A S M JAVID
COLOMBO: The Inter-Relgious Harmony Group organized an iftar reception to all commuties at the Grandpass Buddhist temple on Friday Aoril 20 in Colombo.
The full text of the speech made by Rizan Hussein, chairman of the Group is as follows :
Dear honoured guests it is a pleasure to share the breaking of the fast with my fellow Sri Lankans of different faiths. That we can sit together here in this bastion of Buddhist worship to hear the Muslim call to prayer and partake of this blessed food together is the ultimate definition of what it means to be Sri Lankan.
I cannot proceed any further without expressing my heartfelt thanks to those who worked tirelessly to make today’s event a possibility. Ven.Pandit Dr. Madampagama Assaji Thissa Nayaka Thero, Sheikh Firdous Moulavi and the Director of Muslim Affairs, Faizal your presence here today means a great deal to us all. You’ll are great proponents of inter-faith harmony and have always worked towards uniting all Sri Lankans. I know that together we can collaborate and further promote the need for our people to live together in harmony and tolerance.
For centuries Sri Lankans of all faiths have participated with zeal in each other’s religious celebrations, assisting each other with preparations and taking part in all the revelry. There was no mysticism to the celebrations and those of all faiths understood and participated in each other’s rituals. But, a disturbing trend in recent years has seen our various faiths moving away from each other severing the ties that have always bound us together irrespective of race and religion.
Despite being exposed to a broader education and experiences, younger generations of Sri Lankans isolate themselves from wholeheartedly participating in each other’s faiths and tend to view each other with suspicion and sometimes even contempt.
As believers in the bond of inter-religious harmony; Assaji Thero, Firdous Moulavi, Mr. Faizal and I are keen to turn this regressive behaviour around and re-establish the ties of togetherness and co-existince we Sri Lankans have shared for centuries.
As the Inter-religious Harmony Co-ordinator appointed by the Colombo District Masjids Federation (CDMF) and a committee member of the inter-faith organisation, Dharmashakthi Network, I have been appalled by the strife in our beautiful country. It is my deepest and sincerest hope that with the help of all the guests here today, we can turn things around to the idyllic days when we stood side by side through all our joys, tribulations and triumphs.”
