Sri Lankan Muslim Council Urges Restriction On Azan, Arabic Signboards; Regulation Of Madrasas, New Mosques 

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, which had earlier condemned the Easter Sunday attacks, has now issued various guidelines to promote a collective Sri Lankan Identity.

The guidelines include the restriction on Azan, removal of Arabic sign boards, recommendations for change in behaviour and attire, reforming education sector and regulations in Madrasa.

The council is encouraging Muslims to wear coloured clothing in public and avoid wearing a black dress, face veils for women and thobe for men as much as possible.

Here are other recommendations made by the council:

Signboards in Arabic in public places need to be removed and prevent stickers on Arabic letters or swords on vehicles.

Azan needs to be restricted to mosques in areas where people from other faith live and needs to be kept under specific volume in Muslim neighbourhoods, and new mosques can only be built after the recommendation of the Department of Muslim Religious Affairs after need analysis and permission of local government officials.

Recommendations in the Education sector are to have a standard school calendar, teaching Sinhala and Tamil to students. All Madrasa’s-Arabic colleges and Quran Madrasa’s need to be regulated and monitored under an independent authority.

The recommendations come after deadly terror attacks that killed at least 290 people on Easter Sunday (21 April) at churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka, leading to President Maithripala Sirisena on 28 April decree a ban on any form of face covering that can hinder the identification of any individual under emergency regulations.