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Sri Lankan Moors

Sri Lankan Moors (Tamil: இலங்கைச் சோனகர், romanized: Ilaṅkaic Cōṉakar; Arwi: اَیلَࢳَیچْ چٗونَكَرْ‎; Sinhala: ලංකා යෝනක, romanized: Lanka Yonaka; formerly Ceylon Moors; colloquially referred to as Sri Lankan Muslims) are an ethnic minority group in Sri Lanka, comprising 9.3% of the country's total population.[4][2] Most of them are native speakers of the Tamil language.[5][6][7] The majority of Moors who are not native to the North and East also speak Sinhalese as a second language.[8] They are predominantly followers of Islam.[9] The Sri Lankan Muslim community is mostly divided between Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Moors, Sri Lankan Malays and Sri Lankan Bohras. These groups are differentiated by lineage, language, history, culture and traditions.[10] Finlay McDonald has noted in the second paragraph of his article on Sri Lankan Muslims in New Zealand's conversation newspaper, published on April 23, 2019, the following observation, "Linguistically, most have Tamil as their mother tongue, often leading them to be categorised as part of the island’s Tamil minority, alongside Hindus and Christians. There are, however,Muslims who speak the majority Sinhala language."[1]

Sri Lankan Moors
இலங்கைச் சோனகர்
ලංකා යෝනක
اَیلَࢳَیچْ چٗونَكَرْ
Sri Lankan Moor men in regional costume in early 20th century
Total population
1,892,638[1][2]
(9.3% of the Sri Lankan population; 2012)[3]
Regions with significant populations
Province
 Western709,992
 Eastern575,936
 North Western268,709
 Central263,874
 North Central101,958
Languages
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups

The Sri Lankan Moors are of diverse origins with some tracing their ancestry to Arab traders who first settled in Sri Lanka around the 9th century, and who intermarried with local Tamil and Sinhala women.[11][12][13] Recent genetic studies, however, have suggested a predominant Indian origin for Moors compared to the Arab origin speculated by some.[14] Perera et al. (2021) in their genetic analysis of the Moors stated the following in their report: "In contrast, Sri Lankan Moors have descended exclusively from Muslim male merchants of either Arabic or of Indian origin, who came to Sri Lanka for trading. During the fourteenth century, they started to settle in coastal areas in Sri Lanka and espoused local women, who were either Sinhalese or Sri Lankan Tamil".[15] The concentration of Moors is the highest in the Ampara, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts.

Etymology edit

 
Kechimalai Mosque, Beruwala. One of the oldest mosques in Sri Lanka. It is believed to be the site where the first Arabs landed in Sri Lanka.

The Portuguese called the Muslims in India and Sri Lanka Mouros, after the Muslim Moors known to them in Iberia.[16] The word Moors did not exist in Sri Lanka before the arrival of the Portuguese colonists.[17] The term "Moor" was chosen because of the Islamic faith of these people and was not a reflection of their origin.[18]

The Tamil term Sonakar along with the Sinhala term Yonaka, has been thought to have been derived from the term Yona, a term originally applied to Greeks, but sometimes also Arabs and other West Asians.[19][20] Historically, all Tamil speaking Muslim communities in India and Sri Lanka were known as the Sonakar.[21]

History edit

Origins theories edit

Many Sri Lankan Moors are Marakkars, and share the same history with Tamil Nadu Marakkars in particular, and Marakkars from Kerala. This can be seen from the large number of prominent Sri Lankan Moors who hold the surname of Marikkar (and its variations) and through the extremely strong linguistic and cultural similarities held by these communities.[13] It is said there has been a strong relationship between Marakkar communities through endogamous marriages. The similarities have been described as "enormous" by M. M. M. Mahroof.[13]

Some scholars hold the view that the Sri Lankan Moors in general are descended from the Marakkar, Mappilas, Memons, Lebbes, Rowthers and Pathans of South India.[22]

Sri Lankan Moor scholar Dr. Ameer Ali in his summary of the origin history of Sri Lankan Moors states the following:

'In actual fact, the Muslims of Sri Lanka are a mixture of Arab, Persian, Dravidian and Malay blood of which the Dravidian element, because of centuries of heavy Indian injection has remained the dominant one.'[23]

Historian Patrick Peebles states by the end of the 19th century Sri Lankan Muslims comprised about 6–7 percent of the population, and that "the majority of Muslims were of South Indian origin and spoke Tamil."[24]

Another view suggests that the Arab traders, however, adopted the Sinhalese and Tamil languages only after settling in Sri Lanka.[13] The cultural practices of the Moors also vary significantly from the other communities on the island, but share much in common with the Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu.[25] This view is dominantly held by the Sinhalese-favouring section of the Moors, as well as the Sri Lankan government, which lists the Moors as a separate ethnic community.[18]

Although the caste system is not observed by the Moors as it is by the other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, their kudi system (matriclan system) is an extension of the Tamil tradition.[26]

