The flipside of Islamic fundamentalism in Sri Lanka

Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, and first published in the Hindustan Times.

The flipside of Islamic fundamentalism in Sri Lanka

PK Balachandran
Kattankudy (Eastern Sri Lanka), April 24, 2007

Islamic fundamentalism in Kattankudy in the Eastern Sri Lankan district of Batticaloa, is multifaceted.

It has both regressive and progressive aspects, though to the naked eye of the fleeting visitor, only the former is visible.

Fundamentalism has united previously disparate entities while creating new barriers. It has infused intolerance of some types, but at the same time, liberated sections of society from the thraldom of traditional practices and ideas described as “outdated”, “un-Islamic” or “superstitious”.

Strange though it may seem to outsiders fed on Afghanistan’s medieval Talibani fundamentalism, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Kattankudy has given a boost to women’s education and empowerment and narrowed the man-woman gap.

Opportunities in West Asia for employment and the impoverishment of the Tamils due to militancy and war from the 1980s onwards, had helped advance the Muslims’ economic development vis-à-vis the rest of the society.

And with prosperity came a new set of values. Muslim women began to leave their traditional place in the home to go to West Asia for work, and to schools and universities locally.

The thing to be noted here is that this progressive process coincided with the radical Islamisation of Kattankudy.

Islamisation did not interfere with progressive changes. On the contrary, it was a major factor encouraging them.

“Kattunkudy now has a good education system and the girls, especially, are doing well,” said MBM Firdous, General Secretary of the Centre for Development and Rebuilding.

However, girls going for classes or for work in offices have to observe certain strict diktats. Drawing on her experience in Colombo, social researcher Anberiya Haniffa said that Muslim girls from conservative families who wanted to go for higher education in co-educational institutions were made to give two undertakings: one, they would wear the hijab and abaya; and two, they would not mix with non-Muslim male students!

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