Islam is a minority religion in Sri Lanka. 9.7% of the Sri Lankan population practice Islam. 1,967,227 persons adhere to Islam as per the census of 2012.
Lakshman Jayakody was a Sri Lankan politician, an SLFP stalwart and the Minister of Cultural and Religious Affairs in the Sri Lankan Cabinet from 1994 to 2000.
Sri Lankan Moors are an ethnic minority group in Sri Lanka, comprising 9.2% of the country's total population. They are mainly native speakers of the Tamil language with influence of Sinhalese and Arabic words. They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Sri Lankan Muslim community is divided as Sri Lankan moors, Indian Moors and Sri Lankan Malays as per their history and traditions.
Rajiva Wijesinha, MA, DPhil is a Sri Lankan writer in English, distinguished for his political analysis as well as creative and critical work. An academic by profession for much of his working career, he was most recently Senior Professor of Languages at the University of Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka.
Mapatunage James "M. J." Perera was a Sri Lankan civil servant with nine members in his family in Udumulla, Padukka. He created broadcasting history by being the first Ceylonese Director General of Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia, taking over the helm from John Lampson of the BBC.
Deshamanya Nissanka Parakrama Wijeyeratne, known as Nissanka Wijeyeratne, was a Sri Lankan politician, civil servant, diplomat and English language poet. He was also the Diyawadana Nilame of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy from 1975 to 1985. At the time of death he was serving as the Chairman of The Law and Society Trust in Sri Lanka.
Nadarajah Selvarajah is a Sri Lankan librarian, writer and bibliographer. Selvarajah has written more than 43 books until June 2017. So far he has compiled 11 volumes of Nool thettam - a bibliography of Sri Lankan Tamil books. He has also compiled a bibliography of Tamil publications in Malaysia and Singapore. He has also compiled a volume of Noolthettam in English, which contains English publications of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Akila Viraj Kariyawasam is a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He currently serves as Minister of Education of Sri Lanka who assumed the office on 13 January 2015. He is a lawyer by profession and was first elected to the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka in 2004.
Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, MP, PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is a Member of Parliament for the Colombo District and currently holding Minister of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs portfolio. He is a former Minister of Justice and Buddasasana from 2015 to 2017 and Minister of State Banking Development from 2005 to 2006. He was the Prime Minister's nominee for the Constitutional Council In the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis, He was the Minister of Education and Higher Education and his post was suspended by the court.
Malkar Mohamed born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was a film producer of the Sri Lankan Tamil film industry and a businessman.
Ananda Wahihana Palliya Guruge, known as Ananda W.P. Guruge, was a Sri Lankan diplomat, Buddhist scholar and writer. Guruge was the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to UNESCO, France, and United States during the period from 1985 to 1994. Guruge was adjunct professor of Religious Studies at Cal State Fullerton and was the dean of academic affairs at University of the West.
Deshabandhu Bogoda Appuhamilage Premaratne was a Sri Lankan youth educator who served in the Sri Lanka Department of Education in various capacities. Beginning as a teacher, he became the principal of secondary education schools and teacher training schools. He ended his civil service career as the Commissioner of Examinations, then served on the Fulbright Scholarships selection committee from 1976 to 1988. He was appointed chair of the Educational Reforms Committee of Sri Lanka in 1980, whose committee report was accepted and subsequently implemented. He wrote a number of books on Buddhism.
Rajapakse Mohottige Don Suranimala Rajapaksha was a Sri Lankan politician. Rajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education in Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 2001 to 2004. He is a member of the United National Party (UNP) and a member of UNP Working Committee. He was also appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe in 2015. At the time of his death he was acted as the special envoy (representative) to the Prime Minister. His younger son Kanishka Rajapaksha is also appointed as the Coordinating Assistant to the Prime Minister after the death of Rajapaksha. Kanishka is an Attorney at Law in his profession.
Rawlathus Saliheen Ahadhiya (Daham) School is an Islamic Ahadiya school founded in 1992 under the guidance of All Island Ahadhiya School Federation in Sri Lanka and registered under The Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs (MRCA). It is situated Gampaha District in Mabola, Wattala. From grades 1-11, classes are conducted in Sinhala, Tamil, and English languages. Currently administrated by the Ministry of Muslim Religious & Cultural Affairs & Postal.
The Ministry of Highways, Ports and Shipping was a Sri Lankan government ministry responsible for the governance,implementation,creation and development of Ports including Colombo, Galle and Trincomalee ports, Highways including Southern expressway, Colombo Outer Circular expressway, Katunayake expressway and their transport services. It was reorganized as two separate ministries, the Ministry of Ports and Shipping and Ministry of Higher Education and Highways following the formation of the Sirisena cabinet in January 2015.
The Ministry of Posts, Postal Services and Muslim Religious Affairs is a cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka responsible for the implementation of the Muslim Mosques and Charitable Trusts or Wakfs Act, the Post Office Ordinance and the Stamp Ordinance of Sri Lanka. Aside from broader policy formulation, this also includes the maintenance and expansion of the Sri Lanka postal service, the design, release, sale and archiving of the country's postage stamps, representing Sri Lanka's interests at the Universal Postal Union, the oversight of banking, insurance and wire transfer services provided at postal offices, the oversight and administration of Islamic institutions, charities, mosques and their assets in Sri Lanka, the promotion of Islamic education and culture, and facilitating the annual Hajj pilgrimage by Sri Lankan Muslims through coordination with the Government of Saudi Arabia.
Mahamood Lebbe Alim Mohamed Hizbullah is a Sri Lankan politician and state minister. Hizbullah and his Hira Foundation has developed a controversial status due to his close ties with Saudi Arabia and his role in the propagation Wahabism and the Arabization of Sri Lankan Muslims. He is also among those that had ties with National Thowheeth Jama'ath which carried out the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Bombings.
Mohammad Gulrez is an International Relations & Global Governance expert. Presently he serves as Professor & Chairman, Department of West Asian and North African Studies and Officiating Dean, Faculty of International Studies, Aligarh Muslim University. He has also served as Director, Centre for South African & Brazilian Studies & Coordinator for Conflict Resolution & Peace Studies Programme at Aligarh Muslim University. Currently Prof Gulrez is on a Deputation from Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India for a period of 6 months to the India Chair at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. From January 1999 to January 2004, he worked as visiting Faculty, Department of Political and Administrative Sciences at the National University of Rwanda, Central Africa. Prof Gulrez was the Consultant/Researcher, Good Governance (Component) for the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Project, Govt. of Rwanda (2002). Prof Gulrez is also on the International Advisory Board, Asian Review Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. He is also the Member of Academic Forum, Asia Pacific Observatory, Montevideo, Uruguay. He has also been associated with the Foreign Policy Analysis Program, Mershon Centre, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio and Muslim Politics Project, Council On Foreign Relations Programme, New York, United States of America.
Zahira College, Kalmunai is one of the prominent boys national school in Ampara District, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1949 as English Junior School by the M. S. Kariapper, Member of Ceylon Parliament. The college is situated in Sainthamaruthu, in the municipality of Kalmunai. It has been graded as 1AB Super School by Ministry of Education Sri Lanka and it has all the streams of GCE Advanced Level in Sri Lanka - Biological and Physical science, Commerce, Arts and Technology.