Medieval era edit

The Sri Lankan Moors along with Mukkuvar dominated once in medieval era the pearl trade in Sri Lanka.[27] Alliances and intermarriages between both communities were observed in this period.[28] They held close contact with other Muslims of Southern India through coastal trade.[29]

The Moors had their own court of justice for settling their disputes. Upon the arrival of the Portuguese colonisers in the 16th century, a large population of Moors was expelled from cities such as the capital city Colombo, which had been a Moor-dominated city at that time. The Moors migrated to the eastern part of the island, and settled there through the invitation of the Kingdom of Kandy.[29] Robert Knox, a British sea captain of the 17th century, noted that the Kings of Kandy built mosques for the Moors.[30] Sri Lanka being a predominately agricultural economy, International trade was underdeveloped during the medieval period. The arrival and settlement of Arab-Muslim merchants on the island's coastal regions initiated overseas trade and helped unlock the country's economic potential.[31]

Sri Lankan Civil War edit

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a 26-year conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka between the government and the separatist Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE attempted to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in northeast Sri Lanka.[32]

Since 1888, under the initiative of Ponnambalam Ramanathan, the Sri Lankan Tamils launched a campaign to classify Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan Moors as Tamils, primarily to bolster their population numbers for the impending transition to democratic rule in Sri Lanka.[33] Their view holds that the Sri Lankan Moors were mainly Tamil converts to Islam.[18] According to some Tamil nationalists, the concept of Arab descent amongst the Tamil-speaking Moors was invented just to keep the community separate from the Tamils, and this 'separate identity' intended to check the latter's demand for the separate state of Tamil Eelam and to flare up hostilities between the two groups in the broader Tamil–Sinhalese conflict.[18][34][35]

The expulsion of the Muslims from the Northern Province was an act of ethnic cleansing[36][37] carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in October 1990. In Northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE forcibly expelled the Muslim population from the Northern Province at gunpoint and confiscated their properties.[38] Yogi, the LTTE's political spokesman, claimed that this expulsion was carried out in retaliation for atrocities committed against the Tamils in the Eastern Province by Muslims, who were seen by the LTTE as collaborators of the Sri Lankan Army.[39]

Sri Lanka's Muslims still hold a bitter grudge for their f[40]orced expulsion from the North by the LTTE. In 2002, LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran formally apologized for the expulsion of the Muslims from the North.[41][42] There has been a stream of Muslims travelling in and out of Jaffna since the end of the war. Some families have returned and the re-opened Osmania College, a public school in Jaffna which was once a prominent educational institution for the city's Muslim community.[43][44] According to a Jaffna Muslim source, there is a floating population of about 2,000 Muslims in Jaffna. Around 1,500 are Jaffna Muslims, while the rest are Muslims from outside of Jaffna. About 10 Muslim shops are functioning and the numbers are slowly growing.[45]

Genetic studies edit

Genetic studies undertaken in the year 2021 by University of Colombo and Genetech Molecular Diagnostics led by Dr Gayani Galhena, made the following observation in paragraph 6, in the faculty of science web publication based on the latest X chromosome fingerprint analysis- "Interestingly, Sinhalese and Moors are genetically closer to each other compared to Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils"[46]

Dr Sarabjit Mastanain found in 1996 based on genetic analysis of human blood group systems from 508 individuals that the cophenetic correlation was 0.8956 which indicates Sinhalese & Tamil as native population. Also, he reflected on the genetic distance among five populations of Sri Lanka as per given below eigenvector plot of the R-matrix.[47]

Genetic distance (Papiha, Mastana, Jayasekara, 1996)

Burgher

Malay

Moor

Tamil

Sinhalese

(5 populations of Sri Lanka)

According to a study published in 2021 using 16 X-chromosomal short tandem repeat markers (STRs) conducted on 838 unrelated individuals from the four major ethnicities, there is a sex biased demographic history among Sri Lankan ethnicities. According to analysis of molecular variance, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Moors are highly panmictic but Indian Tamils had statistically significant genetic subdivision from both Sinhalese and Moors. According to the genetic distance calculated the Moors were closest to Sinhalese and then Sri Lankan Tamil with a significant distance from Indian Tamils. The Nei genetic distance for Sinhalese and Moors is 0.0123, SL Tamil and Moors is 0.0233 while Indian Tamil and Moors 0.0293. The study was carried on the X-STRs DXS10148, DXS10135, DXS8378, DXS7132, DXS10079, DXS10074, DXS10075, DXS6801, DXS6809, DXS6789, DXS7424, DXS101, DXS7133, DXS9902, HPRTB and DXS7423.[14]

Society edit

Demographics edit

 
Distribution of languages and religious groups of Sri Lanka on D.S. division and sector level according to the 1981 Census of Population and Housing

Sri Lankan Moor Population and Percentage

Census Population Percentage
1881 184,500 6.69%
1891 197,200 6.56%
1901 228,000 6.39%
1911 233,900 5.70%
1921 251,900 5.60%
1931 Estimate 289,600 5.46%
1946 373,600 5.61%
1953 464,000 5.73%
1963 626,800 5.92%
1971 855,724 6.74%
1981 1,046,926 7.05%
2011 1,892,638 9.2%

