The Muslims of Sri Lanka are a highly mixed society who derive genes from many different ethnic group. However the language of the Sri Lankan Moors cannot be used as the basis to classify their ethnicities. In reality, the Sri Lankan Moors do not have a mother tongue because their society is always changing. With the passage of time, the language of an ethnic group has the ability to change because of cultural or political pressures.

As you (sivan) said ” Of course with the passage of time , after the Sinhala ony act , some of the muslims may claim Sinhala as their mother toung as in the case of Negombo Tamils, and the other N.W. Tamils”.
– Lets use your example to explain the current situation:. Since you claim that the Muslims changed their Mother tongue to Sinhalese after the Sinhala only act, it is certainly possible that the Tamil language was also ADOPTED by the Muslims for financial and political gain. In the past, the Sri Lankan Moors did not speak Tamil. They used a different language called “Arwi”, which is an offshoot of Arabic. Arwi is now extinct as a spoken language becuase it was not popularized after the invention of the printing press. Arwi eventually went into decline and is now extinct as a spoken language . In the 1800’s my family members spoke Arwi and NOT Tamil. The Moors in Sri Lanka actually adopted the Tamil language because it was the most popular language used for commerce in South India. Besides, the form of Tamil used currently by Sri Lankan Muslims is actually different from standard Tamil because it contains a large number of Arabic words and phrases . So your claim of Sri Lankan Moors of being exclusively Tamil cannot be supported, so get over it.

It is the essence of what I called the basics of “Formation of Ethnicity and Culture: Racial-Linguistic-Religious-Economic consciousness” and is no less interesting than formation of stars and galaxies during Big Bang.

Let me start with the ancestry question and the “answer” to it. Tamils and Muslims can claim whatever they want about South Indian or Arab blood in them…the source and priority of their pride looks like it is presented for “legitimacy” or “religious” reasons….however, a simple mtDNA test among ALL the sri lankan muslim population (not just tamil speaking) and tamils will help us in this respect. I also suspect that sinhalese and tamils in general share the same gene pool…which makes all this fight and struggle very interesting…very amusing…and very tragic actually.

The “Christian” angle raised by a member is a vital point. There are Christians in both Tamil and Sinhalese communities…but they seem to fit into the “Buddhist-Sinhala” and “Hindu-Tamil” consciousness very well, without any inhibitions. How is this possible? Aren’t Christian Tamils not afraid of their [religious] minority status in the would-be Tamil Eelam…Why are the [tamil-speaking] muslims who are numerous than the Christians, fear some kind of future religious persecution in the promised land? This is the crux of the whole discussion!

I believe that the muslims developed this insecurity for historical, religious and politico-economic reasons.

Historical: The relentless and targeted persecutions by the Europeans against the Moors of the east has been etched in their consciousness….And these were relatively recent events.

Religious: If you study the partition of India….you will understand how the indian muslims were made to believe about the imminent danger to Islam in the free India…which will have more hindus than muslims. There is no denying that there is a streak in Islamic thought where the idea of being a minority is the most dreaded status of all things.

Politico-Economic: The muslims were in a better position than other tamil speaking communities. In a unified north and east, they will have lesser political votes and hence, a lateral pressure on their economic prosperity as well.

In sum, that the formation of “muslim consciousness” in lanka is a “social” consequence of a number of critical factors specific to their past, present and future status in the island.

Poovhenden
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Sivam

Muslims did not come from India, If we go back to history and see what led to the capture of Sindh by the muslims, we would realise that indian pirates had plundered a ship carrying muslim pilgrims from sri lanka, and some pilgrims had gifts to the caliph of baghdad from the sinhalese king, some pilgrims who escped death went to the caliph and complained, after a few exchanges of messgaes, came the capture of sindh. clear evidence that there were muslims in Sri lanka before they came to india.

Muslims are an ideological group, as opposed to an ethnic group. They are defined on their ideology based on islam, and not by their customs , language or other practices.

A marxist is identified as a marxist due to his ideology, it is not the norm to identify or even differentiate marxists as sinhala marxists,english Marxists or tamil marxists.

Similarly muslims are judged on their faith, a muslim may be strictly Sinhala speaking,tamil speaking or English speaking, but in the light of their religion they are judged on their intensity of faith as opposed to their language or other cultural pratices.

Thus, i would like to reiterate the fact that, muslims are an “ideological group”, as opposed to an “ethnic group”.

Many others, like me and my family, who lived in Colombo and major cities chose English. My Grandparents, parents and siblings all spoke English at home and studied in English at school, choosing Sinhala as a second language. What then is our mother tongue other than English?

Hence the Muslims of Sri Lanka, as a whole, do not have a common mother tongue like the Sinhalese and Tamils do.

Why is it that the ‘Muslims” identify themselves by their religion rather than the language as in the case of Sinhalese and the Tamils?.
Where did the muslims come to srilanka from?
I am opinion that they have come from south India and their mother Tounge is Tamil. If not how is it that the”muslims” even in Beruwela and Bentota consider Tamil as their mother toung?.Of course with the passage of time , after the Sinhala ony act , some of the muslims may claim Sinhala as their mother toung as in the case of Negombo Tamils, and the other N.W. Tamils.
Sivam

A question I have is that if Muslim community in SL is a Nation, should a Tamil speaking Christian community in SL be a Nation. Or for that matter should all Christians of all denomination in SL be a Nation?. Are Muslim and Christian communities “Nations” entitled for their own right to Self-Determination?