The Malabar Muslims

A Different Perspective

LRS Lakshmi

Delhi  Bengaluru  Mumbai  Kolkata  Chennai  Hyderabad  Pune

ii Introduction

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 Introduction iii

To
My Parents
iv Introduction
 Introduction v

Contents

List of Maps vi
List of Tables vii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations x
Note on Transliteration xi
Maps xii
Introduction xv
1. The Hadhrami Roots 1
2. Family and Inheritance Laws: Continuities and Changes 33
3. Religious Spaces and Disputes 62
4. Reformist Trends 87
5. Education and Social Mobility 107
6. Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 132
7. Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century: 156
A Standing Applause
Conclusion 171
Appendix 184
Glossary 186
Bibliography 188
Index 199
 List of Maps

Map 1: Administrative divisions in Malabar under the British in xii

late nineteenth century
Map 2: Muslim settlements in Malabar in 1870 xiii
Map 3: The areas of influence of Muslim organizations in Malabar xiv
 List of Tables

Table 1.1: Genealogical table of the Jifris of Malabar 23

Table 5.1: Number of literate Mappillas per 1000 in 1901 116
and 1911
Table 5.2: Literacy per 10,000 Mappillas in 1931 121
Table 5.3: Progress of education among Mappillas between 126
1891–92 and 1939–40
viii Introduction
 Introduction ix

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my special thanks to several people who went

through the manuscript and provided useful criticisms and suggestions.
My gratitude to my teachers, Sudha Jha, Narayani Gupta and Mukul
Kesavan who trained me to be an unbiased historian. The untiring guidance
of Avril Powell and stimulating discussions with K.N. Panikkar, Michael
Anderson, Conrad Wood, Stephen Dale, Susan Bayly, Christopher Fuller,
Peter Hardy, Joan Mencher, Gervace Clarence-Smith, Ulrike Frietag, Omar
Khalidi, Francis Robinson and James Chiriyankandath enabled me to fill
the major gaps in my work. I wish to thank all the staff members of the
Kozhikode State Archives, the Tamilnadu State Archives, the National
Archives of India, the School of Oriental and African Studies Library, the
India Office Library, London and the National Library of Scotland,
Edinburgh. I would also like to say a sincere thank you to K.K.N. Kurup,
Hafiz Mohammad and S.M. Mohammad Koya of Kozhikode University
and C.K. Kareem of the Kerala History Association. I am grateful to my
parents for their encouragement, especially my mother, for her help with
the translation of difficult Malayalam documents. Finally, I would like to
thank Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd. for getting the book
published.
 List of Abbreviations

Confdl. Confidential
FR Fortnightly Reports, Home Political Department
GO Government Order
HC High Court
IHC Proc. Indian History Congress Proceedings
I.L.R. Indian Law Reports
IOR India Office Library and Records
Judl. Judicial
KRA Kozhikode Regional Archives
LAD Legislative Assembly Debates
Misc. Miscellaneous
MLCP Madras Legislative Council Proceedings
MHCR Madras High Court Reports
MLJ Madras Law Journal
MNNR Madras Native Newspaper Reports
MSS. Manuscripts
MWN Madras Weekly Notes
NAI National Archives of India
NLS National Library of Scotland
RDPI Report of Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency
SA Second Appeal
TNA Tamilnadu Archives
SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies
 Note on Transliteration

In this book, The Malayalam and English Dictionary by Herman Gundert has
been used for the meanings and explanations of Malayalam terms. In
the transliteration of Malayalam words, the system followed in
N. Madhusoodanan Nair, P. Narayanan Kurup and A. Muhamed Yusuf
(eds.), Yugarasmi’s Illustrated English, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Arabic
Dictionary has been followed. Accordingly, in the Malayalam alphabetical
order:
a,aa (kaarnavar, thaavazhi), I,ee (as in beebi), u, oo, iru, ilu, e, e, ai, o, o,
ow, am (as in janmam), ka, kha, ga, gha, nga, cha, chha, ja, jha, nga, ta, dta,
da (as in Nambudiri), dta, na, tha (as in tharavaadu), dha, da, dha, na, pa,
pha, ba, bha, ma, ya, ra, la, va, sa, sha, sa, ha, la, zha (as in korapuzha,
thaavazhi), ra, na.
The original Malayalam place-names such as Kozhikode, Kannur,
Talasherri and Kollam have been used instead of their anglicised forms
which are Calicut, Cannanore, Tellicherry and Quilon.
For Arabic terms and meanings, The Arabic-English Dictionary by
F. Steingass and the Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition have been used.
The spelling of Arabic words usually follows the method used by Steingass.
Exceptions are Arabic names like Fathima, Ayesha, Khadija, Abu Bakr, for
which their Malayalam equivalents, Pathumma, Ayissa, Katisa, Abu Bakkar
have been used. The court books and archival files have also mostly used
the Malayalam equivalents except for some anglicised exceptions. Diacritical
marks have not been used in the book.
For plurals of Malayalam words, the English alphabet ‘s’ has been added
to them, as in the case of tharavaads, niskarapallis, srambis, etc. instead of
Malayalam tharavaadugal, niskarapalligal and srambigal. For plurals of Arabic
words as well, the same method has been followed, as in the case of qadis,
maulavis, mullas, etc.
Map 1: Administrative divisions in Malabar under the British in
late nineteenth century
Source: Adapted from W. Logan, Malabar. New Delhi, 1951
 Map 2: Muslim settlements in Malabar in 1870
Source: Adapted from C.A. Innes, Malabar and Anjengo. Madras, 1908
Map 3: The areas of influence of Muslim organizations in Malabar
Source: This map is based on the author’s research findings
 Introduction

Kerala, fondly known as the ‘God’s Own Country’, has always been famous
as the cradle of different religions since the ancient times. Islam, Christianity
and Judaism have flourished side by side in this region for centuries.
Kodungallur, in southern Kerala, is a living example of how a Hindu
temple, a mosque and a church stand alongside each other as witnesses to
the early arrival of Islam and Christianity to this land. The Jews arrived in
Cochin as early as 68 AD and a small Jewish town exists even today in
this region surrounding the oldest Jewish synagogue in the world.
Apart from the historical facts, Kerala is a land where all the different
religious communities have coexisted in harmony over several centuries. It
has therefore set an example to other regions in India. Having said that,
the reader would certainly have a question in mind regarding the ‘Moplahs’
who have made history by boldly attacking the British colonial
administration in Malabar. Eventually, they have acquired a scarred
reputation in the historical records, books, among history students and the
general public.
This book is an attempt to construct the social history of an Arab-Islamic
community on the southwest coast of India. So far, students of history
have only learnt about the ‘Moplah Peasant Rebellions’ in their classrooms.
However, recent historical writings have made genuine attempts to correct
the charred image of the ‘Moplah revolts’. The central idea of writing this
book has been to break the traditional rhetoric of several historical writings
on the so called ‘Moplah Rebellion’. It is a departure from the general
historiography available on the ‘uprisings’ and an attempt to purge the
Mappilla community of the ‘fanatical’ stereotype attributed to them. There
are some interesting aspects that need to be appreciated in the Mappilla
community.
xvi Introduction

Research studies on the Mappillas of Malabar have expanded over the

years and they are very important to our understanding of the history of
Muslims in South India. The earliest study on the community was Roland
Miller’s general survey from their early existence till the 1970s.1
Scholarly research is largely confined to the peasant revolts of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries and their economic, social, religious
and political implications. Works of Stephen Dale, Conrad Wood, K.N.
Panikkar and M. Gangadharan have focussed on the Mappilla peasant
uprisings in Malabar upto 1921, the eventful year of the Mappilla rebellion.2
Conrad Wood, in his work, has stressed on the economic causes behind
the agrarian revolts, while Stephen Dale has concentrated on the religious
overtones in the behaviour of the Mappilla peasants. K.N. Panikkar has
treated both the factors in his study of the nature of these uprisings. M.
Gangadharan, in his most recent publication has analysed the political
factors that instigated the rebellion. M. Abdul Samad’s study is the first
detailed work of its kind in the field of Mappilla history which covers all
the important theological reform movements such as the Islahi, the Jama’at-
i-Islami Hind, the Tabligh and the Kerala Aikya Sangham movements.3
Sociological studies by scholars like Kathleen Gough, Hamid Ali and
V. D’Souza have also examined the Mappilla society. Gough4 studies the
patterns of kin networks, the incest prohibitions and succession rules in
the Mappilla matrilineal joint families while Hamid Ali5 has focused on
Mappilla custom and law in Anglo-Muslim jurisprudence with emphasis
on succession, property and wakf (religious endowment) laws upto 1938.
V. D’Souza has examined the sociological significance of Mappilla names.6

1 Miller, Roland, Mappilla Muslims of Kerala. Madras: Orient Longman, 1976.

2 Dale, Stephen, Islamic Society in the South Asian Frontier: The Mappillas of Malabar
1498–1922. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980; Wood, Conrad, The Mappilla Rebellion
and its Genesis. New Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1987; Panikkar, K.N., Against
Lord and State. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989; and Gangadharan, M.,
The Malabar Rebellion. Kottayam: D.C. Books, 2008.
3 Samad, M. Abdul, Islam in Kerala. Groups and Movements in the 20th century. Kollam:
Laurel Publications, 1998.
4 Gough, Kathleen, ‘Mappilla: North Kerala’, in Schneider D.M., and Gough (eds.),
Matrilineal Kinship. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961; Gough, K., ‘Incest
Prohibitions and Rules of Exogamy in Three Matrilineal Groups of the Malabar
Coast’, International Archives of Ethnography, Vol. 46, No. 1.
5 Ali, Hamid, Custom and Law in Anglo-Muslim Jurisprudence. Calcutta: Thacker Spink,
1938.
6 D’Souza, V., ‘Sociological Significance of Systems of Names with Special Reference
to Kerala,’ Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 1, March 1955.
 Introduction xvii

Dilip Menon’s contribution to Malabar studies covers the notions of

community identity and political conflict between the Hindus and the
Mappillas.7 Beyond Kerala, the study of the political evolution of Tamil
Muslims by J.B.P. More has argued that historical conditionings have been
the major factors for the growth of Muslim politics in Tamilnadu.8 His
most recent study of the impact of print technology on the literature of
Tamil Muslims is an altogether different approach to the formation of Tamil
Muslim identity.9
This book is a departure from the existing literature and will examine
some of the social and institutional changes within the community under
colonial administration. The year 1870 has been chosen as the take-off
point of the study because it was only around and after that time that
colonial administrative and legal changes began to affect the traditional
order of the Mappilla community in significant ways. Writing a social
history is a challenging task because historians tend to brand the work as
one of ‘interest only to sociologists’. The general tendency of historians is
to look for new material on the Mappilla rebellion. A sincere effort has
been made to satisfy the historian and the sociologist alike.
Various aspects of the community have been covered in this book. Chapter
one has traced its historical roots and social formation. Family and
succession laws along with their modifications under the colonial judicial
system have been discussed in Chapter two. The religious issues have
been analysed in Chapter three. Chapter four throws light on the social
and religious reform movements that have transformed the Mappilla society.
Education and social mobility within the community and its impact is the
highlight of Chapter five. Chapter six has focussed on the political
mobilization of the community and Chapter seven looks at the most recent
developments among Mappillas in the twenty-first century and their notable
presence in Kerala society.
A careful selection of sources has been made in order to emphasize
social and institutional changes at different periods of time. Archival
materials were consulted at the Kozhikode Regional Archives, Kozhikode,
the Tamilnadu State Archives, Madras, the National Archives of India,
New Delhi, the Oriental and India Office Collections and the Western

7 Menon, Dilip, Caste, Nationalism and Communism in Malabar. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1994.
8 More, J.B.P., The Political Evolution of Muslims in Tamilnadu and Madras 1930–1947.
Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1997.
9 Ibid., Muslim Identity, Print Culture and the Dravidian Factor in Tamilnadu. Hyderabad:
Orient Longman, 2004.
xviii Introduction

Manuscripts department of the British Library, London, and the National

Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Of these, the most valuable deposits were
found in the Kozhikode Archives where most materials relating to Malabar
have been transferred from the Tamilnadu State Archives. The Revenue
department files and the Land Revenue Settlement registers are a huge
source of information on various aspects of Malabar. Most of the files
related to mosque and family property disputes invariably carried
attachments of original Malayalam manuscripts. Indian Law Reports,
Legislative Council Proceedings and Legislative Assembly Debates were
valuable sources in the understanding of Anglo-Muslim jurisprudence.
Official records, primary Malayalam sources, newspapers, journals and
personal interviews have also richly supported the study.

The Context
Malabar was geographically separated from the rest of the Madras
Presidency by the Western Ghats on its east. It was bounded by South
Kanara in the north; Coorg, Mysore and the Nilgiris in the east; the princely
state of Cochin in the south and the Arabian Sea on the west. It was
traditionally divided into vadakke or North Malabar and thekke or South
Malabar by the Korapuzha or the Kora river. North Malabar was located
between the Chandragiri and the Kora rivers and comprised of the former
kingdoms of Nileswaram, Kolattunad, Kottayam and Kadattunad. The
kingdoms of Kozhikode, Walluvanad and Palghat formed thekke Malabar
(See Map 1).
The Malabar coast, with its wealth of spices and timber was the cradle
of commerce.10 The region had wide trade networks across the Arabian
Sea. Countries from the Far East, the Middle East, the Near East and the
West established trade links with the region. The period between the eighth
and the eleventh centuries was one of expansion of Muslim commerce on
all main trade routes of the Indian Ocean. André Wink observes that in the
eighth and ninth centuries, the Indian Ocean became an ‘Arab
Mediterranean’, and the Arab or Muslim trading diaspora along the coasts
became predominant.11 Ships sailed from the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf,
crossed the western Indian Ocean and first anchored at Gujarat or Malabar.
Ships from the Bay of Bengal, whether sailing from the eastern Indian

10 Hunter, W.W., The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. 9, second edition. London: Trubner
& Co., 1886, p. 9.
11 Wink, André, Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Vol.1. Leiden: E.J. Brill,
1990, p. 65.
 Introduction xix

Ocean or the Southeast Asian islands would stop at Kozhikode or Kollam,

where they would meet and trade with the oncoming ships from Aden,
Hormuz and Gujarat.
The contacts with Malabar were conditioned by its frequent monsoons
and the products of the region. The main attraction on the Malabar coast
was its material wealth, especially pepper, the ‘black gold’ of the country
and other valuable spices like cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. The
frequent contacts of traders by sea gradually gave birth to ports, markets
and towns on the west coast. Kollam, in southern Kerala, was first heard of
as an important stopover in Malabar for Arab ships on their way to China.12
Malabar had a custom of people living in dispersed settlements with
scattered garden-houses rather than in a continuous collection of houses.
The houses were built wall to wall with sloping roofs to suit the extreme
monsoon conditions of the region. Although most settlements were
dispersed, it is argued that foreigners from the east coast or beyond the
Arabian Sea settled in nucleated settlements maybe for security or
occupational reasons.13
In the mid-thirteenth century, two coastal Hindu chieftains with strategic
ports expanded into small kingdoms by conquering the surrounding inland
chiefdoms and monopolising their trade. In the north was the Kolattiri
kingdom centered around Mount Eli, and in the south, the kingdom of
Travancore, centered around Kollam. In the fourteenth century, a third
Hindu kingdom of the Samuthiris had expanded with its centre at
Kozhikode. The most important event in the history of medieval Malabar
was the gradual extension and consolidation of the Samuthiri Rajas.14
The Samuthiris acquired a large measure of power from the Muslims
through trade taxes and naval support. According to the Tuhfatul Mujahidin
(written in the sixteenth century):

‘Plenty of merchants have come from different countries to parts of

the western coast of India. New towns sprang up; the trade of the
Muslims has increased the population… the Hindu Rajas of Malabar
adopt an attitude of respect and kindness towards the Muslims, as
the establishment of many towns is due to the Muslim traders having
settled in those ports.’15

12 Dunn, E. Ross, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta. London: Croom Helm, 1986, p. 220.
13 Menon, V.K.J., ‘Geographical Basis for the Distribution and Pattern of Rural Settlement
in Kerala,’ Journal of Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vol. 2, pp. 41–54.
14 The word ‘Samuthiri’ in Sanskrit means ‘Samundri’ or sea-king.
15 As cited in Arnold, T.W., The Preaching of Islam. Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf, 1913,
p. 382.
xx Introduction

The Samuthiri’s kingdom remained the most powerful kingdom until

the mid-eighteenth century.
The trade of Malabar was predominantly in the hands of Muslims. The
arrival of Muslims on the Malabar Coast is traced to the eighth century as
a result of trade relations between the Arab world and the peninsula.
Therefore along with the flourishing mercantile network, there was a
simultaneous spread of Islam on the coast. Gradually, Muslim settlements
were found in Kozhikode, Talasherri, Kannur, Ponnani, Vadagara, Kollam,
Kodungallur and other coastal towns of Malabar. Their trade was however
threatened by the arrival of the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama in
Kozhikode in 1498. He approached the Samuthiri for opening up trade
with Malabar, which was duly sanctioned and a factory established at
Kozhikode in 1500. There were four major ports in northern Malabar during
the period of Portuguese trade – Kannur, Kozhikode, Mahe and Vadagara.
It was the Portuguese who called the Samuthiris, ‘Zamorins’. In the first
decades of the sixteenth century, immediately on their arrival on the Indian
Ocean, the Portuguese made serious attempts at policing and choking off
links between the southwest coast of India and the Red Sea. This policy of
the Portuguese which was mainly aimed at shipments of pepper and spices
resulted in a decline in the trade between Kozhikode and Kannur to the
Middle East.16
The period between 1498–1792 was one of bitter struggle between
European and Arab merchants who formed shifting alliances with native
rulers for the control of pepper trade. The monopoly of the Muslim traders
was affected tremendously and there were long skirmishes between the
two. By 1600, the Portuguese had practically abolished the Arab trade but
were themselves driven from the coast by the Dutch in 1663. They captured
the Fort St. Angelo factory in Kannur from the Portuguese. The English
came to Kozhikode in 1664 and also established a factory in Talasherri in
1683, which was close to the pepper and cardamom hills. The French
founded a factory in Mahe. There was constant competition between the
French and the English which reached its high point when war broke out
between England and France in Europe in 1744.
In 1766, the northern half of the Malabar coast was invaded by the
Muslim rulers of Mysore. The Mysorean conquest of Malabar began with
Haider Ali’s expedition in 1766 followed by that of his son, Tipu Sultan’s
in 1792. Tipu removed Malabar’s capital from the old seat of Kozhikode to

16 Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, ‘The Portuguese, the Port of Basrur and the Rice Trade,
1600–50,’ in Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (ed.), Merchants, Markets and the State in Early
Modern India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1980, p. 28.
 Introduction xxi

a site seven to eight miles from the town where he founded a fort-city
called Farukkabad, and compelled the natives of Kozhikode to settle there
much against their wishes. However, soon after he left, they returned to
the former capital.17 The Samuthiri sought the help of the English against
Tipu and the English agreed to help him in return for a moderate tribute,
some commercial privileges and all the territories conquered by the Mysore
Sultans. With the treaty of Srirangapatanam of 1792, the whole of the
province of Malabar was formally ceded to the English by Tipu Sultan.

Administrative Structure under the British

During the Mysorean invasions, Malabar was divided into nine small
kingdoms and a number of border chiefdoms. The British amalgamated
the seven northern kingdoms of Kolattunad, Kottayam, Kurumbranad,
Kadattunad, Kozhikode, Walluvanad and Palakkad to form the Malabar
District. In 1800, the British assumed direct administrative control over the
entire district with Kozhikode as the administrative capital. The political
boundaries of Malabar under the British administration was reorganized
into three divisions – northern, middle and southern. The northern division
included Chirakkal, Talasherri, Kannur and Mahe; the middle division
was mainly bounded by Kozhikode, Beypore and Wyanad; and the
southern division comprised of Walluvanad, Chavakkad, Ernad, Chernad
and Palakkad.18

Malabar Society
Among the three political sections of Kerala, namely Malabar, Travancore
and Cochin, all of which were predominantly Hindu, there were still wider
divisions within the Hindu society. The Malayali Hindus were socially
divided in a hierarchical structure with the Nambudiri brahmins ranking
first as temple priests, religious scholars and traditional landowners. Next
to them, in the rank of higher castes were the Nayars. Land was an important
source of wealth for both the Nambudiris and the Nayars, who were
predominantly landed aristocrats. The Thiyyas or the Ezhavas, were toddy
tappers by virtue of which they were seen as low castes by the Nambudiris
and the Nayars. There was a category of untouchables called the Cherumars,
who were largely peasants. The Hindu fishermen called the Mukkuvans

17 Reports of the Joint Commission, Province of Malabar, 1792 and 1793, Vol. 1, p. 62.
18 Hunter, W.W., Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. 3, London: Trubner & Co., 1885.
p. 268.
xxii Introduction

also came under the low caste group. Hierarchy was strictly observed by
these castes in the form of residential segregation.
While the Nambudiris, the Nayars, the Thiyyas, the Cherumars and the
Mukkuvans were distributed all over Kerala, a large non-Hindu society also
thrived. In Travancore and Cochin, there was a large concentration of Syrian
Christians, whereas in Malabar, Muslims were a major religious community.
As Roland Miller has argued, in Malabar, the Muslims had to primarily
interact with Hindus. Since the Christian population was concentrated in
southern Kerala and the Muslim population in the northern area, Muslim-
Christian interaction had been secondary.19
As land was the chief source in Kerala, relations between landlords and
tenants were of great significance. In Travancore, the Nambudiris, the Nayars
and the Syrian Christians held positions as landlords. In Malabar, the
Nambudiris and the Nayars were landlords; the Muslims were largely tenants
in South Malabar and landlords in North Malabar.

The Agrarian Economy

The main features of Malabar’s economy were trade and the cultivation of
paddy and garden crops. The Malabar district stood next to the Madras
city in conducting sea-borne trade.20 As far as land economy was concerned,
the crop patterns in Malabar were decided by climatic and soil conditions
and accordingly, garden crops were predominantly grown in North
Malabar whereas paddy was grown in South Malabar. Thus in most of
the northern taluks of Kottayam and Kurumbranad, garden crops like
pepper, coconut and areca-nut were cultivated whereas the southern taluks
of Ernad, Walluvanad and Palakkad were wet paddy-growing areas.
Palakkad was the largest paddy-producing taluk in Malabar. However,
there were exceptions. The northern-most taluk of Chirakkal for example,
had more paddy lands than garden lands. The central taluk of Kozhikode,
though administratively and traditionally part of south Malabar, was
dominated by garden crops.21
Black pepper, cashewnuts, areca-nut, coconut, dry ginger and cardamom
were the main cash crops and most houses had a big garden surrounding
them where these crops were grown. Pepper was grown all over the coast,
but concentration was inland, at the foot of the Western ghats. Cash

19 Miller, Mappilla Muslims. p. 21.

20 India Office List, 1891. London, 1891.
21 Gopinath, Ravindran, ‘Gardens and Paddy Fields: Historical Implications of
Agricultural Production Regimes in Colonial Malabar,’ in Hasan, Mushirul and
Gupta, Narayani (eds.) India’s Colonial Encounter. New Delhi: OUP, 1993. p. 366.
 Introduction xxiii

transactions were for a long time the monopoly of the coastal towns where
the trade with the Arabs and from the sixteenth century, the Europeans,
flourished. In the beginning, the Europeans traded in pepper with the
Arabs in cash and then with other commodities. After the East India
Company’s take-over, a plantation was set up by British in north Malabar
in 1797, for the cultivation of coffee, pepper and cinnamon. Coffee
plantations were also set up in Wyanad and by the mid-nineteenth century
were well-established. By 1883, there were five tea-gardens and 13,568
coffee plantations in Malabar.22
Traditionally, all cultivated lands in Malabar, and much of what was
not cultivated was the inheritance of individuals, whose absolute private
property was recognized under the name of ‘janmam’ (proprietary right).
The person in whom such rights were vested was called janmi, who usually
let out his lands to actual cultivators on various subordinate tenures, such
as pattam and kanam (mortgage). The rent received by the janmi was known
as pattam and the portion that was payable to the government was called
nihudi.23 There were two general types of land tenures – janmam and kanam.
Most lands were held by mortgage, and a considerable proportion without
written documents. The janmis could not be dispossessed of their lands by
the State, and they enjoyed the rights to mortgage or to lease it to any
person they wished. In this, Malabar differed from the zamindari areas of
India, where, not the zamindar but the State was the owner of the land.24
The creation of revenue divisions for the convenience of revenue
settlements in Malabar has been attributed to Haider Ali, the Sultan of
Mysore. According to official opinion, the British government had the right
to escheated property. But as no register had been made of landed property
since the conquest of the province by Haider Ali, many estates which
should have been escheated to the government must have been assumed
by individuals.25
The British administrators recognized the janmis all over Malabar as
landlords. The kanakkarans were given the legal status of tenants. Till the
1830s, this juridical revision of rights did not have any impact on agrarian
relations. With the rise in agricultural product prices in the 1830s, the
janmis started exercising their new-found legal status on their subordinate
tenants. Thus the earlier system of custom was soon eclipsed by the uniform

22 Hunter, Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. 9, p. 231.

23 Proceedings from the Inam Commissioner, Coimbatore, 13.8.1863.
24 Mayer, Adrian, Land and Society in Malabar. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1952,
p. 79.
25 Mackenzie Collection: General. IOR/MSS.Eur.49.
xxiv Introduction

contractual relations codified by the British law courts.26 For revenue

purposes, the Malabar district was divided into ten taluks or subdivisions.
The unit of distribution was the amsam (Malayalam: revenue division). By
the late nineteenth century, there were 424 amsams in the district which
were further divided into desams (villages).27
Ravindran Gopinath has argued that the tenurial arrangements of north
and south Malabar varied with the cropping patterns of the two regions.
According to him, the high level of inputs into the wet paddy cultivation,
practiced in most of south Malabar and the Chirakkal taluk in the north
may be correlated with the larger proportion of agricultural labourers in
these taluks in contrast to the garden cropped taluks.
The southern region continued to have a much larger number of
agricultural labourers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Garden cultivation involved larger investment of capital and longer
cultivation periods. This heavy investment by the cultivators probably
checked the janmi from overexploiting them. The north-south difference in
the degree of socio-economic inequality in the form of strict caste restrictions
on purity and pollution was also manifested in the tenurial and agrarian
relations of the respective zones.28 It has been observed that from the
nineteenth century, garden lands were less severely taxed than paddy fields
and that could have encouraged garden cultivation and discouraged paddy
cultivation.

Peasant Rebellions in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth

Centuries
Closely linked to agrarian relations were the peasant uprisings in the
nineteenth century particularly in the Ernad and Walluvanad taluks in
south Malabar where wetland cultivation was predominant and where
thirty-seven per cent of the Muslim population lived. Most of them were
tenants, tenants-at-will or agricultural labourers mostly under Hindu higher
caste janmis and were therefore subject to frequent eviction and rack-renting.
The peasant uprisings of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
need to be analysed against the background of landlord-tenant relations in
south Malabar. The economic conditions of the Muslims of south Malabar
from the eighteenth till the early twentieth centuries were significantly
different from those in north Malabar. Stephen Dale has observed that in

26 Gopinath, Gardens. p. 373.

27 Hunter, Imperial Gazetteer, Vol. 9, pp. 224–5
28 Ibid. p. 379.
 Introduction xxv

interior south Malabar, the Muslim settlements were located in a largely

Hindu countryside, dominated by Hindu Nambudiri and Nayar janmis. These
landed aristocrats did not grant janmam lands to the Muslims, neither
were the Muslims economically capable of acquiring janmam rights. This
general economic condition created a sense of economic insecurity within
the Muslim tenants of the Ernad and Walluvanad taluks.29 In the coastal
regions of Calicut and north Malabar, the situation was different. The
Muslims there flourished in a mercantile economy and as a consequence
possessed janmam lands, which accounted for their economic and social
security.30 Therefore, the economic insecurity of the south Malabar Muslim
peasants resulting from the coercive social authority of the landed janmis
became the root cause of continuous tension and conflicts in the landlord-
tenant relationship. These conflicts took violent forms in the nineteenth
and the twentieth centuries.
As a remedy to the agrarian problem, the Malabar Compensation for
Tenants Improvement Act was passed in 1900 by which the janmi had to
pay the full expenses to the tenants for any improvement made by him. In
his study on land relations in Malabar, Toshie Awaya has argued that the
janmi had a legally recognized right of eviction. Legal eviction could be
affected directly through the courts or by means of a melcharth, a kind of
second mortgage upon lands leased on kanam where a kanam tenant could
be evicted by returning his kanam advance and paying compensation for
any improvements.31
However, between 1900 and 1920s, the cases of eviction in Malabar in
the form of melcharth was between 2,800 and 3,600. Awaya argues that the
customary relationships between the various agrarian classes must have
deteriorated because of a number of bitter court struggles; and without the
evictions, tenancy agitation could not have happened.32 He concludes that
the British perception of the janmis as having the sole right to absolute
ownership, and the legal reconstruction of interests by the British officials
and the courts prepared the ground for tenancy agitations.33
K.N. Panikkar argues that the nineteenth and early twentieth century
uprisings were limited in extent and scope; none of them were large-scale

29 Dale, Islamic Society. p. 71.

30 Ibid. pp. 71–2.
31 Awaya, Toshie, ‘Situating the Malabar Tenancy Act, 1930,’ in Robb, Peter, Sugihara,
H. and Tanagisawa, H. (eds) Local Agrarian Societies in Colonial India. London: Curzon
Press, 1996, p. 377.
32 Ibid. pp. 378–9.
33 Ibid. p. 398.
xxvi Introduction

peasant revolts against the janmis and the colonial state. According to
Panikkar, the number of rebels who participated in the incidents were only
351. The social composition of these rebels were related to land; they were
either tenants or agricultural labourers.34 He also explains that although
Hindu janmis and revenue officials were the principal targets of the
nineteenth and twentieth century revolts, they were hardly directed against
the Hindus in general. Religiosity, he explains was a decisive influence in
the uprisings, not as an immediate cause but as a mediating factor.35

The 1921 Rebellion

The tenancy agitations of the early twentieth century culminated in the
Mappilla rebellion of 1921. The most prominent actions of the rebels were
the attacks on the British officials and non-officials and government
buildings; and the Hindu janmis. They were also motivated by the religious
appeal of the Khilafat movement. Not less than fifty thousand people
comprising of labourers, cultivators and religious preachers mostly from
the poorer sections were active participants in the rebellion.36
The uprising was directed mainly against the colonial state. Agrarian
discontent and the deteriorating relations between the janmis and the tenants
were the major causes for the rebellious nature of the Muslim peasants.
The repressive measure by the army and the police was a traumatic
experience for both the Muslims and the Hindus – houses were burnt and
men were arrested and jailed at random.37 In the long run, the 1921
upheaval had a deep impact on the process of communalization within
the Malabar society, manifested in the politics of the twentieth century.38 It
was also expressed in the form of contestation for religious space in South
Malabar. The rebellion did not primarily have religious undertones (as
Stephen Dale has suggested) but was a fall-out of the British interpretation
of agrarian relations in Malabar.
When the British government began suppressing the rebellion with harsh
measures, it was totally blind and indiscriminate towards the people of
the rebel areas. Mappillas who had not participated in the rebellion were
also in pitiable conditions under British oppression. They were attacked
by the rebels as traitors, for the Hindus, they were violent Mappillas and
for the British, they were part of the troublesome community. The British

34 Panikkar, Against Lord. pp. 85–6.

35 Ibid. p. 88.
36 Ibid. pp. 167–9.
37 Dale, Islamic Society. p. 71.
38 Ibid. pp. 71–2.
 Introduction xxvii

army did not discriminate between the Mappillas and the Hindus.39 This
left a totally shattered population in the rebel area whose sufferings were
uncounted and who needed immediate relief and rehabilitation. The refugees
moved to Kozhikode where men and money poured in from various places
such as Kozhikode, Palakkad, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad, Delhi, Lahore
and even from Mesopotamia and Singapore. Voluntary organizations such
as the Jamiat-e-Dawat-e-Tabligh-e-Islam, the Servants of India Society and the
Arya Samaj reached Malabar to provide relief for them.40
In the post-rebellion period, tenancy movements continued because
arbitrary evictions of the tenants continued. Sreevidhya Vattarambath, in
her findings, has divided the tenancy movements into two stages – one led
by upper class tenants or kanakkaran, and the other by lower class tenants
or verumpattamkars (verumpattam tenure was a simple lease, used only for
paddy lands). She has shown that the tenants were entirely at the mercy of
the janmis. While the earlier peasant revolts were that of the Mappillas
who were largely verumpattamkars and who demanded prevention of eviction
and full compensation, the later tenancy movements were led by the
kanakkarans who were mostly Nayars.41
To prevent further revolts, the Madras government was forced to enact
limited land reform for Malabar by the Malabar Tenancy Act of 1930. Before
the Malabar Tenancy Act of 1930 was passed, the janmi could evict the
kanakkarans at the end of each twelve-year period. Since 1930, the janmi
had been able to evict only if the kanakkarans could not, or did not wish to
pay his renewal fee, or was in arrears of rent, or if the janmi needed the
land for his own cultivation. The cultivating verumpattamkar was liable to
eviction by his landlord, or by any intermediary tenant, at any time. In any
case, the Tenancy Act of 1930 gave him a certain security of tenure by
further restricting the occasions on which he could be evicted. The Act
fixed a maximum renewal fee for the kanakkarans at the expense of the
janmi.42
There were however regional variations to this general trend. For example,
protection against eviction was given for predominantly wet lands. In the
interior of Chirakkal taluk, the lands were mostly dry, and therefore the

39 Muhammedali, T., ‘In Service of the Nation: Relief and Reconstruction in Malabar in
the Wake of the Rebellion of 1921,’ Indian History Congress Proceedings, 68th Session,
2007, p. 791.
40 Ibid. pp. 791, 793.
41 Vattarambath, Sreevidhya, ‘Growth of Tenancy Movement in the Post 1921 Rebellion
Period’, Indian History Congress Proceedings, 68th Session, 2007, p. 654.
42 Mayer, Land. p. 81.
xxviii Introduction

security of tenure was the weakest compared to the other regions in

Malabar.43 However, the Act did not benefit the cultivating verumpattamkar
or kanakkaran much. The Mappillas had to face two challenges in the post
rebellion period – firstly, the problems of relief and rehabilitation, and
secondly, the Tenancy Act which failed to give any relief to poor Mappilla
peasants.44 In 1940, the Malabar Tenancy Enquiry Committee suggested a
further fixity of tenure for all kanakkarans whether cultivating or not.
Thus, Malabar had a very complex agrarian system and rigid land
relations which prompted peasant uprisings and subsequent legislation.

