Mosque in Sri Lanka forced to abandon
About 2,000 Buddhists, including monks, marched to the mosque and held a demonstration demanding its demolition.
A mosque official told the BBC he and several dozen companions were trapped inside and feared the crowd would destroy the building.
Overnight the mosque had been targeted by a fire-bombing - no-one was hurt.
The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says the tensions have been growing in the neighbourhood.
Shortly after the protest the mosque was evacuated and its Friday prayers cancelled.
Many Buddhists regard Dambulla as a sacred town and in recent months there had been other sectarian tensions in this part of Sri Lanka, our correspondent says.
Last September a monk led a crowd to demolish a Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura, not far from Dambulla.
Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the population in Sri Lanka.
Usually Buddhists are reasonable and lovely people, unless when some one crosses the line.........someone extreme, Muslims may not feel it or notice it but they can get very extreme, even the average civilian.
.. so do you still have a lot of guys out there in Lanka. I thought they were all on the ship bound for Australia
Sree Lankee :)
u
So what happened to all the Buddhist in Afghanistan? Did the majority religion give them free tickets for a nice holiday somewhere else?
That is a stupid justification to destroy something of historical importance
I don't think Buddhism is a religion. It's a philosophy at best!
MOCHTE the building of worship for the 21st century.
I love your idea moza :) MOCHTE simply brilliant!
Can't they just build a mosque/church/temple as one facility for all to use? Maybe call it a MOCHTE. A symbol of a united humanity.
You are welcome rifay. :)
Thank you bro..
rifay - Your post is good but it's LAW not 'low'
oh good god! another thread has been posted under the same topic & people are just arguing without knowing the fact.
http://www.qatarliving.com/node/2851407#comment-2096066
Your most welcome my fellow Siri Lanki. And yes again I agree with you totally. In fact it's only since I moved to Doha, and met people from other countries, did I realize how tolerant and supportive the majority of Sri Lankans are towards one another.
Hey Fathima!
Thanks for the Backup. I'm a mix of every religion ( Christian, Buddhist & Islam) I must say! Yet I have learnt to respect it all!
Most people lean & know to pray yet lack to respect another which leads to these kind of silly situations where finally a religion, a group of followers, a nationality or the least a country is judged by its actions & people like us living out of the mother country is also being judged too
:(
I couldn't agree more with you. As a Sri lankan I know, for the most part, all cultures and religions of SL practice a great deal of tolerance and regard towards one another. Where I come from, Kolpitty Colombo, we have so many different races and religions living side by side, and we each mind our own beeswax and do our thing.
It's perfectly normal to hear the adhans, the Buddhist sermons, and Hindu chants all the time.
And we have many masjids all around the island, hence building one in a place where it will cause tension and violence is IMO wrong and provoking to say the least. My own cousins who lived in the same house as us, are Buddhists so I know quite a bit about the religion to know that the religion certainly doesn't promote violence and racism. Hence I know such situations as mentioned in the OP are started by vested interests who use such tension to further their cause.
people, please dont talk what you dont really know!!!
Dambulla is a very sacred place to all the Buddhists in the country as well across the world.
It is very wrong & not acceptable at all to take the law in to your custody & act as you wish.
Yet all these unwanted situations took place as the government has taken over a number of 300+ acres of land, evacuation all people living in it from years, promising them to provide other options/places to live. At the same time it was told that this measure has been taken for the betterment & protection of the historical, most sacred temple. yet it is now revealed that a parliamentary person/ personals has been selling these lands to other parties instead of protecting & doing what was said to do.
this lead the Buddhists & other people to a very tensed situation. this is not the fault of any Buddhist living there, yet the inability of the government & the greed for money of some loosers.
would any Islamic person keep quite if Buddhists or any other religion go & build some religious place or almost any thing near the sacred mosque in KSA????? it would be world war then, for it is one of the most holiest & most sacred places on earth for a muslim.
Living in Doha, as much as all the other religious nationals respect the culture & the religion believed & followed in this part of the world, in Sri Lanka we too expect the same!
so think about both the sides of the story before posting & commenting. please dont try to create or influence racism here in QL too.
Beetle - You are politically correct and thats how it should be. we all must speak what is politically correct.
I am a Sinhala Buddhist and I believe that no matter whether this mosque is built illegally or not, taking the law in to own hands and trying to demolish it is totally wrong.I wish that the Srilankan Muslims affected by this incident will go to the courts for their justice.
Every religion has got extremists. Buddhism is no difference. Things get worst when politicians instigate people by making use of their religious faith. When this happen they usually forget the fundamentals of their own religion and destroy the image of themselves and their religion. Not only Buddhism it's common with any religion in the world.
Muslims in srilanka is contributing to the economy of the country a lot and I’m sure that a vast majority of Sinhala Buddhists accept the fact that Srilankan muslims has got equal rights to practice their religion in Srilanka just like Buddhists.
I'm sure that this is the mentality of majority of the Sinhala Buddhists except few extremists like above.
Fatimah, i agree with you, Saw a Mosque in Kandy, and even heard Azan being called through The Loud Speakers....
Yes, Srilanka is a Historic and a Beautiful Place to Visit... :)
Actually Sri Lanka is one country that completely permits the calling of Adhans as much as it's allowed to ring church bells, recite Buddhist prayers and have Hindu ceremonies all in public view.
If they want a mosque to pray they should be left alone. The only problem I see is the call to pray. To respect the country they are in that should not be played.
And yes, such incidents do take place back there every now and then. Sectarian tension in Sri Lanka is definitely a huge hindrance to the countries progress. However what you see is not always what you get. And in an Island where dirty politics often rears it's ugly head, such turmoils are often not really caused by laymen, but by vested interests out to ruin any unity in the land, and then use it to their advantages. Saddening really as SL is such a beautiful country blessed with much resources.
So buddhism is a religion of the majority and a popular one. I should agree as the other religions and their followers have been murdered and killed so this religion and this funny culture can flourish
Do not worry , when the Khaifa return we will reconquested all lands of the old Islamic Empire , Including Spain and more. And shows those who think of Stepping against what can we do . just be Patient
Old grudge?
Thats the lankans showing their true faces. Look how they butchered, brutalized and murdered innocent civilians, children and women just because they happened to follow a seperate religion and culture from this sinhala garbage
People need to learn to co-exist. A Mosque, a Budhist Temple and a Hindu Temple in near vicinity of each other would not diminish or hurt the other..
The Taliban demolished bamiyan structures. Its called the cycle of Karma.