Sri Lankan Moor men in regional costume in early 20th century
Total population
1,892,638[1][2] (9.3% of the Sri Lankan population; 2012)[3]
Regions with significant populations
Province
Western
709,992
Eastern
575,936
North Western
268,709
Central
263,874
North Central
101,958
Languages
Tamil
Sinhala
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Arabs
Sinhalese
Tamils
Tamil Muslims
Indian Moors
Persians
Sri Lankan Moors (Tamil: இலங்கைச் சோனகர், romanized: Ilaṅkaic Cōṉakar; Arwi: اَیلَࢳَیچْ چٗونَكَرْ; Sinhala: ලංකා යෝනක, romanized: Lanka Yonaka; formerly Ceylon Moors; colloquially referred to as Sri Lankan Muslims) are an ethnic minority group in Sri Lanka, comprising 9.3% of the country's total population.[4][2] Most of them are native speakers of the Tamil language.[5][6][7] The majority of Moors who are not native to the North and East also speak Sinhalese as a second language.[8] They are predominantly followers of Islam.[9] The Sri Lankan Muslim community is mostly divided between Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Moors, Sri Lankan Malays and Sri Lankan Bohras. These groups are differentiated by lineage, language, history, culture and traditions.[10] Finlay McDonald has noted in the second paragraph of his article on Sri Lankan Muslims in New Zealand's conversation newspaper, published on April 23, 2019, the following observation, "Linguistically, most have Tamil as their mother tongue, often leading them to be categorised as part of the island’s Tamil minority, alongside Hindus and Christians. There are, however,Muslims who speak the majority Sinhala language."[1]
The Sri Lankan Moors are of diverse origins with some tracing their ancestry to Arab traders who first settled in Sri Lanka around the 9th century, and who intermarried with local Tamil and Sinhala women.[11][12][13] Recent genetic studies, however, have suggested a predominant Indian origin for Moors compared to the Arab origin speculated by some.[14] Perera et al. (2021) in their genetic analysis of the Moors stated the following in their report: "In contrast, Sri Lankan Moors have descended exclusively from Muslim male merchants of either Arabic or of Indian origin, who came to Sri Lanka for trading. During the fourteenth century, they started to settle in coastal areas in Sri Lanka and espoused local women, who were either Sinhalese or Sri Lankan Tamil".[15] The concentration of Moors is the highest in the Ampara, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts.
^"Census of Population and Housing - 2012".
^ ab"A2 : Population by ethnic group according to districts, 2012". Census of Population & Housing, 2011. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka.
^"The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. 7 June 2022.
^"Census of Population and Housing - 2012".
^Minahan, James B. (2012-08-30). Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-660-7.
^Das, Sonia N. (2016-10-05). Linguistic Rivalries: Tamil Migrants and Anglo-Franco Conflicts. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-046179-9.
^Richardson, John Martin (2005). Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism, and Development from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars. International Center for Ethnic Studies. ISBN 9789555800945.
^Census of Population and Housing, Sri Lanka. 2012. p. 142.
^McGilvray, DB (November 1998). "Arabs, Moors and Muslims: Sri Lankan Muslim ethnicity in regional perspective". Contributions to Indian Sociology. 32 (2): 433–483. doi:10.1177/006996679803200213. S2CID 144917663.
^Nubin, Walter (2002). Sri Lanka: Current Issues and Historical Background. Nova Publishers. p. 147. ISBN 9781590335734.
^Ali, Ameer (1997). "The Muslim Factor in Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 17 (2). Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs Vol. 17, No. 2: 253–267. doi:10.1080/13602009708716375.
^De Silva 2014, p. 47.
^Mahroof, M. M. M. (1995). "Spoken Tamil Dialects Of The Muslims Of Sri Lanka: Language As Identity-Classifier". Islamic Studies. 34 (4): 407–426 [408]. JSTOR 20836916.
^Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Perera, Nandika; Galhena, Gayani; Ranawaka, Gaya (2021-06-17). "X-chromosomal STR based genetic polymorphisms and demographic history of Sri Lankan ethnicities and their relationship with global populations". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 12748. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1112748P. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92314-9. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8211843. PMID 34140598.
homelands. Islam portal SriLanka portal SriLankanMoorsSriLankan Malays Indian MoorsSriLankan Memons List of mosques in SriLanka Expulsion of Muslims...
SriLankan Tamils. Indian Moors were only classified as a separate ethnic group from 1911 to 1971. Prior to 1911 they were included with SriLankan Moors...
India or have declared themselves as being classified as SriLankanMoors. The Indian Moors trace their origins back to immigrants in search of business...
language is spoken by native SriLankan Tamils and is also spoken by Indian Tamils of SriLanka and by most SriLankanMoors. Tamil speakers number around...
is a list of SriLankanMoors. SriLankanMoors (Tamil: இலங்கைச் சோனகர், romanized: Ilaṅkaic Cōṉakar; Sinhala: ලංකා යෝනක, romanized: Lanka Yonaka formerly...
in SriLanka – both the SriLankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils of SriLanka – and the green stripe representing the SriLankanMoors (Muslims of Sri Lanka)...
Tamils. The village deities of the SriLankan Tamils are also shaped by the caste structure. The SriLankanMoors don't practice the caste system, however...
The SriLankan Civil War (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සිවිල් යුද්ධය, romanized: śrī laṁkāvē sivil yuddhaya; Tamil: இலங்கை உள்நாட்டுப் போர், romanized: Ilaṅkai...
SriLankan Malay (also known as SriLankan Creole Malay, Bahasa Melayu, Ja basawa and Java mozhi) is a creole language spoken in SriLanka, formed as a...
introduced the names "Ceylon Moors" and "Indian Moors" in South Asia and SriLanka, and the Bengali Muslims were also called Moors. In the Philippines, the...
Census Moors in SriLanka were counted as one. From the census onwards they were divided into Indian Moors and SriLankanMoors. Indian Moors were brought...
SriLanka, formerly called Ceylon, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, southeast of the Indian subcontinent, in a strategic location near major sea...
and Marrakkar and Moors of SriLanka. The Marakkars of SriLanka falls under the 'SriLankanMoors group, defined by the SriLankan government as a separate...
city (excluding Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry).Some cities in SriLanka also includes SriLankanMoors population because most of them have Tamil as their mother...
SriLankanMoors. Present day communities who trace origins to Dravidian speakers from southern India: SriLankan Tamils Indian Tamils of SriLanka Indian...
The SriLankan Tamil diaspora refers to the global diaspora of SriLankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger SriLankan and Tamil...
by the SriLankan kings and later by the SriLankanMoors. Landing in the early 1500s, the Portuguese overthrew the sinhala monarchy based on sri jayawardanapura...
Additionally, there are sizeable minority populations of Indian Tamils, Moors and SriLankan Tamils. Sabaragamuwa is divided into two districts and 28 divisional...