1/2
Who represent the Muslim community in the government? The shocking answer is “NONE”.
One may ask “how could the Muslims complain as there are several
Muslim ministers and deputy ministers in the government”. Yes there are
many Muslim ministers, but they do not represent the community as most
of them entered into deals and got into the government.
For example the presence of Sri Lanka Muslim Congresses, SLMC, in the government is deceptive as they contested in UNP tickets and entered the government.
It all started when the founder leader of SLMC late M. H. M. Ashraff
exploited his position to make demands from the Sinhala political
parties in return for support in forming governments. The Sinhala
political leaderships, often blackmailed and let down by the SLMC
leadership, exploited the leadership crisis after Mr Ashraff’s death by
picking up one group to promote against the other.
Inevitably the never ending split bringing disrepute and disaster to
the community besides creating communal disharmony. The SLMC’s miserable
failure to take part in national issue isolated the community.
Muslims’ frustration with the SLMC was demonstrated during the
Badulla Provincial Council election when, of the more than 50,000 Muslim
votes, only around 5000 voted for joint SLMC. On the eve of the 8
January 2015 presidential elections, the SLMC and its splinter group led
by Minister Rishard Bathiudeen joined President Maithripala Sirisena camp as they found that the entire Muslim community supported Mr Sirisena camp.
During the past few months the infighting within the SLMC has come to
open. Judging from the endless infighting, disgusting allegations of
corruption, fraud, despising sex scandals, greed for positions, power
and perks and overall performance, the SLMC can no more claims to be
Muslim as there is no Islam in their words and deeds.
As a result SLMC which came with the slogan of Islam and Unity around
three decades ago has now ended up as Greek Tragedy for the community.
More than half a dozen splinter groups speak for unity.
Today the Muslims are politically divided into regional groups
placing the community in extremely vulnerable position as politicians
are easily manipulated.
This confusion is exploited by manipulators, opportunists, social
climbers and others to implement their own agendas under the guise of
raising Muslim issues. They also started using All Ceylon Jamiathul
Ulema, ACJU, to implement their designs.
ACJU willingly or unwillingly allows itself to be manipulated and
used as a front for Muslim as well as non-Muslim politicians who seek to
achieve their own ends through the ACJU.
For example a delegation of Muslims arranged at short notice, within
24 hours, and led by ACJU President Moulavi Rizvi, met President
Maithripala Sirisena early this month to discuss community issues.
During the meeting the delegation has advocated many measures which
have not been extensively discussed and decided upon by the Muslim
community. For example the suggestion to do away with Muslim Schools is
not a considered conclusion of the Muslim community but only the view of
a few individuals.
ACJU President spoke about a report on education prepared by former
education minister Susil Premajayantha though, many believe, he was not
aware of its recommendation. The question is whether dealing with the
issue of education is the job of ACJU? Others raised issues such as
Muslim teachers’ vacancies, hate campaign and legal provision, education
in southern province and the government inaction over the 500 houses
built for Muslim tsunami victims.
The credibility of the representations to the President are affected
when the individual who made the submissions about the need to enforce
the law against hate speech was and is a strong supporter of Gothabaya
Rajapaksa to whom he never made such representations.
In the midst some individuals organised a special felicitation for a
state minister, almost a year after the government was formed in August
2015. Many believe this as yet another ruse for political mileage by
self-seekers. Here too they have put forward ACJU president as a
speaker.
The ACJU leadership’s involvement in politics and hob knobbing with
politicians known for corruption and crime, shady businessmen and
wheeler dealers has been an issue of serious concern for sometimes among
Muslim who are deeply concerned about the plight of the community.
They point out that the ACJU is a religious body and should confine
itself to guide the community on religious matters. However the ACJU has
overstepped its limits and entered into politics and other activities
though many insist that ACJU should keep away from corrupt,
commercialised, communalised and criminalised politics.
Citing its political involvement they pointed out the ACJU’s
disastrous visit to Geneva to defend the Sri Lankan government on war
crimes during the war against LTTE
was uncalled for .This created lot of bitterness and hatred towards
Muslims from the Tamil community. The talk is that this visit was
undertaken on the request of defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa for
reasons better known to the ACJU leader.
On the other hand what do the ACJU team know about what had happened
during the war, the UNHCR and war crimes. Is this the responsibility of
ACJU?
They also cited the Halal
issue as another blunder. It was a simple issue, but the ACJU failed to
explain and paved the way for racist elements to harm the community.
