Muslim Personalities

  I am honoured by the invitation to deliver this lecture, particularly because Dr. Jayah was born in Galagedera, my electorate. His father was a Police Officer then attached to the Galagedera Police Station. There is also another connection. My father had a collection of Aubrey Collette’s cartoons and as a youngster I spent much time studying them. One of …

A YOUNG seeker named Cat Stevens ''picked up a couple of very important strands of the mysterious truth'' during his last tour of Australia in 1974. Within two years they would lead him to a new faith and a new name – Yusuf Islam – and out of the music business for three decades. In a luxury hotel overlooking the …

Susan Carland   “It (Islam) looked violent, sexist and foreign”           ~ Susan Carland on Islam. What will you do if your beloved mother tells you “I don’t care if you marry a drug dealer, but don’t marry a Muslim?” This is exactly what was told to Susan Carland when she was 17-years-old after declaring that one of her New …

Susan Carland   “It (Islam) looked violent, sexist and foreign”           ~ Susan Carland on Islam. What will you do if your beloved mother tells you “I don’t care if you marry a drug dealer, but don’t marry a Muslim?” This is exactly what was told to Susan Carland when she was 17-years-old after declaring that one of her New …

Washington File Special Correspondent Washington – He is the most popular poet in the United States. Barely known here only a decade ago, classes on his work have sprouted up on university campuses throughout the country. Community lectures and public readings of his poetry are announced in the cultural sections of newspapers in virtually every major American city. In perhaps …

A.M.A.Azeez was born in Jaffna in 1911 and died in Colombo in 1973. His comparatively short life of 62 years forms a captivating swathe in modern Sri Lankan history.Viewed as a whole, perhaps its greatest lesson is as a metaphor for Nation Building. Juxtaposing Azeez’s lifework  besides the needlepoint in time that we are poised today, we thought it appropriate …