Language edit

 
Letters of the Arwi alphabet and their equivalent Tamil letter

Depending on where they live in the country, they may also additionally speak Tamil, Sinhala and or English. According to the 2012 Census 58.7% or 862,397 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke Sinhala and 30.4% or 446,146 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke English.[48] Moorish Tamil bears the influence of Arabic.[9]

Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil edit

The vast majority of Sri Lankan Muslims speak Tamil as their mother tongue.[49] Religious sermons are delivered in Tamil even in regions where Tamil is not the majority language. Islamic Tamil literature has a thousand-year heritage.[50]

The Tamil dialect spoken by Muslims in Sri Lanka is identified as Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil (SLMT). It is a social dialect of Sri Lankan Tamil that falls under the larger category of the colloquial variety of Tamil. SLMT has distinct phonological, morphological and lexical differences in comparison to other varieties of SLT since it is influenced by the Arabic language.[49] Due to this, we can see the use of several Persian-Arabic loan words in SLMT vocabulary. This distinctiveness between SLMT and other spoken varieties of SLT brings out the different religious and cultural identities of the Tamil speaking ethnic groups.[49]

As an example, the SLT term for the corpse is ‘caavu’ but the SLMT uses the Arabic term ‘mayyatu’. Another example is the verb ‘pray’ which is ‘vanaku’ in SLT and ‘tholu’ in SLMT. The kinship terms used by Muslims in the country are also different when compared with the SLT terms, but are shared with Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu. The following are some terms that show the difference between SLMT and most varieties of SLT/Tamil.

Kinship Term SLT/Tamil SLMT
Father appa vaapa
Mother amma umma
Brother anna naana/kaaka (older)
Sister akka dhaatha (older)
Younger sister thangachchi thangachchi
Son makan mavan
Daughter makal maval

Interestingly, one can also notice ethno-regional variations in SLMT and categorise them into two major sub-dialects such as North-Eastern Muslim Tamil (NEMT) and Southern Muslim Tamil (SMT).[49] SMT is found in the Southern, Western, and Central provinces with some variations and other linguistic features within it. As an example, Muslims in the Western province, especially in Colombo tend to code-mix their speech with Tamil and English terms.

On the other hand, NEMT is found in Northern and Eastern provinces. One phonological variation between these two sub-dialects is that SMT replaces the Tamil sound /sa/ with /sha/. Another phonological variation is that SMT uses voiced plosives such as /b, d, j, g/ whereas NEMT uses voiceless plosives such as /v, p, t, c, k/ instead of them.[49]

English Term SMT NEMT
Drain gaan kaan
Fear bayam payam
Money shalli salli
Sky banam vaanam
Item Shaaman saaman
Well genar kinar

Another symbolic representation of the Southern variety is the shortening of Tamil verbs.[51] As an example, the verb ‘to come’ known as ‘varukhudu’ in SLT/NEMT would be shortened and pronounced as ‘varudu.’

Furthermore, the Moors like their counterparts in Tamil Nadu,[52][53] use the Arwi which is a written register of the Tamil language with the use of the Arabic alphabet.[54] The Arwi alphabet is unique to the Muslims of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, hinting at erstwhile close relations between the Tamil Muslims across the two territories.[52]

However, SLMT is only a spoken variety that is limited to the domestic sphere of the community members and is something shared with the Marrakar community of Tamil Nadu. In addition, they frequently tend to code-switch and code-mix when they communicate with a non-Muslim or a fellow Muslim in a different region.

Culture edit

The Sri Lankan Moors have been strongly shaped by Islamic culture, with many customs and practices according to Islamic law. While preserving many of their ancestral South Asian customs, the Moors have over time adopted several Arabic-Islamic practices.[55]

The Moors practice several customs and beliefs which they closely share with the Arab, Sri Lankan Tamils, and Sinhalese People. Tamil and Sinhala customs such as wearing the Thaali or eating Kiribath were widely prevalent among the Moors. Arab customs such as congregational eating using a large shared plate called the 'sahn' and wearing of the North African fez during marriage ceremonies feed to the view that Moors are of mixed Sinhalese, Tamil, and Arab heritage.[50][18]

The late 19th century saw the phase of Islamization of Sri Lankan Moors, primarily under the influence of M. C. Siddi Lebbe. He was a leading figure in the Islamic revival movement, and strengthened the Muslim identity of the Sri Lankan Moors.[56] He was responsible for the ideological framework for the Muslim ethnicity in Sri Lanka.[57]

See also edit

References edit

Citations edit

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Bibliography edit

  • De Silva, K. M. (2014). A history of Sri Lanka ([Revised.] ed.). Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications. ISBN 978-955-8095-92-8.

