Abstract:
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country comprising four of the world’s major religions: Buddhism,
Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Buddhists are the predominant ethnic group, constituting 70.19% of the total
population, while Muslims make up the second largest minority in the country. There are many records in the
history to prove well the cordial relationship between Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka. However, in the past
couple of years, particularly during the aftermath of the civil war, tension may be observed in the relationship
between these two religious groups. This is due to a campaign undertaken by a several Buddhist nationalist
groups whose intensions are to create a division among these respective societies. These groups have been
carrying protests against Muslim social, cultural and religious aspects, including issuing Halal certification,
slaughtering of cattle, conducting prayer services, etc. Moreover, they have disseminated misinterpretations
about Muslims and Islam with derogatory speeches among the Buddhist public, for the purpose of accomplishing
above division. Given the above backdrop, this paper attempts to determine the post-war relationship between
Muslims and Buddhists in the country, including major interrupting factors, through analyzing Muslims’ point of
views. According to the results, there is no remarkable fluctuation in the relationships between Muslims and
Buddhists, and Muslims have posited that there are several social, cultural and religious practices them that act
as significant barriers to maintaining a better community relationship with Buddhists, such as slaughtering of
cattle for meals. Therefore, almost all of the Muslims have been demanding proper guidelines regarding the
slaughtering of cattle, the Niqabs (face cover of Muslim women), and other factors related to interrupting a better
interaction with the Buddhists for better cordiality, within the context of Sri Lanka.