Litigation
In the late nineteenth century, the volume of litigation in Malabar had
considerably increased. Litigation arose from the form of land tenure, the
collection of overdue rents and renewal fees, and disputes over family
properties. In north Malabar where the value of land-holdings was high,
litigation was relatively more frequent. For example, Kurumbranad taluk
had twice as many lower courts as any other taluk.
According to the administrative report of the Madras Presidency for
1875–76,

The average proportion of appeals to appealable suits in six years

from 1870 to 1875 was about 10.5 per cent; in the wealthy and
litigious districts of Malabar and south Kanara, the proportion was
specially high, being respectively, 14 and 20.4 per cent.45

Judged by the ratio of population to suits, and excepting the Madras

city, the most litigious district in 1893 was north Malabar where one in
every fifty-one persons went to court. Comparatively, one in every ninety
persons went to court in south Malabar.46 The explanation given for the
extent of court cases was the general prosperity of the district, its immunity
from famine and its complex land tenure system.
Against this backdrop, the institutional and social changes within the
Mappilla community will be discussed in this book.

43 Ibid. p. 93.
44 Vattarambath, Growth of Tenancy. p. 658.
45 Report in the Administration of Madras Presidency 1875–76. Madras, 1877. p. 39.
46 Report in the Administration of Madras Presidency 1893–94. Madras, 1894. p. 47.
 1

The Hadhrami Roots

Islamization in Malabar
Historians have always been intrigued by the processes of Islamization in
various parts of the world. Nehemia Levtzion, in a study which has
influenced subsequent scholarship, perceived of Islamization as a movement
of individuals and groups, departing from some form of traditional religion
and following a process which ends with normative Islam.1 Writing about
Islam in West Africa, he argued that as long as Islam was confined to the
trading communities, it operated on the fringes of West African societies
where there was actually a dispersion of Muslims rather than a spread of
Islam. He identifies social interaction, intermarriage and the role of traders
as the important factors of Islamization. Similarly, Trimingham explained
the spread of Islam on the East African coast as the result of trans-oceanic
contacts, the role of traders and the intermarriage of Arab and Persian
settlers with the local Bantu women.2 He also observes that sections of
the people of Hadramaut in Yemen, cut off by the desert from the interior
of Arabia, had long ago turned to the sea for a livelihood.3 The role of
intermarriage as a major factor of social integration in the Islamization of

1 Levtzion, Nehemia, ‘Patterns of Islamization in West Africa,’ in N. Levtzion (ed.)

Conversion to Islam. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1979. p. 216. Levtzion’s work
represents one of the few comparative studies on conversion to Islam in medieval
times.
2 Trimingham, J.S., Islam in East Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964,
pp. 2–53.
3 Ibid. p. 2.
2 The Malabar Muslims

East Africa has also been emphasized by Guennec-Coppens in her recent

study of the Swahili-speaking groups of the Comoros Islands.4
In port enclaves, the primary concern of the foreign merchants was
commerce. During their short stays in the different ports, many of the
Arab merchants entered into temporary marriages with the local women
and in certain regions, multiple marriages were contracted to create a
network of lineages in the host societies. Viable commercial networks led
to temporary settlements in the urban centres.
Almost all of the transit trade of the Indian west coast was in the hands
of Muslims. Colonies of Arabs and Persian Muslims were gradually
becoming established in Malabar, as in various other places between Sind
and Canton from the eighth century. Gradually the entire Malabar trade
began to prosper in the hands of the industrious Mappilla merchants.
Along with the Balija Naidus and the Sayyids of Golconda, the Mappillas
have also been classified as a typical diaspora community.5
From the eighth century, colonies of Arab and Persian Muslims were
gradually becoming established in Malabar, as in various other places
between Sind and Canton. Gradually, the entire Malabar trade began to
prosper in the hands of the industrious Mappilla merchants. As traders,
they filled a void in a society which lacked an indigenous commercial
class.
Malabar’s links with Hadhramaut in South Yemen is suspected to have
begun as early as the first century AD. A large number of Arabs had
settled along the Malabar Coast in this century.6 In André Wink’s view,
in ancient times, the people of Yemen and Hadhramaut appear to
have been especially numerous here.7 Moreover, he shows that the
predominance of the Shafi’i school (one of the four schools of Islamic law)
can also be related to the Hadhrami influence.8
The two ports of importance on the coast of Hadhramaut were ash-
Shihr and al-Mukhalla. Tarim was the largest town in the region, in terms
of its population as well as in trade, industry and intellectual culture. It
was an educational centre most highly regarded in South Arabia, and the

4 Guennec-Coppens, Francoise Le, ‘The Patterns of Hadrami Emigration in East Africa,’

Paper presented at the Conference of South Arabian Migrants to Hadhramaut held at the
School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 27–29 April, 1995.
5 Subrahmanyam Sanjay, The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500–1650
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. p. 338.
6 André Wink, Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Vol.1. Leiden, 1991. pp.
67–8.
7 Ibid. p. 68.
8 Ibid. p. 71.
 The Hadhrami Roots 3

intellectual and religious life has traditionally revolved around a number

of sayyids, sufis and ‘ulama whose influence and reputation extended
overseas.9
Scholars who have been studying the routes of Hadhrami migration have
argued that Hadhramis have been found in various coasts of East Africa
and Southeast Asia as early as the thirteenth century. However, it has
been unanimously accepted that perhaps the earliest known Hadhrami
migrants were actually found in Malabar, where a number of Muslims
traced their origin to Tarim.10 The trade between Yemen and Malabar dated
back to ancient times, Zufar in Hadhramaut being its chief centre. It is
believed that betel, betelnuts and coconuts were carried from Malabar and
planted in Hadhramaut.11 The fact that Arabs settled in Malabar earlier
than in Southeast Asia is also confirmed from the general consensus that
Islam spread to that region from the southwest coast of India.12
The initial Islamization of Malabar was thus through Arabs who came
as seamen, merchants, nakhudas (Arabic: captains) and shahbandars (Arabic:
port chiefs). It was the practice of the Samuthiri to appoint one of the
leading Muslim merchants of Kozhikode as the Shahbandar. Since the Arab
women seldom followed their husbands out of their country, their men
usually married the local women.13 Therefore many children (called Arabs)
born in Malabar were actually of mixed blood. What Berg has argued for
Southeast Asia can also be argued for Malabar. Many of the early Arabs
intermarried with the Malayali women, built houses for their family and
taught them the basic practices of their religion. The offspring of such
unions were raised and brought up by their mothers and were called
‘Mappillas’. Berg observes that the Arabs who settled with a commercial
motive almost wholly abstained from making propaganda in favour of
Islam outside their family or immediate connections.14

9 The sayyids are the highest social group in the social hierarchy of Arabia, the sufis
are religious mystics and the ‘ulama are the highest religious authority. Omar Khalidi,
‘The Role of the Hyderabad Hadhramis in the Politics of Hadhramawt in the
nineteenth century’, Paper presented at the Conference of South Arabian Migration
Movements in the Indian Ocean, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London, 27–29 April, 1995. p. 2.
10 Ibid. p. 1.
11 M. Koya Parappil, Kozhikottu Muslimin Charitram. Kozhikode: 1994. p. 90.
12 Oscar Evangelista, ‘Some Aspects of the History of Islam in Southeast Asia, in Peter
Gowing (ed.), Understanding Islam and Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: New
Day Publishers, 1988, p. 19.
13 Berg, Van den, ‘Hadhramaut and the Arab Colonies in the Indian Archipelago,’
Translated by C.W.H. Sealy, Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government,
New Series No. 212. Bombay: 1887. p. 41.
14 Ibid. p. 48.
4 The Malabar Muslims

Similar processes of intermarriage occurred among other diaspora

communities across the Indian Ocean. For example, Arabs intermarried
with the Konkans on the Konkan coast, the Tamils on the Coromandel
coast, with the Chinese in the Indonesian archipelago and the Bantu women
in East Africa.15 Intermarriage was therefore a feature of Islamization as a
result of the Arab trade diaspora.
Missionaries from the Arab world followed the traders in their zeal to
preach their faith. In Malabar, the first mosque was founded in
Kodungallur in the eighth century by the Arab religious preachers. In
Kozhikode taluk, the first mosque, called the Chaliyam Puzhakarapalli was
also built in the eighth century. During the same time, Malik ibn-Habibi,
an Arab missionary, is said to have preached in Chaliyam for about five
months and in the process, some of the Nambudiri illams (Malayalam:
Nambudiri joint-family households) were said to have embraced Islam.16
It appears that Malik ibn-Dinar disseminated Islam among the Mukkuvans
(Malayalam: fishermen) all along the coastline between Kozhikode and
Pantalayini in Kozhikode taluk.17
The Arab merchants who sailed to the coast of Malabar, were generous
patrons of mosque-building and repair. For example, the Mishkhalpalli in
Kozhikode, which dates back to the fourteenth century, is said to have
been constructed by Nakhuda Mishkhal, an Arab ship-owner and merchant
who lived in Kozhikode. Ibn Battuta wrote:

‘… in this town lives the very rich and celebrated Nakhuda Misqal
who possesses numerous vessels employed in the trade with India,
China, Yemen and Persia.’18

The Jamaatpalli (Jamaat-Arabic:assembly) in Kozhikode (originally dated

from the fifteenth century) was repaired in the late seventeenth century
and, according to an inscription carved on one of the lintels, this restoration
was carried out under the patronage of Shaikh Imad ibn Ibrahim, known

15 See for example, D’Souza, V. The Navayats of Kanara. Dharwad: Kannada Research
Institute, 1955 for the Konkan coast; Bayly Susan, Saints, Goddesses and Kings.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989 for the Tamils; Guennec-Coppens,
Hadhrami Emigration… for East Africa and Oscar Evangelista, ‘Some Aspects of
the History of Islam in Southeast Asia,’ in Gowing, Peter, (ed.), Understanding Islam
for Indonesia.
16 Parappil, Kozhikottu. p. 45.
17 Ibid. p. 46.
18 Gibb, H.A.R., (Trans.) Ibn Battuta. Travels in Asia and Africa 1325–54. London: Robert
McBride, pp. 243–7.
 The Hadhrami Roots 5

as Nakhuda.19 As in the other ports of the Indian Ocean, marriage networks

with the local Malayali women were formed by these merchants and their
offspring thus added to the initial population of Muslims on the coast.
In a study of the process of conversion in this region, Stephen Dale
points out that the Hindu upper castes like the Nambudiris and the Nayars
would not even enter the urban areas for fear of pollution, whereas lower
castes were free to work for foreigners. In towns like Kozhikode, they
would also have to come into contact with representatives of a prosperous,
relatively egalitarian religious community which welcomed converts and
sometimes actively proselytised among the Hindu population.20
Royal patronage also seems to have encouraged Islamization. For
example, in Kozhikode, the Samuthiris gave special trading privileges to
the Arab merchants because the port was an important source of revenue
for the kingdom. It is known from the Dutch records that in the sixteenth
and the seventeenth centuries, the Samuthiri encouraged conversion. His
war-boats could be manned by Muslims alone, and change of faith was
the simplest means of providing sailors to cope with the Portuguese at
sea.21 Also, according to C.A. Innes,

‘The Zamorin of Calicut, who was one of the chief patrons of Arab
trade, is said to have encouraged conversion to Islam, in order to man
Arab ships on which he depended for aggrandisement, and to have
ordered that in every family of fishermen in his dominion, one or more
of the male members should be brought up as Mohammedans.’22

Ibrahim Kunju has highlighted the importance of sufis in the spread of

Islam in Malabar. Kunju argues that there is scanty information available
on the sufi activity in the early period as compared to the detailed accounts
of sufism in North India because the Shaf’i ‘ulama discountenanced all forms
of religious activity other than their own.23 Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth
century had mentioned his meeting at Ezhimala with a theologian, whom

19 Shokoohy, Mehrdad, ‘Architecture of the Sultanat of Ma’bar in Madura and other

Muslim settlements in South India,’ in Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain
and Ireland, III Series, Vol.1, Part 1, April 1991, p. 84.
20 Dale, S.F., ‘Trade, Conversion and the Growth of the Islamic community of Kerala,
South India,’Paper presented at the International Conference on Islamization in South
Asia, Oxford, July 13–15, 1989. p. 10.
21 Hunter, Imperial Gazetteer, Vol.9, p. 226.
22 Innes, Malabar. p. 190.
23 Kunju, Ibrahim A.P., ‘Origin and Spread of Islam in Kerala’, in Engineer, A.A. (ed.),
Kerala Muslims: A Historical Perspective. Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1995. p. 23.
6 The Malabar Muslims

he simply referred to as ‘Said’. At Kannur, he was a guest of a theologian

from Baghdad. At Kozhikode, Battuta met a preacher, Shaikh Shahabuddin
from Arabia who was revered as one with healing powers. His tomb
preserved in the Shekindepalli, was a cult centre. A three-day festival was
held every year on his death anniversary – the Koran was read and
offerings were made to the tomb. At Kollam, Battuta spent some days in
the hermitage of Shaikh Fakhruddin, the son of Shaikh Shahabuddin.24
Traditional accounts of the sufis and religious missionaries in Malabar
have been preserved in malas (verse) which were written in Arabi-
Malayalam25 dialect and were therefore not widely known outside the
region. Mention has been made in the malas of one Jalaluddin of Bukhara
who came to Valiapatanam in 1494. The Qadiri tariqa26 was the most
popular tariqa (a sufi order) in Kerala, having many followers from the
fifteenth century. Kunju holds that even men of other tariqas were initiated
into the Qadiri tariqa. The maulud27 of Abdul Qadir al-Jalani known as
Muhiyuddin Mala (in Arabi-Malayalam) composed by Qadi Mohammad
al-Kalikutti in 1607 became widely popular in Kerala.28
Another tariqa which had a wide following in Malabar was the Rifa’i
tariqa, 29 which spread from the mainland to the Maldive islands.
Throughout Malabar, Rifa’i Mala, a poem extolling the miracles of the Rifa’i
Shaikh, was chanted to get relief from burns and to guard against snake-
bite. One of the several malas, the Puthiya Saifuddin Mala, indicates that
the Naqshbandi tariqa had spread widely in Malabar in the earlier days but
the date was unknown, and it was mainly confined to Wyanad. There
were regular religious disputes between the Naqshbandi scholars and the
orthodox ‘ulama. However, the explanation for the relatively limited spread

24 Ibid. p. 25.
25 In the Arabi-Malayalam script, Malayalam was written in Arabic letters and new
alphabets were created using diacritical marks on the Arabic alphabets to represent
Malayalam letters and local phonetics. Karassery M.N., ‘Arabic-Malayalam’ in
Engineer, Kerala Muslims. p. 168.
26 The Qadiriyya tariqa was a sufi order founded by ‘Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (d.1166). He
was the Principal of a school of Hanbali law in Baghdad. The order spread in
North Africa, Constantinople and India. Gibb, H.A.R.and Kramers, J.H. (ed.), A
Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1961 pp. 202–5.
27 The maulud ceremony is a reading of a short treatise celebrating the birth, life,
works and sayings of the Prophet or a saint. A mulla is called upon to read the
treatise, part of which is in verse.
28 Kunju, Origin. p. 26.
29 The Rifa’i tariqa was founded by Ahmad bin ‘Ali Abu al-Abbas (1118–1183), in the
twelfth century in Basra. He was also trained in the Shafi’i law. Gibb and Kramers,
Shorter Encyclopaedia. pp. 475–6.
 The Hadhrami Roots 7

of sufi activities in Malabar compared to the Tamil region, northern India,

Bengal or the Panjab could be the absence of a court culture and patronage
in the region.
In 1718, Muhammad Shah, an Islamic preacher, migrated from a village
near Bombay to Kondotti. William Logan wrote about his impact on the
local Mappillas even as late as the nineteenth century as follows:

‘…They are chiefly sunnis or the followers of the Ponnani Tangal, the
chief priest of the orthodox party, but sometime in the 18th century, a
schism was created by the introduction of new forms of worship by a
foreign (Persian) Muhammadan, who settled at Kondotti in the Ernad
taluk. His followers were called Shiahs by the orthodox party, but they
themselves when questioned, object to the use of the name and assert
that they were as much sunnis as the other party. This sect, though
still numerous, does not seem to be increasing in numbers.’30

Some of the practices of the followers of Muhammad Shah, like the

celebration of the Muharram festival and the prostration of murids
(Persian:disciples) before the preacher, gave rise to popular suspicion that
they were Shiahs. These practices led to disputes and clashes between their
supporters and opponents. As a result, many such practices were
dropped.31 Tipu’s subsequent patronage to them was in recognition of
Muhammad Shah’s particular sanctity, for he claimed to be a member of
the influential Chishti order of Rajputana.32
The jifris, who were religious authorities in Hadhramaut, came to
Malabar in the eighteenth century.33 The first Ba’alawi preacher who came
to Malabar was Sayyid Hasan Jifri, who belonged to the Alawiyya sufi
tariqa.34 The Ba’alawis were a large and influential clan in Hadhramaut.35
Hasan Jifri was the religious leader of the Alawiyyas in Malabar. The Jifris
of Mambram and Kozhikode were venerated and their shrines became
important pilgrim centres.
During the eighteenth century, large-scale conversion seems to have
taken place at the time of Tipu’s conquest of Malabar. According to the

30 Logan, Malabar. Vol. 1, p. 199.

31 Kunju, Origin. pp. 26–7.
32 Dale, Islamic Society. p. 112.
33 Kunju, Ibrahim, The Mappilla Muslims of Kerala. Their History and Culture. Trivandrum:
Kerala Historical Society, 1989. p. 26.
34 Ibid.
35 S.T. Buzpinar, ‘Abdul Hamid II and Sayyad Fadl Pasha of Hadhramawt,’ Journal of
Ottoman Studies, Vol.13, 1993. pp. 227–8.
8 The Malabar Muslims

reports of the Malabar Joint Commission, his conversion activities were

induced from motives of religious zeal.36 But Mohibbul Hasan, author of
the most authoritative study of Tipu, explains it as an outcome of his
political motives and not of religious ones. He argues that Tipu regarded
forced conversion as a form of punishment which he inflicted on those
of his subjects who were guilty of repeated rebellion.37 Except for Coorg
and Malabar, Tipu did not adopt the policy of proselytization in other
parts of his kingdom, for the rebellions there were few and far between.
Hasan argues however, that some of the conversions in the case of the
Yeravas and the Holeyas in Coorg and the lower castes in Malabar were
voluntary.38 A recent scholar, M. Janaki, has shown that Tipu was a
generous patron of Hindu satrams, which were centres of religious
learning.39
The inam (Arabic: gift) registers of the British period have recorded the
generous inam grants40 that Tipu had made to Hindu families as well as
Hindu temples in Malabar. For example, in the Kadikad village of
Chavakkad district, he had granted a stretch of land for the personal benefit
of the Hanumadathil Nambudiripad illam.41 Similarly, in the Kozhikode taluk,
inam lands were granted for the support of Hindu Brahmins serving in
temples.42 Tipu had also donated lands to the temple at Guruvayur in the
Ponnani taluk.43
It seems that in the eighteenth century, some members of the low castes
converted to Islam to gain economic benefits. For example, the levy on
merchandise depended, among other things, on the caste of the person
bringing them for sale. According to Ruchira Bannerjee,

‘… as for instance upon the articles of tobacco, a Brahmin (Pattar or

Tamil Brahmin) pays three fanams for hundred bundles, a Mussalman

36 Reports of Joint Commission, Province of Malabar, 1792 & 1793. Vol. 1, p. 61.
37 Hasan, Mohibbul, History of Tipu Sultan. Calcutta: The Bibliophile Ltd., 1971. p. 362.
38 See footnotes. Ibid. p. 363.
39 Janaki, M., ‘Hyder and Tipu Sultan in Malabar,’ in Engineer, A.A. (ed.), Kerala
Muslims. p. 110.
40 Inam grants were actually revenue lands granted tax-free for charitable purposes in
religious institutions in commutation of ready money allowances.
41 Inam Register, Kurumbranad and Chavakkad Taluks. Malabar Collector’s Office:
Kozhikode, 1866.
42 Inam Register, Kozhikode Taluk. Kozhikode, 1866.
43 Inam Register, Ernad Taluk. Kozhikode, 1866.
 The Hadhrami Roots 9

five, and so in proportion to the caste of the seller, the lowest caste
being obliged to pay as high as ten to twelve fanams per hundred
bundles.’44

This point can be further substantiated by the revenue administration

report of Malabar for 1822, which said:

‘The Mohammedan religion is extending very rapidly in Malabar, the

zeal of the followers being seconded by their wealth, enables them to
hold out irresistible temptations to the poorer classes of people, who
flock to the coast in a season of scarcity, and on becoming converts are
saved from immediate starvation.’45

Further commenting on the various conversion processes, Stephen Dale

has explained the evolution of the Muslim community as a natural
extension of the interrelated processes of settlement, marriage and
conversion which had occurred along the sea coast. He argues that the
Mappillas must have predominated as those who carried trade to
upcountry bazaars, establishing the settlements which attracted converts
from lower Hindu castes in the surrounding countryside.46
André Wink has argued that by entering into marital alliances with
local women, the Arabs may have ensured themselves of a spouse in the
harbours which they frequented and this was of extra importance in
Malabar on account of the strong taboos on commensality which developed
here among the Hindus. The women with whom such ties were made
were often of fisher and mariner castes.47 A seafaring life, trade with
Arabia, and Arab missions led to extensive conversion among the Malabar
fishermen.48 Therefore, a number of mukkuvans on the Malabar Coast
embraced Islam during the missionary activities of Malik ibn Dinar. This
group of converted fishermen was known as pusalars.
It seems that conversion to Islam continued during the colonial period.
The British census reports prepared in the late nineteenth century have
recorded that the majority of Muslims in Malabar made their living as
tenants or agricultural labourers. During the nineteenth and twentieth

44 Banerjee, Ruchira, ‘Mappilla Merantile Network of Malabar in the 18th century’,

Gupta, Aniruddha (ed.), Minorities on India’s West Coast: History and Society, Delhi
World Press: 1991. p. 156.
45 Graeme, H.S., Report of the Revenue Administration of Malabar, 14 January, 1822.
46 Dale, Trade. p. 14.
47 Wink, Al-Hind. pp. 71–2.
48 Hunter, Imperial Gazetteer. Vol. 9, p. 23.
10 The Malabar Muslims

century Mappilla uprisings, the Mappilla peasants converted many of the

low caste Hindu peasants called cherumars en masse in order to escape
the tyranny of their janmis. For example, the cherumars who numbered
99,000 in 1871 were reduced to 64,725 in the next ten years. There was
therefore a total loss of 34.6 per cent which has been attributed to
conversion in the census report.49 These conversions particularly among
the lower caste Hindus could have been accentuated by their poor
economic conditions as well as the possible work incentives available
within the flourishing Mappilla community both on the coast and the
interior. It has however been found that the pusalars, despite conversion,
remained a low status group within the Mappilla social hierarchy.
Similar patterns of conversion on the basis of economic incentives
continued in the twentieth century. For example, the cherumars were found
to have converted in this period due to the oppressive land tenure system
that continued from the nineteenth century. Thomas Shea, a scholar on
the land tenure system of Malabar, writes:

‘Evidence pointing to the significance of conversion included the

consistent decline in the population of cherumars over the period 1901–
31, the presence of a numerous subcaste called Puthiya Islam, meaning
new (converts) Islam and evidence based upon difference in inheritance
laws and caste customs prevailing among Muslims of the north from
those of southern Muslims’.

The reference here is being made to the Muslims of south Malabar

where the cherumar population was numerous in the first three decades of
the twentieth century. Conrad Wood has argued that the cherumars certainly
had material advantages on conversion. Even in the nineteenth century, a
Cherumar was paid fewer wage than that of a free labourer such as a
Mappilla.50 The material advantage that Wood talks of is obviously the
prospects of a better earning as a Mappilla rather than as a Cherumar.
Scholars such as Ibrahim Kunju and Roland Miller have also supported
the argument of economic upgradation as a cause of Islamization in
Malabar. Kunju explains that apart from the encouragement of rulers like
the Samuthiris to convert to Islam, the low caste Hindus, till the twentieth
century, were also attracted by better economic prospects open to them

49 Imperial Census Report, Madras Presidency, Vol. 1, 1881. Madras: Government Press,
1883.
50 Wood, Conrad, ‘Historical Background of the Moplah Rebellion: Outbreaks, 1836–
1919’ Social Scientist, Trivandrum, August, 1974. p. 23.
 The Hadhrami Roots 11

on conversion.51 Miller has argued that the presence of wealthy Arab

merchants on the coastal settlements was a major attraction for the Hindu
outcastes right from the early centuries.52 The utilitarian aspect of working
for these merchants was that as Muslims, there were less restrictions on
workers who transported trading goods from the interior to the coast,
than as outcastes.53
Demographic statistics for the twentieth century showed that one-third
of the Muslims of the Madras Presidency were found in the Malabar
district in 1901 where thirty percent were Muslims against 6.5 per cent in
the Presidency as a whole.54 Between 1911 and 1921, the Mappilla
population in the west coast increased by six per cent. This increase was
again attributed to conversion, especially when the Cherumar population
had fallen during the decade by 7,000 or two per cent.55 By this period of
time, the Malabar district had the largest concentration of Muslims in South
India, the majority of whom were Malayalam-speaking Mappillas.56
Islamization in the form of Arab intermarriage with Malayali women
continued even in the twentieth century. Evidence has been found that in
1907, a considerable number of Arab pearl-divers visited Ceylon and on
their way back, halted at several places on the west coast such as
Kozhikode where they contracted marriages for various periods of time
with young Mappilla girls.57
In regions of Kondotti and Malappuram, the low caste Hindu peasants
were also influenced by the egalitarian concept of Muslim religious
preachers. This suggests that a large measure of voluntary choice went
into their conversion to the new faith.
In other words, the different social roles played by enterprising Arab
traders, religious preachers, the encouragement of rulers and the economic
prosperity of Mappilla merchants were the chief agents of Islamization in
Malabar.

Muslim Settlements in Malabar

The earliest Muslim settlements in Malabar which emerged on its
coastal fringes were Ezhimala, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kollam, Chaliyam,

51 Kunju, Ibrahim, ‘Genesis and Spread of Islam in Kerala’, Journal of Kerala Studies,
Vol. 3, 1976. pp. 487–8.
52 Miller, Mappilla Muslims. p. 55.
53 Ibid.
54 Census of India Report, Madras, 1901, Vol. 1, part 1, p. 383.
55 Census of India Report, Madras, 1921, Vol. XIII, part 1, p. 59.
56 Ibid.
57 Letter from Bradley to the Collector of Malabar, KRA/Judl./G.O.No.1560/5.12.1907.
12 The Malabar Muslims

Parappanangadi, Tanur, Ponnani and Kodungallur. They settled around

mosques, the first of which was founded in Malabar by Malik ibn Dinar
in Kodungallur in the eighth century. The foundation of the mosque is
linked by a well known Malabar tradition with the conversion of the last
Chera king, Cheruman Perumal, to Islam. Unlike other mosques in the
world, the Kodungallur mosque does not face Mecca but is inclined
towards the east.58 As Malik ibn Dinar and his followers travelled around
preaching Islam, they built mosques all along the Malabar Coast in Kollam,
Ezhimala, Chaliyam and Kasargod.
Some of the oldest Muslim settlements in Kozhikode were Kuttichira,
Idiangara, Kondungal and Parappil, located in the nagaram desam of the city.
Together they formed a close-knit colony bounded on all sides by the sea,
the Kallayi river, the big bazaar and by the late nineteenth century, the
railway lines. Many of the Muslims owned the best or superior types of
garden lands. Shops and markets ran alongside their houses and around
the mosques. The Kuttichira and the contiguous quarters of the town were
populated almost exclusively by Mappillas.
Several mosques built from the thirteenth century onwards in the
nagaram desam provide evidence for the early arrival of Islam on the
Malabar coast. Logan mentions the presence of no less than forty mosques
in the town of Kozhikode.59 In the Kuttichira region, which was the oldest
Mappilla quarter in the southwestern direction of the town, there were
two mosques which stood on either side of the big tank known as
Kuttichira, used for washing purposes. The mosque on the south of the
tank was the Jamaatpalli, and the one on the north, was the Mishkhalpalli.
The Muchandipalli was another ancient mosque in Kozhikode situated in
Kuttichira.
In an attack on Kozhikode in 1510, the Portuguese set fire to the
Mishkhalpalli. Shaikh Zainuddin, the well-known historian, who lived in
Malabar in the sixteenth century has given a vivid account of the struggle
between the Portuguese and the Muslims, in his Tuhfat al-Mujahidin. It is
believed that the original mosque had seven storeys but after the
Portuguese onslaught, only four remained.60

58 Similar features were seen in some of the ancient mosques of Sind. Pillai, Balakrishna
A., ‘The First Mosque in India. Flood of Light in History of India and Kerala,’ The
Hindu – Illustrated Weekly edition, Madras, October 22, 1939. p. 7.
59 Logan, William, Malabar. Vol. 2, Appendix xxi, New Delhi: 1951. p. ccxliv.
60 Nainar, Husayn MS, Arab Geographers’ Knowledge of Southern India. Madras: G.S.Press,
1942. pp. 40–1.
 The Hadhrami Roots 13

Recently, scholars have deciphered a stone inscription in the

Muchandipalli which is dated to the thirteenth century written in two scripts.
Parts of it were in Vattezhuthu script which was in old Malayalam. There
were passages in Arabic by the side which the local Arab scholars
deciphered as containing a series of Muslim personal names, passages of
prayers and signatures. In the inscription, the king of Kozhikode seems to
have granted a daily allowance of some rice to the Mucciyanpalli. From
the rest of the portion, it may be gathered that certain lands in
Kunnamangalam and Pullikkil were set apart for this purpose.61
The name Muchandipalli was probably the corrupt form of ‘Mucciyanre
palli’ meaning the mosque founded by a person called ‘Mucciyan’. There
was an old aristocratic Muslim house called ‘Muccinrakam’ or the house of
‘Muccin’ close to the mosque and a burial monument was also found there.
These indicated that probably an Arab merchant named Mucciyan settled
down in Kuttichira and built a mosque which was endowed with landed
property by the Samuthiri Raja. M.G.S. Narayanan, in his study of the
inscription, notes that the stone inscription registers a permanent grant of
property by the Hindu monarch to the Muslim place of worship in his
capital.62
In the eighteenth century, Tipu seems to have given generous inams for
the upkeep of mosques. Some of them were renewed by the British during
the later half of the nineteenth century. For example, the ancestors of the
inamdar, Sayyad Abdulla Koya of the Koilandy mosque in the
Kurumbranad taluk, were said to have drawn an allowance from the
Nawab of Carnatic and Tipu for the support of the mosque.63 In 1780,
funds were raised in the favour of Nawab of Carnatic for the Koilandy
mosque, from the merchants, some Muslims and some Hindus, of different
villages in the Tinnelvelly district, in the form of a small fee from each
man’s load or bullock load of merchandise which passed their respective
villages.64
Under the sanad (Arabic:certificate) granted to him by Tipu Sultan,
Sayyad Abdulla of Koilandy claimed certain lands and houses as jagir

61 Narayanan, M.G.S., ‘The Zamorin’s Gift to Muccunti Mosque,’ Malabar Mahotsav

Souvenir, Kozhikode, 1993. pp. 66–7.
62 Ibid. p. 67.
63 Order of Extracts Minutes of Consultation, dated 29 February, 1828 and Board’s
Proceedings, dated 20th November, 1848. Inam Register, Ernad taluk, Kozhikode:
1966.
64 Letter from the Collector of Tinnelvelly, J.Munro to J.M. Macleod, Secretary to the
government, 6 June, 1826. Board’s Collections, IOR/F/4/1249/50263/1830.
14 The Malabar Muslims

(revenue lands from the state) from the Malabar Joint Commissioners in
1793, but there was no record of the sanad in their diaries. On the
recommendation of the Malabar Supervisor, the Commissioners allowed
the grant, ‘only for the lifetime of the Syed as his Sunnad from Tipu
expresses no longer duration of the grant’. Similarly, a sum of money
appears to have been allowed in 1799 for the support of the Edakkad
mosque till 1865 when the allowance was commuted into a grant of lands
for the due performance of the ceremonies of the mosque and the tomb
of the old thangals (Malayalm: priests) of the Pudiyangadi family.65
Grants were also made towards Muslim ceremonials in mosques in
Ponnani taluk by Tipu as far back as 1776 and were used for meeting the
expenses of illumination and festivals in the Arikode mosque, the
Tannurpalli and the Koilandy mosque.66 In 1774, Tipu granted inams for
the personal benefit of the Kondotti thangal and these were confirmed to
the grandson of the original grantee, Kondotti Takiakal Shaikh Ishthiyak
Shah Valia thangal in 1865, so long as he continued to be ‘true and loyal’
to the British government.67
Apart from the Mappillas, the only significant group of Hanafi Muslims
was the Pathanis and the Tamil-speaking Ravuttans from the east coast.
The Pathanis were said to have migrated from Mysore and Bijapur and
settled in Kozhikode during Tipu’s Malabar expedition. They served in
Tipu’s army and later in the nineteenth century were found in the
government services. Tipu built the Pattanipalli or the Pattalapalli
(Malayalam: Pattalam-army), in Kozhikode for his Pathani soldiers.
As an Islamic community of the southwest coast, the Mappillas were
unique in their religious and social behaviour. Despite their Arab origin,
the Mappillas spoke Malayalam, the language of the native Malayalis.
Arabic was used mainly for reading and recitation of the Koran. The Arabi-
Malayalam script was used and the beginning of Arabi-Malayalam
literature is traced to the seventeenth century verse, Muhiyuddin Mala by
Qadi Muhammad of Kozhikode.68 The script was however confined to
the traditional learned Mappillas.
The Mappillas were mostly Sunnis of the Shafi’i school like the coastal
Tamil Muslims and the Navayats of Kanara, and differed in this from the
rest of the Indian Sunnis who followed the Hanafi school. The reason was
that the Arabs who travelled to the southwestern and southeastern coasts

65 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.1222/3.11.1892.
66 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.1223/23.8.1892.
67 Inam Register, Ernad Taluk, Kozhikode, February, 1866.
68 Karassery, ‘Arabic-Malayalam’, in Engineer, Kerala Muslims. p. 168.
 The Hadhrami Roots 15

of the subcontinent belonged to the Shafi’i school. In the Arabian Peninsula,

the qadis took decisions on the civil and criminal cases on the basis of the
works of jurists of the Shafi’i sect.69 The original source of the Shafi’i doctrine
was the Kitab ul Umm, a text written by the founder of the school, Imam
Ash Shafi’i, in 820 AD. However, the standard work on the Shafi’i law was
the Minhaj ut Talibin of Imam Nanawi which dates back to the thirteenth
century. The two important commentaries on the Minhaj were the Nihayat
al-Muhtaj of Al Ramli, an Egyptian, and the Tuhfat al Muhtaj of Shaikh
Shahabuddin Hailini, a south Arabian, written in the sixteenth century. In
Malabar, because of its direct links with south Arabia, the Shafi’i law was
transmitted through the Tuhfat al Muhtaj.70
The only Muslim rulers in Malabar were the Ali Rajas of Kannur. The
royal house of the Ali Rajas was called the Arakkal House. The Arakkals
had their domains spread all over the Chirakkal taluk in north Malabar,
the southern part of the Kasargod taluk and the islands of Lakshadweep.
The Arakkal women, respectfully addressed as beebis, held political office
and even ruled their subjects in the island territories. They had monopoly
over practically all of the lands in the islands, and their continuing
commercial influence in the early nineteenth century was observed by
Buchanan who reported that ‘the Biby possesses several vessels that sail
to Arabia, Bengal and Sumatra’.71
The Ali Rajas functioned as a semi-autonomous power at Kannur like
the Rajas of Chirakkal, Kottayam and Kadattanad. The town of Kannur
was built at the ‘bottom of the bay’ and had considerable trading facilities.
The Ali Rajas carried on a large maritime trade with the outside world.72
The coir industry of the Lakshadweep islands and the overseas trade
formed the basis of their property.
Other Mappilla settlements were found in South Kanara, that is,
Kasargod taluk and Coorg, and the Lakshadweep islands. The Kasargod
taluk was traditionally divided into north and south by the Chandragiri
river. The population to the south of the river was predominantly that of

69 The school was started in Cairo and is now found in lower parts of Egypt, in the
Hijaz, Aden, Hadhramaut, Yemen, Erithrea, Kenya, Tanzanyika, Malabar and
Coromandel coasts of India, Malaya, Thailand, Indo-China and Philippines. Wilson
R.K., A Digest of Anglo-Muhammadan Law. London: Thacker & Co., 1930. p. 418.
70 The two important commentaries on the Minhaj were the Nihayat al Muhtaj of Al
Ramli and the Tuhfat al Muhtaj of Shaikh Shahabuddin Hailini, a south Arabian.
Ibid. p. 418.
71 Buchanan, Francis, A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and
Malabar. London: Cadell and Davies, 1807. p. 193.
72 Menon, Padmanabha K.P., History of Kerala. Vol. 2, New Delhi: 1993. p. 544.
16 The Malabar Muslims

the Mappillas of Malabar. According to the census report of 1931, the

Malayalam-speaking population of Kasargod taluk was approximately 70
per cent and it was stated that the people whose mother-tongue was not
Malayalam were found almost entirely north of the Chandragiri river.
Kasargod and north Malabar had similar physical features. The southern
portion of the taluk showed marked resemblance to north Malabar. This
part was at one time within the domains of the Raja of Chirakkal. The
landlords of this area had large extents of lands and were mostly Mappillas.
Some of them also owned lands in north Malabar and most of them were
related to families in Malabar.73 In the coastal villages of Kasargod, a
considerable amount of tobacco was raised by Mappilla cultivators.74
The Lakshadweep islands were situated about two hundred miles west
of Kozhikode. The four main inhabited islands of Androth, Kavaratti, Agatti
and Kalpeni were densely populated by Mappillas. The people were
originally Hindus from the mainland. As these islands were situated on
the main Arab trade routes, the islanders seem to have embraced Islam
around the fourteenth century under the influence of an Arab preacher,
Ubaidulla.75 The Muslims of the islands followed practices similar to those
on the mainland particularly in matters of property and divorce.
It was against this landscape of the Muslim settlements in Malabar that
the social structure of the community grew.