Further reading edit

  • Victor C. de Munck. Experiencing History Small: An analysis of political, economic and social change in a Sri Lankan village. History & Mathematics: Historical Dynamics and Development of Complex Societies. Edited by Peter Turchin, Leonid Grinin, Andrey Korotayev, and Victor C. de Munck, pp. 154–169. Moscow: KomKniga, 2006. ISBN 5-484-01002-0

lankan, moors, tamil, இலங, னகர, romanized, ilaṅkaic, cōṉakar, arwi, یل, یچ, ون, sinhala, නක, romanized, lanka, yonaka, formerly, ceylon, moors, colloquially, referred, lankan, muslims, ethnic, minority, group, lanka, comprising, country, total, population, mos. Sri Lankan Moors Tamil இலங க ச ச னகர romanized Ilaṅkaic Cōṉakar Arwi ا یل ࢳ یچ چ ون ك ر Sinhala ල ක ය නක romanized Lanka Yonaka formerly Ceylon Moors colloquially referred to as Sri Lankan Muslims are an ethnic minority group in Sri Lanka comprising 9 3 of the country s total population 4 2 Most of them are native speakers of the Tamil language 5 6 7 The majority of Moors who are not native to the North and East also speak Sinhalese as a second language 8 They are predominantly followers of Islam 9 The Sri Lankan Muslim community is mostly divided between Sri Lankan Moors Indian Moors Sri Lankan Malays and Sri Lankan Bohras These groups are differentiated by lineage language history culture and traditions 10 Finlay McDonald has noted in the second paragraph of his article on Sri Lankan Muslims in New Zealand s conversation newspaper published on April 23 2019 the following observation Linguistically most have Tamil as their mother tongue often leading them to be categorised as part of the island s Tamil minority alongside Hindus and Christians There are however Muslims who speak the majority Sinhala language 1 Sri Lankan Moorsஇலங க ச ச னகர ල ක ය නක ا یل ࢳ یچ چ ون ك ر Sri Lankan Moor men in regional costume in early 20th centuryTotal population1 892 638 1 2 9 3 of the Sri Lankan population 2012 3 Regions with significant populationsProvince Western709 992 Eastern575 936 North Western268 709 Central263 874 North Central101 958LanguagesTamilSinhalaReligionPredominantly Sunni IslamRelated ethnic groupsArabsSinhaleseTamilsTamil MuslimsIndian MoorsPersians The Sri Lankan Moors are of diverse origins with some tracing their ancestry to Arab traders who first settled in Sri Lanka around the 9th century and who intermarried with local Tamil and Sinhala women 11 12 13 Recent genetic studies however have suggested a predominant Indian origin for Moors compared to the Arab origin speculated by some 14 Perera et al 2021 in their genetic analysis of the Moors stated the following in their report In contrast Sri Lankan Moors have descended exclusively from Muslim male merchants of either Arabic or of Indian origin who came to Sri Lanka for trading During the fourteenth century they started to settle in coastal areas in Sri Lanka and espoused local women who were either Sinhalese or Sri Lankan Tamil 15 The concentration of Moors is the highest in the Ampara Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Origins theories 2 2 Medieval era 2 3 Sri Lankan Civil War 2 4 Genetic studies 3 Society 3 1 Demographics 3 2 Language 3 2 1 Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil 4 Culture 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Citations 6 2 Bibliography 6 3 Further readingEtymology edit nbsp Kechimalai Mosque Beruwala One of the oldest mosques in Sri Lanka It is believed to be the site where the first Arabs landed in Sri Lanka The Portuguese called the Muslims in India and Sri Lanka Mouros after the Muslim Moors known to them in Iberia 16 The word Moors did not exist in Sri Lanka before the arrival of the Portuguese colonists 17 The term Moor was chosen because of the Islamic faith of these people and was not a reflection of their origin 18 The Tamil term Sonakar along with the Sinhala term Yonaka has been thought to have been derived from the term Yona a term originally applied to Greeks but sometimes also Arabs and other West Asians 19 20 Historically all Tamil speaking Muslim communities in India and Sri Lanka were known as the Sonakar 21 History editOrigins theories edit Many Sri Lankan Moors are Marakkars and share the same history with Tamil Nadu Marakkars in particular and Marakkars from Kerala This can be seen from the large number of prominent Sri Lankan Moors who hold the surname of Marikkar and its variations and through the extremely strong linguistic and cultural similarities held by these communities 13 It is said there has been a strong relationship between Marakkar communities through endogamous marriages The similarities have been described as enormous by M M M Mahroof 13 Some scholars hold the view that the Sri Lankan Moors in general are descended from the Marakkar Mappilas Memons Lebbes Rowthers and Pathans of South India 22 Sri Lankan Moor scholar Dr Ameer Ali in his summary of the origin history of Sri Lankan Moors states the following In actual fact the Muslims of Sri Lanka are a mixture of Arab Persian Dravidian and Malay blood of which the Dravidian element because of centuries of heavy Indian injection has remained the dominant one 23 Historian Patrick Peebles states by the end of the 19th century Sri Lankan Muslims comprised about 6 7 