An Imagined Diaspora: The making of Shi'i Muslim ethnicity in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The contemporary formation of a community of Shi’i Muslims provides a window into the making and unmaking of ethnicity in Sri Lanka. Originating in solidarity with the Islamic revolution of Iran, Sunni activists formed a political network which has evolved into an autonomous Shi’i religious community. Members studied the traditional Islamic disciplines in the institution of learning (hawza ‘ilmiyya) in Qom alongside students who had undergone a similar transformation, fortifying an internationalist outlook. With associates in the Indian Ocean region, particularly the Gulf states, the transregional community is bound by the common thread of Shi’ism and focuses on Iran and the ‘Atabat of Iraq as spiritual homeland. Exploring the “diasporic consciousness” of the community, this article focuses on the transmission of ideas in time and space. Temporally, it emphasizes claims to local Muslim heritage in variant readings of the Sri Lankan past. Spatially, their cartography provides an alternative account of the sacred landscape based on scholarly practice, devotional activity and political contestation. By recounting the history and mapping the geography of the Shi’i Muslim community, this article investigates how Shi’ism influences the configuration of a diasporic field.