Everything about The Sri Lankan Moors totally explained
The
Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in
Sri Lanka that comprise 8% of the country's total population (1, 645,535 people in 2005). They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to
Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. The
Arabic language brought by the early merchants is no longer spoken, though various Arabic words and phrases are still employed in daily usage. Until the recent past, the Moors employed
Arwi as their mother tongue, though this is also extinct as a spoken language. Currently, the Moors of Sri Lanka use
Tamil as their primary language which includes many loan words from
Arabic. Moors are also fluent in
Sinhala, an
Indo-European language spoken by the
Sinhalese majority in
Sri Lanka. Thus, the Moors are considered as a
multilingual ethnic group.
The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs. During the period of
Portuguese colonisation, the Moors suffered from persecution, and many moved to the
Central Highlands, where their descendants remain.
Religion
The Sri Lankan Moors are virtually all followers of
Islam, hence Their cultural identity is strongly defined by their religion. Unlike the
Sinhalese and
Tamil people of Sri Lanka, an overwhelming majority of the community adheres to the Islamic faith hence the term "Muslim" is often used interchangeably as both a religious and ethnic term to describe the Moors.
Most Sri Lankan Moors follow
Sunni Islam through the
Shafi school of thought. There are also small populations that follow other Islamic sects such as
Shia Islam and
Sufism.
Languages
The Moors of Sri Lanka speak a fusion of
Tamil and
Arabic. There isn't an official name for the language, thus it's commonly referred as Tamil. The
Sinhala Language has also had strong influence on speech, especially in the Central region of Sri Lanka where most Moors are
multilingual. In the past, the
Arwi language was used extensively by the Moors, however it's now virtually extinct as a spoken language, and is confined only to religious texts. Today, the
Tamil script is commonly used; however the official script used by Moors in religious affairs is still
Arwi, which is a modified form of the Arabic script. The form of language spoken by the Moors isn't mutually intelligible with ethnic
Tamil speakers because it uses many Arabic or
Arabised Tamil words and phrases which are nowhere to be found in the Official Tamil language. Some include:
| Moor Word |
Arabic Equivalant |
Tamil Equivalant |
Meaning |
| Umma |
Um |
Amma |
Mother |
| Wapa |
Abba |
Appa |
Father |
| Thangachi |
- |
Thangai |
Younger Sister |
| Nana/Kaka |
- |
Anna |
Older Brother |
| Datha |
- |
Akka |
Older Sister |
| Um-Ummah |
Um (Meaning mother) |
Pati |
Grandmother (Mother of mother) |
| Wap-Ummah |
Um (Meaning mother) |
Pati |
Grandmother (Mother of father) |
| Jazakallah |
Jazakallah/Shukran |
Nandri |
Thank You |
| Mawthu |
Mawth |
Saavu |
Death |
| Hayathu |
Hayath |
Valkai |
Life |
| Kusuni |
- |
Samayal Arai |
Kitchen |
| Welluna |
- |
Kalai |
Morning |
| Raav |
- |
Pinneram |
Night |
Greetings and Blessings are also exchanged in
Arabic instead of
Tamil, such as "Assalamu Alaikum" instead of "Wanakkam" and "Jazakallah" instead of "Nandri". Moors who live in the
Kandy and
Colombo area tend to speak Tamil with very little stress in pronunciation and with
slang, and tend to use more
Arabic and
Sinhala words in daily speech.
Apart from Arabic, words have also been absorbed from
Portuguese,
Dutch and
English. Additionally, there are many words that have no known origins.
Arwi Language in Sri Lanka
Prior to the adoption of
Tamil and
Sinhala, the
Arwi language was used as a
mother tongue by the Sri Lankan Moors. Arwi is linguistically related to both
Semitic and
Dravidian tongues now spoken predominantly in the Middle East and Southern India, respectively. It is also believed to be also related to
Brahui, a Dravidian language spoken today by nearly 350,000 in
East Baluchistan, Pakistan.