percent of the population and that the majority of Muslims were of South Indian origin and spoke Tamil 24 Another view suggests that the Arab traders however adopted the Sinhalese and Tamil languages only after settling in Sri Lanka 13 The cultural practices of the Moors also vary significantly from the other communities on the island but share much in common with the Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu 25 This view is dominantly held by the Sinhalese favouring section of the Moors as well as the Sri Lankan government which lists the Moors as a separate ethnic community 18 Although the caste system is not observed by the Moors as it is by the other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka their kudi system matriclan system is an extension of the Tamil tradition 26 Medieval era edit The Sri Lankan Moors along with Mukkuvar dominated once in medieval era the pearl trade in Sri Lanka 27 Alliances and intermarriages between both communities were observed in this period 28 They held close contact with other Muslims of Southern India through coastal trade 29 The Moors had their own court of justice for settling their disputes Upon the arrival of the Portuguese colonisers in the 16th century a large population of Moors was expelled from cities such as the capital city Colombo which had been a Moor dominated city at that time The Moors migrated to the eastern part of the island and settled there through the invitation of the Kingdom of Kandy 29 Robert Knox a British sea captain of the 17th century noted that the Kings of Kandy built mosques for the Moors 30 Sri Lanka being a predominately agricultural economy International trade was underdeveloped during the medieval period The arrival and settlement of Arab Muslim merchants on the island s coastal regions initiated overseas trade and helped unlock the country s economic potential 31 Sri Lankan Civil War edit Main article Expulsion of Muslims from the Northern province by LTTE The Sri Lankan Civil War was a 26 year conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka between the government and the separatist Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE The LTTE attempted to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in northeast Sri Lanka 32 Since 1888 under the initiative of Ponnambalam Ramanathan the Sri Lankan Tamils launched a campaign to classify Tamil speaking Sri Lankan Moors as Tamils primarily to bolster their population numbers for the impending transition to democratic rule in Sri Lanka 33 Their view holds that the Sri Lankan Moors were mainly Tamil converts to Islam 18 According to some Tamil nationalists the concept of Arab descent amongst the Tamil speaking Moors was invented just to keep the community separate from the Tamils and this separate identity intended to check the latter s demand for the separate state of Tamil Eelam and to flare up hostilities between the two groups in the broader Tamil Sinhalese conflict 18 34 35 The expulsion of the Muslims from the Northern Province was an act of ethnic cleansing 36 37 carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in October 1990 In Northern Sri Lanka the LTTE forcibly expelled the Muslim population from the Northern Province at gunpoint and confiscated their properties 38 Yogi the LTTE s political spokesman claimed that this expulsion was carried out in retaliation for atrocities committed against the Tamils in the Eastern Province by Muslims who were seen by the LTTE as collaborators of the Sri Lankan Army 39 Sri Lanka s Muslims still hold a bitter grudge for their f 40 orced expulsion from the North by the LTTE In 2002 LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran formally apologized for the expulsion of the Muslims from the North 41 42 There has been a stream of Muslims travelling in and out of Jaffna since the end of the war Some families have returned and the re opened Osmania College a public school in Jaffna which was once a prominent educational institution for the city s Muslim community 43 44 According to a Jaffna Muslim source there is a floating population of about 2 000 Muslims in Jaffna Around 1 500 are Jaffna Muslims while the rest are Muslims from outside of Jaffna About 10 Muslim shops are functioning and the numbers are slowly growing 45 Genetic studies edit Main articles Genetic studies on Sinhalese and Genetic studies on Sri Lankan Tamils Genetic studies undertaken in the year 2021 by University of Colombo and Genetech Molecular Diagnostics led by Dr Gayani Galhena made the following observation in paragraph 6 in the faculty of science web publication based on the latest X chromosome fingerprint analysis Interestingly Sinhalese and Moors are genetically closer to each other compared to Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils 46 Dr Sarabjit Mastanain found in 1996 based on genetic analysis of human blood group systems from 508 individuals that the cophenetic correlation was 0 8956 which indicates Sinhalese amp Tamil as native population Also he reflected on the genetic distance among five populations of Sri Lanka as per given below eigenvector plot of the R matrix 47 Genetic distance Papiha Mastana Jayasekara 1996 Burgher Malay Moor Tamil Sinhalese 5 populations of Sri Lanka