‘Springs of Sailan’: Shedding light on Muslim community in Sri Lanka

‘ Springs of Sailan’ by Asiff Hussein is a compendious work on the Muslim contribution to Sri Lanka. The book is published by the Sailan Muslim Foundation.

The Muslims have for long lived in peace and harmony with the other communities that have made Sri Lanka their home. Their contribution is not much known due to the dearth of information on this subject. The book aims to debunk misconceptions and record for posterity the healthy tradition of co-existence Muslims have enjoyed with the other communities of the island and their immense contribution that has enriched the culture of our beautiful island, as well as their role in the national economy and struggle for independence and peace building.

The work begins with the historical evidence for coexistence between Muslims and other communities including peaceful settlement as merchants, intermarriage with other communities and adoption of the local languages and other cultural traditions such as ge-names. It deals with the Muslim cultural impact on society with regard to food, beverages, attire and pastimes. Little is it known that it was the Muslims, mainly Malays, who gave us such cultural items as aluva ‘a traditional sweetmeat’; dodol ‘an oily sweetmeat’; bibikkan ‘a coconut cake’; achcharu ‘pickle’; sambola ‘sambol’; sarama ‘ sarong’; saruvalaya ‘ baggy trousers’; karabu ‘fancy ear ornaments’; pilakku ‘nose ornaments’; rabana ‘one-sided drum’ and sarungal ‘paper kites’.

Also dealt with at length is the Muslim contribution to nation building and to the national economy .

This book, it is hoped, will play its part in adding to the healthy tradition of coexistence between the various communities of Sri Lanka.