Social Structure
Within the Mappilla community, there was a greater use of Malayalam
terminologies rather than Arabic to represent its various social groups,
may be because of local influence. Social groups were formed among the
Mappillas as a consequence of intermarriage, migration and conversion at
various periods of time. Some were dispersed all over Malabar and some
were predominant in particular regions. For example, the sayyids or the
thangals were common to the entire Malabar region; while, the keyis and
the koyas were dominant groups in the coastal towns of Talasherri and
Kozhikode respectively. The baramis and the themims were Hadhrami groups
exclusive to Kozhikode. Again, the pusalars and the ossans were common
to the entire Malabar coastline.
Unlike the better known classification of Muslims in northern India into
ashraf and ajlaf, the Mappillas identified themselves by their own group

73 Report of the Malabar Tenancy Committee, Vol. 1. Madras: 1940. p. 54.

74 Imperial Gazetteer. p. 393.
75 A.J. Platt Papers, 1934. IOR/MSS.Eur.D832/1.
 The Hadhrami Roots 17

names. Using Gough’s classification, the middlemen traders, petty

shopkeepers, wage labourers and peasants were categorized as
‘commoners’. The arakkals, the keyis and the koyas were regarded as
‘aristocratic’ Muslim families.76
The aristocratic lineages were granted land and wholesale trading
rights by the local Indian rulers in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The arakkals of Kannur, the keyis of Talasherri and the koyas of
Kozhikode were cases in point. Gough speculated that these aristocratic
lineages may have had some judicial rights, probably equivalent to those
of a Nayar77 village headman, over the Muslim commoners. However,
only the arakkal Rajas seem to have held rights equivalent to the Nayar
chief.78
The keyis flourished as wealthy traders and merchants. They owned
extensive landed properties in Talasherri, some of which were leased from
the Raja of Kottayam and also in Travancore, granted by the Maharaja of
Travancore at the end of the seventeenth century.79 The keyis originally
belonged to one family, but subsequently sub-divided into four families,
namely, the Chovakkaran Keloth, the Pudiyapura, the Orkattari and the
Valiyapurayil families. According to Mammad Keyi Sahib Bahadur, a
landlord of Talasherri,

‘…We are ancient and as aristocratic as the Arakkal Rajas. We function

as the benefactors and custodians of Muslim culture and tradition in
North Malabar.’80

The term ‘koya’ is derived from khwaja (Persian: respected). The koyas
claimed a high status on account of two reasons – firstly, the patronage of
the rulers and secondly, their being rich, prosperous urban merchants.
Like the keyis of Talasherri and the arakkals of Kannur, they were regarded
in high esteem as the economically dominant group in Malabar, for the
entire market trade in Kozhikode was held by them.81

76 Gough K., ‘Mappilla: North Kerala’.

77 A Malayali Hindu upper caste.
78 Ibid. p. 417.
79 V.V. Kunhikrishnan, ‘Matriliny among the Mappillas of Malabar,’ in Engineer A.A.,
(ed.), Kerala Muslims. pp. 58–9.
80 KRA/Revenue/G.O. No.1119/37/27.9.1937.
81 Interview with A.P. Abdur Rahiman, Feroke College, Kozhikode, and P.P. Ummar
Koya, Kozhikode, November 1994.
18 The Malabar Muslims

The Shahbandar82 (Arabic: port chief) Koya enjoyed the rights and
privileges of holding jurisdiction over all Muslims living in the bazaar; the
right to levy poll tax on every foreign ship landing at Kozhikode; and
standing, on ceremonial occasions, on the left side of the Samuthiri Raja.83
The koyas constituted the bulk of the Muslim population of Kozhikode.
They were granted wholesale trading rights by the Samuthiris which were
comparable to landed estates. The Koyas seem to be very much influenced
by the Malayali society. According to local informants, one possible reason
could be that many of them were supposed to be converts from higher
caste Hindus like the Nambudiris and the Nayars. The Samuthiri himself is
supposed to have asked some of the Nambudiri illams in Kozhikode to
embrace Islam. A typical example of a koya family house was the
Karuthedathu illam which was the name of a Nambudiri illam situated in
kuttichira.84
Another example was that of a merchant called Sheikh Marakkar who
came from Ponnani to Kozhikode. It is held that the Samuthiri allowed
him to marry a Nambudiri woman and granted him many areas of land
and a house in thekkepuram in the southwestern part of the town.85 The
settlement register mentions the grantee of the Koyassam Marakkarakam
paramba as Manavikrama Samuthiri Raja of Kozhikode.86
There was also a category of learned theologians, who could neither be
classified as aristocrats nor as commoners. This group of Mappilla
theologians consisted of the sayyids, who were respectfully addressed as
thangals (Malayalam: respected) by the Mappillas. There were two
categories of thangals- the early thangals and the later thangals. The sayyids
of Malabar, originally from the town of Tarim, claimed to be the

82 It was the practice of the Hindu kingdom of the Samuthiri Rajas to appoint one of
the leading Muslim merchants of Kozhikode as the Shahbandar. The word
‘Samuthiri’ in Sanskrit means ‘Samundri’ or sea-king. In the fourteenth century, the
kingdom of the Samuthiris had its centre at Kozhikode and remained the most
powerful kingdom until the eighteenth century.
83 Miller E.J., ‘An Analysis of the Hindu Caste System in the interactions with the
Total Social Structure in North Kerala’. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University
of Cambridge, 1950, p. 143.
84 Interview with the kaarnavar of the Karuthedathu tharavaadu, Kozhikode, 12 October,
1994.
85 Interview with the members of the Toppil tharavaadu, Kozhikode, 12 October, 1994.
86 Survey and Settlement Register of Nagaram Desam, No.38, Kozhikode Taluk, Malabar
District. Kozhikode, 1903.
 The Hadhrami Roots 19

descendants of the fourth Khalifa and Fatima in the female line.87 As

spiritual leaders, they wielded their influence all over Malabar and had
been present in Malabar from the eighth century.88
It appears that the early thangals functioned as qadis in mosques. The
first qadi of Kozhikode is considered to have been Malik-ibn-Dinar’s
grandson, Zainuddin-ibn-Madani at the Chaliyam Jamaat mosque. This
period coincided with the conversion of the last ruler, Cheruman Perumal,
to Islam and the arrival of the first batch of missionaries from the Arabian
shore.89 Initially, the Muslims of Malabar seem to have been under the
authority of the Chaliyam qadi.
The qadi of Kozhikode was appointed by the Samuthiri of Kozhikode
and was given special privileges and dignities. For example, at the
Mamakam90 festival, he along with the Shahbandar had the dignity of
standing on the left side of the Samuthiri on the Vakayur platform on the
last day of the festival. A letter from the royal camp at Vairanellur palace
in 1759 addressed to the qadi, the Shahbandar Koya and the musaliar of the
mosque says:

‘We have decided to start from here at the sign of Dhanu on the 13th
day of Kanni 935 Malayalam Era and arrive at Calicut at the sign of
Dhanu on the 18th instant. Therefore as we arrive at Kallayi you should
as in times past be in attendance there for Akampati duty.’91

The thangals were highly respected in Mappilla society and were

comparable to the sayyids of Arabia. In some clans, the thangals used both
the Arab sayyid name and the matrilineal naming system.92 The sociological
significance of a thangal’s name has been examined by D’Souza showing

87 In Hadhramaut, the sayyids were the most numerous. Most of the cultivable lands
were in their hands. They considered their nobility better established than all the
other descendants of the daughter of the Prophet. In other words, stratification was
lineage-based in Hadhramaut. The language of lineage was used even in the
economic divisions that were created. Berg, Hadhramaut.
88 Wink, Al-Hind. p. 71.
89 Logan in his Malabar Manual says that the Perumal’s departure to Arabia took
place in 825 AD.
90 Mamakam was a Hindu religious festival held once in twelve years at the banks of
the river Bharatapuzha in Malabar.
91 Ayyar, Krishna K.V. ‘The Mamakam,’ Malabar Mahotsav Souvenir, Kozhikode, 1993.
p. 48; Abdur Rahman K.V. and Ibrahim Kunju A.P., ‘Muslims of Calicut – A Historical
Account,’ Calicut Corporation Centenary Celebrations Souvenir, Kozhikode, 1966. p. 17.
92 Ibid. p. 75.
20 The Malabar Muslims

that a thangal had two group names, one patrilineal and the other
matrilineal. For example, in the name ‘Sayyid Muhammad bin Mustafa
Hydros Vettampokirianakam Atta-Koya Tangal’, Sayyid showed the
connection with the Prophet, Muhammad was the personal name, Mustafa
was the father’s name, Hydros the Arab group name of the father,
Vettampokirianakam, the mother’s tharavaadu name (a tharavaadu is a
matrilineal joint family), Atta was the maternal uncle’s name and Koya
was the matrilineal group name. When the names of different thangals
were examined, it was found that their patrilineal group names were of
Arab origin and the matrilineal group names were of local type, showing
thereby that all the male ancestors of the thangals were Arabs and the
female ancestors were Malayali women.93 This seems to be the result of
an all-male migration of Arabs from Arabia. An example of an early thangal
settlement was that of the Makhdum thangals at Ponnani.
The Makhdum thangals, named after Shaikh Zainuddin al-Ma’bari (1467–
1521), founder of the training school at Ponnani (founded in the fifteenth
century) were pioneers of traditional Islamic learning among the Mappillas.
Ma’bari was the author of a mystic poem, Hidayatul Tariqat il Auliya, a
‘manual of sufism in Malabar’. According to the commentary written on
the Hidayat by his son, Ma’bari had been initiated into the Chishti tariqa.94
Zainuddin’s grandson, Shaikh Muhammad al-Ghazzali wrote a textbook
on the shari’a called Fathul Muin.95 The Makhdum Thangals were also known
as the Ponnani thangals. The activities of the Makhdum family centering
around the big Juma mosque made Ponnani a centre of Muslim learning.
According to Buchanan,

‘Ponyani is the residence of the Tangal or the chief of the Moplays,

who says that he is descended from Ali and Fatima. Both the Tangal
and his sister’s son, according to the custom of Malayala, is considered
as the heir to this dignity…’96

In religious matters, the Ponnani thangal was the head of the community
and held important powers of appointing Imams (Arabic: one who leads
the prayers) and mullas (Persian: religious teacher) in mosques. They served
as qadis in mosques and officiated at all religious ceremonies. Haider Ali,

93 D’Souza, ‘Sociological Significance’, p. 39.

94 Kunju, Ibrahim, ‘Origin and Spread of Islam in Kerala’ in Engineer (ed.) Kerala
Muslims pp. 25–6.
95 Miller, Mappilla Muslims. p. 260.
96 Buchanan, Journey. p. 102.
 The Hadhrami Roots 21

the Sultan of Mysore, made an inam grant to the Ponnani thangal in 1765–
66 which said:

‘Whereas I have determined to give in Enaum to Abdool Rayman

Hydross Peergad (the Mappilla Thangal of Ponnani), son of Syed
Mustafa of Cochin, land the produce of which may yield 400 Rupees,
in the Kozhikode taluk, you are hereby directed to give to Peerjad
such land, the produce of which may yield 400 Rupees situated in the
talook of Kozhikode as he may ask. You will see that he enjoys that
annually. This order to be entered in the Accounts by the Shanbague
and to be returned to him (Peerjad).97

A generous contribution was also extended by Tipu to the Makhdum

Thangals in the form of inams which were renewed by the British. In a
letter from the Board of Revenue dated 13th June 1825, they were of the
opinion that Rayman Hydross Pargeed’s sanad ought to be considered
“as an hereditary grant”.98
‘Mahomed Hussen Muckadom has frequently brought me your father’s
letter, which have given me satisfaction. You say that the produce of your
lands being appropriated to the purposes of charity, you did not in the
time of Tipu pay any revenue… . This gives me great pleasure and has
assured me of your good wishes for the Honourable Company. I have
therefore sent an order to Mr. Stevens, the Southern Superintendent, not
to collect any revenue from your land … So long as you show yourself a
faithful subject of the Company you may depend upon their support and
protection always.’99
In the eighteenth century, a second major wave of Hadhrami migration
occurred, in which a new group of sayyids from Hadhrami centres like
Tarim and Mukhalla sailed to Malabar as merchants and missionaries.100
Around the same time, there was a large-scale Hadhrami migration to East
Africa and Southeast Asia. Stephen Dale argues that the settlement of
Hadhramis in Muslim dominated towns and villages in Kerala, such as
Tirurangadi, represented one of the most important ways in which

97 From the Translation in the Records of 1825. Logan, Treaties. p. 121.

98 Ibid. p. 121.
99 Letter from William Gamul Farmer, Esq., Supervisor of Malabar, dated 1793, October
2nd or 969. Kanni 21st. Translated 5th August 1798. Diary of the Second Malabar
Commission, dated 5th August, 1798. Logan, Treaties. p. 208.
100 Dale S.F., ‘Trade, Conversion and the Growth of the Islamic Community of Kerala,
South India’ Paper presented at the International Conference on Islamization in South
Asia, Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies, Oxford, 1989. p. 16.
22 The Malabar Muslims

immigration of West Asian Muslims continued to influence the expansion

of Islamic society in southern India and throughout much of Southeast
Asia.101 Hadhrami groups were found dispersed all over coastal and interior
Malabar either as traders or as religious leaders and sometimes they
combined their commercial and religious activities. They considered
themselves to be the highest status group in the social scale. The jifris of
Kozhikode and Mambram were examples of the eighteenth century thangal
migration.
As discussed earlier in the chapter about the Alawiyyas, two interrelated
sayyid lineages arrived in Malabar in the eighteenth century. Sayyid Hasan
Jifri arrived in the first half of the eighteenth century and settled in
Mambram in the Ernad taluk. Around 1746, he was joined by his brother,
Sayyid Shaikh Jifri, who settled in Kozhikode.102 Their nephew and Hasan
Jifri’s son-in-law, Sayyid Alawi arrived in Malabar around 1766–67. He
was addressed as Taramal Thangal after the name of his house, and also
as Pukkoya Thangal. Sayyid Hasan had a daughter and his nephew, Sayyid
Alawi ibn Sahl Thangal, married her as his first wife. He married two
more women and had various descendants103 (see Table 1.1). The inam for
the Mambrampalli was made by Tipu (date of the grant unknown).
Members of the Jifri and Alawi lineages were members of, or associated
with, the Alawi tariqa. In Sayyid Shaikh Jifri’s late eighteenth century work,
Kanz Barahin, the Alawis of Tarim were repeatedly praised.104 Jifri hints at
the emigration of large numbers of ‘alims to Malabar, who were presumably
Hadhramis as well.105 The sayyids exercised varying degrees of spiritual
and political influence over the local Muslims.106
On his father’s death, Sayyid Fazl took over as the leader of the Mappilla
community. Buzpinar, in a study of Ottoman relations with the family,
argues that under his leadership, they became more politicised. He used
his influence to undermine the presence of the British rule who had been
affecting developments in the area since the 1790s and who also influenced

101 Ibid.
102 Karim, Abdul K.K.M., Hasrat Mambram Sayyad Alavi Thangal. Tirurangadi, 1975. pp.
15–20, 60–4.
103 TNA/Judl(Confdl.)/G.O. No.1027/25.6.1912.
104 Dale, ‘The Hadhrami Diaspora in Southwestern India: Sayyids of the Malabar Coast,’
Paper presented at the International Conference on South Arabian Migration Movements
in the Indian Ocean: The Hadhrami Case, 1750–1967. School of Oriental and African
Studies, London, 27–29 April, 1995. pp. 10–11.
105 Ibid. p. 11.
106 Ibid. p. 12.
 The Hadhrami Roots 23

Table1.1: Genealogical Table of the Jifris of Malabar

Source: Adapted from the genealogical table of the Jifris in Arabic from Dale S.F., ‘The
Hadhrami Diaspora in Southwestern India: The Sayyids of Malabar’, Paper presented at
the International Conference on South Arabian Migration in the Indian Ocean, SOAS, London,
April, 1995; ‘Letter from Sayyid Ahmad, son of Sayyid Fazl, to the Mambram Restoration
Committee dated 5.4.1933’, in Moidu Maulavi E., Ende Koottukaran Mohammad
Abdurahiman Sahib. Thrissur 1964, pp. 206-217; TNA/Judl.(Confdl.)/G.O.No.1027/
25.6.1912.
24 The Malabar Muslims

developments in Aden, Mukhalla and Muscat in their attempt to protect

their trade route in India.107
In the mid-nineteenth century, Mambram became the centre of Mappilla
uprisings and was supported by Sayyid Fazl, the then Mambram thangal.
In 1852, he was asked to leave Malabar for Arabia, which he did along
with his family. He was not deported, though he probably would have
been, had he not consented to go, nor was his property confiscated. He
escaped to Istanbul along with his five sons and one daughter.108
The Mambrampalli formed the property of the tharavaadu of Sayyid Fazl
who in 1858, transferred all of it in his elder sister’s name. The amount of
revenue on the land was very little and the land itself had been enjoyed
tax-free for more than fifty years. It was confirmed to Puthiya Maliakal
Kunhi Beevi of Kozhikode, next inamdar, by the Inam Commissioner
J.W. Robinson, for the purposes of the inam as long as she lived109 (see
Table 1.1).
After Sayyid Fazl left for Arabia, there had been constant correspondence
among British officials about him on two points, first, the efforts of Fazl
and his sons and relatives to get back to Malabar, and second, the recovery
and management of the property alleged to have been left behind by him.
Regarding the first issue, the policy never allowed him or his sons to come
back to Malabar. Secondly, there was evidence to prove that Sayyid Fazl’s
sister’s husband had held the income from the mosque properties at his
disposal.110
In 1872, the District Magistrate of Malabar reported that his property
consisted of a few old family residences, with the usual gardens attached
to them, in the vicinity of the hereditary mosque; and that the said property
was managed by a local agent under the supervision of Sayyid Alawi Jifri
of Kozhikode, also known as Pudiyapilla Koya, who had married Sayyid
Fazl’s sister. The hereditary mosque formed part of Sayyid Fazl’s property.
The evidence gathered confirmed that Pudiyapilla Koya collected the
offerings made at Mambram thangal’s tomb and held the money at the
disposal of Sayyid Fazl. In 1888, Sayyid Fazl executed an order in favour
of one of his descendants, Muthukoya Thangal, that the income of his
properties should be devoted to the management and repair of the mosque
and for meeting the expenses of pilgrims. Sayyid Alawi Jifri’s son, Abdulla
Jifri, also had the hereditary rights over the management of the properties

107 Buzpinar, Abdul Hamid II. p. 228.

108 TNA/Judl. (Confdl.)/G.O. No.1027/25.6.1912.
109 Inam Register, Ernad Taluk.
110 TNA/Judl. (Confdl.)/G.O. No.1027/25.6.1912.
 The Hadhrami Roots 25

in Mambram. He is said to have reformed Arabi-Malayalam and he also

had an interest in English education.111 He died in 1908.
Meanwhile, Sayyid Fazl was invited to become the Amir of Zufar in
Hadhramaut but after some political chaos in the region, he moved to
Mukhalla, from there to Egypt, and finally to Constantinople where he
served in the Turkish government.112 After his death, the government gave
grants to his children which were stopped after the First World War.113 In
1926, Sayyid Fazl’s son, Sayyid Ali, reached Madras via Colombo and
submitted a petition to the government claiming rights to the Mambram
properties.114 He was informed by the British government in Malabar that
action under the Madras State Prisoners’ Regulation of 1819 would be
taken against him if he returned to Malabar without permission.115 He
therefore left for Egypt.
This family history traces the Arab roots of some of the thangals of
Malabar, and the amount of power and influence they wielded on Mappilla
society. For example, some of these Hadhrami thangals like Sayyid Fazl,
took an anti-British stance by giving spiritual benediction to several
Mappilla outbreaks against the oppression of the Hindu janmis
(landowners) and the British government.116 Furthermore, the annual
celebrations held at the tombs of their ancestors, their prosperity in terms
of large amount of property holdings, and the adoption of local practices
like transferring properties to their sisters in the matrilineal pattern were
significant.
There were instances of sayyids migrating to Southeast Asia from the
Malabar mainland as in the case of a certain Sayyid Abdurrahman bin
Mohammad az-Zahir. Born in Hadhramaut in 1832, he was taken to
Malabar by his father. He studied in Kozhikode and was conferred the
rank of colonel by the Nizam of Hyderabad. After a few years, he left in
1864 for Atjeh (in Southeast Asia) where he preached theology and law
and became the most influential person in the region.117
The thangals were an important force in the expansion of Islam in interior
Malabar. Writing about a village called Tirurangadi in interior Malabar,

111 Parappil, Kozhikottu. p. 95.

112 ‘Translation of letter sent on Sayyad Ahmad to the Mambram Restoration
Committee,’ in Moidu E., Ende Koottukaran Muhammad Abdurahiman Sahib. Kozhikode:
Mohd. Abdurahiman Press, 1964. pp. 209–11; Fortnightly Reports, February, 1934.
113 Ibid. p. 213.
114 Ibid. p. 213.
115 Ibid. p. 216.
116 Kunju, Origin. p. 26.
117 Berg, Hadhramaut. p. 57.
26 The Malabar Muslims

Dale says that the sayyids possibly acted as catalysts in the conversion
process.118 They played important roles as qadis and managed the annual
nerchas (festivals) in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some of
them like the Mambram thangals mobilized the community against the
British in the form of militant activities. Others like the jifris of Kozhikode
did not participate in the anti-British activities and in fact, as shown,
members of the family, like Abdulla Jifri, took interest in English
education.119
Apart from the sayyids, there were other groups that migrated from
Hadhramaut to Malabar, particularly to Kozhikode in the eighteenth
century. They were the baramis and the themims. The baramis traced their
local roots to Mukhalla in Hadhramaut. Also found in Egypt and Indonesia,
they claimed to have descended from the Prophet’s lineage. The first
migrant to Kozhikode was Valiagath Haji Ali Barami who carved an
economic niche for himself in this commercial port as a shipbuilder. The
barami workshops were located in Beypore, the other important port near
Kozhikode. The First World War report lists Valiagath Haji Ali Barami as
one of the important local shipbuilders who provided ships for the British
army. There were other barami families who flourished as timber
merchants.120
The themims were a small group from Tarim who sailed to Malabar at
the same time as other Hadhrami groups. They probably got their name
from the themim tribe in Hadhramaut. The first migrant of the themim
family initially lived in Cochin and later moved over to Kozhikode. The
few families that lived in Kozhikode were the descendants of the same
ancestor. Their hereditary occupation was to serve as commission agents
for cargoes exported to the Persian Gulf.121
The pusalars were found all along the Malabar coast and in the Kasargod
taluk.122 The ossans were a group of barbers and their women were hired
as singers for social functions like weddings. The term ossan was probably
derived from ‘muzayyinin’, who were barbers and singers in Yemen. Both
the pusalars and ossans were endogamous groups. They were considered

118 Dale, Trade. p. 17.

119 Parappil, Kozhikottu. p. 95.
120 Interview with Abdulla Barami, Barami House, Kozhikode, October, 1994; KRA/
Revenue/June 1918.
121 Interview with V.S. Kadir Koya Mulla, Kozhikode, September, 1994.
122 D’Souza V., ‘Status Groups among the Moplahs on the south-west coast of India’,
in Ahmed Imtiaz (ed.), Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India. New
Delhi: Manohar, 1978. p. 46
 The Hadhrami Roots 27

inferior because of their low occupation. They had separate neighbourhoods

on the sea-shore. By virtue of their occupation, the ossans formed the lowest
section in the Muslim community.
The ethos of South Indian Muslims of the harbour towns was the exact
opposite of the rural orientation of the Malayali Hindu society. As Wink
observes, ‘Among the Muslims, the hierarchy of social ranks came to be
determined by the tradition of physical mobility and participation in
trade’.123 The Mappillas conveyed social exclusion primarily on the basis
of lineage, wealth and occupation, articulated in various forms of physical
and social distance like private mosques, burial grounds, residential
segregation and marriage alliances. The symbols of stratification were both
physical and behavioural.
Lineage as a form of distinction between different sections of the
Mappilla society was asserted by the thangals and the baramis of Hadhrami
origin. As descendants in the line of the Prophet like the sayyids in
Hadhramaut, the thangals claimed to be the highest religious authority in
Malabar. The very use of the word ‘thangal’ as a way of addressing the
sayyid group was symbolic of their high status. Other than the sayyids, the
baramis also considered themselves as high status Hadhramis compared to
the themims, on account of their lineage. However, they were not spiritually
superior to the thangals. Tharavaadu was also symbolic of social and
economic status among the matrilineal families of the koyas, the keyis, the
baramis and the themims and was one of the important criterion in securing
marriage alliances.
The very expansion of Malabar’s trading networks account for the early
presence of Arabs in the region. On this point, one can draw parallels
with the port towns of the Coromandel Coast like Kilakkarai,
Kayalpatanam and Pulicat which controlled the international textile trade
that linked South India to the trading diasporas in West Asia and Southeast
Asia. As a consequence of this, Muslim men rose to prominence in the
Tamil country’s local court centres.124 A similar phenomenon was noticed
in Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.125 The wide social network of
Malabar port towns such as Kozhikode, Beypore, Talasherri and Kannur
reflected their strategic and economic importance for migrant communities.
By making elbowroom for such communities, these towns further enhanced

123 Wink, Al-Hind. p. 73.

124 Bayly, Susan, Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society
1700–1900, p. 74.
125 Evangelista, Oscar L., ‘Some Aspects of the History of Islam in Southeast Asia,’ in
Gowing, Peter (ed.), Understanding Islam and Muslims in the Phillippines, p. 19.
28 The Malabar Muslims

their position as maritime towns. It is against this landscape and social

setting that an Arab-Islamic community grew.
We can therefore infer from the social structure of the Mappillas that
the thangals were spiritually superior whereas the keyis, the koyas and the
baramis were economically superior. The pusalars and the ossans were
occupationally inferior. In other words, there was no homogeneity among
the different sections of the community.

Economic Conditions and Occupations of Mappillas

In the northern divisions of Malabar like Talasherri and Kannur, the bulk
of the inhabitants were Mappilla merchants. In the southern division where
there were more townships and cities on the coast, rich Mappillas were
engaged in peaceful commercial pursuits.126 Other than these, there were
landholders and agriculturists among them in both the northern and the
interior taluks of Malabar. Forbes, writing in the nineteenth century,
describes the Mappillas as, ‘...the principal merchants both for foreign and
home trade; many are the proprietors of trading vessels, navigated by
Muhammadan commanders and seamen, in which they make an annual
voyage to the Persian and Arabian Gulfs...’127
The first Principal Collector of Malabar in 1802, Major Macleod observed
that the Mappillas formed by far the greatest part of the population of
towns on the coast. In the interior parts of the southern districts, they
lived in detached houses like the Nayars; and in those of Ernad, they
possessed a larger portion of landed property than the Nayars.128
Francis Buchanan, in his travelogue observed in the early nineteenth
century that:

‘About fifty years ago, the Moplays of this place were very rich and
possessed vessels that sailed to Surat, Mocha, Madras and Bengal; but
the oppression of Tipu has reduced them to great poverty... They
however have a few small boats that go to Tellicherry and Calicut for
supplies of European and Bengal goods.’129

126 Volume containing Official Memoranda and Correspondence Relating to the

Condition of Malabar and the Activities of the Malabar Commission, 1796–1800.
Walker of Bowland Papers, NLS/MSS.13616 and 13623.
127 Forbes’ Oriental Memoirs, Vol.1, London, 1834. pp. 258–9.
128 Letter from Major Macleod, Kozhikode, 18.6.1802, Mackenzie Collection: General, IOR/
MSS/Eur.49.
129 Buchanan, Journey from Madras. p. 102.
 The Hadhrami Roots 29

In Malabar, by 1871, out of 37,195 traders, 27,121 were Muslims, and

nearly all of these were Mappillas. Conveyers, who also came under the
category of commerce, were mostly Muslims. The number of Muslim
cultivators and labourers were 49,906 and 70,426 respectively.130 The census
statement also showed that in the Madras government service, out of the
3,577 men in the army, military and police, 1,155 were Nayars and 740
were Mappillas.131
Some Mappillas were employed in the tile factories like the one set up
in Kozhikode in 1874. They found employment in the railways too. Other
than being a centre of tile-making and timber yards, Kozhikode was also
an important port of shipment of coir products. Work in the beedi and
cashew factories of Malabar was done mainly by Muslim women.132
The census of 1881 reported that the class of ‘converted’ Muslims was
mostly fishermen, sailors and coolies in the coastal towns and cultivators
in the inland taluks of Walluvanad and Ernad.133 The Kolar gold fields
also employed a number of Mappilla labourers. Writing in 1897, Fawcett,
during his tenure as the superintendent of Police in Malabar, has argued
that,

‘Moplas have done the heaviest work and earned the reputation of
being the best workmen... in the building of the iron bridges which
the Madras Railway Company have thrown over the big rivers of the
Presidency; and in the gold mines in south India, the best miners are
Moplas.’134

Knife and tool grinders were also very common in Malabar, perhaps
owing to the practice of carrying knives which all Mappillas observed.135
The chief saw mills were in Kallayi in Kozhikode where many people
were engaged as woodcutters, carpenters and timber dealers.136 Trees in
private forests were felled for timber by Mappilla merchants on payment
of a stump fee and dragged by elephants to the nearest river to be taken
to the coast.137

130 Census Report, Madras Presidency, 1871, Vol.1, pp. 153–4.

131 Ibid. p. 353.
132 Census Report, Madras, 1881, part 1; Woodcock, George, Kerala. London: Faber &
Faber, 1967. p. 299.
133 Census Report, 1881.
134 Fawcett, Moplahs. p. 300.
135 Census of India Report Madras, Vol. XV, Part 1, 1902.
136 Ibid.
137 Tour Diary – Fifth Tour of Arthur Lawley, Malabar, 13–24 September, 1907.
30 The Malabar Muslims

Between 1896 and 1915, the timber trade flourished providing work on
the hills, on the rivers and in the timber mills; tile works opened
everywhere; rubber estates started work; more weekly markets were
opened and these were almost in the hands of the Mappilla petty traders
who travelled daily from one to another; and emigration to the Straits
and Colombo increased.138 The increase in Mappilla labourers in Ernad
was due to the establishment of six rubber estates in the decade between
1891 and 1901; in Ponnani, it was stimulated by the increasing demand
for the products of coconut.139 Fish-curing was mainly in the hands of
Mappillas. In coastal towns, there were many prosperous timber merchants
among the Mappillas.
As far as Mappilla representation in the army was concerned, the
Deputy Commissioner for Salt and Abkari (liquor) Revenue, southern
division, E.S. Laffan, wrote to the Madras Revenue department in 1889
that in the recruitment of Mappillas for general service in sufficient
numbers to form class regiments, a wide distinction had to be made
between those of south and north Malabar. He wrote:

‘Whereas in the south, a Moplah will eat food cooked by a nair, in the
north, he would I believe starve. They are very strict Muslims in North
Malabar, and of course, no true followers of the Prophet will have
anything to do with liquor.’140

In the Kozhikode and Palakkad regiments, he reported that there was

a fair sprinkling of Mappillas among the peons; but in the Talasherri circle,
there was not a single Mappilla in the Abkari department despite efforts
to enlist them. In Chavakkad and Ponnani, enlisting Mappillas for the
Abkari or police department or for the formation of class regiments would
not be difficult provided a sufficiently attractive pay was offered. The
reason Laffan gave was, ‘They were very keen successful traders as a class,
and the wages demanded by them were generally higher than those
claimed by other classes of people’.
This report of Laffan shows that the social status and hierarchy among
the aristocratic Mappillas of north Malabar in relation to those in south
Malabar and also the Hindu castes, forbade them from joining some of
the government departments like the Abkari and the army. It also shows

138 Hitchcock, R.H., Peasant Revolt in Malabar. Madras: Government Press, 1925. p. 14;
Census Report, 1911.
139 Census Report, 1911.
140 KRA/Revenue (Confdl.)/G.O.No.5413-89/5.11.1889.
 The Hadhrami Roots 31

that the Mappillas as traders claimed a higher economic position and

therefore demanded higher wages. However, two regiments of Mappillas
were recruited for the Madras army in 1906.141 In the Carnatic Infantry
Regiments recruited between 1916 and 1918 during the war crisis, men
enrolled were mostly Mappillas.142
After the Mappilla rebellion of 1921, the Madras government considered
the possibilty of sending the Mappilla rebels to the Middle and North
Andamans along with their families to be employed in the forests. This
they thought would solve the problem of the provision of labour for the
forests. In return, there were to be no charges upon the settlement and
the forest authorities would take care of their rations.143 A 1923 report
said, ‘... so far only seven Mappilla families have been sent to the
Andamans and of these, four have returned to India’. The Madras
government however tried to encourage more Mappilla deportees along
with their families to immigrate to the islands.144
At a public meeting of Muslims held at Madras in 1925, the members
condemned the action of the government because the islands had been
pronounced inhabitable for people and it would also depopulate the
southern taluks of Malabar of their Mappilla population.145 In the same
year, twenty-five Mappilla convicts already in the Andamans were returned
temporarily to jails in Madras with the object of allowing them to
personally influence their own, and the wives and families of other convicts
to emigrate. These men had taken back 292 men, women and children
with them. They had been given the option of remaining on the islands
as self-supporters, either as labourers in the forest department or on
coconut or other plantations leased to private capitalists, or as small-
holders. The families mostly migrated from the Ernad and Walluvanad
taluks.146
Among the three political units of Kerala, the Malabar District sent the
largest number of migrants to other regions. For example, in Malaya, the
emigrants from Malabar or their descendants in 1931 were more than
25,000. There were migrants in Burma and Sri Lanka too. A high proportion
of Mappillas predominated as workers either in the estate or in the non-
estate sectors. The non-estate workers comprised of dockworkers,

141 Imperial Gazetteer, Provincial series, Madras, Vol. 2, p. 341.

142 KRA/Revenue/June 1918.
143 NAI/Home (Jails)/File No.527/1922.
144 Ibid.
145 NAI/Home (Jails)/File No.279/1925.
146 Ibid.
32 The Malabar Muslims

construction workers, miners and factory hands. Migrants linked to trade

consisted mainly of Mappillas who engaged themselves as retail
distributors, hoteliers and pedlars.147
It has been observed by Susan Lewandowski that the Mappillas who
migrated to the Madras city in the 1940s made fortunes by running hotels,
biscuit factories, textile factories and import-export firms. She has also noted
that a Muslim timber merchant who migrated from Malabar owned one
of the largest timber firms in South India with twenty branches in Madras
city.148
In other words, the economic conditions of the community varied from
region to region and between different social groups. Against the backdrop
of the economic and social structures, the institutional and social changes
within the community will be the highlight of the next few chapters.