The linguistic "marriage" of Arabic with Sri Lankan dialects is a process that has been active in the region for several centuries. The distinctiveness of the speech behavior of the Moors of Sri Lanka, has been referred to as Arabic-Tamil, Arabuthamul, Arwi, or Shonakam. It enjoys a religious knowledge affinity with a dialect of
Jawi, used by the
Malays of the island, as well as with other northern India derived languages such as Urdu, used by smaller groups of Muslims in the country. The linguistic medium of Arwi is composed of more than one set of grammars and vocabularies that a speaker may switch back and forth from, depending on the situation. Compared to many among the
Sinhalese,
Tamil, or
Burgher peoples of Sri Lanka who have traditionally tended to be monolingual, Moors were much more at home with
Sinhala and
Tamil, and in some instances
English, as well as Arwi.
As a written language Arwi employs an invented orthography for a
creolized, or mixed, system of speech patterns. Research on its history has only very recently begun to appear in print. It is believed to have originated during the early stages of Islamizing contact between Sri Lankan peoples with Arab and Persian traders. The principles of its development and structure are possibly related to similar systems known for other similar Islamized speech and writing systems such as
Maldivian,
Jawi,
Urdu, and
Persian.
Arwi is known to be a matter of at least scholarly interest in some parts of Sri Lanka today. Languages such as Sinhala, Tamil and English have replaced it in many contexts. Several reasons can be attributed to the decline of Arwi including the popularization of English during colonial times and and the lack of competitive printing facilities. Furthermore, the early 20th century adoption of an Urdu dominant Islamic school curriculum by scholars has also contributed to the extinction of Arwi as a spoken language and its overall decline in Sri Lanka.
History Of Arabs in Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan Moors
The Tamils of Sri Lanka, throughout history, have attempted to categorize the Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims) as belonging to the
Tamil race. It is claimed that this was a bid to eliminate the minority Muslim community from having its own unique identity. The Government of Sri Lanka, however, treats the Muslims as of Arab origin and as a distinct ethnic group from the Tamils.
The manner in which Islam developed in Sri Lanka is very similar to that on the Malabar coast of India. Tradition has recorded that Arabs who had settled down on the Malabar coast used to travel from the port of Cranganore to Sri Lanka on pilgrimage to pay homage to what they believed to be the footprint of Adam on the top of a mountain, which, until today, is called
Adam's Peak.
[
Ibn Batuta, the famous 14th century Arab traveller, recorded many facets about early Arab influence in Sri Lanka in his travelogues.
Before the end of the 7th century, a colony of Muslim merchants had established themselves in Ceylon. Fascinated by the scenic splendour and captivated by the traditions associated with Adam's Peak, Muslim merchants arrived in large numbers and some of them decided to settle in the island encouraged by the cordial treatment they received by the local rulers. Most of them lived along the coastal areas in peace and prosperity, maintaining contacts, both cultural and commercial, with Baghdad and other Islamic cities.][
According to Tikiri Abeyasinghe in his Portuguese Rule in Ceylon, 1594-1612, Colombo (1966), Lake House Investments Ltd., p 192, tradition has it that,
][...]the first Mohammadans of Ceylon were a portion of those Arabs of the House of Hashim, who were driven from Arabia in the early part of the 8th. century by the tyranny of the Caliph, Abdel Malik bin Marwan, and who proceeding from the Euphrates southwards made settlements in the concan in the southern parts of the peninsula of India, on the island of Ceylon and Malacca. The division of them which came to Ceylon formed eight considerable settlements along the Nort-East, North and Western coast of that island; viz., one at Trincomalee, one at Jaffna, one at Colombo, one at barbareen, and one at Point de Galle.[...]
