Muslim womens

dress & anti-Muslim

movement in Sri
Lanka

D N Ranawaka
2014/BA/19891
Assignment
FND 1213
Introduction to Gender
Studies
(Women and religion)

Abstract
The heated rivalry between Muslims and anti-Muslim movements in Sri Lanka has
caught the attention in the world where basic human rights as the freedom to practice
religion were violated within the country. Even though these conflicts have been
addressed and actions have been taken in creating harmony among the ethnicities,
some of the major issues that occurred within the context of these conflicts have been
neglected. One of these issues have been the dress of the Muslim women where
gender biased actions are being taken throughout the community. The unheard voices
of the Muslim women and puns made regarding their dress have been continued for
some time. The backwardness of the society and the Islamic extremism are some of
the factors and myths that have been identified regarding the Muslim womens dress.
As a nationality with multi-ethnic society, the cultural values should be studied in
order to understand the true meaning of these practices, in this case the dress of the
Muslim women.
Introduction
Sri Lanka has been subjected to civil wars majorly attributing racism, religion, and
ethnicity periodically concerning the Sinhalese nation, and the heritage woven
together. Despite the ended civil war and much talked harmony and peace within the
country, Sri Lanka has a long way on achieving harmony within the religions as the
emergence of extremists and contemporary ideas disturb the conformity within the
country. The prevailing concepts of nationalism rose during the post-war era, drove a
concept of unity and pride amongst the Sinhalese which later converted into an
extremism to protect the Sinhala culture from future invasions from other
nationalities. The conservative approaches in carrying out the traditions created

Sinhala extremists whom led out campaigns in promoting disputes among religions
and ethnicities. Banning halal food from Sinhala stores, boycotting Muslim owned
stores, encouraging Sinhalese to shop at Sinhalese stores are some of the misguided
conceptions given out to the society by extremists like Bodu Bala Sena and
Ravana balakaya The recent trends of the concept of Sinha le (lions blood)
implies the countrys true owners, Sinhala Buddhists naming the rest of the Sri
Lankans with minor religions unworthy of existence in the country. In such
circumstances, the role of Muslim women has been challenging especially in the
context of a multi-cultural country as Sri Lanka where they are being judged by their
appearance, and their choice of the dress concluding to the fact whether they are
extremists of Islam or not. The concept of goni billa to accuse the Muslim women
in spite of the dress is a common address where the rights of these women are
violated relating to misguided ideas implanted within the majority of the Sri Lankan
society.
The reasons behind extremists in Sri Lanka
Rise of extremists against Muslim began with jihad and wahabbism spreading
throughout the world. The destructions of Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist
temples created insecurity with the Sinhala Buddhists creating disputes in a smallscale in the Sri Lankan society. However, there are two perspectives to the emergence
of these extremists;
1. A Buddhists perspective of the extremists of the Muslims*
Sri Lanka being one of the few nations which nurture the Theravadi Buddhism
have taken the pride in protecting the vision of Lord Buddha. However, the sudden
emergence of the sense of Nationalism relation to the post-war era in the country,

Jihad campaigns invading countries made the Buddhists generalize the Lankan
Muslims, as extremists by grasping the concepts behind jihadists in the world. (*
This is just a general idea, common amongst some of the colleagues I know.
According to their opinion, the emergence of the extremists Bodu Bala Sena was a
result of the Muslim extremists. However the misconceptions have misguided some
the Sinhalese generalizing all the Muslims as extremists, example set by Muslim
Jihadists. )
2. A Muslims perspective of the extremists of the Buddhists
The piety movement spread throughout the world made an impact on Sri Lankan
Muslims where they adapted to orthodox ways of practicing their religion than usual
made an impact on the way they dressed. The women clad in hijab and niqab, made a
huge impact on the perceptions on Muslims, of other religions, thinking this is part of
the conversions of extremists in Sri Lanka. The advancement of Sinhala extremists in
order to protect their rights violated the practices of religion of the Muslims
especially in the down south. Misunderstandings of both parties, pointing each other
as extremists have led to a greater division within the nation where both parties have
failed to understand the religious practices and values of each other.
Anti-Muslim movement in Sri Lanka
The rise of extremists caused the revival of anti-Muslim movements such as Bodu
Bala Sena, renewing the thoughts and concepts regarding the religion of Islam. The
destruction of mosques and humiliating the religion in public meetings were common
among violating the freedom of practicing other religions. Consistent riots that
occurred within the time frame of 2014, attacks at the Dharga town, Aluthgama, and
Panadura depict the heated rivalry between the two communities. The voices of the

Muslim community is hardly heard where they fear to practice their religion in public
in respect to the incidents that occurred within the past few years.
Criticisms emerged regarding the Muslim womens dress with anti-Muslim movements
in Sri Lanka

The attire of the Muslim womens dress; hijab and niqab are in fact not common
among most of Sinhala community where they have alienated these concepts of the
way they dress. (Haniffa, South Asianist) The simple concept behind hijab and niqab
are commonly misunderstood by adapting to the concept of these women being
extremists within the majority of the population in Sri Lanka. Hijab and niqab is a
way of dressing modestly within the Muslim community where this concept has been
one of the symbolic features of the Sri Lankan culture. Buddhists clad in white is a
symbol of showing modesty and purity when following their religious practices.
These practices have not been considered when in the context of Muslim women
where they are being criticized by men and women of the community alike.
False accusations have been made regarding these features of Muslim womens dress
by Bodu Bala Sena where at times, rumors were spread that the niqab consisted of a
ray which would infertile the Sinhala women. These extremes and misguiding
concepts have been rooted in some parts of the country where they would believe
with their ears, not considering the probable facts with their brains. Conversely, it is
surprising that these criticisms are made only upon Muslim women, despite the fact
that Muslim men wear the beard, Tabligh Jamaats tunic and pants (Haniffa, Piety as
politics amongst Muslim women in contemporary Sri Lanka) to resemble their
devotion to god. In the traditional society, where women was recognized as mere
servants to alpha male, their capabilities in the society was overlooked in the past and

was looked down as objects won by the better men. Although this used to be a
contemporary idea in the past, these narrow concepts still misguides the course of the
Sri Lankan society.
The use of hijab is highly criticized especially by Bodu Bala Sena where they
accused of the hijab as a threat to the national security. In advance, the Islamic dress
the women wore either be a hijab or burqa, used as an element to decide how extreme
the woman under the dress was. If a Muslim female has covered her full face she
would be accused as an extremist in the religion of Muslim whereas the Muslim men
are not judged by their attire of dress. The socialization of Muslim women among
fellow ethnicities is heavily depended on the way they dress** in the contemporary
society especially in the down south. (** experience within the society). In a way the
practice of orthodox ways by Muslim women have become barriers in social mobility
within the Sri Lankan community making it difficult to spread the harmony among
the ethnicities.
The niqab and other features of Muslim womens dress are recognized as symbolic
factors of Islam, where only women are seen as the objects which symbolize the
religion within the context of Sri Lankan society. The real concepts and values
behind Islam practices in women should be understood where they are similar to
most cultural practices in a broader perspective. Although the anti-Muslim
movements have been looked down as a struggle between two ethnicities/
communities, theres more added depth to the course of this struggle where the issues
of Muslim women and their dress are hardly discussed. The fact that the gender
biased accusations visible within the context of this ethnic issue should be addressed,
which further proves of the gender inequality within the society we live in.

References
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2016