Featured image courtesy Reuters
Ramadan, the month of abstinence is when Muslims observe fast, voluntarily depriving themselves from all that are permitted to them on ordinary days. These abstentions are replaced with worship and acts that uplift the spirit like charity, forgiveness, patience and magnanimity.
In Islam, the institution of fasting has been designed to provide a yearlong spiritual training. Therefore, in addition to Ramadan, there is provision for a Muslim to fast voluntarily for three days every month, ten days in the month of Hajj and so on. This practice can be correlated with the five times daily prayer and other optional prayers. The purpose of these worships is to guide the Muslims towards righteousness and to keep away from evil. Thus developing the spiritual mind focussed on equity, justice and uprightness. Woven into this practice is the inculcation of the positive quality of patience. The Quran exhorts the believers as follows: ‘ O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint’ (Qur’an 2:183).
By the exercise of fasting, a Muslim is moulded both in his inner self and his external disposition. The inner self would reflect on his ability to practice patience, tolerance, forgiveness and accommodation. While the external consequences could be seen in his acts of charity, benevolence etc. The key to a Muslim being patient on the face of trials, tribulations and afflictions lies in this combined practice of prayers and fasting. The clear injunction stated in the Qur’an is what is manifested in the conduct of a Muslim. “And We shall try you until We test those among you who strive their utmost and persevere in patience.” (Qur’an 47:31) “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere” (Qur’an 2:155)
A true Muslim is a product of this belief and training. A Muslim’s belief is that everything in the universe belongs to God and that any gain or loss in life is a determinant of God’s plan. For Muslims, life on this earth is a temporary sojourn. Therefore, they are grateful to God for what they enjoy and resign themselves to the will of God at times of calamity. Thus fear or despondency is a far cry from the psyche of a practicing Muslim.
Sri Lankan society has a socio-economic and political fault-lines in its communal relations since colonial times. Muslims have suffered in anti-Muslim riots since 1915 in the past. Then they suffered as collaterals every time there was a Sinhalese –Tamil race riot. Then a series of anti-Muslim riots took place since 2009 in Aluthgama, Ampara and Digana. In May 2019,anti-Muslim riots have again engulfed the country. In all these riots, the patience of the Muslims have been tested to the hilt. They lost lives, livelihood, properties, rights, and mosques, shops and houses have been torched. Evidently, successive governments failed to protect them and arrest the rioters or compensate their losses adequately. It was the victims who by their dint of hard labour, patience and perseverance rebuilt their lives. Their resilience underpinned by their faith withstood testing times. They need not, and should never resort to terrorism or riot against the Sinhalese or Tamils to succeed in life as such deeds are evil and not in keeping with their religious belief. Instead every time they were put down by racist riots, they recover better since they are patient, perseverant and put their trust in God as their sustainer.
Muslims have been in the receiving end for no reason of theirs. They proudly celebrated themselves as an exemplary minority community living in a pluralistic society for more than 1200 years, coexisting with other communities peacefully. However, every time anti-Muslim attacks took place since 2009, it was the hate speech by Buddhist extremists that mobilized mobs to attack Muslims based on false accusations of introduction of ‘wanda pethi’ or infertility drugs to Sinhalese customers, charges of increase of Muslim population and a host of other charges. Muslims did not respond by hate speech or tit for tat attacks on others. Instead, Muslim religious and civil leadership pressed hard on the ordinary Muslims to bear with patience in spite of the grievances of the direct victims who lost their dignity, rights, livelihood and wealth. Muslims pleaded with the government to strengthen law and order and arrest the provocateurs but nothing seriously happened to arrest the situation. Up to date the government has failed to take adequate steps to maintain law and order and the Sri Lankan economy and society is suffering as a consequence.
Muslims have consistently proven by their very acts on the ground by being patient, peaceful and as ‘non hate mongering’ in spite of heavy losses to them in terms of lives, property and dignity at the hands of the anti-Muslim rioters and state inaction. The state’s failure to address these by strengthening law and order to protect the interest of all citizens is a disservice they did to the country. Instead, after April 21st, they are moving on a discriminatory selective mode of asking mosques through the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Ministry (MRCA) to submit recordings of Friday sermon on the presumption that mosques are spewing hate speech. They are asking this from an institution which successfully prevented hate speech from amongst the Muslims. Had it been to the contrary, there would have been backlash every time anti-Muslims riot takes place. By this discriminatory action the government is creating a two-tier citizenship which can open the road for radicalisation in Muslim society. Radicalisation of any community would be to the detriment of peaceful coexistence in Sri Lanka.
This is an affront on citizens’ civic rights. If the government wanted to monitor extremism they should codify non-discriminatory laws that cover all citizens equally. Why can’t the government be non-discriminatory and request all religious institutions to submit their speech recordings or proof of their responsible actions? As a solution to prevent hate speech.
Leaving the April 21st terror attack apart, in which case the evidences points to state failure to act diligently and geopolitics using local collaborators in the guise of ISIS as mentioned by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. Notwithstanding these, the reality in a socially polarised society where there is untrammelled one sided hate speech spewed by anti-Muslim groups have caused major losses to the country by the spate of riots up to May 2019. The Muslim victims, their properties and places of worship had nothing to do with acts of terror either prior to Easter Sunday or thereafter. These attacks are based on trumped up charges as before unconnected with Muslims. The Muslims, consistently have proven them to be law abiding peaceful citizens seeking the state to act with responsibility to protect the community and national interest. Peacefulness and patience of the Muslims in spite of consistent attacks on them is to ensure a peaceful future to all in the country and failing to appreciate their positive contribution would be a miscalculation. As marginalization and oppressions may drive anyone to radicalisation. The Sri Lankan civil society, policy makers and political parties have a responsibility to urge the government to establish rule of law and bring necessary instruments to establish good governance.
The consistent anti-Muslim attacks and de-facto hate speech spewed by Buddhist extremists since 2009 is a clear indication of the presence of radicalization in Buddhist society which they have to respond introspectively as a responsible community. History has time and again proven that it was the Buddhist extremist mobs that are torching Muslims properties and destroying the socio-economic fabric of the country. Therefore it is pertinent here that there is an urgent necessity to create legal instruments and institutions to de-radicalize the society from extremism. Such a bill will help to de-radicalise and rehabilitate the rioters and their inspirers rampaging the streets every then and now in the name of Buddhism. The true virtues of Buddhism, a vastly peaceful faith that is underpinned by Metta, Karuna, Mudhitha and Upekkha, is being used as a front to promote violence and mistrust in the most non-Buddhist of ways. These left unchecked would tarnish the image of the Buddhist society and make this country a cauldron in the Indian Ocean as opposed to being called a pearl.