Changes

During the British Raj over half a million laborers from South India migrated to Ceylon. From the 1820s through the 1880s these Tamils worked as seasonal harvesters on the coffee plantations. After 1880 tea was subsequently introduced which required year-round tending and could absorb family labor. The Indian plantation workers lived in isolated villages on hilltops, spoke a different language (Tamil), and practiced Hinduism, a religion different from that of the native Sinhalese.  

During the British Raj over half a million laborers from South India migrated to Ceylon. From the 1820s through the 1880s these Tamils worked as seasonal harvesters on the coffee plantations. After 1880 tea was subsequently introduced which required year-round tending and could absorb family labor. The Indian plantation workers lived in isolated villages on hilltops, spoke a different language (Tamil), and practiced Hinduism, a religion different from that of the native Sinhalese.  

====Muslims====

====Muslims====

Muslims settled in Sri Lanka as traders suffered discrimination during the periods of Portuguese and Dutch control. The British arrived in Colombo in 1796 to assist the Kandyan king in removing the Dutch. They used Muslims as interpreters and trade experts. The British protected Muslims' religious freedom, abolished their forced labor, allowed them to own property, and in 1889 allowed Muslims representation on the Legislative Council. In the first half of the 20th century, Sri Lankan Muslims were split between Arabs and Malays, with both groups pressuring for, but being denied, separate Legislative Council representation.<ref> M. N. M. Kamil Asad, "The Political and Commercial History of the Muslims of Sri Lanka under the British Rule." ''Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society'' 2003 51(3): 39-54. Issn: 0030-9796 </ref>

Muslims settled in Sri Lanka as traders suffered discrimination during the periods of Portuguese and Dutch control. The British arrived in Colombo in 1796 to assist the Kandyan king in removing the Dutch. They used Muslims as interpreters and trade experts. The British protected Muslims' religious freedom, abolished their forced labor, allowed them to own property, and in 1889 allowed Muslims representation on the Legislative Council. In the first half of the 20th century, Sri Lankan Muslims were split between Arabs (also known as the "Moors") and Malays, with both groups pressuring for, but being denied, separate Legislative Council representation.<ref> M. N. M. Kamil Asad, "The Political and Commercial History of the Muslims of Sri Lanka under the British Rule." ''Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society'' 2003 51(3): 39-54. Issn: 0030-9796 </ref>

Traditional Muslim education in Ceylon was of two types: 1) Qur'an schools mainly teaching the Qur'an, some arithmetic, and Tamil in Arabic script, and 2) training in crafts, carried out on a family basis. The commercialization of agriculture and growth of the infrastructure of a plantation economy broke up the "kasbah-mentality" (closed-group existence in the interior area) among the Ceylonese Muslims. They moved into towns and began to join government schools (English and vernacular). The increasing use of English at different levels of administration accelerated the process. Relatively few Muslims participated until 1880.<ref> M. M. M. Mahroof, "Muslim Education in Ceylon 1780-1880: A Struggle Between Derived and Imposed Ideas," ''Islamic Culture'' [India] 1972 46(2): 119-135. Issn: 0021-1834 </ref>

Traditional Muslim education in Ceylon was of two types: 1) Qur'an schools mainly teaching the Qur'an, some arithmetic, and Tamil in Arabic script, and 2) training in crafts, carried out on a family basis. The commercialization of agriculture and growth of the infrastructure of a plantation economy broke up the "kasbah-mentality" (closed-group existence in the interior area) among the Ceylonese Muslims. They moved into towns and began to join government schools (English and vernacular). The increasing use of English at different levels of administration accelerated the process. Relatively few Muslims participated until 1880.<ref> M. M. M. Mahroof, "Muslim Education in Ceylon 1780-1880: A Struggle Between Derived and Imposed Ideas," ''Islamic Culture'' [India] 1972 46(2): 119-135. Issn: 0021-1834 </ref>