147 Joseph, K.V., Migration and Economic Development of Kerala. Delhi: South Asia Books,
1988, p. 42.
148 Lewandowski, Susan, Migration and Ethnicity in India: Kerala Migrants in the City of
Madras, 1870–1970. Delhi: Manohar, 1980.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 33

Family and Inheritance Laws:

Continuities and Changes

Geographical location played an important role in determining the social

behaviour of the people of the southwest coast. Malabar was traditionally
divided into vadakke or north Malabar and thekke or south Malabar by the
Korapuzha or the Kora river. This river functioned as a social boundary for
the Hindu Nayar women of north Malabar who, by custom, did not cross
the river as it meant losing one’s own caste. Similarly, for the Mappillas
too, it was a social frontier. Says Hamid Ali, ‘The more one proceeds to
the north in the district beyond Korapuzha river, the more strict is the
observance of the rule of the matrilineal system of descent.’1

Systems of Descent
The matrilineal system of descent in Kerala is called marumakkathayam.
The origin of the marumakkathayam system is still debated among
anthropologists, sociologists and historians. In Malabar, it is believed that
the marumakkathayam system was a fall-out of some kind of practice of
polyandry, the evolution of which has not been historically researched.
The practice was most common among the Hindu Nayars. The most
accepted view on the origin of the marumakkathayam was the peculiar social
custom of having hypergamous relationships between a small section of
the Nayar elite and the Nambudiris in certain regions of Kerala, and also

1 Ali, Hamid, ‘The Moplahs’, in Gopal Panikkar, T.K., (ed.), Malabar and its Folk.
Madras: G.A.Natesan and Co., 1929. p. 274.
34 The Malabar Muslims

the occupation of Nayar men in the royal militia because of which they
were away from their homes for an indefinite period of time.2
It was a custom among the Nambudiris that only the eldest son could
marry and the rest of the sons were not allowed to marry but could have
relationships with Nayar women. The practice enabled them to hold their
family properties intact. The followers of the marumakkathayam custom were
commonly addressed as marumakkathayees. A variant of this system was
the aliyasantana system practised by the Billavas in South Kanara. It is
considered older than the marumakkathayam system and postulates
inheritance through the female line, yet, the principal heir is always the
sister’s son.
A kind of visiting-husband system was originally practised by the
Nayars. According to the custom, the Nayar women consorted with a man
through sambandham marriage.3 This led to a system where Nayar families
welcomed other males as evening visitors – arriving after supper and
leaving before breakfast – to have liaisons with their women. These men
however had no rights over the women or their children. This visiting-
husband system meant that the woman lived permanently in her maternal
house and this provided the ideal social setting for the evolution of
matriliny. Says D’Souza,

‘... it is found in various degrees on the west and east coasts of India,
in Ceylon and Sumatra. This type of marriage was particularly suited
to the peculiar mode of life of the Arab sailors, and these Arabs made
full use of this institution which was locally present in Kerala. With
only a few exceptions, the Mappillas of Arab descent have retained
many of the mother-right traits.’4

2 Arunima, G., ‘Colonialism and the Transformation of Matriliny in Malabar, 1850–

1940,’ Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1992. p. 19.
3 ‘Sambandham’ originated from the sanskrit word bandham meaning connection.
Among the Nayars, a man negotiated with a woman’s family head, got the approval
of the woman and presented her with a cloth. This was called sambandham. Either
the man or the woman could end the sambandham with little formality. This custom
was determined by conventions. It was not a strong marital attachment between a
man and a woman which was characteristic of the rest of India. This led some
scholars and foreign travellers to describe it as a ‘quasi-matrimonial connection’,
‘casual union’. See Balakrishnan, P.V., Matrilineal System in Malabar. Kannur:
Satyavani Prakashan, 1981. pp. 95–6; and Unny, Govindan, Kinship Systems in South
and Southeast Asia: A Study. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1994. pp. 109–116.
4 D’Souza, Status Groups. p. 43.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 35

Other than Nayars, the visiting custom and matriliny was followed by
the Thiyyas of north Malabar and the Muslims of north Malabar and
Kozhikode. There were however regional variations to it. Among the
Thiyyas and the Mappillas, this was not a case of polyandry. It was the
influence of the Nayars who formed a dominant social group. Among the
Muslims, matriliny was adopted as a matter of convenience. The initial
phase of intermarriage between the Arabs and the local women was of a
temporary nature and hence the father did not play a significant role. The
children were brought up in the mother’s house and this therefore planted
the roots of matriliny among the Malayali Muslims. Robertson Smith, who
has studied the marriage patterns in early Arabia, says, ‘... in mut’a
marriage, the woman did not leave her home, her people gave up no
rights which they had over her and the children of the marriage did not
belong to the husband’.5 In a discussion on the hostile attitude of Islam to
mut’a marriage, Kapadia argues that matrilocality and matriliny is inherent
in a mut’a marriage and they clashed with patrilocality and patriliny that
had come to be the feature of the contemporary Arab family organization
for which Islam stood. Hence he says that this type of marriage is an
anachronism.6
The Mappillas observed both the Islamic style of nikah and the Hindu
style of kalyanam. The nikah was solemnised with the reading of the Koran
by the qadi, the payment of mahr and the formal betrothal in the presence
of three witnesses. The residence rules of the Muslims varied from region
to region. The Muslims of north Malabar and Kozhikode followed a
duolocal residence pattern where a man stayed in his own house and
visited his wife and children at his wife’s maternal house. This custom
seems to have been adopted from the local Nayars. Gradually, for the sake
of convenience, duolocality was replaced by uxorilocality. In this system,
the man stayed with his wife’s kin permanently. In other words, matrilocal
residence pattern became the accepted social model.
The common family-type of a matrilineal system was a joint family
residing in a tharavaadu.7 The matrilineal joint-family centred in the
tharavaadu house formed a domestic group.8 The tharavaadu was usually

5 Smith, Robertson, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1990. pp. 198–20.
6 Kapadia, K.M., Marriage and Family in India. New Delhi: OUP, 1955. p. 175.
7 ‘Tharavaadu’ is a Malayalam word for an extended joint-family household originally
used for the Nayars.
8 A domestic group is a social group occupying or centred in a dwelling house,
living and usually eating together and characteristically exercising corporate control
over family property.
36 The Malabar Muslims

headed by the eldest male member of the joint family who was addressed
as the kaarnavar. He held the management rights of the tharavaadu and
was responsible for keeping the joint-family intact. When the tharavaadu
house could no longer accomodate any more members, smaller branches
of the joint family were created. They were known as thaavazhis. A thaavazhi
was a group of persons consisting of a female ancestress, her children
and all the descendants in the female line. While the members of the
thaavazhi ceased to have legal right to the property of the parent tharavaadu,
their kinship ties continued. The thaavazhis also came under the jurisdiction
of the kaarnavar.
Within the Arakkal royal family of Kannur, matriliny was the dominant
form of social organization. After marriage, the husband stayed at the
wife’s house and the royal descent was traced in the female line. The
Arakkal beebis, as the women in the family were called, administered the
district as heads. The keyis were also matrilineal. The baramis and the koyas
followed a type of visiting marriage like the local nayars and thiyyas, in
which the wife lived in her parental house and her husband visited her
there. This practice was also found in early Arabia where it was known
as beena marriage.9
To suit their matrilocal residence patterns, the koyas preferred local
endogamous marriages. The groom was addressed as pudiyapilla (which
means a ‘new groom’ or a ‘bridegroom’) and his advice was sought by
the matrilineal kinsfolk in all the tharavaadu matters. In his discussion on
the social organization of the Mappillas in the early twentieth century,
Edgar Thurston observes, ‘... in some parts such as Calicut, the husband
is only a visitor for the night.’ The continuance of the practice into the
twentieth century was confirmed by a local informant.10 Gradually, the
man left his natal home after marriage and settled permanently in his
wife’s house. The members of the family held corporate rights over the
tharavaadu property. Although in Islam, a patrilocal household was the
accepted norm, the koyas and many other groups among the Malabar
Muslims were matrilocal like the keyis, the baramis, the themims and the
Arakkal royal family.11
In Malabar, marital alliances among the keyis were confined only to a
few selected families. The koya men were allowed to have exogamous
marriage alliances with the keyis and the Arakkal beebis. The women of the
Arakkal family did not marry men from Kannur, however respectable they

9 Smith, Kinship. pp. 198–204.

10 Interview with Prof. Shiyali Koya, Kozhikode, 1994.
11 Interview with Hafiz Mohammad, Kozhikode, September, 1994.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 37

were because, they were their subjects. Instead they sought marital alliances
with men from the highest status groups of Talasherri and Kozhikode.12
Similarly, the men of the Arakkal family also sought alliances from these
status groups. For example, one of the ladies of the Toppil tharavaadu in
Kozhikode was given in marriage to the Arakkal house of Kannur.13 The
proprietor of the Marakkar paramba of Kozhikode was the Arakkal Sultan,
Kannur Puthiya Pandikasala Valia Arakkal Raja.14
The baramis were an endogamous group as late as the 1960s.15 These
groups considered themselves to be economically superior to the thangals
and the themims. In Miller’s observation, a combination of factors such as
bloodlines, position and wealth determined hierarchy in the case of the
Kuttichira Muslims of Kozhikode, who would not ordinarily give their
daughters in marriage outside the limits of their aristocratic group.16
The thangals generally intermarried only among themselves. This may
be because they considered themselves spiritually superior to all the other
groups. They may be compared with the sayyids of Hadhramaut for whom,
as Berg has argued, the marriage of their daughters with any individual
of a different social group was regarded as a misalliance by the law; and
although the laws itself did not go so far, custom, in Hadhramaut, did
not allow such a misalliance. He further observes that the most powerful
chief of a tribe could not obtain, as wife, the daughter of the lowest of the
sayyid.17
Descent and kin formations among the Mappillas varied according to
their residence rules. In the matrilineal households, descent was traced
through the female ancestress of the joint family. Therefore, in a uxorilocal
family set up, the maternal kinsmen formed the corporate members of
the property group. The relations between the kin members were
essentially co-residential. The kin network was large in an extended joint
family house where the kin formation was based on a chain of relationships
with the female head of the family – that is, a woman and all her brothers
and sisters, her own and her sisters’ children, their grandchildren in the
female line and their descendants. The husbands of the female members

12 D’Souza, Status Groups. p. 51.

13 Interview with the members of the Toppil tharavaadu, Kozhikode, October, 1994.
14 Survey and Settlement Register of Nagaram Desam, Kozhikode taluk, 1903.
15 The baramis since the 1960s have started considering marriage outside their kin
groups. They intermarried with the koyas but did not form alliances with the other
Hadhrami sections. Interview with P.N. Barami, Kozhikode, 1994.
16 Miller, Mappillas. p. 253.
17 Berg, Hadhramaut. p. 41.
38 The Malabar Muslims

and the wives and children of the male members of the tharavaadu were
excluded from its membership. As Victor D’Souza describes, the tharavaadu
mainly indicates the kin relationship among the members.18 Other than
economic ties, the members were also bound by social ties such as pollution
during death and birth ceremonies and other social occasions like
weddings.
Unlike the north Malabar Muslims, those of Kozhikode adopted both
the patrilineal and the matrilineal principles of descent, called double
descent. This was peculiar to the Muslim social groups of Kozhikode such
as the koyas and the Hadhramis. The tharavaadu house belonged to the eldest
woman of the family and from her it descended to her consanguineally-
related kin through her daughters.
Unlike the matrilineal Hindu families where the man was a father in
the biological sense but played no social role as a father, the matrilateral
Mappillas gave importance to the father who held disciplinary rights over
his children and was permanently attached to the matrilineal household.
The economy of the community also had an impact on their kin structure.
Most of the Muslims along the coast and in the bazaar towns subsisted on
trade. The kind of trade varied from small scale shops to wholesale markets
as well as overseas trade. In the interior regions, the primary means of
subsistence was agriculture and river trade. Trade in itself involved physical
mobility and that meant the frequent absence of men from their homes.
This created a setting for the children to be brought up in the mother’s
house where they were looked after by her brother that is, their maternal
uncle. In this way, all the sisters, their children and their grandchildren
lived in the same house and had a permanent interest in the tharavaadu.
The descendants of this ancestry formed the matri-kin. Trade on a large-
scale involved heavy investment and manpower. The resources for that
investment usually came from the tharavaadu properties and for that a
matrilineal set up was ideal because the fragmentation of landed property
was rare. Moreover, it was probably more lucrative to have members from
the same household involved in running the family business so that the
profits would be incurred by the same tharavaadu and invested again in
buying more landed property for its upkeep. In the patrilineal extended
families where trade or agriculture were the chief sources of subsistence,
it was a practice to share the economic activity among the agnatic kin
members and this helped in keeping the family resources intact.

18 D’Souza V., ‘Kinship Organization and Marriage Customs among the Moplahs on
the Southwest Coast of India,’ in Ahmed, Imtiaz (ed.), Family, Kinship and Marriage
among the Muslims in India. p. 144.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 39

Kathleen Gough has argued that because of their dependence on

markets based on cash payments, their frequent buying and selling of
gardens, their use of land for cash crops, and their relative mobility, the
lineage tended to degenerate into a mobile extended family.19 Cash crops
needed a huge investment and for that the kaarnavar used the tharavaadu
properties and the family members shared in the management and
marketing of the produce. Every tharavaadu had its own family business
run by its own kin members and that in a way cemented the kin relations
in a matrilineal household. Many koya and barami tharavaads traded in
timber and spices for the overseas market as well as shipping especially
in the Arabian Peninsula.
In the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the
matrilineages in Kozhikode and regions of north Malabar like Talasherri
and Kannur formed close-knit economic units by virtue of their share in
the family occupations and property rights. The kindred were bound by
mutual ties of sharing and dependence in the domestic responsibilities.
Those merchant families which had regular trade links with the Persian
Gulf and other distant countries, such as the baramis and the koyas,
preferred the matrilineal household because of the mobility involved in
long distance trade. The maternal tharavaadu gave stability to their families
and strengthened the kinship bonds in economic and non-economic
matters. Writing about the Nayar kinship systems in the eighteenth and
the nineteenth centuries, Arunima argues,

‘In this period, the matrilineal household was characterised by a fluid

structure, and was not spatially locatable to ‘a’ particular house alone.
This meant that kinship within a household was not restricted only to
those who lived, ate or shared domestic responsibilities together. In
addition, a household could own property and exercise extra-economic
jurisdiction in lands that were scattered over several villages which
were often not contiguous with one another.’20

This was true for the mother-right Muslims too as in the case of rich
tharavaads in north Malabar and Kozhikode like the keyis, the Arakkal family,
the baramis and the koyas. One possible fall-out of a flourishing cash

19 Gough, Kathleen, ‘Incest Prohibitions and Rules of Exogamy in Three Matrilineal

Groups of the Malabar Coast,’ International Archives of Ethnography, Vol. 46, No.1,
1952. p. 103.
20 Arunima G., Colonialism. p. 16
40 The Malabar Muslims

economy could have been the investment in more landed properties and
the branching out of Muslim tharavaads into more thaavazhis.

Property and Inheritance

In Kerala, the most dominant form of inherited property was the tharavaadu
house itself and other landed property like garden lands, paddy lands,
retail shops or share in imports and exports of commodities. The customary
forms of inheritance practised by the Malayali Hindu population were
the marumakkathayam and the makkathayam.
Among the marumakkathayees, every member, whether male or female
or minor, had an equal interest in the common stock of the tharavaadu,
but no member could claim ownership of his or her share of it. The
kaarnavar held the right to mortgage the property to clear debts but he
could sell it only with the consent of the other members. The debts incurred
by him for the tharavaadu was entrusted on the tharavaadu females only.
Men had only maintenance rights in the house and women had all the
property rights. A female ancestress having property rights but without a
heir could adopt a female only. The marumakkathayam rights remained the
same for widows.21
Seniority on the questions of descent of property was one of age and
not that of actual relationship. Although the brothers and the nephews
could become the head of the tharavaadu management, in practice, in a
marumakkathayam family, the person who was senior in age, be he the
brother or the nephew, succeeded to the management of the tharavaadu or
the thaavazhi. Thus if a marumakkathayee died leaving a brother and a
nephew and if the nephew was older than the brother, it was the nephew
who became the kaarnavar and not the brother. In undivided tharavaads,
persons who were strictly cousins in the family line but were considered
‘brothers’, succeeded to the titles of the deceased marumakkathayaees.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century, branches were created
largely on the basis of matrilineal principles, which meant that only women
were allowed to separate and set up a new thaavazhi. This meant that
brothers, sons or nephews in a tharavaadu were dependent on the goodwill
of the women within their households.22

21 Civil Vyavaharathin Sambandicha Mohammada Sastra Sangraham. Translation of Madras

High Court Pleader Gopachariar’s English copy. Kozhikode, undated. (Malayalam),
IOR.
22 Arunima, Matriliny. p. 117.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 41

Special concessions and privileges were granted to children of

marumakkathayam or aliyasantana households. For example, a new version
of the Village Officers’ Special Test Notification previously published in
the Fort St. George Gazette, in 1906, but subsequently amended in 1937,
read as follows:

‘The fee for admission to the examination will be one rupee for all
registered minors and for the sons and brothers of persons governed
by the aliyasantana and the marumakkathayam laws of succession in the
South Kanara and the Malabar districts, who are holding or have held,
within three calendar years preceding the date of the exam, the office
as a karnam, assistant karnam or headman in a ryotwari, or a property
village in the districts.’23

Similarly, in 1946, under the Madras Educational Rules, fee concessions

were granted to students governed by the aliyasantana or the
marumakkathayam law. The income of both the guardian, that is the uncle
and the parent had to be ascertained as well as the details of the person
who actually met the cost of education of the student before the grant
was made.24 This facility could have been availed by the marumakkathayee
Mappillas as well. This is an indication of the importance that continued
to be given to marumakkathayees at official levels.

Muslim Marumakkathayees
The Muslims of north Malabar were marumakkathayees living in the
tharavaadu houses managed by the kaarnavar. The rights and obligations
of the kaarnavar were similar to the Nayars. Descent and kinship among
them were traced from the senior-most female of the house. They were
strictly matrilineal and since the members belonged to the same parent
family, they did not intermarry. For example, the keyi women were given
in marriage to non-keyis. Even the commoner Muslims of this region like
small traders, shopkeepers and inland traders were marumakkathayees
because it suited their physically mobile profession. Hamid Ali observes
that although among marumakkathayees, the wife lived in her tharavaadu
house maintained by her kaarnavar, nevertheless, among prosperous
tharavaads, it had become a practice for the husband to maintain his wife,
even though she lived with her maternal kindred for social reasons.25

23 KRA/Revenue/G.O. No. 9548/37/2.8.1937.

24 TNA/Educational/G.O.No.458/5.3.1946.
25 Ali Hamid, Custom. See footnotes. p. 88.
42 The Malabar Muslims

A notable custom among the matrilineal Muslims was the giving of

stridhanam (gift made to the bride) grants which were made by the
tharavaadu for the maintenance of its women and their children on the
condition that in case of a divorce, the grants would be returned to the
donor.
The Kozhikode Muslims differed in significant ways in their social
organization from those of north Malabar and south Malabar. They had
also been influenced by the indigenous customs of the local society. They
had adopted certain aspects of the matrilineal system like but in matters
of inheritance, they adhered to the Islamic law. In other words, they were
marumakkathayees as far as descent and kinship was concerned but
makkathayees in their mode of inheritance. The koyas, the baramis and the
themims maintained tharavaadu houses managed by the kaarnavar. The
tharavaadu however belonged to the kaarnoti (female head of the
matrilineage) of the house and her female descendants. Among the baramis,
house tax was the responsibility of the kaarnoti.26
Among the Kozhikode Muslims, except for the tharavaadu house in
which the male members had no share, all the other incomes like shares
in business or cash crops were divided according to the Islamic law where
the daughters received only half the share of the sons. The reason given
was that the daughters inherited jewellery as part of their wedding gifts
and were maintained from the income of the tharavaadu even after their
marriage.27 The duolocal and matrilocal residence patterns, the tali-kalyanam
and the stridhanam grants were all un-Islamic customs, yet, they indicated
signs of local adaptations. The Islamic custom of nikah and mahr, the social
importance given to the role of the father, and his paternal rights in a
matrilineal set-up and the strict adherence to the Islamic laws of property
and inheritance bound them as a separate religious entity. In a way, they
had struck a flexible compromise between the marumakkathayam and the
Islamic customs. These Muslims may be compared with those of the islands
of Lakshadweep.
Owing to the monopoly of all the island lands by the Arakkal beebis,
houses formed almost the only kind of real property. According to the
island laws, no man could have claim to a house. It belonged to the women
of the family and the men had only the right of residence and maintenance
till their marriage. A man moved to his wife’s house and took her family
name after marriage. Other properties were divided according to the

26 Interview with P.N. Mohammad Barami of the PNM tharavaadu, Kozhikode, 15

September, 1994.
27 Ibid.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 43

Islamic law of succession.28 Private property known as thingalazhcha sothu

or Monday property passed to a man’s children by ordinary Muhammadan
law. Family property known as velliazhcha sothu or Friday property passed
to a man’s sister’s children in accordance with the custom of the Hindu
Nayars of the mainland. A.J. Platt, who was the administrator of the
Lakshadweep islands between 1929 and 1944, observed that this
duplication led to much complication and a good deal of litigation. It often
happened that there was no evidence to show to which class a certain
piece of property belonged and in such cases, one group would challenge
the other to swear in the mosque that he was lawfully entitled to it. If he
did that he obtained the rights to the property.29 Platt actually settled more
than one case on the islands by this method.30
Similarly, the Kozhikode Muslims also had a dual system of family
organization. They combined the matrilineal principles of matrilocality and
descent with that of the Islamic rules of inheritance. The Muslims of south
Malabar were largely converts from the thiyyas and the cherumars, who
were patrilineal in their family organization. Family property was divided
according to Islamic law and by tradition, the family house was inherited
by the youngest son.31
However, there were exceptions among the south Malabar Muslims.
For example, the thangals conformed to the virilocal rule of residence where
the wife lived with the husband’s kin in a paternal extended family. They
followed a system of double descent, that is, they were makkathayees as far
as descent and inheritance was concerned but were marumakkathayees in
the succession of the religious office.32 According to the Malabar Gazetteer:

‘In the south, the makkathayam system was usually followed but it is
remarkable that succession to religious sthanams, such as that of the
Valia Thangal of Ponnani, usually goes according to the
marumakkathayam system.’33

The thangals usually belonged to old marumakkathayam families except

for a few like the Mambram and Kondotti thangals, who were of later
origin. Hamid Ali has analysed the possible reasons why the religious

28 Ellis, R.H., A Short Account of the Laccadive Islands and Minicoy. Madras: Government
Press, 1924. pp. 76–7.
29 A.J. Platt Papers, 1929–44. IOR/MSS. Eur.D832/I. Vol.1. pp. 4–5.
30 Ibid. p. 5.
31 Ibid. p. 3.
32 D’Souza, Kinship Organization. p. 143.
33 Thurston, Edgar, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol. IV. Madras: Government
Press, 1909. p. 492.
44 The Malabar Muslims

offices of the thangals descended according to the marumakkathayam rules.

Firstly, he argues that this particular system was the most stable for the
conservation of wakfs by the kaarnavar for the tharavaadu. Secondly, since
it was customary for them to marry the girls in their tharavaadu only to
sayyids, while that was not mandatory on their men, hence, the descendants
of the sisters of a Mappilla thangal were bound to be purer in blood than
those of the male members. Therefore, in order to maintain the purity
and sanctity of the religious office, it was natural to appoint a person
descended in the marumakkathayam line.34 For example, the Makhdum
Thangal, as kaarnavar of the Pazhiagam tharavaadu,

‘… is descended in the female line from an Arab, named Zein-ud-din

who more than 600 years ago, was said to have founded the
Muhammadan College at Ponnani.’35

In the case of the qadi of Mambram, he was the senior male member in
the marumakkathayam line of descent and the qadiship of the Mambram
Jamaat mosque had been hereditarily vested in his family.36

The Court Scenario

With the take-over of the administration of Malabar entirely by the British
in 1800, the court scenario saw a gradual frequency in the number and
variety of civil cases. Cases were dealt by both English and Indian Judges.
The appeal suits were usually first heard by the lower courts and often
they decided the cases in accordance with the local custom. But when the
cases were forwarded to the higher courts, the judges mostly reversed the
decisions of the lower courts. Often there was hardly any consensus
between the courts at the two levels. Although the marumakkathayam system
and the janmam rights of the Malabar janmi prevented the absolute
alienation of property, Malabar recorded a large proportion of leases
registered in the Madras Presidency.37
There is not much evidence in the form of detailed reports on the
succession disputes of the Mappillas in the early nineteenth century. Only
a few have been recorded. It was only from the 1870s that the Judges,

34 Ali, Hamid, Custom. pp. 107–8.

35 Ibid. p. 107.
36 Petition of the qadi of Malappuram to the Collector of Malabar. KRA/Revenue/
G.O.2869-19/29.3.1919.
37 Innes, C.A. & Evans F.B., Gazetteer of Malabar and Anjengo. Madras: Government
Press, 1908. p. 167.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 45

both English and Indian, began battling with the increasing complexities
of the customs, usage and the disputes within the Muslim households
over lines of succession, that were soon entering the courtrooms.
From the 1860s, English Judges in the courts of Malabar and the Madras
Presidency, such as William Holloway,38 Herbert Wigram, the District
Judge of South Malabar from 1875 to 1882, and Lewis Moore39 were getting
interested in the customary practices of the Mappillas. But their ruling on
cases was never uniform and varied according to the circumstances of the
cases.
The Mappillas being strictly Shafi’i Muslims unlike the Hanafi Muslims
of most other parts of India, the Shafi’i legal texts were consulted to judge
certain cases regarding marriage, maintenance and divorce. Fitzgerald
argues that the Shafi’i school, wherever it was dominant in the Muslim
world was uncompromising in its attitudes to customs. However, customs
have had its revenge; and wherever Shafi’i doctrines predominated, a large
and flourishing body of custom existed alongside law.40 Fitzgerald’s
arguments also hold true for the Shafi’i Muslims of Malabar.
Generally, the Shafi’i school had special rules of divorce. For example,
a khula divorce was exclusive to the school where a separation was effected
by mutual discharge from the marriage tie. Faskh was the dissolution of
the contract of marriage by judicial decree and could be demanded on
any ground which could invalidate the marriage contract such as cruelty
or impotence. The inability to maintain was also a ground of divorce only
special to the Shafi’i school.41
When a Mappilla woman filed a complaint against her father in the
court in 1928, that her consent had not been obtained before the
performance of her nikah, the lower courts upheld her contention. The
Judges of the District Court referred to Wilson’s Anglo-Mohammedan Law
in which he had quoted the Minhaj at Talibin to the effect that:

‘Not only female minors, but adult women who are virgins may be
disposed of irrevocable in marriage by the father or failing him by the
paternal grandfather with or without their consent; but their consent
is nevertheless desirable.’42

38 Holloway was appointed the Subordinate Judge of Kozhikode in 1857; the Civil
and Sessions Judge, Talasherri, in 1861; and the Judge of the High Court of
Judicature, Madras, in 1862.
39 Lewis Moore also served in Malabar from 1882 as District and Sessions Judge.
40 Fitzgerald, S.V., Muhammadan Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931. p. 16
41 Wilson, R.K., A Digest of Anglo-Muhammadan Law, pp. 422–3.
42 Hassan Kutti Beary v. Jainabha; I.L.R., 42 Madras, 1929. p. 39.
46 The Malabar Muslims

In this case, the court ruled that under the Shafi’i law, the consent of a
woman who was an adult virgin was as essential as under Hanafi law to
validate her marriage. Therefore, the marriage of the Mappilla girl should
be held invalid because her father had not secured her consent for it.43
Similarly when a Mappilla woman of Kozhikode sued her husband for
dissolution of marriage on the grounds of cruelty and impotence, the Lower
Court held that the suit should be decided in accordance with the Shafi’i
law. The husband was asked to grant his wife a khula divorce for a sum
of money fixed by the qadi of Kozhikode. The court held that under the
Mohammedan law, a khula was valid even though it may be granted under
compulsion.44
Persistent failure to maintain was also considered cruelty. For example,
a Mappilla woman sued her husband for the recovery of the arrears of
maintenance because he had neglected to maintain her. The man pleaded
that the arrears were not recoverable unless the amount had been
previously fixed between the two parties. The Judges consulted the Tuhfat
al Muhtaj, an authoritative commentary on the Minhaj at Talibin. It was
expressly stated in it that maintenance was a debt on the husband even if
it was not decreed by the qadi. Therefore, the judgement held that the
wife was entitled to recover arrears though not due under the decree of
the court or a mutual agreement.45
These instances have proved that the Shafi’i text was used as the
authority in the courts for justifying the cases and giving appropriate
judgement. The Shafi’i laws were also favourable to Mappilla women
particularly in matters of divorce and maintenance.
Among the marumakkathayam Mappillas of Malabar, gifts were often
made to the husband of a girl given in marriage as a contribution towards
the maintenance of the girl and her future children. The gifts consisted of
paying kaipanam (Malayalam: purse money) and stridhanam or strisothu
(Malayalam: woman’s property) to the bridegroom. Strisothu descended
in the female line only.46 One of the terms of the strisothu was that in the
event of a divorce, the gifts had to be returned to the wife’s tharavaadu.
The peculiarity of strisothu property was that only females could have the

43 Ibid.
44 Vadake Vittil Ismail v. Odakkel Beykutti Umah; I.L.R., 3 Madras, 1881. p. 347.
45 Kozhikotu Palliveetil Mahamed Haji v. Moidin Kalimabi; I.L.R. 41 Madras, 1918. p. 211.
46 The continuance of the practice into the twentieth century was seen on the west
coast and among some Tamil Muslims where large sums of money or land were
given by the bride’s father to the bridegroom on specific terms. Yakub Hasan Sahib
Bahadur to the Collector of Malabar, KRA/Home(Misc.) G.O.No.6753-18/25.1.1919.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 47

right of management. For example, in the karuthedathu tharavaadu of

Kozhikode, according to a written deed dated April, 1873, the kaarnoti
transferred the house to her female descendants.47
If we look at some of the civil cases that were dealt in the courts of
Malabar in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it is clear that the
property given as strisothu devolved to females only. For example, in the
Bivi Umah v. Cheriyath Kutti case, the intention of a Mappilla named Pakki
was to leave his property to his sisters and to their daughters, without
power of partition or alienation.48 Again, in the Kandath Veetil Bava v.
Musaliam Veetil Pakrukutti case of 1907, properties consisting of a house
and lands were given by a Muslim mother to her daughter as strisothu.49
There was a prolonged debate in the courts of north Malabar whether
there was a custom or usage prevailing among the marumakkathayam
Mappillas by which property could be settled as strisothu on the female
members of the tharavaadu or thaavazhi to the exclusion of the males. The
debate also centred on the question of whether the female members could
sell the family property for necessary tharavaadu purposes without the
consent of the males.50 The judgement held no objection to the rights of
the female owners of a strisothu property. They were allowed to manage
and enjoy what was their own, and to utilise the income in a particular
manner. These rights were valid till the death of the last survivor of those
to whom the properties were allotted in the deed.51
Although in a Mappilla tharavaadu, all the male members habitually
followed trade as an occupation, there was however a rule specified by
the courts concerning the trade of a tharavaadu. In 1919, the courts ruled
that in the absence of evidence that a trade carried on by a kaarnavar52
had been the trade of a tharavaadu as a whole or at least the adult member
of the tharavaadu had consented to it, the other members of the tharavaadu
were not bound by the liabilities incurred by the kaarnavar in connection
with the trade.53

