left for three days, three weeks or even three months at a time on Jamaat work sacrificing their studies, families and work. These missionaries were very peaceful foot soldiers of Islam and never preached violence or advocated Islamic state. Mosques were their abode when they were not at home or work.

They were a type of mystics or quietists. They never openly criticised any variants in the way Islam was practiced by others. Their outlook was to seek success in the Hereafter by faithfully observing the ‘five pillars’ of Islam.

On the contrary, to the Wahhabi ideologists piety must be pure and purity meant eradication of all accretions into the original Islam of the Prophet and his immediate disciples, Salafs. Shiism, Sufism, shrine worship and every other bid’a or innovation were condemned. It was this aggressive preaching and readiness to condemn the deviants as apostates that brought religious violence into Kattankudy in the 1990s. From the quietist Tablighis, Kattankudy was gradually falling into the hands of Wahhabi extremists.

National Tawhid Jamaat

Even then, Kattankudy did not grow into a hotbed for religious violence until the birth of the National Tawhid Jamaat (NTJ), which broke off from its parent Sri Lankan Tawhid Jamaat (SLTJ) sometime around 2015.

However, between c. 2000 and 2015 something else was changing the mindset of a younger generation of Muslims. This change was not confined to Kattankudy alone but in greater part of the Muslim world. The young men and women of this generation, who were in their late teens or twenties, like their counterparts elsewhere, were proud owners of a new set of electronic toys and gadgets such as laptop, and hand phone, which gave them instant access to news and views about happenings in the Muslim world.

For example, pictures of US bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq, Israeli bombings in Gaza, India’s atrocities in Kashmir, NATO’s so-called humanitarian intervention in Libya, the killings in Syria and Yemen and several other bloody scenes were now being relayed directly into Muslim bedrooms and lounges all over the world including Kattankudy.

These were portrayed by the Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIS and several other radical groups as the Crusaders’ war against the Muslim umma. Some Muslim youth obviously were attracted to this preaching of hatred.

Ummat al-Islam 

Ummat al-Islam is a unique concept binding all Muslims into a community, and it is more universal and inclusive than Ibn Khaldun’s Arabic concept of asabiya or espirit de corps, which is exclusive and more ethnic or tribal.

The term umma occurs at least 62 times in the Quran, and in one instance it occurs as ummatan wahidhatan, meaning one single community, and in another as ummatan wasatan, meaning a middle community avoiding extremism. The Prophet emphasised this oneness in his last sermon at Arafat.

Umma binds every Muslim and that binding makes a Muslim feel for the sufferings of fellow Muslims, irrespective of their nationality or ethnicity. It is this feeling that is strengthened through modern information technology and its network society.

Educated and reasonably affluent Muslim men and women with access to this technology and relying almost solely on information received through the social and electronic media are easily swayed by radical preachers and their (mis)interpretations of the Quran and Hadith. Those young men and women who migrated from various parts of the world to join ISIS were members of this network society.

It is no surprise that in Kattankudy also, members of NTJ, under its firebrand preacher Zahran Hashim, fell prey to radical messages from abroad. However, Zahran’s link to ISIS is yet to be proved.

Kattankudy has its own Jamiyyathul Ulema, the apex religious body. It is a branch of the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema. Both bodies are now condemning NTJ and its jihadism. Were they totally ignorant of the activities of this group?

In a crowded enclave like Kattankudy it is impossible to hide secrets. What we gather from Kattankudy sources is that Zahran was attacking the mainstream ulema rather than advocating Jihadism. Is this why JU and ACJU are condemning him now? There are too many questions yet to be answered.

In this context there is a crucial issue which the ulema has to confront and resolve. It is an issue common to all minority Muslim communities living in non-Muslim plural societies. How do the ulema or ACJU in Sri Lanka reconcile the universally inclusive concept of umma, which binds all Muslims, with the nationally-restrictive Prophet’s saying, hubbul watan minal iman, meaning, a part of the faith is love of one’s homeland, and binds them to the country in which they live?

Some say that this saying is a fabricated one. Whether it is fabricate or not, the issue must be faced. To a minority Muslim community, which one of the two should take precedence? Should Muslims living in a non-Muslim country be encouraged to join an external group like ISIS and fight for a caliphate in the name of ummat al-Islam or be encouraged to defend their own country against ISIS and such other foreign elements and defend one’s homeland?

Time for change

There is an inherent clash between umma and watan. The answer to this clash lies in the Quranic advocacy of ummatan wasatan, and that should be taught to children in schools and explained in sermons in the mosques.

NTJ was caught between the two, because mainstream teachers and preachers of Islam neglected this lesson. It is in the skilful navigation between the clashing waters of umma and watan that the long run survival of the Muslim community lies.

I agree with Professor Kumar David that only Muslims can eradicate the scourge of extremism and not the security forces or the Government or and President. That demands an enlightened religious and political leadership. Kattankudy and the Muslim community have been let down by its politicians and the ulema. It is time to change the leadership and the direction. 

(The writer is attached to the School of Business and Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia.)