Playing With Fire
As he watched his son’s body being placed in the crematorium, Mohammed Fahim stood outside the cemetery, weeping. “How could I watch my baby being burned,” demanded the Muslim man, whose faith…
Religion and faith
Death in the Time of Corona: A Risky Business for Muslims
The question of the burial or cremation of COVID-19 victims took a bizarre turn to expose a government at odds with itself with Ministers and health authorities sending out mixed messages and…
What Will Be the Fate of Religious Minorities in Sri Lanka?
Article 9 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution states: “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.” The promise to establish…
The Past and the Present in the (Re)Constitution of the State
By Asanga Welikala and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne The election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November 2019 marked the beginning of a new era of a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist ascendancy in Sri Lanka. The…
The Other Hejaaz
There’s an image of Hejaaz Hizbullah I return to over and over again. It’s an image of him holding a placard at a protest vigil against the October 2018 constitutional coup. The…
Scapegoating the Muslims: From Aluthgama to Post-Easter Sunday to COVID-19
Photo via To date in Sri Lanka 9 persons are said to have died of Covid-19 and out of these 4 are Muslims. At least 02 of these victims’ families believe their…
Ramzy Razeek: An extraordinary struggle for an ordinary life of service upended by an arrest
Image courtesy Ramzy Razik was arrested on April 9, 2020 at his home off Katugasota in Kandy by the CID. The next day, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate where the…
Honouring the victims of 21 April 2019 through togetherness and unity
Photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP via NPR Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Easter Sunday attacks, in which eight IS terrorists senselessly murdered 269 Catholic and Christian worshippers and tourists, shattering our…
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…
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…