47 Written deed preserved in the karuthedathu koya tharavaadu in Kozhikode, dated

April 1873. (Malayalam) Interview dated 12 October, 1994.
48 S.A. No. 932 of 1894, MWN, 1910. pp. 693–4. Also see I.L.R. 16 Madras, 1892.
p. 201.
49 I.L.R., 30 Madras, 1907. p. 305.
50 Muhammad Kunhi v. Pakrichi Umma, I.L.R., 46 Madras, 1923. p. 650.
51 Avulla v. Kottayi Matha, S.A. No.157 of 1930, 21.2.1934; MWN, 1934, pp. 874–8.
52 The seniormost male in a tharavaadu and therefore its head and manager.
53 Kutti Haji v. Kunhi Haji, I.L.R., 42 Madras, p. 761.
48 The Malabar Muslims

Customary Law versus Islamic Law

The practice of customary law among Muslims had been observed in many
Muslim countries. For example, in the Malay Peninsula, the Muslim law
of succession was varied by customary law. In some regions of Africa
also, the Shari’a failed to replace the customary law. Even in the strongholds
of Islam, the existence of customary law contrary to the Shari’a was noticed.
In Morocco, though Islam had taken deep roots for centuries, the usage
proved stronger than the Shari’a and the daughters did not inherit.54
According to Coulson, ‘…Certain tribes of the Yemen never relinquished
their established customary law under which, inter alia, women did not
enjoy any proprietary rights’.55
In the Indian context, Tyabji says,

‘… Custom being inheritance in a particular family had long been

recognized in India, although such custom was unknown to the law
of England and foreign to its spirit.’56

The Malabar Muslims were no exception. Their rules of descent and

inheritance were however more complicated than those of the Hindu
Nayars. On the basis of reported cases, Lewis Moore had categorized the
variations in succession rules into three broad types. Firstly, there were
those in the north who inherited according to marumakkathayam rules.
Secondly, even among those who were matrilineal, it was sometimes a
practice to treat the self-acquisitions of a man as descending patrilineally.
This kind of double descent was peculiar to some Muslims of north
Malabar and almost all of them in Kozhikode. Thirdly, among those who
followed the Islamic law of succession, it was not unusual for them to
hold family property jointly, and for the property to be managed by the
father and, after his death, by the eldest son like the Hindu joint family system.
Regarding the inheritance system among the Mappillas of Malabar, the
census report of 1891 observed:

‘Families following different systems of inheritance intermarry, and then

the succession gets complicated and most expensive litigation follows.
The race is a very litigious one.’57

54 Sivaramayya, B., ‘Equality of Sexes as a Human and Constitutional Right and Muslim
Law’, in Mahmood, Tahir, (ed.), Islamic Law in Modern India. New Delhi: New India
Press, 1972. p. 74.
55 Coulson, N.J., A History of Islamic Law. Edinburg: University Press, 1964. p. 137.
56 Tyabji, F.B., Muhammadan Law. Bombay: N.M. Tripathi & Co., 1940. p. 73.
57 Census Report, Madras Presidency, 1891, Vol. XIII, p. 278.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 49

The Mappillas of north Malabar followed the marumakkathayam system

regarding succession and not the Mohammedan law. In 1809, the Sudder
Court at first refused to recognise the local usage among the Mappillas of
north Malabar.58 But in 1816, the Provincial Court of the Western Division
held that the marumakkathayam law of inheritance was applicable generally
to Mappilla families in Kannur.59
Although the Mappillas in Malabar generally followed closely the Hindu
custom of holding family property undivided, yet, as they were not subject
to the personal law of the Hindus, their claims could not be governed by
legal presumption of joint ownership.60 For instance, in the case of Kunnath
Ahmed Koya v. Ainan Kutty, it was decided that although the members of
the family of makkathayam Mappillas were entitled to the definite shares
prescribed by the Islamic law, the property of the father was not at once
divided on his death. It was kept joint and was managed by the eldest
member on behalf of the others. This joint enjoyment of family property
especially prevailed in Malabar where the wives of Muslims were often
selected from tharavaads who followed a rather stricter coparcenary law
than the other Hindus.61
There were several examples of Muslim families where one spouse was
governed by the patrilineal laws and the other by the matrilineal ones.
The Madras High Court Judge, William Holloway, described the peculiar
custom among some of the Mappillas where the self-acquired property
descended according to Islamic law while the tharavaadu property
descended in the female line as ‘a piebald system of descent’. In a case of
a north Malabar family decided in the late nineteenth century, Holloway,
at that time, the Civil Judge of Talasherri, laid down the law as follows:

‘The presumption of course is that of nephews, as is the rule of North

Malabar universally.’

The Sudder court on appeal upheld his decision.62 However, in 1861,

when it came to deciding a case of a family that followed both the
marumakkathayam and the Mohammedan laws, he held the ‘piebald system
of descent’ invalid.63

58 S.A. 5 of 1809, I Sudder Decisions, p. 29. Quoted in Moore, Lewis, Malabar Law and
Custom. Madras: Higginbothams, 1905. p. 323.
59 A.S. 44 of 1816, Moore, p. 323.
60 Ibid.
61 A.S.20 of 1882. Nambiar, Govinda, A Handbook of Malabar Law and Usage. Madras:
Government Press, 1899. p. 45.
62 S.A. 651 of 1860, Moore, Malabar Law. pp. 323–4.
63 A.S. 110 of 1861, Moore, Malabar Law. p. 324.
50 The Malabar Muslims

In a case filed in 1892, land which originally belonged to a Mappilla

was given after his death to his wife and her children according to a wish
orally expressed by him. The donor seemed to have been governed by
the makkathayam law and his wife and children by marumakkathayam law.
The idea of separate self-acquired property had long been familiar in
Malabar, and here the donees, if they took the property as self-acquisition,
would be better off than if the gift was part of the tharavaadu property.
The court’s judgement read that the donor expressed no intention as to
how the properties should be held by the donees. Therefore, it was
presumed that they should take them as part of their tharavaadu properties
according to marumakkathayam usage which governed them.64
A similar debate arose on the issue of marumakkathayam and
Mohammedan laws when a kaarnavar of a Mappilla tharavaadu sued to
recover property acquired by his late sister and now in the possession of
her children. The question framed was whether in marumakkathayam
Mappilla families in north Malabar, the devolution of self-acquired property
was governed by ordinary Mohammedan law, or whether on the death
of the acquirer it lapsed to the tharavaadu. The defendants pleaded that
the property had been given to them and their mother jointly and that
their mother was not governed by marumakkathayam law. The suit was
dismissed on the grounds that the evidence was not convincing enough.65
The thaavazhi as a corporate unit was an important consideration in
deciding cases. A thaavazhi had always been understood as consisting of a
mother and all her children and descendants in the female line. With all
its members, it formed a corporate unit capable of holding property as
such. A body consisting of a woman and some of her children could not
be recognized as a thaavazhi as it was opposed to the basic principle of
marumakkathayam law that the mother was the source of the line of descent
and not the father.66
The system of descent worked differently with the Mappillas of
Kozhikode. This is clearly illustrated in a suit where a Mappilla of
Kozhikode following Mohammedan law made a gift of some properties
in favour of his mother. The gift was to be enjoyed by his mother and her
female descendants. The children of the donor filed a suit for the
declaration that the gift was not valid. Justice Krishnan held that the gift
was opposed to Mohammedan law as it created a new line of succession.

64 Kunhacha Umma v. Kutti Maami Hajee, I.L.R., 16 Madras, 1892. p. 201.

65 Illikka Pakramar v. Kutti Kunhamed, I.L.R., 17 Madras, 1893. p. 69.
66 Moithiyan Kutti v. Mammali, MWN, 1928, p. 331.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 51

Upholding his view, it was decided that the gift was invalid. The gift
could not operate in favour of the donees as the primary intention of the
Mappilla, following Mohammedan law, was to create tharavaadu property.67
This shows that a Mappilla who followed Mohammedan law, could not,
even if he desired, create a tharavaadu property.
Custom, accompanied by what was considered to be sufficient evidence,
was often accepted. For example, the junior member of the Cheria Orkatari
branch of the Chowakaran Orkatari keyi tharavaadu, claimed a higher
maintenance from his kaarnavar on account of the fact that he was married.
It was proved by the evidence of his witnesses that, by custom, a Mappilla
living in his wife’s house was entitled to maintenance and that a married
man was entitled to a larger sum. The court declared that there was
evidence to support the custom and therefore the junior member had to
be given a higher maintenance.68
The various cases that have been analysed makes it clear that the courts
had difficulties in administering a double law of inheritance and declared
judgements according to the evidences provided in each hearing. They
arrived at the decisions on the basis of proof as to which property was
ancestral and which self-acquired, and if the custom was proved that the
nephews inherited one and the children the other, to give effect to that
custom. It was also binding on the children to prove what portion of the
property was self-acquired and whether it was acquired from private funds
and not from tharavaadu funds. In many instances they looked for
precedents in the previous cases. Among the English Judges, Lewis Moore
noted that despite the attempts of the courts to stifle the customary
practices of the Mappillas, they still existed and were in full force in the
Lakshadweep islands.69

Legislation
In the early twentieth century, some important Bills were presented in the
Provincial Legislature in a bid to Islamise the personal laws of the Malabar
Muslims. The Bills passed were the Mappilla Succession Act, 1918, the
Mappilla Wills Act, 1928 and the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act, 1939.
At the All India level, the Shariat Application Act was enacted in 1937.

67 MWN, 1925. p. 107.

68 Ibid.
69 Moore, Malabar Law. p. 326.
52 The Malabar Muslims

A deputation from the Muslim (Mappilla) Educational Association,

Kasargod and the Mappillas of Talasherri and Kannur, sent a petition to
the Provincial government saying,

‘… we earnestly pray that it may be enacted that the law regarding

the devolution of the self-acquired property of a Mappila
marumakkathayam family, or of a property which he may have got as
a gift from either of his parents, shall be the Mohammedan law.’70

The Collector of Malabar issued a Press communiqué inviting opinions

on the legislation from north Malabar. Thirteen meetings were held in the
Chirakkal taluk which were well-represented and almost all of them were
presided over by the qadis of the localities. At some of the meetings, the
qadis and learned maulavis went as far as declaring that if anyone were to
say that he did not want that his self-acquired property should, on his
death, devolve according to the Mohammedan law, he would turn a kafir
(infidel).
A few Mappillas of Talasherri were of the opinion that no necessity
existed for any change in the existing law as marumakkathayam Mappillas
were now at full liberty to will away their self-acquired property by the
Malabar Wills Act of 1898.71 There were many who felt that the legislation
if carried out would be a serious blow to the marumakkathayam system
and hence they did not want to disrupt existing tharavaads. Some of the
Muslims of Kottayam and Kurumbranad pointed out that the tharavaads
would continue to increase in size and every member would continue to
be able to claim maintenance in the tharavaadu house. But the tharavaads
would cease to receive additions of property from the self-acquisitions of
male members. They argued that taking them as a whole, the Mappillas
of north Malabar were more prosperous, more peaceable and more law-
abiding than those of south Malabar, and the marumakkathayam system
was partly responsible for it.72
A member of the Taluk Board of Talasherri, V.Moidu, pointed out that
the change suggested would, in the first place, prove a perennial source
of litigation such that the right to succeed to the undisposed-off properties
of the deceased kaarnavar of a tharavaadu would invariably be contested
by his sons and nephews. Secondly, in his view, it was not fair and just

70 TNA/G.O.No.1191/Judl./31.5.1915.
71 In 1898, the Malabar Wills Act was passed by which the marumakkathayees were
allowed to will away the self-acquired property to their own wives and children.
72 NAI/G.O.No. 153/Judicial/January, 1918. p. 17.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 53

that a member following the marumakkathayam law should leave all his
self-acquired properties to his children to the prejudice of his nephews.
He argued that a Mappilla following the marumakkathayam law had ample
opportunities of providing for his children during his lifetime as the system
was practiced and there was no need for a special enactment which would
have an indirect effect of opening up new avenues for litigation.73
Despite the opposition from some sections of the community, the
Mappilla Succession Act was eventually passed in 1918 by which the self-
acquired properties of marumakkathayam Mappillas were to descend
according to Mohammedan law. It was the earliest in the series of statutes
intended to ‘Islamise’ the personal law of Indian Muslims.74

Inapplicability of the Shariat Application Act, 1937

In 1937, a Bill to make provision for the application of the Muslim Personal
Law (Shariat)75 to the Muslims in British India was proposed. The pressures
for the Bill came mostly from Muslims of northern India who wished to
give inheritance rights to their women according to the Shariat law. The
Mappillas did not ask for it because their women already enjoyed
inheritance rights according to the marumakkathayam rules. The Shariat Bill’s
aim was to unify Muslims of different provinces under a uniform law.
Speaking for the Muslims in the Madras Presidency, Mr. George Joseph,
Barrister and also one of the members of the Select Committee, pointed
out that if the Bill was passed, the changes among a section of the Mappilla
community who observed the marumakkathayam law would be of a
revolutionary character. What may be seen as improvement of the position
of Muslim women in the rest of India was not true in the case of the
Mappillas. In his words,

‘Among them, the position of a lady in a marumakkathayam family was

infinitely stronger than the position that was sought to be brought about
by the Bill. There, they had the right to manage property and therefore,
the application of the Muslim law was not favourable.’76

73 Letter from the Tahsildar, Kurumbranad to the Sub-Collector, Tellicherry, dated

February, 1915. NAI/GOI/No.157/Home (Judl.)/August, 1918. pp. 19–20.
74 Derrett, J.D.M. Religion, Law and the State in India. London: Faber & Faber, 1968. p.
525.
75 The literal meaning of shari’at is the road to the watering place; the path to be
followed. As a technical term, it means the canon law, the totality of Allah’s
commandments.
76 LAD (India), Vol.5, 1937. IOR/V/9/143.
54 The Malabar Muslims

B. Pokkar Sahib, one of the founders of the Malabar Muslim League,

and M. Ravuttan, both members of the Legislative Council of Madras
Presidency in 1937, argued that any sudden replacement of a customary
law by any other law may endanger the economic equilibrium of a Muslim
society affected by the change.77
It should be emphasized at this point that the general Mappilla reaction
and the response of Malabar Muslim League to the Shariat Bill was different
from the rest of the Muslims of British India. The reasons for such a
response were – firstly, the peculiar inheritance patterns of the community
already gave inheritance rights to their women; and secondly, the personal
law of the Mappillas were already ‘Islamised’ by a provincial enactment,
namely the Mappilla Succession Act of 1918. The Malabar Muslim League’s
efforts at purging the customary law of the Mappillas were seen in a
provincial bill, the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Bill, tabled in the same
year.
The Governor of Madras argued that there would be no justification
for replacing the customary law by which certain sections of Muslims were
governed. According to him, any sudden alteration of the law of succession
in the case of people like the Mappillas would lead to confusion and
seriously affect their economic condition. The Mappilla Succession Act of
1918 already contained an express reservation regarding tharavaadu or joint
family property. The repeal of this reservation, he felt, may lead to
disturbing consequences.78
In the amendment of the Shariat Bill, the communities governed by
customs resembling Hindu law in matters of inheritance and succession
like the Memons, the Khojas and the Mappillas, were under the legal
nomenclature of ‘anomalous’ Muslims. Therefore, the Shariat Application
Act was inapplicable to the Mappillas.

The Mappilla Marumakkathayam Bill, 1939

As a sequel to the Madras Marumakkathyam Act of 1933, which gave
sanction to curtail the powers of the kaarnavar and allowed the partition
of a Nayar or Thiyya tharavaadu on specific terms, a Bill on similar lines
was proposed by Schamnad Sahib, a Mappilla of Kasargod taluk, to be
introduced in the Legislative Assembly in 1937. There was a huge uproar
among the Muslims of Malabar against the proposed Bill. Opinion was
heavily divided.

77 NAI/GOI/Home (Judl.)/File No. 28/34/38/1938.

78 Ibid.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 55

The Divisional Revenue Officer of Kozhikode remarked that almost all

the kaarnavars were opposed to the Bill as it would curtail their powers. It
was a custom for the documents relating to immovables and sometimes
valuables such as family ornaments to be kept in the custody of the
kaarnavar in his wife’s house. In the event of his death, occasions for
misunderstanding commonly arose with the result that in many cases the
wife did not hand over the documents and valuables to the successor.
Therefore he suggested that such ‘mischiefs’ could be put to a stop if
another clause could be added saying,

‘The kaarnavar shall keep all the documents and valuable movables
belonging to the taravadu in the taravadu house itself.’

Another argument raised was that the Hindu Marumakkathayam Act had
increased litigation by splitting up many tharavaads. Similarly, there would
be a rush for partition in many Muslim tharavaads especially those with
many young members who would jump at the chance of getting some
property in their own name. In only a few richer tharavaads with few
members would the division bring in any great amount as a nucleus for a
private fortune. The individuals would not have the benefit of great
bargaining power in social and financial matters as before, and collectively,
they would stand to lose very much. In the case of small tharavaads,
partition could prove disastrous because if a thaavazhi had only a few
acres of land, it would probably lose those few acres rapidly. In the
already existing state, the argument ran, even a fairly poor tharavaadu
very rarely refused food or clothing to the destitute members. Therefore,
in the event of partition, these individuals would have nothing to fall back
upon.
The bill was sponsored by a representative of Kasargod taluk, where
presumably there was some demand for the present proposals for
reform among the South Kanara Mappillas. There was not as much
mismanagement among Malabar Mappilla tharavaads as among Hindu
tharavaads and therefore not the same genuine need for reform. Arguments
such as the unnecessary break-up of a long-standing custom and the
fragmentation of substantial estates were also raised by the Mappillas of
north Malabar.79

79 Letter from the Collector of Malabar to the Secretary to Government, Home

Department, 1938.
56 The Malabar Muslims

Keyi Sahib Bahadur, a landlord from Talasherri, described the Bill as

subversive in character,

‘…because it tends to revolutionise a system which is several centuries

old and also time-honoured by tradition and custom. No agitation of
any sort has ever occurred among the Mappilla public of North
Malabar. In fact, they had objected to their being included within the
ambit of the Madras Marumakkathayam Act.’80

He argued that the removal of the kaarnavar was an extreme step.

Partition would undoubtedly unsettle long established usages and customs
and would certainly result in undoing the fabric of Mappilla society.
Speaking for the Muslim women of north Malabar, he said:

‘There are several taravadus which own nothing except the taravadu
house and the ladies can claim shelter so long as the taravadu remains
intact. The split will render many of these women homeless.’81

Opinion was also divided between the Majlis members and the Muslim
League members. This was evident when a memorandum from some
Mappillas of north Malabar opposing the marumakkathayam Bill was
presented to a decision-making Committee chaired by Muhammad
Abdurahiman, the prominent leader of the Malabar Muslim Majlis and
the Congress-Left. Abdurahiman delivered a speech supporting the
memorandum to which B. Pokkar Sahib, the League member, raised an
objection. He was supported by another League member, C.P. Mammu
Keyi. There was however not much majority support for Pokkar Sahib.
Young Mappillas in the audience and a noted Talasherri Mappilla, Arabi
Mammu Sahib, also objected to Pokkar’s support of the marumakkathayam
Bill.82
The heated arguments between the Muslim League leaders and the
Muslim Majlis members is an indication of the fact that the Mappilla
Marumakkathayam Bill was opposed by a large section of Mappilla
marumakkathayees, particularly from north Malabar regions. They were also
strongly backed by the Muslim Majlis supporters such as Muhammad

80 Letter from Khan Sahib C.K. Mammad Keyi Sahib Bahadur, Landlord, Talasherri,
to the Tahsildar of Kottayam. KRA/Revenue/G.O.No. 1119-37/27.9.1937.
81 Ibid.
82 Moidu E., Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran Abdur Rahiman Sahib. Kozhikode: Mohammad
Abdurahiman Press, 1964, pp. 193–5.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 57

Abdurahiman and other Mappilla youths. It also shows that the Muslim
League did not wean much support from the Mappilla public, except from
the qadis.
It is worth noting that the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Bill was first
proposed by the Muslims of Kasargod. In Malabar, it was largely supported
by only the qadis. Despite many objections to the Bill, the Mappilla
Marumakkathayam Act was passed in 1939 by the Madras Legislature
governing the marumakkathayee Muslims of Malabar in their joint family
matters. According to the Act, in a partition of a tharavaadu, unless two-
thirds of its members desired to the contrary, the tharavaadu would be
kept undivided for the common use of all the members. The provisions of
the partition clause did not however apply to the stanam83 properties of
the Ali Rajas of Kannur. Thus, by 1939, the Mappillas like the Cutchi
Memons were treated as Hindus as to joint family property, but Muslims
as to separate property, both in respect of testamentary and intestate
succession.84 The Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act however did not apply
retrospectively.
In 1945, a kaarnavar of a tharavaadu filed a suit regarding the tenure of
a lease of the tharavaadu lands. The tharavaadu possessed, among other
properties, an extensive forest in the Western Ghats. The earlier kaarnavar
had granted the right to cut and carry away certain trees of a particular
girth from the forest to one Koyakutti for a period of ten years. The
kaarnavar died during the pendency of the litigation and the plaintiff,
Mammu haji had succeeded him. Both the lower courts held that the lease
was a proper one and that it was binding on the kaarnavar and the
tharavaadu. Haji’s advocate argued that the case came under section 8 of
the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act according to which the transaction was
invalid for the reason that the written consent of the majority of members
was not sought. Clause 1 of section 8 said:

‘Except for consideration and for taravaadu necessity or benefit and with
the written consent of the majority of the major members of the
taravaadu, no kaarnavan shall sell immoveable property of the taravaadu
or mortgage with possession or lease such property for a period
exceeding twelve years.’

Koyakutti’s advocate argued that the present case was not a mortgage
or a lease but at best a licence or a contract for ten years. Therefore, the

83 Stanam means rank or dignity.

84 Derrett, Religion. p. 526.
58 The Malabar Muslims

Act had no application here and the contract was valid. The case was
dismissed.85

Continuities and Changes

Although the Malabar Muslim League leaders argued that the customary
law was put to end with the enactment of the Mappilla Marumakkathayam
Act of 1939, evidence shows that it did not affect the stability of the Muslim
marumakkathayees for some time after its enactment. For example, there
were twelve members in the Payyaloth Puthiyapura tharavaadu, a thaavazhi
of the keyi family. In 1940, the members of the tharavaadu applied for
registration under the Act of 1939. The twelfth member, Eramu Moidin
was reported to be residing in his wife’s house. All the rest of the eleven
members were willing for the registration of the tharavaadu as impartible.
This example shows that despite the enactment of the 1939 Act, tharavaads
such as this preferred to remain joint and follow the customary law.86
Similarly, a tharavaadu named Kattikoottathi was divided into three
thaavazhis in 1875 by a family karar (deed). Properties with saleable rights
were set apart for each thaavazhi. The members belonging to one such
thaavazhi sought the registration of their tharavaadu in 1940. According to
their statement, the family had properties worth one lakh rupees. These
properties comprised of the self-acquisitions of late kaarnavar, Ahmad, and
they were set apart by him for the family by the karar. The tharavaadu
owned houses in twelve villages in the Chirakkal taluk. Of the twelve
members, eleven had consented to the registration against partition while
the twelfth member had not given a statement either to his willingness or
otherwise.87
In the same year, Moideen Kutty and five others of the Koottummukath
tharavaadu of the Kurumbranad taluk, forwarded an application for
registration. The seventh member stated that he sold his share of the
tharavaadu property but his rights over the tharavaadu house had not been
sold. Satisfied that six out of seven members gave their consent for
registration, and no objection having been raised, the Collector of Malabar
accepted their application.88

85 Ponnamalathy Parapravan Mammu Haji v. Nitunkadathil Koyakutti, All India Reporter

(A.I.R.) 32, Madras, 1945. p. 170.
86 Mal. MSS. KRA/Revenue/G.O. No. R-6081/30.8.1940.
87 Ibid.
88 Mal. MSS. KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.5710/31.7.1940.
 Family and Inheritance Laws 59

In the Chirakkal taluk, a thaavazhi tharavaadu called Akkolath thaavazhi

had a house, a garden and a small paddy field adjoining it as its sole
properties. In 1940, four members having community of interest over the
properties sought the registration of the tharavaadu as impartible.89 The
same thaavazhi, five years later, sought the cancellation of the registration
because all members agreed to it and therefore, it was granted.90 Under
the section 21(1) of the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act, registration could
be cancelled if not less than two-thirds of the major members gave their
consent. This example shows signs of change in the aftermath of the
enactment of the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act.
Among the Kozhikode Muslims, the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act
did not apply because their system of inheritance was based on the Islamic
law even within their matrilineal households. So the chances of disputes
were negligible. Although some of the tharavaads were breaking up into
nuclear families due to shortage of space, education, new business
enterprises by individual members who were capable of buying properties,
even then, within the nuclear families, matrilocality was retained. Unlike
north Malabar, where the volume of litigation on succession and inheritance
of tharavaadu property was growing, in Kozhikode, most of the litigation
was related to mosque properties.
Tahir Mahmood rightly points out:

‘The Mappilla community has, however retained its customary law

relating to joint family, which is affected neither by the two special
laws applicable to it (that is the Mappilla Succession Act of 1918 and
the Mappilla Wills Act of 1928) nor by the Shariat Application Act of
1937. On the contrary, it has been saved and provided by a special
law, the Mappilla Marumakkathyam Act of 1939.’91

Powers of the Mappilla Women

The tharavaadu symbolised a kind of protection for women because it was
bound by matrilineal principles to maintain them even after their marriage.

89 Mal. MSS. KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.R-207-40/16.2.1940.

90 Mal. MSS. KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.12909-45/6.10.1945.
91 Mahmood, ‘Progressive Codification of the Muslim Personal Law’, in Mahmood,
Islamic Law. p. 83. Derrett has argued that judicial opinion has not been unwavering
on the implementation of these legislations on the Mappillas. See Derrett, Religion.
pp. 526–9.
60 The Malabar Muslims

The powers of the Mappilla women were manifested in various forms.

Evidence from land records show that they were proprietors of extensive
stretches of lands and owners of mosque lands as late as 1935. They even
headed the tharavaadu houses as kaarnotis. An interesting example is that
of the arakkal beebis of Kannur. Evidence from family deeds show that
some of the Mappilla women in Kozhikode administered their households
as kaarnotis.
Despite legislation, which was in favour of the Mappilla men in the
case of succession of self-acquired properties, the matrilineal tharavaadu
properties were still administered according to the customary law and,
although the rights of women were cut down, they were not completely
dispossessed. Therefore, the Mappilla women of north Malabar and
Kozhikode were still infinitely stronger and unusually empowered
compared to those in patrilineal south Malabar, and Muslim women in
general in the rest of the sub-continent.

An Assessment
The constant debates on the law to be followed in the devolution of
property in families where one parent followed the Islamic law and the
other, the marumakkathayam law, highlight the dual social structure of the
Mappillas. The judgements passed on such cases emphasize the importance
of custom and usage. The system of double descent also speaks about the
peculiar ability of the community to provide elbowroom to accommodate
different social systems.
It is important to note that matriliny was more strictly followed and
well-preserved by the Muslims of Malabar as compared to the Hindu
marumakkathayees. The resistance to any legislation damaging the system
was stronger and more vocal among the north Malabar marumakkathayees
than their Hindu counterparts. As a trading community, the Mappillas
were known to be thrifty and the joint family was probably preferred
because it proved economical for the tharavaadu in that every individual’s
earnings contributed to the wealth of the tharavaadu. The joint family was
also an advantage against the fragmentation of landed estates.
Partition was rare and no rapid disintegration of joint families as in the
case of Nayars was noticed. The tharavaadu symbolised status and therefore
was an important determinant in marriage alliances. It was also a profitable
economic unit. For the Nayars, many of whom were migrating to
Presidency towns like Madras in search of higher education and jobs,
partition was welcome and therefore they claimed their share of the
tharavaadu property. In other words, with urbanization, economic shifts
were taking place. As a result of these factors, nuclear families emerged
 Family and Inheritance Laws 61

with only intermittent contact with the joint family. Unlike the Nayars, the
Mappillas were basically traders and shopowners in the coastal belts and
agriculturists or petty traders in the interior. They did not normally go to
distant places in search of education or employment.
The Mappilla marumakkathayam households in Malabar were peaceable
compared to those in Kasargod. There was not so much mismanagement
and tyranny of the family heads as compared to the Nayar households or
those of the Kasargod Muslims. Double descent continued even after
legislation was enacted. In the case of Kozhikode Muslims, Islamic law
was followed within the tharavaadu system. A classic example of double
descent was that of the office of qadi which descended matrilineally
although property descended according to the Islamic principles. This was
a paradox because the qadis were the most vocal in the enactment of the
Acts of 1918 and 1939.
However, the pressures of legislation and the attempts by political
organizations such as the Muslim League to ‘Islamise’ the Mappilla
personal laws were to be influential factors in the changes that occurred
in the social customs and practices of the community.
62 The Malabar Muslims

Religious Spaces and Disputes

In a situation where there is more than one religious community in any

region, the question of ‘religious space’ always holds an important place
in any society. In Malabar, the Mappilla settlements were found within a
wider Hindu countryside, dominated by the Nambudiris and the Nayars.
Like any Muslim settlement in the Islamic world, the Mappilla settlements
grew around the centre of Muslim worship, the mosque. In the acquisition
and construction of mosque lands for the purpose, the question of ‘religious
space’ was often contested by the Hindu community from the nineteenth
century. Particularly in south Malabar where the janmi-tenant relations
were quite fragile, coincidentally, since the bulk of the tenants in the Ernad
and Walluvanad taluks were Mappillas, the contestation of ‘religious space’
by the wider Hindu society became imminent in the wake of the peasant
uprisings in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
As Stephen Dale has observed, the sense of economic insecurity and
dependence among the Mappilla tenants of south Malabar was also
reflected in their inability to acquire mosque lands. Therefore, when
disputes over mosques arose, they resented their subordination in a
corporate sense, as members of a religious community.1 One of the social
consequences of the uprising, particularly that of the twentieth century
episode, was the friction over places of worship, which sometimes took
violent forms.
In the coastal Muslim settlements of north Malabar, the Hindu-Muslim
friction over ‘religious space’ from the early twentieth century was not a
consequence of the rebellion, but of economic rivalry. Moreover, what was
particular in this region was the rivalry between Mappillas and a section

1 Dale, Islamic Society. p. 71.

 Religious Spaces and Disputes 63

of the Hindu society, the Thiyyas. It should be noted that the relations
between the Mappillas and the Nayars of north Malabar were very amicable
because of their economic interdependence.
The Nayar cultivators of the interior were largely dependent on the
Mappillas of the coast for the transport and sale of agricultural products
cultivated by them.2 The economic rivalry between prosperous Thiyya
toddy owners and the Mappillas took religious overtones in the form of
building Thiyya temples and mosques. Within the Mappilla community,
there was a contest between various status groups over ‘religious space’,
in the form of graves and burial grounds.
The pattern of mosques in Malabar was in the local architectural style.
They were raised on high plinths and had sloping roofs to suit the
torrential monsoon conditions. They resembled the Hindu temples of the
region in their building style. They were simple, functional buildings with
the essentials of a courtyard, a water-tank for ablutions, an outer veranda,
an inner hall, the mihrab and the mimbar.3 The minar was usually absent in
the old Malabar mosques because it was non-functional in a region that
had a dispersed settlement pattern with houses spread out over large areas.
Therefore, the call for prayers five times a day from the minar would not
be heard over such a dispersed population. The mosques in Malabar were
themselves utilitarian buildings and wood was used extensively in their
construction. Their wooden pulpits or mimbars were known for their
exquisite carvings.
In the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, mosques were the
central focus around which the Mappilla neighbourhoods continued to
grow. Like any Muslim settlement in Madras or the United Provinces,
mosques in Malabar were surrounded by bazaars and shops run by
Mappilla traders. The religious life was centered around the mosque
schools or the maktabs where the Koran was taught, and which were
maintained from the funds raised from the shopkeepers of the bazaars.
In 1874, a proposal was made by the Mappillas for the introduction of
a Bill into the Legislative Council of Madras, for the purpose of enabling
them to acquire, by a compulsory process, land upon which mosques could

2 Menon, Dilip, Caste. p. 73.

3 In a mosque, the qibla wall is the wall oriented towards Mecca, which determines
the direction of prayer. The mihrab or niche is the sign that distinguishes the qibla
wall from the other walls. The pulpit known as the mimbar, is the place from which
the Imam delivers the khutba or Friday sermon. The minar or minaret is important
for the call of prayers. Qureshi, M.S., The Role of Mosque in Islam. New Delhi:
International Islamic Publishers, 1990. pp. 10–13.
64 The Malabar Muslims

be constructed and burials could take place within the district of Malabar.
After much hesitation, the Madras government enacted the Malabar
Religious Sites Act in the same year to facilitate the acquisition of land for
the construction of mosques or other places of worship and for burial
grounds in Malabar. This Act applied only when a particular sect did not
have a suitable site for the building of their mosques or burial grounds.4
By the 1880s, the attitude of the local officials of Malabar began to
change as they began to realise the problems of the Mappilla tenants. In
1881, the Madras government appointed William Logan, the Collector of
Malabar, to enquire into land tenures in south Malabar and to consider
the best means of tackling the difficulty of getting sites from Hindu
landlords for mosques and burial grounds. On his recommendation, the
Malabar Compensation for Tenants’ Improvement Act was passed in 1889
and the government decided to consider proposals for the compulsory
acquisition of sites for Mappilla cemeteries in special cases.5
In Kozhikode, the Municipal authorities had, by this time, taken the
initiative to provide burial grounds for the Mappillas. In 1896, a request
was forwarded to the Collector for the necessary action regarding the
Mappilla burial grounds in the town and making a grant of Rupees 7,500
from provincial funds towards the costs.6 Again in 1898, the application
of the Municipal Council for a loan of Rupees 9,580 for providing them
with burial grounds was approved.7
The land settlement records of Kozhikode taluk have listed the mosques
that continued as inam lands from the time of Tipu until well into the
early twentieth century. For example, the survey name, Muchchikkal
paramba held by the inamdar Puthiya Purayil Hamsa was probably the
land constituting the Mishkhalpalli. The inamdar of the Jamaatpalli in 1903
was Kattivu Kilassanantekathu Mammataji.8 The inamdar of Muchandipalli
paramba was Kadiri Koya Mulla in 1903. The place-name Muchchantiyakam
paramba was probably the Muslim house ‘Muccinrakam’ that stood next
to the mosque where a burial monument had also been found. This land
was held by Muchchantiyakathu Ayisabi. Other references include the
Shekindepalli owned by Kilsikkatakathu Mammat Mulla, and the Kunnalipalli
paramba owned by Mussakoya Mulla. The inamdar of the Nalakampalli was
the kaarnoti of a tharavaadu listed as Palli Nalakathu Neyittibi. The