According to a study published in 2021 using 16 X chromosomal short tandem repeat markers STRs conducted on 838 unrelated individuals from the four major ethnicities there is a sex biased demographic history among Sri Lankan ethnicities According to analysis of molecular variance Sinhalese Sri Lankan Tamils and Moors are highly panmictic but Indian Tamils had statistically significant genetic subdivision from both Sinhalese and Moors According to the genetic distance calculated the Moors were closest to Sinhalese and then Sri Lankan Tamil with a significant distance from Indian Tamils The Nei genetic distance for Sinhalese and Moors is 0 0123 SL Tamil and Moors is 0 0233 while Indian Tamil and Moors 0 0293 The study was carried on the X STRs DXS10148 DXS10135 DXS8378 DXS7132 DXS10079 DXS10074 DXS10075 DXS6801 DXS6809 DXS6789 DXS7424 DXS101 DXS7133 DXS9902 HPRTB and DXS7423 14 Society editMain article Sri Lankan society Demographics edit nbsp Distribution of languages and religious groups of Sri Lanka on D S division and sector level according to the 1981 Census of Population and Housing Sri Lankan Moor Population and Percentage Census Population Percentage 1881 184 500 6 69 1891 197 200 6 56 1901 228 000 6 39 1911 233 900 5 70 1921 251 900 5 60 1931 Estimate 289 600 5 46 1946 373 600 5 61 1953 464 000 5 73 1963 626 800 5 92 1971 855 724 6 74 1981 1 046 926 7 05 2011 1 892 638 9 2 Language edit Main article Tamil language See also Languages of Sri Lanka nbsp Letters of the Arwi alphabet and their equivalent Tamil letter Depending on where they live in the country they may also additionally speak Tamil Sinhala and or English According to the 2012 Census 58 7 or 862 397 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke Sinhala and 30 4 or 446 146 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke English 48 Moorish Tamil bears the influence of Arabic 9 Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil edit The vast majority of Sri Lankan Muslims speak Tamil as their mother tongue 49 Religious sermons are delivered in Tamil even in regions where Tamil is not the majority language Islamic Tamil literature has a thousand year heritage 50 The Tamil dialect spoken by Muslims in Sri Lanka is identified as Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil SLMT It is a social dialect of Sri Lankan Tamil that falls under the larger category of the colloquial variety of Tamil SLMT has distinct phonological morphological and lexical differences in comparison to other varieties of SLT since it is influenced by the Arabic language 49 Due to this we can see the use of several Persian Arabic loan words in SLMT vocabulary This distinctiveness between SLMT and other spoken varieties of SLT brings out the different religious and cultural identities of the Tamil speaking ethnic groups 49 As an example the SLT term for the corpse is caavu but the SLMT uses the Arabic term mayyatu Another example is the verb pray which is vanaku in SLT and tholu in SLMT The kinship terms used by Muslims in the country are also different when compared with the SLT terms but are shared with Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu The following are some terms that show the difference between SLMT and most varieties of SLT Tamil Kinship Term SLT Tamil SLMT Father appa vaapa Mother amma umma Brother anna naana kaaka older Sister akka dhaatha older Younger sister thangachchi thangachchi Son makan mavan Daughter makal maval Interestingly one can also notice ethno regional variations in SLMT and categorise them into two major sub dialects such as North Eastern Muslim Tamil NEMT and Southern Muslim Tamil SMT 49 SMT is found in the Southern Western and Central provinces with some variations and other linguistic features within it As an example Muslims in the Western province especially in Colombo tend to code mix their speech with Tamil and English terms On the other hand NEMT is found in Northern and Eastern provinces One phonological variation between these two sub dialects is that SMT replaces the Tamil sound sa with sha Another phonological variation is that SMT uses voiced plosives such as b d j g whereas NEMT uses voiceless plosives such as v p t c k instead of them 49 English Term SMT NEMT Drain gaan kaan Fear bayam payam Money shalli salli Sky banam vaanam Item Shaaman saaman Well genar kinar Another symbolic representation of the Southern variety is the shortening of Tamil verbs 51 As an example the verb to come known as varukhudu in SLT NEMT would be shortened and pronounced as varudu Furthermore the Moors like their counterparts in Tamil Nadu 52 53 use the Arwi which is a written register of the Tamil language with the use of the Arabic alphabet 54 The Arwi alphabet is unique to the Muslims of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka hinting at erstwhile close relations between the Tamil Muslims across the two territories 52 However SLMT is only a spoken variety that is limited to the domestic sphere of the community members and is something shared with the Marrakar community of Tamil Nadu In addition they frequently tend to code switch and code mix when they communicate with a non Muslim or a fellow Muslim in a different region Culture editThe Sri Lankan Moors have been strongly