Unravelling growing Arabisation
Quran Madrasas and Arabic Colleges have mushroomed in their thousands around Sri Lanka during the past decade, promoting a “pure” form of Islam imported from West Asia that is at odds with South Asian traditions.
The trend mirrors developments in other parts of this region, including Bangladesh, where strong Gulf influence has seen a proliferation of largely Saudifunded, Arab-style mosques and educational institutions. In the Maldives, Saudi Arabia has just pledged US$ 95mn towards a six-storey building complete with mosque, teaching centre and conference hall.
Analysis of available statistics show exponential growth of Madrasas and Arabic Colleges, facilitated by the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs which also registers Ahadiya or daham schools. These have fostered greater religiosity.
Madrasas and Arabic Colleges impart teaching -- often employing foreign clerics who are granted resident visas at the Department’s behest -- without independent supervision or regulation. Those that enrol older students churn out adults unsuited to the job market and whose preferred career path is also that of religious instruction. Alienation with other local populations has well taken root.
In 2017, the Ministry of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs looked at whether a national examination could be conducted for Arabic Colleges based on a unified syllabus under the Examinations Department. An expert committee was appointed but the plan did not reach fruition.
There are now 1,669 Madrasas and 317 Arabic Colleges teaching Islamic traditions and customs, a Department spokesman said this week. Its website, however,
Colombo’s port and its environs are being heavily guarded by the navy. There are more than 15 navy officers at the vehicle checkpoint at the port entrance. Other navy officers continue to check parked vehicles near the port wall. More security has been introduced in schools and hospitals.
But not everyone is pleased. The ban on parking near government offices is a major hindrance to those operating three-wheelers for hires.
P Krishna, a trishaw driver who parks near the IRD, said he cannot does not reflect the recent explosion of Quran Madrasas.
It accurately places the number of Arabic Colleges at 317 with the highest concentration in the Ampara, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Kandy, Colombo and Batticaloa Districts. Additionally, there are 277 Ahadiya or daham schools, with large numbers in the Ampara, Colombo, Kegalle, Kandy and Kurunegala Districts.
Statistics, including locations, of Quran Madrasas are not published on the website. But the annual performance reports of the Department (whose Religious and Cultural Division has purview over Arabic Colleges, Quran Madrasas and Ahadiya schools) prove revealing. The Division prepares syllabuses and looks stay for long at the location. He had not been able to run hires in the past week. It is a struggle to make a living.
Most shops still remain closed at the Pettah market. Shops that are open attract below average crowds. The red mosque, which attracted tourists, is only open for worship.
Mohomad Shafrath, 24, who sells electronic items, phone chargers, power banks as well as pen drives, said business dropped. “We started our business a few months back. Now, no one comes. We are victims into their administration. And it also refers students from Arabic Colleges for scholarships at Al-Azhar University in Egypt, a centre of Sunni Islamic learning.
Of 60 students who applied in 2013, four Imams (priests) were selected for a threemonth Islamic Sharia Education Course and seven Arabic College (Moulavi) students for the Educational Degree Course. The following year, 50 students applied and five Imams and 10 students were sent. They came back and “engaged themselves in religious activities in Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Ampara, Kandy and Colombo districts”.
Performance reports from 2015 onwards do not state the number of persons granted scholarships abroad. All reports say that Egyptian clerics were in Sri Lanka to explain the Holy Quran during Ramazan of terrorism too. How could we do business like this,” he said.
Anusha Willarachachi, 42, a government employee, said she was at the market with a friend to buy essentials. She fears violence more than the bombings. She added that people have continued to live their lives despite the fear.
Gothatuwa resident, Shanai Ranasinghe, said that she still comes to Pettah to buy supplies for her online cosmetics business. She said she is indifferent to who the vendors are.
“The merchants are affected as fasting. Meanwhile, 35 new mosques were registered countrywide in 2013. The following year, it dropped to ten.
In 2015, the number of new mosques was 190 while 1,600 Quran Madrasas had been registered with 30 added in 2015 alone. In 2016, there were 50 new mosques. The last available performance report states that 1,675 Quran Madrasas were now registered with 12 new ones--and 80 new mosques--cropping up in 2017.
Additionally, the Thowheed Jamath movement also has prayer centres. They are not Jummah mosques but they are numerous and are established in ordinary buildings.