4 Proceedings of the Government of Madras, Judicial Department, 28 August, 1874.

5 Tour Diary- Tour of Arthur Lawley. p. 25.
6 KRA/Public/G.O.No.1006/4.6.1896.
7 KRA/Public/G.O.No.113/26.3.1898.
8 Land Register of Kozhikode taluk, 1935. (Malayalam)
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 65

Moyitinpalli paramba was again an inam under the management of one Mulla
Kattilvittil Kumithin Koya.9 The trusteeship of the mosques in Kannur
was in the hands of the members of the ruling house. For example, the
Mohiyudinpalli in Kannur was built under the patronage of Imbichi Beebi,
one of the ruling beebis.10
Burial grounds were generally attached to mosques, especially Jamaat
mosques and under the same management. For example, the Satiripallinte
kavarasthalam (burial ground) was managed by Sayyidalivittil
Imbichchammat Mulla in 1903. In some places, there were private burial
grounds belonging to rich tharavaads, where only their members were
buried as in the case of the burial ground attached to the Odathil Jamaat
mosque at Talasherri (founded by a well-known merchant of Talasherri,
Chovakkaran Moosa, in the early nineteenth century), which was managed
by their kaarnavars.11 The Koyamarakkarakam kavarasthalam in Kozhikode was
in 1903 jointly owned by Koyamarakkarakathu Ali Koya and his sister,
Katisabi.12
Other than mosques, there were small prayer halls where daily prayers
were held. These were known as srambis and niskarapallis. The srambis were
not used for imparting religious instructions, holding religious discourses
or for the burial of the dead. They were not used for juma prayers either.
The main difference between a mosque and a srambi was that the latter
being a small building, constructed in many cases on lease-hold land, it
could become converted at some point into a private property or could be
demolished. The survey records of Kozhikode have mentioned niskarapallis,
the lands of which were held by local Muslim families and some of them
by women of the tharavaads. For example, the manager of the Srambikkal
paramba in Kadappuram in 1903 was Valiagath Haji Ali Barami, the
shipbuilder.13 The female owners of some of the niskarapalli parambas were
Toppilakathu Bimabi, Suppikkavittil Ayissabi and Mullantakathu
Pathummabi; Toppil, Suppikkavittu and Mullantakathu were the respective
tharavaadu names.14
Physical segregation in the form of private family and sectarian mosques
was an expression of social and economic dominance. Aristocratic Muslim

9 Survey and Settlement Register, Kozhikode Taluk, 1903 and Land Register of Nagaram
Desam, Kozhikode Taluk, 1935. (Malayalam)
10 Kurup, K.K.N., Ali Rajas of Cannanore. Trivandrum: College Book House, 1975. p.
84.
11 Ali, Hamid, Custom. p. 104.
12 Survey and Settlement Register of Nagaram Desam, Kozhikode taluk, 1903.
13 Land Register of Kozhikode taluk, 1935. (Malayalam)
14 Survey and Settlement Register of Nagaram Desam, No.38, Kozhikode Taluk, 1903.
66 The Malabar Muslims

lineages which owned estates maintained their private burial grounds and
mosques. For example, the Valiagath Haji Ali Barami family of Kozhikode
maintained two family mosques in Kadappuram with their own private
mullas to conduct prayers and nikahs.15 Similarly, the Arakkals of Kannur
had their own private mosque with a burial ground within the precincts
of their palace. All the juma prayers and family nikahs were held separately
in the family mosques.16 The keyis of Talasherri had a separate mosque
with its own burial ground for their daily prayers, although they attended
the local jami mosque for their Friday prayers.17
Hierarchy was also expressed in the separation of graves and burial
grounds. The practice among the thangals in Malabar was to bury their
dead in front of their own houses or in separate burial grounds. They did
not share a common burial ground with the other Mappillas. For example,
the petition of Puthiyamaliakal Hasan bin Ahmad Jifri Muthu koya Thangal
of Kozhikode read:

‘That owing to want of space in the mosque compounds, a special

ground called kanamparamba has been acquired and set apart as a
burial ground for Moplas and as obedience to the order issued on the
subject dead bodies as a rule buried in that ground since 10 May, 1900.
That it has been the practice to bury the dead bodies of the tangals
in a special building erected for the purpose and that that ground will
never be turned over again for burial of other corpses.
That the corpses of tangals are buried separately as stated above in
all places in Mecca, Medina and Malabar.
And that the petitioner and other tangals may therefore be
permitted to bury the corpses of tangals according to their usual
procedure.’

The Collector of Malabar replied:

‘… the practice among the tangals seem to be that each tangal should
be buried in front of his own house. This, I beg to submit cannot be
allowed. It is true that the tangals are not buried with the other Moplas.
If necessary, a portion of the new grounds may be walled off for the
purpose. We refuse to grant any special concession to the tangals.’18

15 Interview with Abdulla Barami, Kozhikode, November 1994.

16 Interview with members of the Arakkal House, Kannur, October, 1994.
17 D’Souza, Status Groups. p. 50.
18 KRA/Public/G.O.No.101/31.7.1900.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 67

Similarly, the thangal of Mambram also claimed the right to decide

where anyone should be buried within the wall of the mosque compounds,
‘with greatest deference to custom’.19
This kind of physical distance was also found among the Kokni Muslims
of Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, who had demarcated areas in their graveyards
reserved for those families which were supposedly high in the hierarchy.20
A similar system of separation occurred in Hureidah, a town in
Hadhramaut. These examples of physical hierarchy in the form of burial
grounds within the Mappilla community suggest levels of contest over
religious space.

Wakfs
Closely related to mosque properties were the charitable endowments
called wakfs for their upkeep and maintenance. The dedication of landed
property for the building and maintenance of a mosque or a tomb or for
the purpose of charity was called a wakf. The founder of the wakf, called
the wakif had full liberty to appoint himself as the mutawalli or the trustee
of the wakf property. Two kinds of wakfs were made – one for the religious
or charitable purpose of the public called the public wakf and the other
for the benefit of the wakif’s family and his descendants called the private
wakf. The private wakfs were also known as family wakfs.
In Malabar, family wakfs were quite common in the form of family
mosques. For example, the Kadappuram Baramipalli in Kozhikode, the
Arakkal mosques in Kannur and the keyi mosques in Talasherri were all
family wakfs but were also open for public use. In north Malabar, rich
tharavaads built mosques, which were maintained by single kaarnavars.
Hamid Ali says that these mosques were something between a public and
a private wakf. None other than the members of the mosque could interfere
in their management and the public were only entitled to join in the
prayers.21 There were such mosques in south Malabar too, like the
Kadappuram Baramipalli in Kozhikode and the Mambrampalli.
Jamaat mosques in north Malabar and parts of south Malabar were
usually managed by kaarnavars of tharavaads. Kozhikode and parts of south

19 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.2869/19/29.3.1919. This particular claim will be taken up

again later in the chapter.
20 Momin. A.R., ‘Muslim caste in an industrial township in Maharashtra,’ in Ahmad
(ed.), Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India. p. 119.
21 H.C. Appeal No. 178 of 1887 (unreported) Ali, Hamid, Custom. p. 103.
68 The Malabar Muslims

Malabar, such as Mambram and Ponnani, had many mosques managed

by kaarnavars. There were mosques under the management of single
kaarnavars like those managed by the Ali Raja of Kannur, who was the
sole mutawalli of all the mosques in the town. In Kannur, it was customary
for the Ali Raja to bear all the maintenance expenses of even private
mosques. As late as 1935, in Kozhikode, the Koyamarakkarakam burial
ground was still under Katisabi’s management, the owner of the
Muchandipalli land was Puthiyakattu Mammad Koya Mulla Haji and the
manager of the Kadappuram Baramipalli was Valiagath Haji Ali Barami
thus showing their continuity of tenure as managers over a long period
of time.22
A Mappilla woman entrusted her wakf property to her husband to
maintain herself and her children out of the income and to hand over the
property to her children on their becoming majors. She also instructed
that in the event of the settlor’s death without having children, he should
have the Koran recited in the mosque, give food to the mullas who would
recite and get the maulud performed with the income of the property. The
settlor also reserved to herself and her representatives, the right of an
option of dealing with the property as a special fund for the maintenance
of her children, if any. However, she died leaving no children. In a suit
filed by her half-sister against her husband and others to recover her share
of the property, it was held by the Judges that the plaintiff was entitled to
recover her proportionate share of the property, notwithstanding the
provisions of the instrument. There had been no complete dedication of
the property, and except regarding the income required for the three
specific purposes named by the donor, her property was indisposed of.23
There was a legal debate regarding the division of wakf property
between Cheria Imbichi Beebi and the other members of the Mappilla
family following the Muhammadam law of inheritance. A wakf deed had
been executed in 1901 by which certain properties which had been
constituted as wakf properties were, after making provision for the expenses
of the wakf, set apart for the maintenance of the various members of the
family. Imbichi Beebi wanted the division of the wakf properties while the
other members contended that they were indivisible. However, nothing
was found in the document (dated 1893), to support the respondent’s
contention that the property in question was indivisible. Therefore, the
courts held that Cheria Imbichi Beebi was entitled to division.24

22 Land Register of Kozhikode taluk, 1935. (Malayalam).

23 Pathukutti v. Avathalakutti, I.L.R., 13 Madras, 1889. p. 66.
24 S.A. Nos. 1553 and 1554 of 1901, MWN, 1912. pp. 45–6.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 69

When the Wakf Validating Act was passed in 1913, it defined the wakf
as a permanent dedication by a person professing the Mussalman faith, of
any property, for any purpose recognized by Muslim law as religious,
pious or charitable. The main aim of the Act was to save Muslim families
from ruination. This Act was not retrospective and did not apply to wakfs
created before the passing of the Act. ‘Family’ in the Mussalman Wakf
Validating Act of 1913 meant persons descended from one common
progenitor and having a common lineage. The experience of the working
of the Act however showed that it was mainly used to deprive the
daughters or some other legal heirs of a deceased Muslim, who were
entitled to receive shares under Mohammedan law.
The validity of the Wakf Validating Act was questioned in a case filed
by a Mappilla in 1934. The question raised was whether the income of a
wakf property could be used for the purpose of reciting the Koran over the
tomb of Atta Beevi, who was the daughter of Sayyad Hasan Jifri Alawi
Koya Thangal (see Table 1.1). According to the court judgement the Wakf
Validating Act of 1913 expressly enacted that it would be lawful for any
person professing the Muslim faith to create a wakf which, in all other
respects, was in accordance with the provisions of the Mohammedan law
for the maintenance and support, wholly or partially, of his family, children
or descendants.
The object of the wakf was to read the Koran over a tomb and it was
not in substance a dedication to charitable use. There was no provision
for anything more than reading the Koran at the tomb and there was no
distribution of food or alms among the poor. The District Munsif noted
that Atta Beevi was the daughter of a thangal, there was no evidence on
record to show that she was saintly or even a pious woman. The Judges
concluded that the dedication in question being merely for the purpose of
reciting the Koran over a tomb of a private person did not create a valid
wakf.25 This example also reveals that the worship of the tombs of saints
was sacred to the Mappillas.

Nerchas
In Ponnani, and many other places, both rural and urban, formal mosque
teaching and learning was paralleled by sufi practices. The most important
shrines were located at Kozhikode and Mambram. Sufi influence seems to
have had a bearing on some of the thangals like the jifris of Kozhikode

25 Kunhamutty v. Ahmed Musaliar, I.L.R., 58 Madras, 1935. p. 204.

70 The Malabar Muslims

and Mambram, who venerated the tombs of their Alawi ancestors and
celebrated their anniversaries in the form of mauluds and nerchas. At the
popular level, the veneration of the tombs of saints and martyrs had a
long history in rural Malabar. The most important of these tombs, known
as jarams, were located in Ponnani, Mambram, Malappuram and Kondotti.
The tradition was also followed in some large towns and cities. The most
elaborate of the Mappilla festivals was a form of saint worship called the
nercha. A nercha was held at the dargapallis26 of saints or at the tombs of
the shahids (Arabic: martyrs).
In Kozhikode, the most famous nercha festival was held annually on
the death of Sheikh Shahabuddin, revered as Sheikh Mamu Koya Thangal.
The annual nercha festival held on three days in the Islamic month of
Rajjab at the saint’s tomb, was initiated in the eighteenth century by the
Mambram thangal. The nerchas were celebrated with large processions of
decorated elephants to the accompaniment of music. The Koran was read
and offerings of rice, appams (rice cakes), and money were made at the
dargapalli.
Men and women, irrespective of their religion, participated in the
festivities. A report in the Madras Mail of 1908, said:

‘The festival goes by the name Appani. A feature of the celebration

was that every Moplah household prepares a supply of rice cakes,
which were sent to the mosque to be distributed among the thousands
of beggars who gathered for the occasion…’27

The striking aspects of the festival were the elephant processions and
the playing of music, both of which were elements borrowed from Hindu
Temple festivals. There were instances when nercha funds of the Mambram
mosque were looted during the rebellion. For example, the collections of
the 1919, 1920 and 1921 nerchas at the Mambram mosque had been
deposited in the Ernad Sub-Treasury. The qadi had applied for the payment
of that money to him. The collections from 1919 to 1921, which were
deposited in the sub-Treasury, were looted by the rebels in 1921. The
Additional District Magistrate of Malabar however sanctioned the payment
of the money to the qadi.28
In general, the powers of the qadi in the nercha festivals were supreme
and when necessary, he took the support of the courts to exercise them.

26 Dargah is a Persian word meaning the shrine of a Muslim saint.

27 The Madras Mail, 1908.
28 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.9737-25/26.1.1926.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 71

The responsibilities that were held by him during the festival seasons
suggest how elaborate the nerchas were. By giving him full rights over the
collections of the festival, the government gave his position more credibility.
What needs to be emphasized here is that while the nerchas held in
Kozhikode and Mambram were in commemoration of Muslim sufi saints,
those in Kondotti, Ponnani and Malappuram were to celebrate the
martyrdom of the shahids of the Mappilla uprisings. 29Again, the
participation of Hindus in the nercha celebrations of Kozhikode and
Mambram was absent in the rebel-sensitive south Malabar because of the
mutual antagonism that arose in the aftermath of the uprisings. However,
syncretic tendencies in the mode of celebrations, such as, the playing of
music, drum beating and elephant processions, in the north as well as the
south (despite the antagonism) significantly showed the irresistible
influence of the wider Hindu society.

The Qadi’s Office

In Malabar, the place of the qadi was in the Jamaat mosques. The smaller
mosques were usually run by the maulavis or the mullas who had formal
instruction in Muslim theology and were in overall charge of the mosque.
Among the other functionaries of the mosque were the Imams who led
the ritual prayer and the mukri who rendered all kinds of help to the
other functionaries.
The functions of the qadi ranged from giving religious discourses in the
mosque, celebrating the anniversaries of saints, the general management
of the mosque and social ceremonies like conducting marriages and
formalities of the newly born. Other than Arabic, for the rendition of the
Koran, the official language used by the qadis in Malabar for registering
marriages and explaining the religious texts in the mosques was
Malayalam.
The most important religious office among the Mappillas was that of
the Makhdum of Ponnani. He was venerated as the religious head of the
community. The Makhdums of Ponnani gave instruction in the Koran and
conferred the degree of musaliar upon the mullas (their degree in the
undergraduate course). A special ceremony called the Vilakkath irikka
(Malayalam: to sit by the lamp) was held to honor the title of musaliar. On
this occasion, the makhdum authorised him to read at the big lamp in the

29 A detailed discussion of nerchas at martyrs’ tombs in Kondotti and other places of

south Malabar in the 1970s can be found in Dale, S.F. and Gangadhara Menon, M.,
‘Nerccas; Saint-Martyr worship among the Muslims of Kerala’, Bulletin of the School
of Oriental and African Studies, Vol.XLI, 1978.
72 The Malabar Muslims

mosque. When the degree of musaliar was conferred, the sacred lamp was
lit.30 The musaliars were distributed in mosques and madrassas all over
Malabar.
The Makhdum was the ultimate authority in Muslim law and
jurisprudence for the Mappillas scattered all over Malabar. The class of
musaliars graduating from Ponnani may be compared to the’ulama of upper
India. The Makhdum also held the right to appoint the qadis of various
places and had full control over all the mosques in the region. Other centres
of learning were in Chaliyam and Vazhakkad.
The qadis, the thangals and the musaliars together formed the learned
class or the ‘ulama of Malabar. For example, Umar Qadi (1757–1852), the
qadi of Veliamcode, in south Malabar, issued a fatwa criticising British
administration which led to his arrest and punishment.31 Similarly, Sayyid
Fazl, the son of the Mambram thangal, issued some fatwas regarding the
religious practices of the Mappillas. Some musaliars also participated in
anti-British activities like Ali Musaliar of Tirurangadi who led the 1921
rebellion.32 On the subject of a Mappilla outbreak in Manjeri in 1894, the
qadi of Kozhikode declared in a fatwa that the coastal towns were peaceful
and these revolts occurred only in the rural areas.
The judicial powers of the qadi had been cut down by the imposition of
colonial courts and functionaries. By the Qadi act of 1864, the appointment
of qadis was discontinued. But, because of the abolition of the office of the
qadi, there was no proper machinery for registering marriages and divorces.
Therefore, the Muslims of Madras Presidency first took up the case and
petitioned to the Madras government about the problems caused by the
Qadi Act of 1864.33 Therefore, in 1880, the Qadi Act was passed according
to which the local government could suspend or remove any qadi
appointed, who was guilty of any misconduct in the execution of his
office.34
Despite the passing of the Qadi Act of 1880, there were recurring
incidents of corruption by qadis in the Madras Presidency. For example, it
was brought to the notice of the Madras government that a considerable
number of Arab pearl-divers visited Ceylon in the early part of 1907 and
on their way back to their homes, stayed at several places on the west

30 Thurston, Edgar, Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Madras: Government Press, 1909.
pp. 468–9.
31 Panikkar, K.N., Against Lord. pp. 60–1.
32 Hardgrave, R.L., ‘The Mappilla Rebellion, 1921: Peasant Revolt in Malabar’, Modern
Asian Studies, Vol. II, No.1. pp. 16–28.
33 India-Bills, Objects and Reasons, 1880, IOR/L/P&J/5/28.
34 India Acts, 1880, IOR/V/8/51.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 73

coast of the Madras Presidency and contracted marriages for various

periods of time with young Mappilla girls. One of these men took along
two wives from Kozhikode with him to his native country in Bahrein.
One of the wives was only nine or ten years old. Owing to the man’s
cruel treatment, the elder girl obtained divorce with the help of her brother,
a boat khalasi35 in her husband’s country. The qadi in question was
Palliveetil Mammad, the cheria qadi of Kozhikode.36 The qadi of Bahrein
pronounced the second marriage incomplete because the girl was underage
and the contracting parties were ignorant of each other’s language.37
According to the Shariat law, an alliance between persons ignorant of each
other’s language was incomplete and therefore, the marriage of an Arab
with a Mappilla girl was likely to be declared void by the qadi of the
former country.
The qadi of Kozhikode was not suspended but was warned against such
negligence in dealing with similar cases in the future. Although under the
Qadi Act, the government could suspend or remove any qadi appointed
by them if he was guilty of any misconduct in the execution of his office,
the Governor conveyed only a warning to the qadi to be more careful in
registering such marriages. He argued that such incidents were possible
because some unscrupulous persons could have made false declarations
about the age of helpless girls and even posed as the parents of these
orphans.
The qadis were hence asked to observe due procedure in the performance
of marriages. Firstly, they were asked not to solemnise marriages between
Arabs and Mappilla girls unless they had trustworthy information about
the age of the girls and their consent. Secondly, they had to enter in their
books, the full name, that is, the house name and the father’s name, of
both the contracting parties and also of the witnesses, including the name
of the village to which they belonged. And lastly, they had to enter the
full name of the guardian who gave away the girl.38
In order to deal with such problems, in 1918, a Bill was placed before
the Madras Legislative Council by the young Muslim League member of
the Madras Presidency, Yakub Hasan Sahib Bahadur, to provide for the
voluntary registration of Mussalman marriages and divorces. Debates
ensued over several issues of the Bill.

35 Khalasi is derived from the Arabic term ‘khalas’ which means ‘release or ‘relief’.
They are skilled labourers working on large boats or ships.
36 KRA/Judicial/G.O.No.1560/5.12.1907.
37 KRA/Judicial/G.O.No.58/23.1.1908.
38 KRA/Judicial/G.O.No.1560/5.12.1907.
74 The Malabar Muslims

It was pointed out that according to the strict laws of Muslim marriage,
a Shafi’i woman had the right to affect a divorce known as faskh if she
desired; but the Bill provided no such provision for the exercise of such a
right by a Shafi’i woman. This was considered a serious flaw. Therefore, it
was suggested that if a Shafi’i woman gave notice of her intention to effect
divorce to the Muslim registrar, the registrar after giving due notice to
the person, must take account of it and register the divorce. It was also
pointed out that an entry should be made in the marriage register about
the kaipanam and stridhanam payments made by the Mappillas to the
bridegroom.
The opinion in Malabar was however divided. A majority of about two
to one were against the Bill. The Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha of Manjeri,
the valia thangal of Walluvanad taluk, the District Munsif of Chavakkad
and the Makhdum thangal of Ponnani were for the Bill.
Those against it were the qadis of Kannur, Kozhikode, Talasherri and
Koilandy and the Sultan Ahmad Ali Raja of Kannur.39 The Jaridah-i-Rozgar,
an Urdu daily published from Madras, reported in its February 1919 issue
that among Muslims there were a few who regarded the question of
legislation as a secular one; a larger section however endeavoured to prove
that it was against the Mohammedan law. It also wrote that the question
being a religious one, the government should not interfere. It also expressed
astonishment at the fact that the Madras government’s report had
mentioned only a few meetings against the Bill, whereas many more had
actually taken place.40
However, despite opposition from a majority of the Muslim population,
the Registration of Mussalman Marriages and Divorces Act was passed in
1919 according to which a ‘licence was granted to any person, being a
Mussalman authorising him to register marriages and divorces’.41

Mosque Disputes
In Malabar, there were many disputes on matters concerning the religious
place of worship. The most common subject of dispute was over the
ownership of mosque land and its management. There were also
ideological splits over issues concerning mosques.
Regarding disputes over succession to mosque lands in Malabar, the
British court decided that the Mohammedan law of succession must be

39 KRA/Home (Misc.)/G.O.No. 6753-18/25.1.1919.

40 Jaridah-i-Rozgar, Madras, 4 February, 1919. MNNR, IOR/L/R/5.
41 KRA/Home (Misc.)/G.O.No. 6753-18/25.1.1919.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 75

applied unless a custom to the contrary was proved. In a case filed by

Kunhi Bivi (Sayyid Fazl’s sister) in 1882 to recover the Mambram mosque
which, she alleged, belonged to her tharavaadu, the defendant, Abdul Aziz,
claimed to be the legal heir under the Mohammedan law. An issue was
accordingly raised as to whether the right to the mosque was governed
by the makkathayam or the marumakkathayam law. The District Munsif found
that the mosque had always been under the marumakkathayam law, and
that no mosques in Ponnani were held under the makkathayam law.
The District Judge reversed the decision on the grounds that in 1821, it
was decided in the provincial Court that the right to succeed to the
property of Mamu Musaliar’s brother, who succeeded to his estate was
governed by Mohammedan law. One of the witnesses remarked:

‘… I have no information of a son having succeeded to the management

of the mosque managed by his father. I have heard of sons having
managed at Kozhikode. It is because the customs of the two places are
different.’

Another witness said,

‘I remember, sixteen mosques in Ponnani, inclusive of the jama mosque

are held by the taravadu people. The Jama mosque is managed under
the kaarnavar of the taravadu. It is not under makkathayam law. I, the
present kaarnavar of the taravadu manage now.

Despite the statements of witnesses, the Judge’s verdict said that in the
absence of a proved custom, succession must be governed by the
Mohammedan law.42 As already mentioned elsewhere, the customary law,
that is marumakkathayam law was followed in matters of hereditary rights
of religious office like that of the thangals and the qadis. In this case, the
question of the predominance of the customary law on the matter of the
succession to mosque property was raised but in the end, not vindicated.
Again in 1886, Valiagath Syed Alawi bin Hassan Hydros Muthukoya
Thangal (See Table 1.1), the inam holder and manager of the Mambram
mosque filed a suit to recover revenue of eight rupees per annum charged
on his paramba from Kunhi Bivi and others who were its janmis. The
government had transferred the revenue of the paramba many years ago

42 Rayanmakanagath Kunhi Bivi Sheriff v. Cheriapudagath Abdul Aziz; I.L.R., 6 Madras,

1882. p. 103.
76 The Malabar Muslims

during Tipu Sultan’s reign to the trustees of the mosque. The Inam
Commission deed was dated 23 April, 1886. The trustees of the mosque
hence became, on the transfer by the government, entitled to recover the
revenue from the janmis. It was found that the rent had not been paid by
the janmis for more than twelve years and therefore the court made a
decree for payment to Kunhi Bivi.43
There were situations where the management of the mosque was
questioned, as for instance, some of the trustees of a mosque filed a suit
in 1910 for the removal of its manager. The manager claimed that the suit
was unsustainable and that instead of his being indebted to the mosque,
the mosque owed him a considerable sum of money which he had spent
out of his own pocket. The trial court found on evidence that the manager
was entitled to be paid a sum from the mosque and directed that the
payment be made.44
The mosque was the centre of Muslim religious life and a constant
matter of dispute among the Mappillas, the government and other religious
groups. Issues of its management, succession to its trusteeship, the
acquisition of mosque lands, processions and the playing of music and
the devolution of mosque property seem to have been settled either by
the government or the courts.

Disputes among Qadis

Differences did arise between some qadis in Malabar over mosque issues.
For example, during the 1860s, there was a clash between the Mishkhalpalli
and the Jamaatpalli in Kozhikode on the issue of a stone which was taken
from the Mishkhalpalli for the use of the Jamaatpalli. The Mishkhalpalli
committee registered a complaint against the Jamaatpalli, the committee of
which defended it on the grounds that since both the mosques were run
by the same qadi, permission was not required. The committee consulted
the religious authorities at Ponnani to redress the matter. The stone was
however taken back to its original place and the case seemed closed.45
However, this issue caused a longstanding split, and the kaimutti pattu
sangham joined the Mishkhalpalli committee. This sangham was a group of
singers who sang for weddings by clapping hands (kaimutti literally means

43 Alabi v. Kunhi Bi; I.L.R., 10 Madras, 1886. p. 115.

44 Kunhi Kuttiali v. Kunhammad, the High Court of Judicature at Madras, O.S. No. 579
of 1910.
45 Parappil, Kozhikottu, pp. 123–4
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 77

clapping hands). The followers of the Mishkhalpalli formed the muttilla

bhagam or cheria bhagam and those of the Jamaatpalli, who did not clap
hands for wedding songs, were called the muttilatha bhagam or the valia
bhagam. Thurston writes,

‘One section of the Mappillas at Kozhikode is known as ‘clap the hand’

(Kaikottakar) in contradiction to another section, which may not clap
hands (Kaikottathakar). On the occasion of wedding and other
ceremonies, the former enjoy the privilege of clapping their hands as
an accompaniment to the processional music, while the latter are not
permitted to do so.’46

The people were thus divided into two factions but the qadi of the two
mosques, Haji Koya Qadi, remained neutral. The split nevertheless became
complete when the two sons of Haji Koya Qadi, Abu Bakkar Kunhi Qadi
and Palliveetil Mammad had a personal clash in the 1870s. As a result of
the dissension, the qadi of Mishkhalpalli (the cheria qadi) decided to hold
juma and conduct nikah for his followers.47 Under the provisions of the
Qadi Act of 1880, the Governor of Madras appointed Abu Bakkar Kunhi
Haji as valia qadi and Palliveetil Mammad as cheria qadi of Kozhikode in
1882.48
The powers of the qadi in the management of mosques were also
sometimes disputed as in the case of the qadi of the Mambram mosque,
who was the sole manager of the mosque and the jaram attached to it. He
was the senior male member of the ottakathu tharavaadu in the
marumakkathayam line of descent. In a case filed in 1915, he pleaded that
the management of the Jamaat mosque and Sayyidakkamars’ jaram
(Malayalam: sayyid’s mausoleum) had been hereditarily vested in his family
and as the senior member, he had all the administrative rights. The
kaarnavar of the tharavaadu argued that the qadi was strictly subordinate to
the hereditary kaarnavar.49
The kaarnavarsthanam was vested since the foundation of the mosque
in four families. The main dispute between the parties was whether the
right of management was vested in the hands of the ottakathu tharavaadu
or the kaarnavar. It was stated that Pukkoya Thangal was a direct

46 Thurston, Castes. p. 470.

47 Parappil, Kozhikottu. pp. 124–5.
48 Extract from the Fort St. George Gazette, Judicial, Part I, dated 6.1.1882.
49 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No. 2869-19/29.3.1919.
78 The Malabar Muslims

descendant of the Prophet, and was held in extraordinary veneration by

the Mappilla population. The annual festival was attended by thousands
who made offerings to the thangal amounting to thousands of rupees. The
qadi’s name was found alongwith those of the kaarnavar on the invitations
of the nercha. There were other tharavaads in Mambram equal in importance
to those of the kaarnavar, and sharing with them the privilege of special
places of burial. The defendants contended that they enjoyed a
kaarnavarsthanam by virtue of the fact that their ancestors were the chief
men when the mosque was founded.
The kaarnavar argued that ottakathu tharavaadu could continue to hold
the office of the qadi, but it should not claim any right to the management
of the mosque. However, the lower court’s final decision was that the
kaarnavar had no right to interfere with the qadi in the appointment and
the dismissal of the khatib, the mullas and the drummers. The courts gave
the qadi the rights to all repairs, the lighting of the lamps in the mosque,
the fixing of the nercha date and the collections of the nercha offerings. In
the annual nercha at Mambram, the offerings were distributed to the
drummers and other poor pilgrims.50
On an entirely different issue, the rights to benefit from the provisions
of the Qadi Act were claimed by the Hanafi Muslims of Kozhikode, such
as the Pathani and Ravuttan migrants. They had a Hanafi Juma Masjid in
the town, commonly known as the Pattalapalli. In 1938, they appealed to
the District Magistrate of Malabar that C.M. Moulvi Sahib was the only
qadi of the Hanafi community and was quite independent of any other
qadi in Kozhikode. The petitioners argued that the Hanafis did not subscribe
to the rituals and other forms of religious ceremonies of the Shafis. Moulvi
Saheb had been officiating as qadi for thirty years but he had not been
recognized as qadi under Section 3 of the Qadi Act of 1880. They also held
that there were two qadis for the Shafi’i sect in Kozhikode and both were
recognized by the Qadi Act.
The Hanafis stressed their need for a separate qadi who was conversant
in their language which in the majority cases was Urdu, while Tamil was
also spoken by many like the Ravuttans while the Shafi’i qadis knew only
Malayalam. However, the Magistrate did not consider it necessary to
appoint C.M.Moulvi as the qadi of the Hanafi Juma Masjid.51 The matter
was thus closed. This case shows that the British officials took decisions
arbitrarily on the religious matters of the Muslims, overlooking the

50 Ibid.
51 KRA/Revenue/G.O. No. R1265-38/16.10.1938.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 79

importance of the qadi in their religious and social life. It also indicates
that language was considered a significant marker of identity between
leaders of the two sects in Kozhikode.
The qadis were also vocal during the debates that raged over the
enactment of the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Bill in 1939 especially in north
Malabar where the Muslims were organized in a matrilineal pattern. They
asserted that the devolution of property according to the Mohammedan
law was the Islamic practice and all Mappillas should adhere to it. The
qadis of north Malabar rallied many Muslims around them and were the
strongest supporters of the Bill.