It is perhaps reasonable, therefore, to assume that the Arabs, professing the religion of Islam, arrived in Sri Lanka around the 7th/8th century A.D. even though there was a settled community of Arabs in Ceylon in pre-Islamic times.[
The circumstances that helped the growth of Muslim settlements were varied. Most of the majority Sinhalese depended more on agriculture than trade, thus trade wide open to the Muslims. The Sinhalese Kings considered the Muslim settlements favourably on account of the revenue that they brought them through their contacts overseas both in trade and in politics. The religious tolerance of the local population was also another vital factor in the development of Muslim settlements in Ceylon.][
The early Muslim settlements were set up mainly around ports on account of the nature of their trade. It is also assumed that many of the Arab traders may not have brought their womenfolk along with them when they settled in Ceylon. Hence they'd have been compelled to marry the Sinhalese and Tamil women of the island after converting them to Islam. The fact that a large number of Muslims in Sri Lanka speak the Tamil language can be attributed to the possibility that they were trading partners with the Tamils of South India and had to learn Tamil in order to carry out their business. The integration with the Muslims of Tamil Nadu, in South India, may have also contributed to this. It is also possible that the Arabs who had already migrated to Ceylon, prior to Islam, had adopted the Tamil language as a medium of communication in their intercourse with the Tamil speaking Muslims of South India. The Muslims were very skillful traders who gradually built-up a very lucrative trading post in Ceylon. A whole colony of Muslims is said to have landed at Beruwela (South Western coast) in the Kalutara District in 1024 CE][
The Muslims didn't indulge in propagating Islam amongst the natives of Ceylon even though many of the Sinhalese and Tamil women they married did convert.][
There is also a report in the history of Sri Lanka of a Muslim Ruler, Vathimi Raja, who reigned at Kurunegala (North Central Province) in the 14th. century. This factor can't be found in history books due to their omission, for reasons unknown, by modern authors. Vathimi Raja was the son of King Bhuvaneka Bahu I, by a Muslim spouse, the daughter of one of the chiefs. The Sinhalese son of King Bhuvaneka Bahu I, Parakrama Bahu III, the real heir to the throne was crowned at Dambadeniya under the name of Pandita Parakrama Bahu III. In order to be rid of his step brother, Vathimi Raja, he ordered that his eyes be gouged out. It is held that the author of the Mahavamsa (ancient history of Ceylon) had suppressed the recording of this disgraceful incident. The British translator, Mudaliyar Wijesinghe states that original Ola (leaf script) was bodily removed from the writings and fiction inserted instead. The blinded Vathimi Raja (Bhuvaneka Bahu II or Al-Konar, abbreviated from Al-Langar-Konar, meaning Chief of Lanka of Alakeshwara) was seen by the Arab traveller Ibn Batuta during his visit to the island in 1344. His son named Parakrama Bahu II (Alakeshwara II) was also a Muslim. The lineage of Alakeshwara kings (of Muslim origin) ended in 1410. Although all the kings during this reign may not have been Muslims, the absence of the prefix -Shri Sangha Bodhi- (pertaining to the disciples of the Buddha) to the name of these kings on the rock inscriptions during this hundred year period may be considered as an indicator that they were not Buddhists. Further during Ibn Batuta's visit a Muslim ruler called Jalasthi is reported to have been holding Colombo, maintaining his hold over the town with a garrison of about 500 Abyssinians.][
In spite of this the Muslims have always maintained very cordial relationships with the Sinhalese Royalty and the local population. There is evidence that they were closer to the Sinhalese than to the Tamils. The Muslims' relationship with the Sinhalese kings grew stronger and in the 14th century they even fought with them against the expanding Tamil kingdom and its maritime influence.][
By the beginning of the 16th. century, the Muslims of Sri Lanka, the descendants of the original Arab traders, had settled down comfortably on the island. They were very successful in trade and commerce and integrated socially with the customs of the local people. They had become an inseparable, and even more, an indispensable part of society. This period was one of ascendancy in peace and prosperity for the Sri Lankan Muslims.][
] Present day Moors
Population
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Moors in Sri Lanka has multiplied from approximately 100,000 persons in the 1800's to over 1.5 million in 2005. In the past, Moors were found throughout Sri Lanka, mostly within urban coastal regions. However, during Portuguese rule in the 1600's Moors were persecuted on the basis of their religion and were forced to retreat into the Kandyan highlands and the East Coast which were under the rule of local kings. As a result, today there are substantial Moor populations in these regions. In recent times, the Sri Lankan Civil War has produced large population movements in the northern region of the country, resulting in significant demographic changes. Hence the once-flourishing Muslim (mostly Moor) community is now non-existent in the Northern Province of the country as a result of ethnic cleansing carried out by Tamil Tiger rebels in 1991.Most of the Moor population still reside in Sri Lanka, however there are small growing communities in the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia.
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