Evangelicism is quite a common phenomenon in many parts of the world. Evangelicals take many forms and hues, from the hysteric evangelic Christians with their TV shows in the US or Muslim televangelists in many parts of the Muslim world, mostly in South Asia than in the Middle East, like this Muslim loon here who likes to put on a show.
What is also known is that these evangelical types operate in most covert and clandestine ways, often conspiring between power factions to create turmoil to facilitate the requirement of a peace keeping force in whose guise these evangelical types can creep in furtively through INGO’s and clubs & societies, smaller tentacles of the evangelical types have even percolated as clubs & societies in Sri Lankan schools. Co-Education not being the norm in Sri Lankan schools, these clubs and societies thrive on the notion that boys or girls get the chance to interact with the opposite gender, not something readily available if you schooled in Sri Lanka.
The crux of my ranting above is to drive the fact that evangelicals work in the most ingenious means by penetrating into our collective psyche so much that they become part of the default setup, so much so that you welcome them in, not knowing that they are luring you out.
The Bodu Bala Sena have been on the rampage in Sri Lanka these past few months, you may think they are a Buddhist organisation trying to promote the values of true Buddhism, like Metta, Karuna, Muditha and Upekka, but you, like most of the others around you are far from the truth.
It has been revealed that the Bodu Bala Sena is funded by a Muslim evangelical organisation based in the Middle East. Having successfully taught Sri lankans about Halal and Haram, they are now hell bent on teaching Sri Lankans about the attire of Muslim women in Sri Lanka, before long the vast majority of Sri Lankans will know about the hijab and abhaya, terms otherwise confined mostly to cities with mixed ethnic populations.
The concept of Halal and Haram are ancient Islamic concepts, but they were confined to the inner walls of the Sri Lankan Muslim community because non Muslims do not have to live according to what is stipulated by Halal and Haram. Halal being anything that are permissible and Haram being what are impermissible. The Bodu Bala Sena has gone about vociferously advocating the abstention from Halal foods. They put out posters, large rallies were held and many TV slots were allocated for the BBS to teach the Sinhalese Majority of the Islamic concepts that are halal and haram.
Many monks belonging to the BBS have been seen researching the Qur’an very studiously to understand what it means and what it seeks to espouse. Ven. Galaboda Aththe Gnansara Thera has been seen holding the Qur’an and explaining to the Sinhalese masses what it truly means. Sinhalese Buddhists who probably never held a Qur’an in their life, having seen a revered monk propagate from it are now driven to study the Qur’an to see what the fuss is all about, thereby getting attracted to the Islamic faith, reliable BBS sources who cannot be revealed have stated.
Of course the reverend monk who appears on TV and BBS platforms seemingly espousing true Buddhist teachings in the pristine Sinhalese that he speaks with calming rhetoric that can proselytise to Buddhism even members from the Taleban was once seen to have behaved like this video shows – ranting in colourful language, except the colour here was in reference to anatomical sections in the human body, both Muslim and Buddhist.
It has been revealed that the paymasters of the Bodu Bala Sena now want the Sinhalese masses to be educated on the Abhaya and Hijab. The rapid westernisation of Sri Lankan society means that the Muslims are getting de-islamicised and the Buddhist majority are getting secular, thereby deviating from Buddhist ethical codes of morality and charity. If the secularisation of the majority Sinhalese were to go unchecked it would be onerous for the Muslims to proselytise the Sri Lankan Sinhalese. The role of the BBS therefore is constantly keep the Buddhist majority in check by infusing Islamic principles into their daily routine, what better way than doing so by scapegoat-ing the existing Muslim population.
Indeed the Muslim evangelical intelligentsia have been so powerful and devious that the Bodu Bala Sena have got wide recognition in Sri Lanka, and the BBS are promoting Islam in Sri Lanka in ways the Sri Lankan Muslim community would have known to be possible.
Further cementing the devious nature of the Muslim Jamiyathul Ulema can be seen in the kind and calm manner in which they have been dealing with the situation compared to the hate filled hysteric rhetoric employed by BBS. This is a carefully orchestrated move of trying to portray goons as Buddhist monks and thereby smear the nobility of a revered philosophy such as Buddhism. It seems this is now bearing fruit, as Gamini Kotakadenia from Theldeniya mentions here.
True Sinhalese and Buddhists who value their cultural identity must be careful of this rapid Islamisation being spread by the Bodu Bala Sena, their intention is to make this beautifully diverse island nation rid of the majority Sinhalese who if this Bodu Bala Sena scourge were to go on a rampage would soon be much less in proportions.
Image from here.