Areas of Mappilla-Hindu Friction

Apart from differences between Mappillas, there were occasions when the
Hindus and the Mappillas confronted each other over issues of mosque
sites, burial grounds and religious processions. Sometimes amicable
settlements were made while at other times, unpleasant incidents occurred.
A number of disagreements between Hindus and Mappillas occurred
over the issue of mosque sites. For example, in the Walluvanad taluk, some
members of the Mappilla community had unauthorisedly built a mosque
on land belonging to a Hindu, Kolathur Variar. Variar executed a deed in
1878, by which the long-standing dispute was brought to an amicable
settlement. He surrendered the necessary stretch of land required for the
construction of the mosque and the land made over was permanently
closed with a wall.52
In another instance, some of the Mappilla inhabitants of Makkada amsam
of Kozhikode petitioned in 1911 for the acquisition of a piece of land for
constructing a mosque with a graveyard attached to it, with the financial
help from the rich Mappillas of that area. The Hindus of the locality
strongly objected to the proposed site. The President of the District Board
ordered that as the Hindus objected to the original site, it should not be
acquired for a burial ground and that if the Mappillas were anxious to
have a burial ground, they could have the other site; if not, the matter
must be dropped. The Mappillas, on their part, did not accept the other
site on the grounds that it was near the river, and that it would be difficult
for the people to reach the place in the rainy season as a result of floods.
Therefore, they did not use the site for their mosque.53

52 Letter from William Logan, District Magistrate of Malabar to the Chief Secretary of
Government, TNA/Judl./G.O.No. 1658/17.8.1878.
53 KRA/Public/G.O.No. 2128/2.12.1911.
80 The Malabar Muslims

A similar situation arose in the Kovur amsam of the Kozhikode taluk,

where a niskarapalli, not a wakf property but the private land of Chalil
Kunhacha was used as a Jamaat mosque. In 1938, a separate mosque with
a burial ground was built. The Hindus of the area objected to a burial site
near a residential neighbourhood. Secondly, they argued that since there
was a temple nearby where festivals were accompanied by processions,
the Muslims of the area would object to the drum-beating and the playing
of music. Therefore, an amicable settlement was made by which the
Muslims agreed not to bury the dead bodies in the mosque and to tolerate
music except between 11am and 2 pm on Fridays.54
There were also incidents of provocation between the two communities
during festivals which were very common between Muslims and Hindus
in other parts of India during the late nineteenth century. For example,
the Kerala Patrika reported in 1910 that on the day of the Hindu festival,
Vishu, over a thousand Mappillas assembled at the Moideen mosque in
Kozhikode, prepared to stop a procession of a group of Thiyyas which
was expected to pass by the mosque to the accompaniment of music. The
Divisional Magistrate sent a body of police in time to the spot, but as
there was no procession or prospect of one, no breach of peace ensued.55
Dilip Menon has argued that the Mappilla-Thiyya frictions at this period
of time in the regions of Talasherri and Kannur was to be seen more as a
fallout of an economic rivalry between Thiyya and Mappilla elites rather
than of a communal nature.56 The Thiyya community, by the beginning of
the twentieth century had found in their leader, Sri Narayana Guru, a
source of social and economic upliftment from their given position as lower
Hindu castes. The rivalry between the Mappilla and Thiyya elites were
accentuated by heavy taxation on Thiyya toddy tappers in the 1920s and
the soaring prices of toddy. This saw the transfer of toddy trade into
Mappilla hands and the earlier Thiyya monopoly being diluted.57 By this
time, the prosperity and wealth of rich Mappilla business magnates were
manifested in the form of Mappilla srambis all over north Malabar, thus
creating a community-consciousness among them.58
Meanwhile, in south Malabar, the 1921 rebellion had left behind bitter
feelings between the Mappillas and the Hindus. K.P. Kesavan Menon, the
Malabar Congressman, has argued that Hindu-Muslim unity during the
rebellion was affected only when the British army in Malabar sought the

54 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No. R-5362M-38/22.11.1938.
55 Kerala Patrika, Kozhikode, 23 April, 1910, MNNR. IOR/L/R/5.
56 Menon, Caste. p. 73.
57 Ibid. p. 76
58 Ibid. p. 73
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 81

help of Hindu spies to locate the Mappilla rebels. It was only then that
attacks on Hindus began.59 It is important to note that the thangal leaders
of the Mappillas like Ali Musaliar, Chembrassery Thangal and Kunhu
Alavi, all through the rebellion constantly stressed that at no cost should
the Hindu community be attacked.60 However, by the end of 1921, bitter
feelings were brimming between sections of the Hindu Congress who lost
faith in the Khilafat supporters. A section of the Mappillas blamed the
Congress for not giving support when the army and police attacked them.61
In any case, the conflict between Mappillas and Nayars in south Malabar
was on the subject of landlord-tenant relationship accentuated by
aggressive land tenure policies adopted by the British government. The
Congress was never again able to win Mappilla support in the rebel areas.
Instead, the thangals and Muslims of south Malabar were to join the Muslim
League in the thirties and the forties. Organizations such as the Young
Men’s Muslim Association (YMMA) of north Malabar did however foster
Hindu-Muslim unity during the Payyanur salt satyagraha of 1930.62
By the 1930s, the Mappilla-Thiyya divide in north Malabar had
sharpened with the imposing excise policy on toddy trade, the increasing
prosperity of Mappilla merchants and the simultaneous decline of the
Thiyya merchants with the toddy monopoly switching places.63
Apart from the conflict between the Mappilla and Thiyya elites, there
were occasional frictions between other groups of Mappillas and Hindus.
Incidents of trouble between the mukkuvans, who were Hindu fishermen
and the pusalars (Mappilla fishermen), have been recorded in south Kanara
and Kannur in 1929 and 1933 respectively.64A procession of Thiyyas in
front of a mosque instigated violent interactions with the Mappillas in
1934 resulting in one death and some minor injuries.65 Trivial incidents
such as a quarrel during a wrestling match between a Mappilla boy and a
Thiyya boy was also made a cause for attacks between the two
communities.66
Although incidents between the Thiyyas and the Mappillas continued
to be a cause of bitter feelings, by 1936, the administration reports of the
Madras Presidency observed with concern that the disputes between

59 Menon, Keshava K.P., Kazhinja Kalam. Kozhikode: Mathrubhumi Press, 1982, p. 120
60 Ibid. pp. 110–3
61 Ibid. p. 128
62 Menon, Caste. p. 104.
63 Ibid. p. 76.
64 Fortnightly Reports (FR) in July, 1929 and January, 1933.
65 FR, March 1934.
66 FR, December 1934.
82 The Malabar Muslims

Thiyyas and Mappillas over the question of music before mosques spread
to other Hindu sects and other parts of the district.67 This is evident in an
instance where a procession of Nayars passing a Mappilla srambi near
Kannur was prevented from playing music. This caused resentment among
the Nayars, which was apparently ‘fomented by local Congressmen’.68 On
another occasion, it has been recorded that a group of Hindus on their
way to a temple festival stopped outside a srambi and created disturbance.69
A group of Thiyyas was also said to have drummed in the middle of the
night outside a srambi in Kannur.70
The causes of such provocative incidents have been attributed by Dilip
Menon to the prosperity of the Mappilla merchants in Kannur and
Talasherri. Their monopoly over the toddy, copra and rice trade was a
constant economic threat to the Thiyya elite. This forced a section among
the Thiyyas to adopt Hindu militant stances, which took the form of attacks
on the growing number of Mappilla srambis.71 The nature of the conflicts,
as Menon has suggested, could have turned ‘communal’ in the thirties.72
In order to prevent further incidents, a prohibitory order was issued
under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code by the law and order
authorities all over Kannur, Kozhikode, Talasherri and Ponnani.73 This
order thus prevented the attempts made by a Hindu procession in Kannur
to pass near a srambi; a Mappilla nercha procession in Kozhikode that was
to pass through several temples; and a sabotage attempt by a Mappilla to
disrupt a conference organized by an influential Thiyya organization in
Ponnani taluk.74 However, by May 1936, the order under Section 144
expired and the communities gave an undertaking to stop playing music
while passing through each other’s place of worship.75
The District Magistrate reported that there seemed to be no permanent
reconciliation between the Mappillas and the Thiyyas. Instead, three suits
were filed by a section of the Thiyyas against the Joint Magistrate, the
Inspector of Police and other officers, to get a decision in their favour
from the civil courts.76

67 Report on the Administration of the Madras Presidency, 1936–37, p. 34.

68 FR, February, 1936.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid.
71 Menon, Caste. pp. 125–6.
72 Ibid.
73 FR, April, 1936.
74 Ibid.
75 FR, May, 1936.
76 FR, June, 1936.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 83

Incidents of Hindu-Muslim tension recurred in the forties as well, on

various issues. In Talasherri in 1943, a Hindu alleged that a Mappilla
shopkeeper was selling rice only to his community and therefore, a fight
followed leaving a few people injured.77 What was significant at this period
of time was the war crisis and the consequent restrictions on rice import
from Burma. In Malabar, the Mappilla merchants exercised a monopoly
over rice imports because of the presence of Mappilla traders in Burmese
ports, a privilege that the Hindu merchants did not have. This state of
monopoly was prevalent even earlier during the First World War and
had increased considerably during the Second World War. This
advantageous position of the Mappilla rice merchants was misused in the
sale of rice to other communities. Two different instances of clashes
between the communities were also recorded in 1944 over the issue of
drumbeating in front of a mosque.78
Thus the economic conflict between prosperous Mappilla and Thiyya
elite that began in the early twentieth century escalated by the thirties,
emphasizing communal boundaries. This was reflected in the attacks by
the communities on each others’ places of worship. At another level,
theological differences and disputes within the Mappilla community itself
on various religious issues had already begun to surface simultaneously.
Meanwhile, from the mid-1930s, government attitude towards the
religious practices of the Mappillas seems to have changed as they began
to grant special concessions to them. For example, with effect from 1936–
37, the Madras government sanctioned the levy by the Malabar District
Board on special sanitary arrangements made for the fairs held by them
during the nercha festival at Mambram.79 Again in 1938, a government
order was circulated to the civil and criminal courts of the Madras
Presidency to permit all suitors and witnesses, to avail not more than two
hours between 12:15 pm and 2:15 pm on Fridays, to say their juma
prayers.80 This order seems to have been announced rather late since
there had been similar suggestions by organizations like the Manjeri
Muslimin Sabha as early as 1901. A possible reason for the sudden interest
of the British in giving special favours and privileges to the Mappillas
could be the threat of the emerging Congress activities in Malabar from
the 1930s.

77 Ibid., March, 1943.

78 Ibid., April, 1944.
79 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.708-37/15.1937.
80 Proceedings of the High Court of Madras, KRA/Revenue/G.O.No. 1269M/28.2.1938.
84 The Malabar Muslims

Influence of Mappilla Politics on Religious Institutions

and Functionaries
The beginning of 1933 marked an important landmark in the history of
the Mambram Thangalship. Mappilla political leaders like Muhammad
Abdurahiman Sahib, the Congress-Left leader, formed a Mambram
Restoration Committee in order to restore the Mambram properties to the
rightful inheritors of Sayyid Fazl.81 Abdurahiman published an article
relating to the Mambram issue in his journal Al-Ameen.82 He argued that
the government orders passed in 1852 on Sayyid Fazl and his descendants
prohibiting their entry into Malabar should be withdrawn and that they
should be given possession of the Mambram mosque and the jaram
properties.83 A correspondence was also initiated with Sayyid Ahmad, the
son of Sayyid Fazl, in order to get the family details of the heirs.84 The
co-operation of the Mappillas of south Malabar was sought to fight the
case. The Madras government noted with some cynicism:

‘The Thangalship of the Mambram mosque is still the cause of a good

deal of subterranean intriguing among the Moplas. No serious trouble
is however apprehended and there is no sign of hostility to the
government.’85

February 1934, saw the surprise return of Sayyid Ali, the youngest son
of Sayyid Fazl, despite the government warning issued to him during his
visit to Madras in 1926. He came to Malabar from Cairo via Colombo,
although, it was unknown as to how he procured the visa for India. His
visit coincided with the agitation of the Mambram Committee, which,
according to officials ‘… appears to have some public support’.86 They
further added, ‘Endeavours are being made to put pressure on his
supporters’. Sayyid Ali was ordered to return to Colombo immediately
but he however moved to the French settlement of Mahe. The
government’s attitude towards him was given wide publicity in Malabar
by a Press Communique.87

81 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. p. 206.

82 FR, January, 1933.
83 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. p. 206.
84 ‘Translation of letter sent by Sayyad Ahmad,’ dated 5.4.1993, Ibid. pp. 207–17.
85 FR, March, 1933.
86 Demi-official from G.G.T.H. Bracenn, Chief Secretary to Govt. of Madras, to M.G.
Hallet, Secretary to Government of India, Home Department, Fort St. George,
20.2.1934.
87 FR, March, 1934.
 Religious Spaces and Disputes 85

It was reported that Sayyid Ali intended to file a civil suit on his behalf
to claim the hereditary rights to the Mambram mosque but however did
not do so. Instead, he returned to Egypt in October.88 When B. Pokkar
Sahib stood for the Madras Assembly Elections in 1937 as a Muslim League
candidate, he was supposed to have exhibited a placard showing a letter
from Sayyid Ali. Maulana Shaukat Ali, who visited Malabar to support
Pokkar’s candidature, was warned by the Madras government that Pokkar
should not be allowed to base any arguments on religious sentiments or
on the Mambram mosque. He was also warned for showing the placard.89
When the Congress ministry was formed in 1937, a resolution regarding
the Mambram issue was passed by the Mambram Restoration Committee
at a Kerala Muslim Conference at Kozhikode.90 Abdurahiman organized
an ‘oppu varam’ (meaning: signature week) to get atleast one lakh
signatures from the Mappilla public to support the petition. Circulars were
sent to the Mappillas of Ernad, Walluvanad, Ponnani and Kozhikode. The
signed petition was sent through the Malabar Collector to the Madras
Governor. A copy was also sent to Yakub Hasan, a member of the Madras
Legislative Assembly. Despite all the efforts, the entire issue was
suppressed by the Madras government and no action was taken.91
By the early forties, qadis and thangals were joining the League in large
numbers. For example, at a Muslim League meeting in Kandakkadavu,
the flag was hoisted by Kondotti Thangal.92 A Zilla League meeting in
Vandur was also organized in the presence of a qadi.93 During the Muslim
League procession in support of the ‘Pakistan’ demand in August 1946,
prayers were held in Jamaat mosques under the leadership of qadis.94 The
Muslim Majlis-Muslim League friction in the forties also led to religious
conflicts between them in that a Majlis member was refused permission
to offer prayers in a mosque.95
The British policy of intervention in the religious affairs of the Malabar
Muslims could be seen right from the time they officially took up the
administration of Malabar in the early nineteenth century. The change of
British religious policy from the late thirties was significant in the light of

88 Ibid., October, 1934.

89 FR, February, 1937.
90 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. p. 218.
91 Ibid.
92 ‘Muslim League Vijayipikkiga’, in Chandrika, 9.3.1946. p. 3.
93 ‘Zilla League Yogam’, Ibid.
94 ‘Malabar Muslimgalude Samara Sannadhata’, Chandrika, 18.8.1946. p. 3.
95 FR, December, 1945.
86 The Malabar Muslims

the emerging political activities of the Congress and the Muslim League
in the district. Subjects like the Mambram Thangalship became a political
agenda and the British government made every attempt to suppress the
issue.
The popularity of the dargahpallis and the nercha festivals was more in
the rural pockets of interior Malabar. Yet towns like Kozhikode also held
annual nercha celebrations and venerated saints. In the interior regions
like Mambram, these festivals were grand occasions and had a rural flavour
as they were celebrated during or after the harvest seasons. The syncretistic
borrowings from the local society took the form of lighting the vilakku,
music, fireworks and elephant processions although these were non-Islamic
practices. Finally, the differences, disputes and divisions over religious
institutions and functionaries, show that the Malabar Muslims were
certainly fragmented on religious lines. In other words, one could argue
that they were a pluralistic religious community. This will become
more explicit in our discussion on the division within the Mappillas on
theological lines.
 Reformist Trends 87

Reformist Trends

The geography of Malabar was partly responsible for the relative isolation
of Malabar Muslims, the intellectual consequences of which were noticeable
during the period of socio-religious movements in the nineteenth century
North India. Apart from the linguistic and geographical barriers, it can be
argued that the Mappillas of Malabar were unaffected by the reform
movements in the north possibly because of the absence of a powerful
‘ulama class associated with a court culture like that of the Mughals; the
lack of a highly educated Muslim elite like the ashraf of North India; their
being sunnis of the Shafi’i school; and their links with the Arabian
heartlands rather than with the rest of India. However, there were
exceptions to this general trend in that there were a handful of Mappillas
who went to Deoband and also, the usual barriers to penetration were
surpassed by the missionary Ahmadiyya movement.
Among the early socio-religious movements in Malabar in the period
between 1870s and 1920s was that of Sanaullah Makti Thangal. He was
initially an excise inspector in the British government but resigned in 1882
to become a social reformer. He was a severe critic of the Christian
missionary activities in Malabar and to counter them, he mobilised the
Mappillas through public meetings and pamphlets defending Islam and
challenging Christian religious ideas. He also advocated English education,
the education of girls and reformed the Arabi-Malayalam script.1
In 1871, the first madrassa was established at Vazhakkad by a family
called the Koyapathodi family. It was called the Dar-ul-Uloom madrassa
whose manager was Muhammad Haji, a member of the family. Under
Chalilagath Kunhamed’s administration, the madrassa expanded

1 Panikkar, Against Lord. p. 64.

88 The Malabar Muslims

considerably. Tafsir (commentary on the Koran), hadis (Prophetic traditions),

fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), geography, astronomy, geometry, history, logic
and science were included in the syllabus. A modern system of learning
was followed with the help of teaching aids like globes, atlases, dictionaries
and picture books. Facilities for encouraging the habit of newspaper reading
were also provided. The Vazhakkad system of education was later
introduced in Kannur and Valiapatanam.2
The Vazhakkad Dar ul-uloom became a nursery of bright Mappilla
students who were to lead the community later as leaders. E. Moidu
Maulavi, Sulaiman Maulavi, P.K. Musa Maulavi, E.K. Maulavi and
Talasherri Ahmad Kutty were its learned students.3 Apart from these early
socio-religious reform movements, reform influences in Malabar also
spread from the centuries old links with the Arabian Peninsula, initiated
and maintained through a trade diaspora. The Shafi’i centres of Egypt and
Arabia had their influence in Malabar in the transmission of Islahi teachings
to the region in the 1920s.

The Islahi Movement of Vaikkom Maulavi

The social backwardness created by blind faith and lack of education
among the Mappillas prompted a great humanist of the time, Vaikkom
Abdul Kader Maulavi, to persevere towards a social change within the
community. Born in 1873, he grew up in a scholarly family and was
educated in Islamic theology, logic, Arabic grammar and literature, Tamil,
Malayalam, Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian. Tamil Muslim scholars from
Vellore, Kayalpatanam, Kilakkarai and Ceylon were appointed to teach
him Tamil language.4 Vaikkom Maulavi’s voracious reading habits kept
him well-informed about changing events in the Arab world.
The 1870s was a period of national consciousness in Egypt articulated
through the press. The activities of Egyptian reformers like Mohammad
‘Abduh (1845–1905) were significant. ‘Abduh through his writings and
commentaries on the Koran expressed his ideas of modernism. His aim
was to show that Islam could be reconciled with modern thought.5 His
stress on the importance of reason was manifested through the introduction

2 Pasha, Kamal, ‘Muslim Religious Education’, in Engineer, p. 136.

3 Ibid. p. 86.
4 Ibid. pp. 14–15.
5 Hourani, A., Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age: 1789–1939. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993. pp. 132–40.
 Reformist Trends 89

of subjects like Islamic thought, geography, ethics and history to the

curriculum.6
Qasim Amin published two books between 1899 and 1900 on the
emancipation of Muslim women and advocated equal rights to them
through the medium of education.7 Rashid Rida, a disciple of ‘Abduh,
started publishing an Arab periodical, Al Manar, which became the voice
of ‘Abduh’s reformist ideas. Among Rida’s major ideas of reform were a
criticism of mystical practices, the education and equal rights for women,
and the teaching of Arabic language.8
These reformist ideas of ‘Abduh and Rida inspired Vaikkom Maulavi
to work towards the progress of Mappilla society. He used the medium
of ‘print culture’ to propagate his thoughts and ideas among the Muslim
public of Travancore. Through his contacts, he bought a press from the
Pierce Lesley Company at Alapuzha in 1905 and started a Malayalam
paper, Swadeshabhimani.9 It started as a four-page weekly and became a
vehicle for social and political reform. The Swadeshabhimani was a bold
modern Malayalam paper of the time and a strong critic of the Travancore
government. Vaikkom Maulavi and the publishers toured Cochin,
Travancore and Malabar to publicise about the newspaper and in the
process gained the support of many subscribers.10
The Swadeshabhimani fought for the social and educational reform of
the masses. On Mohammedan education, the report of the Government
Gazette observed:

‘… the Muslims are not interested in sending their children for secular
education… The government has encouraged those who have taken
advantage of government schools by appointing them in public services.
This has created some interest in other Muslims.’11

In 1906, the Maulavi began publishing another monthly, the Muslim,

from the Swadeshabhimani Press. This monthly was solely intended for the
awakening of the Muslim public. In the pages of the Muslim, the
importance to the upliftment of Mappilla society through education was

6 Ibid. p. 154; ‘al-Jamiyathul Islamiyat’, in Muslim, Feb–March, 1914. p. 109.

7 Hourani, Arabic Thought. pp. 164–7.
8 Ibid. pp. 298–9.
9 Kannu, Mohd., Vaikkom Moulavi. Trivandrum: Published by Author, 1981. p. 30.
10 Ibid. p. 31.
11 ‘Thiruvithankurle Muhammadiya Vidyaabhyaasam,’ in Swadeshabhimani, 9 Feb., 1908.
90 The Malabar Muslims

stressed again and again. The significance of the point can be gauged from
the following lines:

‘Among all religious communities, Muslims are the most backward.

Rich people should contribute financially towards the development of
education among poor Muslims. We should not depend only on the
government and… We must take the example of Hindus around us
whose leaders are working hard for their educational progress. They
are establishing big organizations which are opening schools and giving
scholarships to poor students… We should follow their example and
improve our community.’12

Taking the example from Hindu reformers, Abdul Kader Maulavi

experimented with the idea of founding a Muslim organization through
the pages of the Muslim monthly. This effective drive culminated in the
creation of the Travancore Muslim Samajam, the first annual meeting of
which was held in 1914 in Varkala. Participants included both Muslims
and Hindus. Discussions were held on the social conditions of the Muslims
and the position of women in Islam. Muslim journalists read papers in
Arabic on ‘Arabic language and Muslims’. These papers were also
translated into Malayalam.13
The question of women and their education was regularly discussed in
the monthly. In A. Mohammad Kunju’s ‘Nammude Streegal’ (our women),
written in the Muslim, he argued that the progress of the Mappillas
depended mainly on their women’s education. He wrote:

‘Today Egypt stands foremost in the field of women’s education…

schools, sabhas and newspapers have been started in Egypt. The subject
of women occupies an important position in their newspapers, journals
and monthlies… You must try and give education to girls. Also give
them religious education… and build their character.’14

The example of women’s education in Egypt was cited from the

Egyptian journal, Al Manar, for the Mappillas to understand its relevance
for their progress. The article on Muslim women thus read:

‘Women in Egypt enjoy a higher position… Our women need to be

educated on language, religion, culture and other subjects. Madrassas

12 ‘Samudayodhdhaaranam’, in Muslim, Jan–Feb., 1914, part 6.

13 ‘Muslim Samajam’, in Muslim, May–June, 1914, part 10. p. 156.
14 ‘Nammude Streegal’, in Muslim, Jan–Feb., 1914, part 6, pp. 89–91.
 Reformist Trends 91

should be opened for them. Malayali Muslim women should also

progress…’15

Other than the examples from Egypt, Vaikkom Maulavi also cited the
example of the founding of the All India Muslim Women’s Educational
Conference in 1914 at the Aligarh Muslim Girls High School.16
Vaikkom Maulavi’s inspiration thus emerged from the Arab world
through the issues of the Al-Manar and its founders. A book review of
Thomas Arnold’s ‘The Preaching of Islam’, published in the Near East
monthly was also translated into Malayalam in Maulavi’s journal, the
Muslim.17
Maulavi’s views about education and the powerful writings in the
Muslim turned out to be fruitful in the long run. A meeting was called by
the Director of Education of Travancore, Dr. Bishop, in 1914, which was
attended by the Muslim representatives from Alwaye, Quilon, Vaikkom
and Alleppey. It was decided in the meeting that Arabic would be given
importance, Arabic teachers would be appointed in schools which had
more than twenty-five students and scholarships and salaries for grants-
in-aid Muslim schools would be given.18 By 1915, seventy-five schools were
opened for the Mappillas of Travancore and Koran teachers and Arabic
Munshis were appointed.
Maulavi and the first Mohammedan school inspector, S. Sulaiman Sahib,
were appointed members of the Arabic Board examination of Travancore.
They planned the Arabic syllabus and textbooks. As the President of the
Arabic textbook committee, the Maulavi had regular contacts with the
education department in Egypt. He followed the modern system of Arabic
education of Egypt and also bought Arabic textbooks from there.19 The
first Arabic press was established in Edava where the first translation of
the Koran into Malayalam was printed.
This was also the time when the Maulavi took special efforts to spread
his reformist ideas to Malabar where he knew that education was backward
and the Mappillas resisted English education. In order to reach out to the
Mappillas in Malabar regions where Arabic was a favourite, he started
publishing another monthly, the Al Islam. Al Islam was a ‘religious, social
and moral review in Malayalam language and in Arabi-Malayalam

15 ‘Muslim Streegal’, in Muslim, March–April, 1914, part 8, pp. 121–2.

16 ‘Al-Jamiyathul Islamiyat’, in Muslim, Feb–Mar. 1914, part 7, pp. 106–110.
17 Ibid.
18 Kannu, Vakkom Moulavi. pp. 72–8.
19 Ibid. p. 81.
92 The Malabar Muslims

characters, published in the beginning of every Arabic month’.20 The first

issue, published a Malayalam translation of the Koran in 1918. The birth
of the Al-Islam was attributed by Vaikkom Maulavi to the influence of the
Egyptian Journal Al Manar.21 In his own words,

‘I started the Al Islam to propagate the ideas published in the Al

Manar… The ideas of Al Manar and my modern thoughts were opposed
by the orthodox ulama… They ordered that the Mappillas should not
read these papers’22.

The teachings of ‘Abduh and Rida, which were mirrored in the Al

Manar, were made accessible to the Mappillas of Kerala through the pages
of the Al Islam. The Maulavi was assisted in this effort by a Malabar
Mappilla from Edavanna, Arakkal Mohammad.23 A study of the issues of
the Arabi-Malayalam monthly shows clearly that unlike the Muslim, where
education was the key theme, the Al Islam concentrated more on the
religious aspects that had influenced the Maulavi. The theological doctrines
of the Egyptian reformers, that of rejection of taqlid (blind acceptance of
the views of early scholars), the importance of the Koran, the purification
of Islam on the basis of the hadith (prophetic tradition) and a rational
approach to theology, were the highlights of Vaikkom Maulavi’s modern
approach to Islam. He wrote:

‘We are lost in superstitions and darkness… Have we taken any efforts
to preach proper religion to our community? Values of ‘good path’
are missing in our society… Dear friends, please preach your religion
around the world… Let your ideas and thoughts progress. Follow the
right path.’24

The concept of Al Islahudini which means the purification relating to

religious practices was discussed by the Maulavi. He argued that the
backwardness of the Mappillas was because of their superstitious beliefs
and practices, which opposed the idea of din (Arabic: religion). These were
considered shirk (Arabic: Sin of Polytheism) by the Islahis (Islah means
reform). Maulavi and his followers tried to purge Islam of such
superstitions and preach the right ideas of din.25

20 Al Islam, April 1918, part-1 (Arabi-Malayalam).

21 Ibid.
22 Kannu, Vakkom. pp. 108–9.
23 Sharafuddeen, S., ‘Vakkom Maulavi-A Pioneer Journalist of Kerala’, in Journal of
Kerala Studies, Vol. 8, Dec.1981. p. 94.
24 ‘Nammude Avastha’, in Al Islam, April, 1918, part 1, pp. 9–12.
25 ‘al-Islahudini’, in Al Islam, April, 1918, part 1, p. 13.
 Reformist Trends 93

Questions relating to the right religious practices were raised by the

Islahi followers to which Maulavi provided solutions. These discussions
were printed in the issues of the Muslim. On the question of whether it
was right to read the Khutba in Arabic on Friday jum’as without
understanding its meanings, the Maulavi explained that ‘there was nothing
wrong, but its translation into Malayalam would help to thoroughly follow
the meanings…’26 Allowing young women to visit burial sites or to stay
nearby at night was wrong according to the Prophet. The Maulavi stressed
on that and considered it right only in special circumstances. He however
said that women were not allowed to worship the burial tombs and that
was a privilege only for the men.27
The Maulavi’s Islahi followers also raised the question of the worship
of saints’ tombs. Their question was whether it was a right practice and
whether the saints had the power to cure diseases and bless women with
children. The Maulavi argued that it was wrong to give saints the power
of God. Thus, the practice of nerchas at the tombs of saints was attacked
severely by the Islahi movement. They argued that the Shaikhs (that is, the
thangals) in Kerala were spreading un-Islamic practices. E. Moidu Maulavi,
in an article in Al Islam wrote:

‘These shaikhs are uneducated and are therefore fostering superstitious

beliefs and practices… Many rich families donated their properties to
one Musaliar… These Shaikhs actually make money from the nerchas.
These practices are against the Shariat…’ 28

The position of women in Islam was also a favourite subject of

discussion in the Al Islam. Through its monthly issues, the importance of
improving Muslim women’s social position was stressed. It was argued
that women should be taught to read and write.29 Regarding the seclusion
of women, the opinion was that purdah was followed in Islam ‘to protect
women who were delicate, vulnerable and precious’. According to Islam,
women did not occupy a subordinate position. ‘Even within the antapuram
(Malayalam: seclusion of the house), they held authoritative positions. The

26 ‘Madavaramaya Chila Chodyangalum Avarkku Maulaviyude Samadhanangalum’,

in Abda Mohamad S. (ed.) Vakkam Maulaviyude Thiranjedutha Krithikal. Vaikkom:
Vaikkom Maulavi Publications, 1979. pp. 145–8 (Malayalam).
27 Ibid. pp. 148–9.
28 Maulavi , E. Moidu, ‘Malayalathile Shaikhumarum Islam Samudayamum’, in Al
Islam, June 1918, part 1, pp. 45–7.
29 ‘Streegale Kaiezhuthu Pattipikkamo?’ In Al Islam, July, 1918, part 4, pp. 105–121.
94 The Malabar Muslims

house was under their control and management of finances was their
privilege’, was the Islahi argument.30
The subject of education of Mappilla women created a controversy
among the orthodox thangals of Malabar. This was evident when a group
of subscribers of the Al Islam from Chadayamangalam returned the
monthly to the publishers.31 On enquiring, the person who headed the
group wrote back saying that on the visit to their village for establishing
a dars (higher institution of learning), Ali Maulavi Thangal, the son-in-law
of the Ponnani Makhdum Thangal, incidentally happened to see the Al
Islam. The thangal ordered the subscribers to return the monthly because
it was, according to him, an insult to Islam. On further enquiry, he
explained that the article in the journal about teaching women to write
was unacceptable. He also challenged that ‘if a hadith allowing the
education of women existed, he would like to be shown the reference’.32
Technical criticisms were also made by the subscribers about the
monthly. Some pointed out that the language of the monthly was not
simple enough. In their opinion, the usage of Sanskrit words was creating
difficulty for women and men to understand the meanings of passages.33
In reply, the publishers argued that the Malayalam language itself had
Sanskrit roots. However, they agreed to simplify the language and also
print the meanings of difficult words. In any case, only five issues of the
journal could be published owing to Vaikkom Maulavi’s sudden illness.
An organized movement of the Islahis was manifested in the formation
of the Kerala Aikya Sangham on an all-Kerala basis. In 1922, the seeds of
the sangham were sown in Eriyattu village in Kodungallur, led by Vaikkom
Maulavi and his close followers, K.M. Seethi Sahib, K.M. Maulavi, E.K.
Maulavi, E. Moidu Maulavi, Manapatt Kunhahmed Haji and Kochu
Moideen Haji. The first annual meeting of the sangham was held in 1923
at Eriyattu, presided by its founder. Its activities included opening libraries,
establishing madrassas and publishing journals. Monthlies like the Al Irshad
and the Al Islahi in Arabi-Malayalam were published. The Aikya Sangham
condemned un-Islamic practices like ear-piercing and nercha rituals.34 The
musaliars of the Aikya sangham issued fatwas against the nercha practices
and in response those musaliars who favoured nerchas also issued fatwas.35

30 ‘Islam Madavum Streegalum-Anthapuravasam,’ in Al Islam, May, 1918, part 2, p. 34.