The list of allegations continues. Some of the views expressed by those
concerned about the community were;
There is no priesthood in Islam.
However ulemas passed out from often outdated madrasas got together
around mid-1920s and formed the ACJU. They did serve a purpose at a time
when the literacy rate was low in the community and Islam was not much
known. This situation continued and over the years the ACJU has emerged
as the religious body of the community which also accepted and respected
them.
However things changed and the present generation is increasingly
becoming aware of Islam. Thus the need for ACJU to gear itself to suit
the need of the time. The ACJU need to improve the living standards and
restore the respect and dignity of ulemas. Their monthly earning is
around Rs 20,000 and overall living condition is appalling.
Their miserable plight was explained in detail in an article by Ash
Shaikh T.M. Mubaaris Rashadi in the latest edition of Muslim fortnightly
MELPARVAI. They need to be trained on political here and abroad to help
guide the community. This is essential to face challenges posed by
hostile local and global forces who have found their way into the
island.
However the consensus is that these areas remain ignored by the ACJU.
Community is badly in need of fatwas on extremely sensitive topics
such as black abaya and face cover which have become source of irritants
to some elements in the majority community with whom we have to live in
harmony. National Shoora Council, NSC, referred many issues to ACJU for
its fatwa. Up to date there is no response.
The devastating social impact of ever increasing number of divorces
and allegations of corruption in the quazi courts need serious
attention.
Muslims in the island are facing numerous challenges striking their
very survival as a community. Israelis who have turned Muslim Middle
East into a virtually killing field are here as part of their global
agenda against Islam and Muslims.
Under such circumstance the community cannot afford a political and
religious leadership crisis as every effort need to be made to safeguard
the community and ensure Muslims live in harmony with other
communities. It is a welcome sign that the civil society started to
assert itself. (Latheef Farook)
2/2
Where is the Muslim leadership?
Sri Lanka's Muslim community is passing through its worst ever
political and religious leadership crisis, which has placed the
community in a precariously helpless situation. The tragedy is that this
happens at a time when so many hostile forces, both local and foreign,
are openly and secretly working against Muslims.
Ever since the evolution of political reforms in the 1930s, Muslim
leaders who were respected by all worked for the community and won their
rights while maintaining the goodwill of the majority community. The
situation began to change drastically after independence in 1948 due to
rising racist politics.
The vote-catching strategy of promoting majority community interest
begun by the United National Party (UNP) continued later by the Sri
Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), despite its devastating overall impact on
the country.
Chauvinism
However, Muslim leadership was represented in both parties. As a
result, despite rising chauvinism Muslim leaders managed to contain the
hatred towards the community though there were sporadic anti Muslim
attacks.
However, the disaster came when late President J.R. Jayewardene
dismissed the UNP Muslims stating that "if they want they can stay, or
they can leave the government," when the Muslims opposed his move to
bring Israelis to deal with growing Tamil militancy.
The Muslim community was shattered and frustrated. They felt the need
for their own voice to highlight their grievances and ensure their
rights. Thus, there was a vacuum in the political leadership. This was
cleverly exploited by late M.H.M.Ashraf who was then running from party
to party in search of a platform to start his own party - Sri Lanka
Muslim Congress, SLMC.
Islandwide
Many senior Muslim politicians in the south warned him not to make it
an islandwide party, but confined to the east. I remember SLFP
politician Haleem Ishak advising him for more than an hour on a Sunday
morning at Galle Face ground around late 1970s not to pit the Sinhalese
against Muslims in the south by making it an islandwide Muslim party.
However, Ashraf did not find time for such sane advice. He started
the SLMC with Kalmunai as its base and the Muslims frustrated at rising
chauvinism supported the new Muslim party in the hope of safeguarding
their rights and dignity. In the subsequent years the SLMC began to play
a decisive role in forming governments.
Antagonise
His opportunistic politics did antagonise some Sinhalese proving
Haleem Ishak's fear credible.
From the very inception the SLMC was a one-man show. Within years
Ashraf built an image of a leader who was unpredictable due to his
alignment with different political forces. As a result Ashraf was
accused of widespread corruption and moral degradation. A number of
people who supported him began to leave the party and distance from him.
In the midst came his untimely death, leading to a severe leadership
crisis within the party. The Sinhala leadership, fed up of yielding to
Ashraf's demands, exploited the opportunity to suit their own agendas.
They began to pick up one group to promote by providing ministerial
portfolios and aggravated the division.