The Department and Ministry issue resident visa recommendation letters on behalf of priests and teachers arriving in Sri Lanka to teach in local Islamic religious institutions. In 2016, approval was granted to 1,409 persons. In 2017, the number was 405 residential visas and 356 entering visas.
Madrasas are run by different Islamic sects, each seeking to draw young supporters. For instance, the Ithihaad Ahlissunnathi Wal Jamaa-Athi organisation headquartered in Gregory’s Road, Colombo 7, supports ten Sunnath Jamaath Madrasas in Galle, Eravur, Kalmunai, Matara, Hambantota and Weligama.
The Sunnath Jamaath is a religious organisation in Pakistan representing the Barelvi movement which itself subscribes to the Sunni Hanafi School of Jurisprudence and follow many Sufi practices. Thalaath Ismail, the founder of the Gregory’s Road outfit, decries on his website that the sect was “fast losing its traditional, pivotal position in Sri Lankan Muslim society” owing to the rapid spread of Thabliq Jamaath and Wahabi movements. He blames young men returning from employment in West Asia with new ideologies.
One Oddamavadi resident who had a young son said he was “not doing well in school and usually loitering about”. So his wife had asked him to admit him to a good Madrasa to learn the Quran and the religion. “The biggest problem was which Madrasa to choose,” he said. “There are so many sects and each said the other was wrong.”
“I have some close Shia friends,” he said, pointing out that there was a small population of Shias in Oddamavadi. “They wanted me to put him to their Madrasa. When I tried to admit him there, others asked me if I was mad. When I tried the Thowheed Jamath Madrasas, some others said I was mad. I finally admitted him to a Thowheed Thabliq school.” There is also the Jamaat-e-Islami sect and the Deobandis have their own instruction centres.
It is documented that Madrasas around South Asia receive foreign funding, particularly from Saudi Arabia which also they were forced to close shops for a week and since opening, few people have come,” he said.
Chandrajeewa Liyanagamage, the treasurer of the three-wheeler association, said hires have dried up, even by foreign visitors. “Even the railway authorities won’t allow us to park outside the station despite paying Rs1,150 for a three-wheeler. All our 80 three-wheelers are registered and pay taxes to the municipality,” he said.
He said they are unable to pick up hires as the three-wheelers block the vehicle park entrance. pumps money into mosques. In 2014, the Sunday Times witnessed the opening of Kattankudy’s 58th mosque in Sinna Kaburady Road.
The gathering of male attendees was told that the Saudi princes were in their midst. A local speaker said: “In the past, we had to collect money from villages and among ourselves to build mosques like this. Now, we get help from Saudi Arabia”. Another announced to applause that Saudi Arabia had pledged to fund a university for Madrasa teachers.
Funded by a Saudi Arabian outfit called the International Commission for Human Development, the mosque was built by Sri Lanka’s Hira Foundation of which M L A M Hizbullah, former parliamentarian and Eastern Province Governor, is patron. Kattankudy today has 63 mosques and six Madrasas (four for women) for a population of 47,125 Muslims.
Mr Hizbullah posed for photos in front of the ceremonial plaque, flanked by the Saudi visitors. Curiously, his Foundation was incorporated by an Act of Parliament only the following year, ostensibly to “protect and develop all rights of women and children”.
Foundations are a common means of raising funds and not unique to the Muslim community. And there have been longstanding questions about how they could be conduits for less desirable foreign contributions.
The East is where many of West Asia’s practices-- including the black niqab and full-face burqa for women and white jubbas with long beards for men-first took hold. These have since spread far and wide.
And, as in other parts of South Asia, one main reason for these changes is foreign employment. In 2017 alone, 90 percent of Sri Lankans had jobs in the Gulf, according to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. And 79 percent of all migrant employees were absorbed by just four markets: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates.
The Colombo district contributed to 13 percent of total departures that year with Gampaha (11 percent) and Kandy (9.2 percent) next in line. The Batticaloa district accounted for 7.2 percent. Saudi Arabia employed the most number of domestic workers.
With the returnees came Wahabism promoted in Sri Lanka by the Thowheed movement, Muslim scholars say. Devoted to practising “real” or “pure”, proponents are critical of sects like the Sufis whose strand of Islam is mystical, pantheistic and influenced by South Asian traditions. This dislike has spilled into violence against Sufis on several occasions including in 2009 and 2013. And it reached a crisis on April 21 this year, with the Easter Sunday bombings targeting Christians.