Highlighting co-existence between communities
View(s):‘Springs of Sailan’ by Asiff Hussein, published by the Sailan Muslim Foundation is a compendious work on the Muslim contribution to Sri Lanka.
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 these misconceptions and record for posterity the healthy tradition of co-existence Muslims have enjoyed with the other communities and their immense contribution that has enriched the culture of this island, as well as their role in the national economy and struggle for independence and peace building.
The work begins with historical evidence of existence 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, articles of dress 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’; karambu ‘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.