Abstract:
The Sri Lankan Muslim community has a unique literary tradition. Like other aspects
of Muslim literature, the influence of the Arabic language is widely seen in the folk
songs of Muslims, and this has become a significant topic of discussion in today's Sri
Lankan culture. In Sri Lanka's political and multi-ethnic society, the Arabic language
and its background in the religious, educational, artistic, and cultural aspects of
Muslims have caused various debates among other communities. This study aims to
find out the factors that influence the Arabic language in the language case of Sri
Lankan Muslims and reveal the Arabic words found in the folk songs of Muslims and
compare its ideas with Islamic Arabic literary sources. Descriptive and analytical
methods were used for this. For this purpose, the researcher took the songs under 5
headings as samples for this study using a random sampling method from the book
Kiḻakkilaṅkai Muslimkaḷiṉ Nāṭṭār Pāṭalkaḷ (“Eastern Sri Lankan Muslim Folk
Songs”) written by S. Muththu Meeran, compared and explained the pattern of the
words used in Arabic literary sources. Many aphorisms are found directly and
indirectly in these songs. It is noteworthy that in some songs both terms are used