Tamil Muslims

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

 Thanks for the current trends of how Tamil ethnics attempt to classify
 themselves as different. Political de-/em- powering and the general
 poverty of Tamils are some reasons.

 I agree with Dr. Fosse that " "Aryans" in an
 Indological/Indo-European context refers to the peoples that called
 themselves Aryans, that is the early Indo-Iranians. "
 But in Europe there is a very long tradition of calling themselves
 Aryans, see M. Olender's Languages of the Paradise.

 "Tamil Muslims" in an Indological context can refer to
 Tamil Muslims of Sri Lanka because their mother tongue is Tamil.


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 Muslims in general in Sri lanka do not want to be called Tamils or as Tamil
 Muslims. There might be individual exceptions but politically and
 collectively they want to be identified as Sri lankan Muslims or as Sri
 lankan Moors even if most of them are still using Tamil as a medium of
 communication (many are in the process of acquiring Sinhalese as their
 medium of communication now) Try

 Communalisation of Muslims in Sri Lanka
 An Historical Perspective
 By F. Zackariya and N. Shanmugaratnam

 I have posted this before so excuse my repetition on this subject.

 There are many Tamil writers of Muslim faith in Sri Lanka, but the communal
 identity is not Tamil. So one can speak in Tamil and consider one not an
 ethnic Tamil. There are many such groups within the Tamil speaking
 community around the world.

 Raveen

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