Machine summary:
Mahroof* HE purpose of this article is to outline the way of life and touch upon some problems of a group of people in Ceylon commonly called the Faqirs.
· · One important and serious difficulty in the discussion of the Faqirs of Ceylon is the almost total lack of published information regarding them, 1 and since some of their practices are by no means public, the difficulty of obtaining information becomes enhanced .
The Faqirs of Ceylon are a group of Muslims having a specialized dress, earning· their livelihood by singing songs from door to door and having a way of life which is, in some wavs at least, different from that of the rest of the Muslims.
" Muslims in Ceylon use it exclusively to denote the Faqirs, though in some Tamil books which are translations of Persian or Arabic works and which deal with matters Islamic, the word 'bawa' is the vocative for father.
!? From this point of view, the Faqirs would have originally starred as a group of Muslims living in India, who had accepted the teachings of devout religious men, in the sense of living their lives in a strictly Islamic way of life.
There are Faqirs who resort to such quasi-esoteric practices as follows: (1) Writing verses from religious books, including the Qur'an on prepared strips of palm-leaf or coconut leaf, in a special kind of ink.
The translations of these books into Tamil and their reception in South India and Ceylon may have played their part in influencing the attitude of the Muslim community towards the Faqirs in Ceylon.