A small town named Kal-Eliya – about 5 Km off the road connecting Sri Lanka’s two largest cities, Colombo and Kandy, and approximately halfway between – was the birthplace of Al-Haj H. L. M. A. Cader. He was a well-known businessman with a reputation as a philanthropist.

In 1956, soon after a visit to Mecca, H. L. M. A. Cader conceived the idea of a girls’ school exclusively to teach Islam and Arabic.

Around the same time, an associate of Al-Haj Cader, Al-Haj M. A. M. Abul Hassen from Warakapola – a town exactly halfway between Colombo and Kandy, and some 15 kilometers from Kal-Eliya – was in Cairo, coincidentally discussing a similar concept with Moulavi Al-Haj M. Alavi Abul Hassan who was then a student at the famed Al Azhar University.

These three gentlemen began discussing their plans, and came together to form the Muslim Ladies’ Arabic College, in 1958, in association with Al-Haj A. H. L. A. Saleem (Al-Haj Cader’s younger brother) and Al-Haj A. R. M. Junaid of Thihariya (another town on the road between Colombo and Kandy, a few Kilometres from Kal-Eliya).

On the eighth of September 1958, Al-Haj H. L. M. A. Cader pledged two acres of land for the use of the College. The donation was formalized on the 21 st of September that year, and the first building was erected.

The tenth of January 1959 became the first day of school for the new Muslim Ladies’ Arabic College.