This division continued and the SLMC which came with the slogan of
Islam and Unity is divided into more than half a dozen splinter groups,
causing irreparable damage to the community.
They all aim at positions and perks by pleasing the Sinhala
leadership. Thus, they abandoned the community.
For example, the main SLMC and splinter groups remained an integral
part of defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa government despite its
atrocities against the Muslim community.
They joined President Maithripala Sirisena camp during the eleventh
hour only when they found that the community, dismissing the Muslim
parties, has decided to vote for President Sirisena.
Abandoned
According to rumors, they were absorbed into the government on the
eve of the January 8, 2015 presidential election after signing a deal
with the UNP which, perhaps, sealed their mouths and tied their hands
and legs. It is more than a year since then they failed to raise any
serious Muslim issue.
For example, their absence during the recent visit to the island of
Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights Ziad Ra'ad Al Hussein demonstrated to what
extent they have abandoned the community.
Israelis, who clashed with the Muslim countries in the Middle East,
are here in a big way. They are bound to create problems for Sri Lankan
Muslims as part of their global campaign against Islam and Muslims.
Regarding this, did the Muslim parliamentarians raise any concern?
Did they take up the issue with the Prime Minister?
Betrayal
The shameful state of affairs is such that these Muslim
parliamentarians talk of unity these days. The question is unity for
what? However, their failure to come together to prepare a set of
proposals to safeguard Muslim interest in the proposed constitutional
changes is shameful. This was betrayal of the community for which they
had been notorious during the past few decades.
Under the circumstance, the only option for Muslims is to organise
the civil society into an effective force which could prevail on these
politicians and reestablish relations with the majority community.
Equally disastrous is the religious body, the All Ceylon Jamiathula
Ulema, ACJU which has miserably failed to stand up and guide the
community to ensure the age old ties with the majority community is
preserved despite rising racism by a handful of people.
The challenges posed by Sinhala racists on various issues were
ignored or not properly handled by the ACJU. As a result, the ACJU and
its leadership have lost the confidence of major section of the
community judging from the serious allegations in the social media.
There have been calls from different sections of the community on the
need for a complete overhauling of ACJU to suit the time and help guide
the community on issues, especially in the context of racist elements
trying to pit the majority against Muslims.
Split
The ACJU and its leadership have failed, since the days of halal
issue followed by the blunder in deciding the Ramadan festival day. This
controversy almost split Jamiathul Ulema when ulemas in the east decided
to set up their own association.
The need to reorganise the Friday Juma sermons to educate Muslims of
emerging threats and to advice positive means to deal with them has been
felt by the entire community. The long felt need of a common curriculum
in Islamic education on par with national education, and the need to
make it more socially responsive have been ignored.
The allegations against the ACJU leadership remain widespread and
thus, the call for a new leadership which could guide the community is
imperative.
Radicalism
For example, on February 12, 2006, London based website Colombo
Telegraph published an article under the title "Fundamentalism Creeps
into Muslim International Schools", in which Defense Secretary
Karunasena Hettiarachchi raised the issue of 'black face veil or the
Burqa'. He said this was seen as a symbol of rising radicalism.
The allegations against Ilma International School was totally
baseless and unfounded though defense secretary's concern about black
veil needed some clarification. Though an innovative phenomenon
assimilating Middle Eastern cultures due to our dependency on employment
in the Gulf, wearing what is considered by some as alien cannot be
attributed to radicalism.
Already, vested interest in the media began to unleash unfounded
fears and phobias disturbing society further.
In this article Channa Abeetha Dahanayanke, a researcher on
anthropology and social media trends had this to state;
"If you take Sinhala racism, the opposition comes from the Sinhalese
itself. Even if its Tamil separatism on social media, it's the Tamil
community who first raise the flag and then is joined by either racist
or moderate Sinhalese.
But what is alarming is the silence of Muslims. Muslims just do not
ever speak against this, and it's on one hand sad, and on the other very
alarming".
Failed
Under such circumstance isn't it the duty of ACJU to issue a fatwa,
guide the community and ensure the rising hatred towards or
misunderstanding of Muslims is checked in the interest of national
harmony.
The ACJU failed to attend to any such issues.
Their failure to respond on time in the right manner and
professionally as responsible religious leaders are damaging the society
in the similar manner as Muslim political parties are.
Unless the entire ACJU is re organised to serve the community and the
country, what is in store for the Muslims is unpredictable. (Latheef Farook)
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