shaped by Islamic culture with many customs and practices according to Islamic law While preserving many of their ancestral South Asian customs the Moors have over time adopted several Arabic Islamic practices 55 The Moors practice several customs and beliefs which they closely share with the Arab Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese People Tamil and Sinhala customs such as wearing the Thaali or eating Kiribath were widely prevalent among the Moors Arab customs such as congregational eating using a large shared plate called the sahn and wearing of the North African fez during marriage ceremonies feed to the view that Moors are of mixed Sinhalese Tamil and Arab heritage 50 18 The late 19th century saw the phase of Islamization of Sri Lankan Moors primarily under the influence of M C Siddi Lebbe He was a leading figure in the Islamic revival movement and strengthened the Muslim identity of the Sri Lankan Moors 56 He was responsible for the ideological framework for the Muslim ethnicity in Sri Lanka 57 See also editIslam in Sri Lanka Indian Moors List of Sri Lankan Moors Sri Lankan Malays List of Sri Lankan Malays Memons in Sri LankaReferences editCitations edit Census of Population and Housing 2012 a b A2 Population by ethnic group according to districts 2012 Census of Population amp Housing 2011 Department of Census amp Statistics Sri Lanka The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency www cia gov 7 June 2022 Census of Population and Housing 2012 Minahan James B 2012 08 30 Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific An Encyclopedia An Encyclopedia ABC CLIO ISBN 978 1 59884 660 7 Das Sonia N 2016 10 05 Linguistic Rivalries Tamil Migrants and Anglo Franco Conflicts Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 046179 9 Richardson John Martin 2005 Paradise Poisoned Learning about Conflict Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka s Civil Wars International Center for Ethnic Studies ISBN 9789555800945 Census of Population and Housing Sri Lanka 2012 p 142 a b McGilvray DB November 1998 Arabs Moors and Muslims Sri Lankan Muslim ethnicity in regional perspective Contributions to Indian Sociology 32 2 433 483 doi 10 1177 006996679803200213 S2CID 144917663 Nubin Walter 2002 Sri Lanka Current Issues and Historical Background Nova Publishers p 147 ISBN 9781590335734 Ali Ameer 1997 The Muslim Factor in Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 17 2 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs Vol 17 No 2 253 267 doi 10 1080 13602009708716375 De Silva 2014 p 47 a b c d Mahroof M M M 1995 Spoken Tamil Dialects Of The Muslims Of Sri Lanka Language As Identity Classifier Islamic Studies 34 4 407 426 408 JSTOR 20836916 a b Perera N Galhena G Ranawaka G June 2021 X chromosomal STR based genetic polymorphisms and demographic history of Sri Lankan ethnicities and their relationship with global populations Scientific Reports 11 1 12748 Bibcode 2021NatSR 1112748P doi 10 1038 s41598 021 92314 9 PMC 8211843 PMID 34140598 Perera Nandika Galhena Gayani Ranawaka Gaya 2021 06 17 X chromosomal STR based genetic polymorphisms and demographic history of Sri Lankan ethnicities and their relationship with global populations Scientific Reports 11 1 12748 Bibcode 2021NatSR 1112748P doi 10 1038 s41598 021 92314 9 ISSN 2045 2322 PMC 8211843 PMID 34140598 Pieris P E Ceylon and the Hollanders 1658 1796 American Ceylon Mission Press Tellippalai Ceylon 1918 Ross Brann The Moors Andalusia New York University Quote Andalusi Arabic sources as opposed to later Mudejar and Morisco sources in Aljamiado and medieval Spanish texts neither refer to individuals as Moors nor recognise any such group community or culture a b c d e Mohan Vasundhara 1987 Identity Crisis of Sri Lankan Muslims Delhi Mittal Publications pp 9 14 27 30 67 74 113 118 Fazal Tanweer 2013 10 18 Minority Nationalisms in South Asia Routledge p 121 ISBN 978 1 317 96647 0 Singh Nagendra Kr Khan Abdul Mabud 2001 Encyclopaedia of the World Muslims Tribes Castes and Communities Global Vision ISBN 9788187746102 Shaik Abdullah Hassan Mydin1 and Mohammed Siraaj Saidumasudu The Changing Identities of the Tamil Muslims from the Coromandel Coast to Malaysia An Etymological Analysis https www scitepress org Papers 2018 88919 88919 pdf Holt John 2011 04 13 The Sri Lanka Reader History Culture Politics Duke University Press p 429 ISBN 978 0 8223 4982 2 Ali Ameer 1997 The Muslim Factor in Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 17 2 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs Vol 17 No 2 253 267 doi 10 1080 13602009708716375 Peebles Patrick 2006 The History of Sri Lanka Greenword Publishing group pp 77 78 ISBN 0 313 33205 3 Dennis B McGilvray Arabs Moors and Muslims Sri Lankan Muslim ethnicity in regional perspective Contributions to Indian Sociology 1998 32 433 p440 442 Klem Bart 2011 Islam Politics and Violence in Eastern Sri Lanka PDF The Journal of Asian Studies 70 3 The Journal of Asian Studies Vol 70 No 3 737 doi 10 1017 S002191181100088X JSTOR 41302391 S2CID 27739665 Hussein Asiff 2007 Sarandib an ethnological study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka Asiff Hussein p 330 ISBN 9789559726227 McGilvray Dennis B 2008 04 16 Crucible of Conflict Tamil