Islamic ideology and religious practice among Muslims in a southern Sri Lankan town
The thesis is concerned with an examination of Islam in Sri Lanka. It argues that while Sri Lankan Islam shares an ideology with the Islamic world, it has a specificity which may only be understood with reference to its particular historical and cultural context. As an Islamic community on the periphery of the Islamic world, Sri Lankan Muslims find their ideology, enduringly problematic. They must continually assert their egalitarian ideology, within the hierarchically ordered cosmological universe, that they share with Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus. They must further assert their egalitarianism in the face of constant forces of stratification, internal to the Muslim community itself. Islamic ideology, given this particular cultural context, is both determining and constitutive of the community. The consolidation of the varied histories of the diverse Muslim community in the late colonial period is shown to be an aspect of hegemonic domination of the community by a fraction of it. The structure and force of Islamic ideology as revealed in Sri Lanka is discussed through an examination of religious understanding and ritual practice. The significance of the myths behind, and practices associated with,
Smith Llyn, Frances
Philosophy
Islamic ideology and religious practice among Muslims in a southern Sri Lankan town. The thesis is concerned with an examination of Islam in Sri Lanka. It argues that while Sri Lankan Islam shares an ideology with the Islamic world, it has a specificity which may only be understood with reference to its particular historical and cultural context. As an Islamic community on the periphery of the Islamic world, Sri Lankan Muslims find their ideology, enduringly problematic. They must continually assert their egalitarian ideology, within the hierarchically ordered cosmological universe, that they share with Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus. They must further assert their egalitarianism in the face of constant forces of stratification, internal to the Muslim community itself. Islamic ideology, given this particular cultural context, is both determining and constitutive of the community. The consolidation of the varied histories of the diverse Muslim community in the late colonial period is shown to be an aspect of hegemonic domination of the community by a fraction of it. The structure and force of Islamic ideology as revealed in Sri Lanka is discussed through an examination of religious understanding and ritual practice. The significance of the myths behind, and practices associated with,
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