 Ketchimalai Mosque, one of the oldest mosques | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,967,523 (2012)[1] 9.7% of its total population | |
| Religions | |
| Islam Sunni Islam | |
| Languages | |
| Tamil and Sinhala |
| Islam by country |
|---|
 |
 Islam portal |
Islam is the third largest religion in Sri Lanka, with about 9.7 percent of the total population following the religion.[3][a] About 1.9 million Sri Lankans adhere to Islam as per the Sri Lanka census of 2012.[4][3] The majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka are concentrated in the Eastern Province of the island. Other areas containing significant Muslim minorities include the Western, Northwestern, North Central, Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. Muslims form a large segment of the urban population of Sri Lanka and are mostly concentrated in major cities and large towns in Sri Lanka, like Colombo.[5] Most Sri Lankan Muslims primarily speak Tamil, though it is not uncommon for Sri Lankan Muslims to be fluent in Sinhalese.[5] The Sri Lankan Malays speak the Sri Lankan Malay creole language in addition to Sinhalese and Tamil.
Islam in Sri Lanka traces its origin back to the arrival of Middle Eastern merchants in the Indian Ocean. By the 16th century, Middle Eastern traders' were the main traders of spice in Sri Lanka, with networks extending to the Middle East. The descendants of these merchants are commonly believed to be the Sri Lankan Moors.
- ^ "Population by religion and district, Census 1981, 2001, 2012" (PDF). Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque". Lanka Pradeepa. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
- ^ a b "Population by Religion (2012)". Department of Census and Statistics. Government of Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing of Sri Lanka, 2012 – Table A3: Population by district, ethnic group and sex" (PDF). Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
- ^ a b Peiris, Gerald H. "Sri Lanka: People". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
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