and Muslim Society on the East Coast of Sri Lanka Duke University Press p 77 ISBN 978 0 8223 8918 7 a b MAHROOF M M M 1990 Impact of European Christian Rule on the Muslims of Sri Lanka A Socio Historical Analysis Islamic Studies 29 4 Islamic Research Institute International Islamic University Islamabad Islamic Studies Vol 29 No 4 354 356 JSTOR 20840011 MAHROOF M M M 1991 Mendicants and Troubadours Towards a Historical Taxonomy of the Faqirs of Sri Lanka Islamic Studies 30 4 Islamic Research Institute International Islamic University Islamabad Islamic Studies Vol 30 No 4 502 JSTOR 20840055 Ali Ameer 2014 07 03 Muslims in Harmony and Conflict in Plural Sri Lanka A Historical Summary from a Religio economic and Political Perspective Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 34 3 227 242 doi 10 1080 13602004 2014 939554 ISSN 1360 2004 S2CID 144867739 Sri Lanka Living With Terror Frontline PBS May 2002 Retrieved 9 February 2009 A Criticism of Mr Ramanathan s Ethnology of the Moors of Ceylon Sri Lanka Muslims Sri Lanka Muslims 2017 04 21 Retrieved 2017 11 24 Zemzem Akbar 1970 The Life and Times of Marhoom Wappichi Marikar booklet Colombo a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Analysis Tamil Muslim divide BBC News World Edition 2002 06 27 Retrieved 6 July 2014 Refugees International Articles Sri Lanka Muslim Victims of Ethnic Cleansing Require Special Attention Archived from the original on 2007 09 28 Retrieved 2011 11 20 Sri Lanka s Muslims out in the cold The Hindu Chennai India 2007 07 31 Archived from the original on 2007 10 29 The liberation of the east heightens the anxieties of the Muslim community about its role in the new scheme of things usurped UTHR J 6 1 2 Yogis speech http www uthr org Reports Report7 chapter6 htm Thambipillai Sivaranjei 2021 08 29 Ethnic Reality of Sri Lankans A Hidden Story Unravelled Faculty of Science Retrieved 2024 04 26 SUBRAMANIAN T S May 10 2002 Prabakaran in First Person Frontline Hon V Prabhakaran Press Conference at Killinochi 2002 EelamView Archived from the original on 2016 04 06 Palakidnar Ananth 15 February 2009 Mass resettlement of Muslims in Jaffna Sunday Observer Archived from the original on 12 March 2011 Holmes Walter Robert 1980 Jaffna Sri Lanka Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society of Jaffna College p 190 Hindu On Net A timely and prudent step by the LTTE Archived from the original on 2004 12 07 Retrieved 2006 04 30 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Thambipillai Sivaranjei 2021 08 29 Ethnic Reality of Sri Lankans A Hidden Story Unravelled Faculty of Science Retrieved 2024 04 26 Mastana Sarabjit November 1996 Genetic variation in Sri Lanka Scientific Reports 68 5 26 27 PMID 8908798 Census of Population and Housing 2011 www statistics gov lk Department of Census and Statistics Retrieved 14 November 2018 a b c d e Nuhman M A 2007 Sri Lankan Muslims Ethnic Identity within Cultural Diversity International Centre for Ethnic Studies pp 50 83 ISBN 978 955 580 109 6 a b Sri Lankan Muslims Are Low Caste Tamil Hindu Converts Not Arab Descendants Colombo Telegraph 2013 05 06 Retrieved 27 July 2014 Davis Christina 2018 Muslims in Sri Lankan language politics A study of Tamil and English medium Education International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2018 125 147 10 1515 ijsl 2018 0026 a b Torsten Tschacher 2001 Islam in Tamilnadu Varia Sudasienwissenschaftliche Arbeitsblatter 2 Halle Martin Luther Universitat Halle Wittenberg ISBN 3 86010 627 9 Online versions available on the websites of the university libraries at Heidelberg and Halle http archiv ub uni heidelberg de savifadok volltexte 2009 1087 pdf Tschacher pdf and http www suedasien uni halle de SAWA Tschacher pdf 216 the year commemoration today Remembering His Holiness Bukhary Thangal Sunday Observer January 5 2003 Online version accessed on 2009 08 14 R Cheran Darshan Ambalavanar Chelva Kanaganayakam 1997 History and Imagination Tamil Culture in the Global Context 216 pages ISBN 978 1 894770 36 1 McGilvray D B 1998 Arabs Moors and Muslims Sri Lankan Muslim ethnicity in regional perspective Contributions to Indian Sociology 32 2 433 483 doi 10 1177 006996679803200213 S2CID 144917663 Holt John Clifford 2016 09 30 Buddhist Extremists and Muslim Minorities Religious Conflict in Contemporary Sri Lanka Oxford University Press p 23 ISBN 978 0 19 062439 2 Nuk aman Em E Program ICES Sri Lanka Studies International Centre for Ethnic 2007 Sri Lankan Muslims ethnic identity within cultural diversity International Centre for Ethnic Studies p 104 ISBN 9789555801096 Bibliography edit De Silva K M 2014 A history of Sri Lanka Revised ed Colombo Vijitha Yapa Publications ISBN 978 955 8095 92 8 Further reading edit Victor C de Munck Experiencing History Small An analysis of political economic and social change in a Sri Lankan village History amp Mathematics Historical Dynamics and Development of Complex Societies Edited by Peter Turchin Leonid Grinin Andrey Korotayev and Victor C de Munck pp 154 169 Moscow KomKniga 2006 ISBN 5 484 01002 0 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sri Lankan Moors amp oldid 1220842317, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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