New life amidst a threat to all life: Easter in retrospect
Image via , by AFP. Last year, suffering and death struck with the arrival of Easter, to plunge us back into Good Friday. Thousands who lost loved ones and limbs were shattered…
Religion and faith
Easter Sunday Attacks: Phobias, Prejudices, and a Paradox
The Easter Sunday attacks were brutal and unprecedented. It surfaced communal prejudices and certain phobias that Sri Lankan society lives with. There is a paradoxical narrative that may help us understand some…
Dignity in death, as in life: For everyone including Muslims
Image courtesy Quartz India It is with heavy hearts that we have listened to and observed the debates on whether or not burials should be permitted for Muslims who succumb to COVID-19…
The Rights of Minorities under Extraordinary Circumstances
Image courtesy Quartz India The Muslim community in Sri Lanka has been engaged with the government in a debate to allow persons who died after contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19) to be buried…
A Lenten Reflection
“Try again; fail again. Fail better. “- Samuel Beckett Last year at Easter, sudden acts of violence spread immense fear, injury and death, within a matter of moments. A small group of…
Digana: Two years later
5th of March 2018 marked the beginning of a series of violent mob attacks against the Muslims in the central parts of the country, perpetrated by the ethno-nationalist Sinhala Buddhists. A personal…
On the Side of Justice
Why is it so difficult for the All Ceylon Jammiyathul Ulama (ACJU) to acknowledge 18 as the minimum age of marriage? What is interesting is that the Qur’an does not specify a…
ACJU Hijacks MMDA Reform
For three long decades, Muslim women have fought to reform the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). Justice Saleem Marsoof’s Committee issued two sets of recommendations early last year, the culmination of…
Looking East
Batticaloa and Kattankudy are 318 and 317 kilometers away from Colombo, respectively. They are, however, just under 10 kilometers away from each other. The relationships and experience, that have been shaped by…
Long Overdue: Breaking down the minimum age of marriage in Sri Lanka
One of the most contested issues in the debate around reform of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) has been with regard to increasing the minimum age of marriage for Muslims.…
Blasphemy and the Prisoner of Buddhism
For the last 11 weeks Shakthika Sathkumara, an award winning creative writer, has been deprived of his liberty by the State, for what appears to be the crime of blasphemy. Apart from…
The Malaise Affecting Buddhism
In the run up to the 2014 Aluthgama riot, the rabble-rousing monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara coined the term Aba Saranai, a battle-cry of hate totally at variance with the teachings of the…
The Blanket of the Dark
Photo by President’s Media Division (PMD) “From now on, people and monks will govern this country from the streets” Aturaliye Ratana Thero (Lankadeepa – 28.5.2019) A man in a suit defending the…
Keep it clean: A reflection
Photo courtesy CNN. “ . “ Real stories-real racism A Colombo taxi driver informed a customer that he was a Muslim. It sounded like an apology. His two previous hires…
The Terrorist, The Muslim and the Other
It was a casual Sunday breakfast, as I was making notes on refugees in Sri Lanka, when my partner, his eyes still peeled on his phone, exclaimed in shock that a church…