31 ‘Al Islam Varithiyaal Ee Maanyane Kedupattum Atre’, Al Islam, May, 1918, part 2,
pp. 61–63.
32 Ibid.
33 ‘Al Islamine sambandicha Chila Aakshepangal’, in Al Islam, May, 1918, part 2, p. 37.
34 Kannu, Mohd., Vakkom Maulaviyum Navottana Nayakanmarum. Trivandrum: Published
by Author, 1982. pp. 55–6.
35 Maulavi, E.Moidu, Maulaviyude Atmakatha. Kottayam: SPCS, 1981. p. 97.
 Reformist Trends 95

Meetings of the sangham activities were also held in various parts of

Malabar like Kannur, Kozhikode and Talasherri. During the annual
meeting of the sangham which was held in Alwaye in 1924, a resolution
for community reform was passed. In this meeting, an ‘ulama organization
under the leadership of K.M. Maulavi and E.K.Maulavi was formed. It
was called the Kerala Jamaiyathul ‘Ulama.36 Maulavis from elsewhere such
as the Principal of the Vellore al-Baqiyyathul Arabic College (in the Tamil
region), Maulavi Abdul Jabbar Sahib, Schamnad Sahib of Kasargod and
Maulavi Mohammad Ali from Bombay also participated in the meeting.37
After the 1924 meeting, the sangham activities and its founder, Vaikkom
Maulavi was condemned by the Sunni ‘ulama of Kerala through public
meetings and debates. The Islahis began to defend their movement. In 1931,
a Sunni-Islahi debate took place in Kozhikode and the venue was
Madrassathul Muhammadiya. Seethi Sahib presided over it. A number of
musaliars and their followers raised their arguments on the Islahi teachings.
The defendants of the Islahis were Seethi Sahib, Moidu Maulavi and E.K.
Maulavi.38 Another similar debate was held in Kuttiyadi, again presided
by Seethi Sahib.39
In 1936, a group of Muslims in Tirurangadi in south Malabar severely
condemned the Aikya sangham activities in a public meeting. As a counter
attack, K.M. Maulavi held a religious debate defending the Islahis.40 In
another instance, the sangham had started an interest-free bank to collect
funds for the upliftment of the Muslims under the leadership of
K.M. Maulavi. This was opposed by the Malabar Congress leader,
Muhammad Abdurahiman Sahib and his followers through their paper,
the Al-Ameen. This counter propaganda through the Al Ameen led to the
failure of the bank activities which affected the financial position of the
sangham.41
The Aikya Sangham lasted only for twelve years because of financial
losses and splits within the organization. For example, the Kerala Jamaiyathul
‘Ulama, dissatisfied with the Islahi ideas, left the organization and formed
the Samastha Kerala Jamaiyathul ‘Ulama. Despite the split, the Kerala
Jamaiyathul ‘Ulama continued to fight against superstitious practices and

36 Kutty, Ahmad E.K, ‘The Mujahid Movement and its Role in the Islamic Revival in
Kerala’, in Engineer (ed.), Kerala Muslims. p. 74.
37 Kannu, Nayakanmar. p. 56.
38 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. Kozhikode: Green House Publishers, 1996. p. 39.
39 Ibid. p. 40.
40 Kannu, Nayakanmar. p. 99.
41 Ibid. pp. 139–40.
96 The Malabar Muslims

preached the path of true Islam. It opened many madrassas and established
Islahi mosques where the Friday khutbas were delivered in Malayalam.
The old Arabic system of education was replaced by the modern system.
For example, the Madrassa Itihadiyya was founded in Eriyattu in
Kodungallur and was run by E.K. Maulavi.42 In 1939, with the support of
M. Kunhahmed Haji, the Nurul Islam Madrassa was opened in Tirurangadi.
This madrassa was run from local funds raised from copra (dried coconut)
and other merchants. There were eighteen members in its teaching faculty.43
Other important madrassas were the Ma’adanul Uloom Madrassa in Kannur
(1911) founded by A.M. Koyakunhi, the Rowazathul Uloom Arabic College
near Manjeri (1942), the Sullamussalam Arabic College in Areacode (1944)
and the Madeenathul Uloom Arabic College at Tirurangadi (1947) – all of
which were founded by the Islahis.44 At the beginning of 1947, the
management of the Vazhakkad madrassa closed down the establishment due
to a financial crisis. It was however reopened soon under the initiative of
the Kerala Jamiyathul ‘Ulama.45
Meanwhile Vaikkom Maulavi kept his ‘print culture’ alive and launched
another monthly journal in Malayalam, the Deepika in 1931. Deepika’s pages
also reiterated the social progress of the Mappillas through the education
of men and women and the importance of true Islam. A Malayalam
translation of a review of Syed Ameer Ali’s book on Women in Islam
from the translation in an Urdu paper, the Dar-ul-Islam of the Tamil region,
was published in the Deepika. Ameer Ali’s discussion on the position of
women and their rights to Islam was also translated into Malayalam to
motivate the Mappilla community to encourage their women to progress.46
As always, Vaikkam Maulavi tried to inspire the Mappilla community
by citing the example of the progress among other religious communities
in Kerala. For instance, he and the Deepika staff commended the activities
of the Nambudiri youths of Travancore in fighting superstitious practices
inherent in Nambudiri illams. For the education of poor Nambudiri children,
they led a movement for the collection of funds from richer illams. Reforms
in the marriage practices of the community was also taken up which led
to the subsequent enactment of the Madras Nambudiri Act of 1933. The
Maulavi hoped that the Mappilla youths would also work towards social

42 Kannu, Nayakanmar. p. 56.

43 Ibid. pp. 99–100.
44 Pasha, Kamal, ‘Muslim Religious Education’ in Engineer, Kerala Muslims. pp. 137–
145.
45 Ibid. pp. 137–145.
46 ‘Islamile Streegal’, in Deepika, March–April, 1931, Vol. 1, part 5, p. 208, pp. 228–9.
 Reformist Trends 97

and educational progress by taking the example of these revolutionary

Nambudiri youths.47
The Deepika’s lifespan was limited to only twelve issues because of the
sudden death of the Maulavi in 1932. With that the beacon-light of Kerala’s
social renaissance was no more. However, his teachings and call for social
reform through a long period of active journalism influenced many
Mappillas of Travancore and Malabar to join the Islahi movement.
The theological differences between the Sunnis and the Islahis were
accentuated by the division of their mosques into Sunnipallis and Islahipallis.
Unlike Sunnipallis where the tradition of reading the Koran and the khutba
continued in Arabic, the Islahipallis adopted Malayalam. Women were
allowed to participate in the juma prayers in Islahipallis where a separate
enclosure was created for them. The Sunni principle of prohibiting them
in mosques remained. The centre of Islahi activity in Kozhikode was the
Pattalapalli where the khutba messages were read in the vernacular.48 Other
mosques in the city such as the Kondungal Moideenpalli, the Palaiyampalli,
the Mishkhalpalli and the Kadappuram Baramipalli were also Islahipallis.
Given the centrality of such customary practices such as matriliny and
stridhanam among the Mappillas, conflict was inevitable on several issues.
The Islahi emphasis on strict adherence to the Koran advocated patrilocality
and denounced stridhanam. Unlike the Sunni system of appointing a qadi
for their marriage activities, the khutba in an Islahi nikah could be read by
any member of the community. Some of the socially well-placed
marumakkathayam families like the koyas and the baramis of Kozhikode and
the keyis of Talasherri favoured ‘change’ according to the Islahi concepts.49
Thus, the influence of the Egyptian reformers on the Islahis reflected in
their social agendas such as women’s education, their entry into mosques,
a modern system of Arabic education, the translation of the Koran and the
condemnation of saint worship. Vaikkom Abdul Kader Maulavi’s
pioneering effort was therefore a major turning point in the social history
of the Mappillas.

The Ahmadiyya Movement

Apart from the ‘Islahi’ movement which had a much greater influence in
Malabar, the religious reform movement of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of
Panjab also generated a following in the region.

47 ‘Nambudiri Yuvajanangalude Anukaraneeyamaya Matrika’, Deepika, March–April,

1931, Vol. 1, part 5, p. 239.
48 Interview with the Chairman, Mujahid Association, Kozhikode, 6 October, 1994.
49 Ibid.
98 The Malabar Muslims

It is interesting to note that the initial impetus of the Ahmadiyya

movement in Malabar did not actually come directly from the Panjab, but
through indirect links outside the subcontinent. The beginnings of the
spread of the Ahmadi faith in Malabar are traced to the arrival of the
merchant named Mohammad Didi from the Maldives to the Malabar Coast
in 1896.50 Didi is said to have visited Kannur in north Malabar, where he
was acquainted with a Mappilla rice merchant named Abdul Kader Kutty.
A year after his stay in Kannur, Didi visited Calcutta and on his return,
brought with him writings by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Both Didi and Abdul
Kader Kutty collected some more works written by Ghulam Ahmad. On
his return to Kannur, he held debates and discussions on Mirza’s
preachings. As a result, some of the participants were drawn towards the
new Islamic faith. Twelve Mappillas thus converted to the Ahmadi faith.51
This narration not only speaks of the relative geographical isolation of
Malabar from upper India but also the spread of religious reform
movements through its perennial trade links outside the peninsula.
The first Ahmaddiyya Jamaat was thus founded in Kannur. Among the
Mappilla Ahmadi leaders were Hasrat Maulavi Moideen Kutti Sahib,
B. Kunhahmad Haji Moulaviyar and C. Kunhahmad Sahib, who through
their effective preaching, gathered a few Ahmadi followers in Kannur.52 In
1909, thirteen Ahmadis led a ‘social boycott’ movement from the Kannur
Arakkal Palace against the non-Ahmadi Mappillas. Among them was the
Ahmadi leader, Hasrat Moideenkutti Sahib.53 As a consequence of the social
boycott, in many instances, Ahmadi converts were asked to leave their
wives’ tharavaads. For example, C. Kunhahmed Sahib was attacked by his
wife’s tharavaadu members and was forced to divorce her because he was
an Ahmadi.54
By 1915, the Ahmadiyya Jamaat of Kannur had a hundred Ahmadi
followers in its list. By then, Ahmadiyya Jamaats were also formed in Kudali
and Kozhikode.55 For the first time in 1919, Ahmadi missionaries from
Qadian visited Malabar and held religious debates. It is important here to
note that the Malabar Ahmadis all belonged to the Qadiani branch of
Ahmadis. As a result of internal dispute within the Panjab Ahmadis, a
split had occurred after 1914 and they were divided into the Qadiani branch

50 ‘Ahmadiyya Prasthanam’ in Kareem, Kerala Muslim History. pp. 655–6.

51 Ibid. p. 635.
52 Hamid, N., ‘Pazhayangadiyile Ahmadiyya Masjid’, in Sathyadoothan, August, 1973.
(Malayalam) pp. 374–390.
53 Ibid. pp. 375–6.
54 Ibid. p. 380.
55 Kareem, Prasthanam. p. 636.
 Reformist Trends 99

and the Lahori branch. The Qadianis continued to stress the prophethood
of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad while the Lahori branch stressed instead his
‘reforming’ role rather than his Prophetic role.56
The Qadiani Ahmadis planned an Ahmadiyya Jamaat in Pazhayangadi.57
The foundation stone for an Ahmadi mosque was laid in Pazhayangadi in
the same year by Hazrat Maulavi Ghulam Rasul Rajiki, a missionary from
Qadian and a disciple of Ghulam Mirza. During his visit to Malabar,
religious debates were already in full force under the leadership of Shaikh
Ahmad Irfani Sahib, a missionary from Egypt and Hazrat Khalifatul
Masihsami from Qadian. Hazrat Khalifatul’s disciple, Hazrat Maulavi Syed
Abdul Rahim Bihari, led the prayer ceremony at the Pazhayangadi mosque
and also spread the Ahmadiyya message in Kannur and Kudali.58 The
completion of the mosque took one year and in 1920, it was opened to
the public for daily prayers. The land for its construction was bought from
the Pazhayangadi railway authorities. In 1921, the surrounding area of
the mosque was registered with the Central Ahmadiyya Sangathan called
the Sadar Anjuman-e-Ahmadiyya in the Panjab.59
By the end of the second decade of the twentieth century, the spread
of the Ahmadi faith in Malabar and the increase in the numerical strength
of the followers showed consistent progress despite opposition from the
non-Ahmadis. The initial converts were largely drawn through the efforts
of leaders like Abdul Kader Kutty, Maulavi Moideen Kutty Sahib and
Kunhahmed Sahib Maulaviyar. These Mappilla leaders came from rich
marumakkathayam tharavaads of Kannur. Through the conversion of some
of their family members, the Ahmadi faith in Malabar gained its initial
following. For example, Hasrat Maulavi Moideen Kutty’s wife’s tharavaadu
members converted to Ahmadism. 60 Similarly, some members of
Kaderkutty’s and Maulaviyar’s families also converted to the new faith.
Apart from converting their own families, these Ahmadi leaders were
also successful in increasing the members of Ahmadis by having disciples
and followers. In other parts of Malabar like Kozhikode, Kudali and
Pazhayangadi, Ahmadis also largely came from prosperous marumakkathayam
tharavaads.61 It was only in the late 1930s that conversion of some peasants

56 Ahmad, Aziz, An Intellectual History of Islam in India. Edinburgh: Edinburgh

University Press, 1969. p. 33.
57 Hamid, Pazhayangadi. p. 383.
58 Ibid. p. 377.
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid. p. 382.
61 Sathyadoothan, 1925. pp. 123–4.
100 The Malabar Muslims

of north Malabar to Ahmadism has been recorded. Eric Miller describes

an incident in Kottayam in north Malabar, where the Nayar landlords
decided disputes among their Mappilla tenants and patronised them by
donating rice to the local mosque. In 1937, a group of Mappilla tenants
converted to the Ahmadiyya faith and from then on, their landlords did
not accept gifts from them and denied them the right to use the common
Muslim burial ground.62 This example illustrates that at the landlord-tenant
level, although there was general amity between the Nayars and the
Mappillas, the conversion of the former to the Ahmadi faith was not
tolerated.
From the 1920s, the activities of the Malabar Ahmadis took off on a
relatively organized scale. Annual meetings were held by the Anjuman-e-
Ahmadiyya at Kannur from 1922. In 1925, the organization started a
Malayalam monthly called the Sathyadoothan (which literally means the
‘Messenger of Truth’) published and edited by Janab H. Hussain. The
expenses for its publication were run from the generous donations made
by the Ahmadis themselves. Twenty-three members of the Kannur Anjuman
contributed towards its publication.63
Apart from that, contributions were also made by other Ahmadiyya
centres like Pazhayangadi and Kozhikode in the form of Eid funds.64 Books,
journals and monthlies relating to the Ahmadi faith were bought from the
Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman. With the launch of the Sathyadoothan, the
reform activities of the new faith gradually began to take shape. A madrassa
was opened for the education of the Ahmadiyya community. The students
of the Madrassah-e-Ahmadiyya, as it was called, were encouraged by giving
them prizes for passing their examinations.65
The call for educating Ahmadi women was also voiced through the
Sathyadoothan. Maulavi B. Abdul, an Ahmadi from the Kannur Anjuman,
wrote that the first teacher for a child is his mother, and it is she who
should be taught to read and write.66 Abdul laid emphasis on teaching
women to read Arabic so that they could also learn to fight legal battles
against their men.67 Thus, the missionary programme of the Malabar

62 Miller, E.J., ‘An Analysis of the Hindu Caste System in its interaction with the
Total Social Structure in North Kerala’, Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, University
of Cambridge, 1950. pp. 121–2.
63 Sathyadoothan, March, 1920. p. 79.
64 Ibid. Jan-Feb., 1928. p. 49.
65 ‘Kurippugal’, Sathyadoothan, March, 1925. p. 120.
66 Abdul, B., ‘Islam Madavum Stree Vidyabhyaasamum’ in Sathyadoothan, Oct.–Dec.
1928. p. 400.
67 Ibid. p. 121.
 Reformist Trends 101

Ahmadis gave importance to education, and particular attention was given

to their women’s schooling. They were also allowed to attend prayers in
the Ahmadi mosques.
A few Ahmadi leaders like C. Kunhahamed Sahib even sent one of his
sons, Kamaluddin to the Qadian Ahmadi centre for higher theological
learning. Kamaluddin sat for the examination at the Arabic College of
Qadian in theology in 1946.68 There were other leaders who aspired to
send their children for higher theological learning.
The emergence of the Ahmadiyya movement was vehemently
condemned by the rest of the Mappilla community. The Mappillas argued
that the Ahmadi belief of Ghulam Ahmad being a Prophet was against the
teachings of the Koran. Therefore, like elsewhere, the Ahmadis in Malabar
were also ostracised as a heretic body. As an opposition to the Ahmadi
gathering at Kannur in 1925, stone-pelting attacks were carried out by
some non-Ahmadi Mappillas.69 Among the critical opponents of the Ahmadis
was Chalilagath Kunhahmed Haji, the founder of the Vazhakkad madrassa,
who wrote a book in Arabi-Malayalam called Qadiani Khandanam
(Refutation of Qadiyanism) in 1911. Others who attacked the sect were
the Islahi founders such as Vaikkom Maulavi, E.K. Maulavi and K.
Maulavi.70
The Ahmadiyya community was neither allowed to enter the mosques
or use the common burial grounds. The Ahmadis, in their turn, argued
that every Muslim had the right to enter any mosque for prayers.71
However, they built their own mosques in all the Ahmadi centres where
the khutba was read in the vernacular. For example, the Dar-us-salaam
mosque in Kozhikode, the Pazhayangadi Ahmadiyya Masjid in Pazhayangadi,
the Ahmadiyya Jamaat in Kannur and the Kulangarapalli in Kudali were all
Ahmadi mosques. Separate burial grounds were also constructed in order
to solve the Ahmadiyya-Mappilla disputes. In Kozhikode, the Ahmadis
acquired a burial ground in 1934.72
Family members of some of the leading Ahmadis also protested against
their conversion to the new faith. C. Kunhahmad Sahib who belonged to
the Seereveetil Kudumbam tharavaadu was threatened by his tharavaadu
members. They revolted against the Ahmadi ideas and his brother allegedly

68 ‘Pazhayangadi’, Sathyadoothan, August, 1973. pp. 385–6.

69 ‘Kurippugal’, Sathyadoothan, March, 1925. p. 120.
70 Samad, Abdul, Islam in Kerala. p. 174.
71 ‘Pallimudakkam’, Sathyadoothan, Feb.,1925.
72 FR, April, 1934.
102 The Malabar Muslims

even planned to kill him.73 Similarly, the members of his first two wives’
tharavaads showed their aversion to his conversion, and as a result, he
divorced them.74 However there were cases of other leaders like Hasrat
Maulavi Moideen Kutty Sahib, whose wife’s Bilavinagam tharavaadu
members embraced Ahmadism.75
Ahmadi marriages were simple according to Islamic law and the alliances
were settled within their own community. The custom of mahr was
retained. The daughter of Abdul Kaderkutty, the first Ahmadi follower of
Kannur, Nafiza Bibi, was given in marriage to an Ahmadi. There were no
other ceremonies in the nikah and stridhanam was not given, as was the
custom with other Mappillas.76 Similarly, the member of the Kudali Jamaat,
Janab Abdulla Sahib’s daughter, Amattul Hafiz Begum, was married to
the son of the Kannur Jamaat member, Hakim Mohammad Kunhi.77
Challenges over marriage validity were also sometimes taken to court.
The British courts were not concerned with peculiarities in belief, orthodoxy
or heterodoxy, so long as the minimum of belief existed. In the case of a
Mappila woman from north Malabar who had married a man who later
converted to Ahmadism, the courts held that Ahmadis were Muslims,
despite their heterodox beliefs.78 The change of faith on the part of the
husband was considered by the rest of the family as an act of apostasy.
According to the shariat, ‘the act of apostasy on the part of one of the
spouses could completely severe the marital tie’.
Amidst their reform activities in Malabar, the Ahmadis also maintained
their links with the Sadar Anjuman at Qadian and other Ahmadi centres
outside the subcontinent. In 1925, the Principal of the Ahmadiyya missionary
school of Qadian, Hazrat Roshan Ali Sahib visited the Pazhayangadi
Ahmadiyya Jamaat and gave religious lectures. Hasrat Wasin Ahmad Sahib,
the grandson of Ghulam Ahmed also visited the masjid and shared his
religious experiences.79 Janab C. Kunhahmed Sahib, the leader of the
Pazhayangadi Anjuman donated one-eighth of his funds to the Sadar
Anjuman Ahmadiyya centre in the Panjab.80

73 Sathayadoothan, August, 1973. p. 385.

74 Ibid. pp. 379–81.
75 Ibid. p. 382.
76 ‘Oru Vivaham’, in Sathyadoothan, March, 1925. pp. 123–4.
77 ‘Vivaha Parasyam’, in Ibid. December, 1941. p. 98.
78 TNA/Law (Gen.)/G.O.No.11/4.4.1921; Narantakath Avullah v. Parakkal Mamu, I.L.R.
45, Madras, 1922. p. 986.
79 ‘Pazhayangadi’, Sathyadoothan, August, 1973. p. 378.
80 Ibid. pp. 385–86.
 Reformist Trends 103

The activities of the Sadar Anjuman were regularly reported in the

Sathyadoothan to keep the Malabar Ahmadis informed. However, after 1936,
the monthly was stopped due to unknown reasons.81 Between the fiftieth
annual meeting of the Ahmadis held at Qadian in 1942 and the fifty-fifth
annual conference held in 1947, the number of Ahmadi converts had risen
to 39,000.82 These reports from the nerve centre of the Ahmadiyya movement
not only kept the Malabar Ahmadis well-informed about events elsewhere,
they also provided some sort of cohesiveness to the movement in Malabar.
The social change as a result of the movement and its reforms was
reflected in different spheres like women’s education, their space in the
Ahmadi mosque, the use of the local vernacular, Malayalam, in khutba
readings, simple marriages and the abolition of stridhanam.
Apart from the reformist activities of theological movements such as
the Islahi and Ahmadiyya movements, there were other Islamic associations
in Malabar which worked towards social and educational reform.

Contribution of Islamic Associations

Associations were formed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries in Malabar based on reformist ideas aimed at increasing the
opportunities for Mappillas. The most important of them were the
Himayathul Islam Sabha and the Ansarul-Islam-Bitheyle-Mil-Anam, also known
as the Mohammedan Educational Society, in Kozhikode and the Manjeri
Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha in Manjeri, Ernad Taluk. The Himayathul Islam
Sabha and the Mohammedan Educational Society founded schools for
Mappillas with the financial support of rich traders, timber merchants,
landholders and the thangals of Kozhikode.
The Himayathul Islam Sabha or the Mappilla Sabha (as it was called) was
established in 1890 with very few members on its rolls. The name
‘Himayathul Islam’ itself meant an association intended to protect the
interests of Islam. It was started at the house of its President, Muthukoya
Thangal (See Table 1.1), a landholder in Kozhikode. The Sabha included
almost all the leading members of the Mappilla community including qadis,
thangals, merchants and janmis. They built a mosque in the adjoining
compound from the Sabha’s funds and undertook the repair of many
mosques in the town.

81 Interview with Bichi Koya, Ahmadiyya Jamaat, Kozhikode, Dec. 1997.

82 ‘Ahmadiyya Varshika Sammelanam’, Sathyadoothan, Jan–Feb., 194. pp. 37–40
104 The Malabar Muslims

The representatives of the Sabha were very active and offered their views
publicly on several occasions on issues such as the Mappilla outbreaks,
various legislation, the Makkah pilgrims, Muslim education and their
representation in employment.83 Relief measures were taken up by the
association at times of distress in the form of food distribution to the poor
and destitute infants who were victims of the 1921 rebellion. A madrassa
was built by the members for imparting free religious education to
Mappilla youths and a special endowment was created for its maintenance.
A committee called the Indirasul Islam Committee was set up in 1908 to
open a school in Kozhikode.
For raising funds, the Himayathul Islam High school approached wealthy
Mappilla merchants as well as the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Begum
of Bhopal. Mappilla merchants like P.B. Imbichi Koya of Colombo, Haji
Ibrahim Sait of Poona and Moideen Kutty Haji gave generous donations
in the form of money and land. The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Begum
of Bhopal agreed to consider the matter in the near future.84 It is however
not known if they gave any donations. In December 1927, the Himayathul
Islam committee’s resolution seeking government aid for some building
grants was passed at the All India Muslim Educational Conference held
at Madras.85
At this period of time, the President of the Himayathul Islam Sabha was
P.M. Sayyid Ahmad Jifri Attakoya Thangal (See Table 1.1). Attakoya
Thangal also held other offices such as the member of the Malabar District
Board, the Malabar District Educational Council and the Municipal Council,
Kozhikode and the Vice-President, the Kozhikode Taluk Board. The
Secretary post was occupied by C.A. Kunhi Moosa Sahib, Municipal
Councillor Kozhikode. Other members of the Management Board consisted
of Mappilla merchants and landlords.86
The Himayathul Islam Elementary school was opened in 1911 with
thirteen students in the First standard. These students came from rich
families of timber merchants and traders of Kozhikode. Besides the
donations and subscriptions from the members, a charity fee called taraku
contribution of four per cent of timber and two per cent of other
commodities like ginger, copra, pepper bought or sold by Mappilla
merchants at the copra bazaar at Kozhikode, was collected and added to

83 Tour Diary-Third Tour of Lord Ampthill in the Madras Presidency. Madras, 1901, pp.
178–9.
84 Ibid. p. 7.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid. p. 11.
 Reformist Trends 105

the Sabha funds. It became a High school in 1919 which, in its early days
was run from the revenue incurred from taraku contributions, government
grants, donations and religious endowments. After the Mappilla rebellion
of 1921, the school enrolled a number of orphans as students. A
characteristic feature of the school was that it was the only institution
which imparted free secular and religious education.87
The objectives of the Himayathul Islam Sabha were to advance both
secular and religious education by opening schools, the encouragement of
the study of Arabic, English and other subjects, the establishment of a
library of Arabic and the management and maintenance of the Mekarapalli
mosque attached to the High School. The Committee had been endowed
with four warehouses worth 30,000 Rupees by Maliakkal Kunhahmad of
Kozhikode.88
The Ansarul-Islam-Bitheyle-mil-Anam or the Muhammadan Educational
Association was registered at Kozhikode in 1918. The governing body of
the society consisted of Kunhahmed Koya Haji, Valiagath Haji Ali Barami,
the shipbuilder and Koyapathodi Mammadkutti, all of whom were wealthy
timber merchants. The association aimed to encourage and improve
religious and secular education and the study of Arabic and English. It
also wanted to establish a High School in Kozhikode with scope for further
development, on the lines of the Madrassa-i-Azam of Madras, an important
madrassa in the Madras Presidency. A public library of Arabic books was
also on its agenda.89 As a result of the efforts of the association, in 1918,
the Madrassathul Muhammadiya was inaugurated by the Madras High Court
Judge, Abdur Rahim.90 It started as a Middle school with nine students
and two teachers. The Madrassathul Muhammadiya had a positive attitude
towards western education and the introduction of both secular and
religious education in its curricula.
Other than the Himayathul Islam Sabha and the Muhammadan
Educational Society, another influential Sabha was established in Ernad
taluk. The Manjeri Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha, as it was called, was formed
in the late nineteenth century and had its headquarters at Manjeri. This
Sabha which represented the Mappillas of south Malabar, fought
consistently for the cause of their education and employment. The role of
the association in claiming provisions for the secular and religious
education of the community from the colonial officials has been discussed

87 Memorandum of the Himayathul Islam High School, Kozhikode, 1927. p. 1.

88 KRA/Public/G.O.No. 7026/28.2.1930.
89 KRA/Revenue/June, 1918.
90 Ibid. p. 30.
106 The Malabar Muslims

in the next chapter. The Sabha itself did not open any school, but constantly
provided recommendations regarding syllabus and textbooks to the
educational department.
To sum up, these Islamic associations were to evolve into important
Mappilla pressure groups in bargaining for special concessions for the
community. Although most of the socio-religious reform movements in
Malabar were quite different from that of those in north India, they were
yet movements of mobility and change affecting the Mappilla community.
The influence of the reform movements in Egypt was evident in the Islahi
teachings. Their condemnation of the practice of stridhanam, the translation
of the Koran, the delivery of the khutba in Malayalam in Islahi mosques,
and the opening of Arabic colleges from the late 1940s were significant in
bringing about social changes in the Mappilla community. The contribution
of the Ahmadis to women’s education and their freedom to enter mosques,
despite the theological attacks on the community, was also an important
step towards educational mobility.
 Education and Social Mobility 107

Education and Social Mobility

In the pre-colonial period, Kerala had an unusually high proportion of

literate people, including women, compared with most of the Indian
subcontinent.1 The reasons were attributed to the extensive growth of
overseas commerce, the buying and sale of lands, cash rents and mortgages
that needed the knowledge and use of accounting and legal documents.
Also in matrilineal castes like the Nayars, where the women held a higher
status, it was customary for them to learn to read.2
Sreedhara Menon and Gough have both argued that in the early British
period, there was ‘an alarming increase in illiteracy’ because of the wars
of the late eighteenth century in which schools were disrupted, and the
British, by introducing English as a medium of instruction, discouraged
Sanskrit learning and the running of the vernacular village schools. Both
in British Malabar and in the princely states of Cochin and Travancore,
regular public instruction was re-established only towards the end of the
nineteenth century.3

Traditional Muslim Education

Trade, both overseas and inland, was the traditional economic activity of
the Mappillas of the coastal towns of Malabar. Therefore, the Mappilla
traders and merchants, by virtue of their occupation, would know basic

1 Gough, K. ‘Literacy in Kerala,’ in Jack Goody (ed.), Literacy in Traditional Societies.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. p. 151.
2 Ibid.
3 Menon, Sreedhara A, Kerala District Gazetteers, Trivandrum. Trivandrum: Government
Press, 1962. p. 651; Gough, Literacy. p. 155.
108 The Malabar Muslims

arithmetic and accounting, and in the case of overseas merchants, at least

have some geographical knowledge.
Mappilla religious learning was centred around the mosque. The
traditional Muslim institutions could be classified into three categories.
They were: (a) Schools attached to mosques and maintained out of mosque
funds, known as Koran schools, where the reading and the writing of the
Koran was taught. They were also called othupallys or othupuras;4 (b) the
dars – in Malabar, a specialised form of religious learning known as dars
prevailed. Unlike the othupallys, the dars was a system of higher Islamic
learning held within the upper storey of the mosque; and (c) Madrassas –
they were institutions of higher learning.
The Mappillas initiated their children into learning in the month of
Moharram (the first month in the Islamic calendar). It was customary,
particularly among the matrilineal Mappillas, for the maternal uncle to
shoulder the responsibilities of the children’s schooling, particularly boys.
The initiation ceremony was solemnised with formal prayer which was
attended by the instructor of the othupally, who was usually the mulla. In
the dars, the teaching was conducted by an ustad. The pupils in the
othupallys were often taught by the senior students of the dars. The method
of teaching was oral and included the recitation of chapters from the Koran.5
The oldest and the best-known among the dars was at Ponnani. It was
the centre for Islamic learning and produced several learned qadis and
musaliars who then served in mosques at several places in Malabar. The
dars at Ponnani attracted students from other parts of India and also from
the Malay Peninsula and Java.6 An estimated 300 students were enrolled
in 1906. The curriculum included Arabic, grammar, Koran, rhetorics,
astronomy, philosophy, arithmetic, geometry, medicine, logic, history, hadith
and fiqh (Arabic: jurisprudence). But in many darses, the syllabus was
confined to the Koran, Arabic grammar, hadith and fiqh.7
Other than othupallys and dars, facilities for higher learning were
provided in the madrassas. Apart from those founded by Mappilla reformers
such as the Islahis, the earliest madrassa was the Chaliyam madrassa in
Kozhikode, dating back to Malik ibn Dinar’s visit to Malabar. This madrassa
was an important centre for Islamic learning from where a number of
mullas, imams and qadis graduated. Some of the Mappillas also travelled

4 The othupally is probably derived from ezhuthupally which in Malayalam means the
school for writing (ezhuthu) meant for the Malayali Hindus.
5 Pasha, Muslim Religious Education. p. 136.
6 Ibid. p. 134.
7 Ibid. pp. 134–5.
 Education and Social Mobility 109

outside the region for higher education. For example, they went to the al-
Baqiyyat-us-Salihat College, in Vellore (in the Tamil region).8 A few
Mappillas also seem to have travelled to the Dar-ul-Ulum at Deoband.
Barbara Metcalf has shown that forty-two Muslims from Kerala went to
study at Deoband between 1867 and 1967. It is doubtful if all these Muslims
from Kerala were Mappillas, because of the stress on the Hanafi school in
Deoband and also the use of Urdu as the medium of instruction. There is
a greater probability that the Pathanis and the Ravuttans of the region,
who were Hanafi Muslims and spoke Urdu, went to the Dar-ul-Ulum.
From the 1870s, through private initiative, a few Mappilla families began
to open primary schools and madrassas for their community. One such
effort was the founding of the Dar-ul-uloom madrassa by a rich landed
Mappilla family well-known as the Koyapathodi family. Located in
Vazhakkad and, managed by Muhammad Haji, a member of the family,
the Vazhakkad madrassa was the first major institution to impart a modern
system of Islamic education.9 Another example of Mappilla private
enterprise was the establishment of a Muslim primary school in Azhikode
(in Kodungallur taluk) by Haji Seethi Mohammad Sahib, a wealthy
Mappilla, a scholar and a social activist of the time.10
The Islahi madrassa and higher secondary school, Lajnathul Muhammadiya
of Alapuzha appointed scholars from Aligarh to teach Arabic language
and literature in the early twentieth century.11 In another instance, Vaikkom
Maulavi sent his son, M. Abdul Salaam to the Jamia Millia Islamia at Delhi
for higher learning.12 Mohammad Abdurahiman Sahib, the prominent
Congressman was also an alumnus of the Jamia Millia Islamia.

Colonial System of Education

W.W. Hunter, a member of the Bengal Civil Service, observed in 1870
that in Northwestern India, the Mohammedans contributed a
proportionately higher share, either in numbers or money, to government
schools than in any other part of the subcontinent. In other regions like
Bengal, he argued, both the more pious and the wealthier families of
Calcutta would have nothing to do with institutions that did not teach
Persian or Arabic, and in which Hindu teachers would teach their children.

8 Miller, Mappilla Muslims, p. 261.

9 Kannu, Nayakanmarum. pp. 86–8.
10 Ibid.
11 Kannu, Vaikkom Moulavi. p. 80.
12 Ibid. p. 116.
110 The Malabar Muslims

The lower caste Muslim peasants of eastern Bengal, who participated in

the Faraizi movement, under the leadership of Haji Shariatullah in the
early nineteenth century against the British revenue administration,
remained beyond the influence of English education.13
Hunter suggested that the solution to these problems was to meet the
perceived special needs of the Muslims, by relaxing the Grants-in-aid rules,
extending more State grants for Muslim schools and appointing Muslim
teachers. He also suggested the establishment of at least fifty schools on a
small scale, with low-paid Muslim teachers in the eastern districts of Bengal
which would gradually attract the Muslim peasant population and also
help the livelihood of Muslim teachers.14
Meanwhile, in Malabar, in the 1860s, state-aided vernacular primary
schools had been opened for both boys and girls in most villages, and
private English medium high schools began to receive grants-in-aid from
the government. According to the 1871 census, after Madras and
Tinnelvelly, South Kanara, Malabar and Tanjore ranked next in female
instruction.15 On Mappilla education, the report said, ‘The Moplahs have
shown very little desire for education’.
An overwhelming majority among them were educated in othupallys
and maktabs. Their participation in western education was as insignificant
as the other Muslims of the subcontinent. The reasons given by the
Muslims of British India for refraining from English education were many.
Some held that the absence of the tenets of their faith, and still more the
bad effects of English education in creating cynicism in religion were the
main obstacles. Other reasons included the small proportion of Muslim
teachers in government schools, and the practice among the well-to-do
Muslims of educating their children at home.16
In August, 1871, the Government of India passed a resolution calling
attention to the problems of Muslim education and suggested the
encouragement of vernacular languages and the appointment of Muslim
teachers in government schools. The resolution was circulated to the local
governments. Accordingly, the Madras government made a special provision
for the teaching of Arabic and Persian.17

13 Hunter, W.W., Indian Musalmans. Delhi: Indological Book House, 1969. pp. 156–7.
14 Ibid. pp. 157–8.
15 Census Report, Madras Presidency, 1871. Vol. 1, p. 192.
16 Correspondence regarding the education and employment of Mohammedan community in
British India. Selections from the Records of Government of India, Home Department. IOR/
V/23/46/205/1886. p. 355.
17 Begum, Rehmani, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. The Politics of Educational Reform. Lahore:
Vanguard, 1985. pp. 208–9.
 Education and Social Mobility 111

The question of Mappilla education began to receive serious attention

from the educational authorities in the beginning of the 1870s. British
administrators tried to implement W.W. Hunter’s suggestions of providing
grants-in-aid to Muslim schools in the regions of Mappilla revolts in
Malabar, particularly, the Ernad and Walluvanad taluks from the late
nineteenth century. L. Garthwaite, the Inspector of schools in Malabar,
seems to have taken special efforts to overcome some of their prejudices
against education, though they still stood out against instruction in English.
Muslim inspectors were appointed to organize their schools.18 The
government sanctioned the Local Fund Board’s proposal to assign a grant
of twelve hundred rupees to aid Mappilla schools, supplied a Malayalam
Reader, free slates and a monthly salary grant.19 The government, District
Board and Municipal Council, aided and unaided schools in Malabar came
under the category of public institutions. The educational statistics of the
Malabar Muslims during the years 1893–94 did not seem encouraging to
the officials.20
There were twenty-six aided Mappilla schools at the end of 1873 which
were actually elementary Koran schools. The quality of instruction was
meanwhile also rising, with pupils entering the second and third standards.
The number of such schools had risen to 210 by 1876. The services of
Hindu teachers were engaged, the Mappilla masters not being themselves
competent to teach all subjects.21
Garthwaite, in his report of 1876–77 said:

‘Mopla education sustained a check owing to the action of the Malabar

Boards in reducing the stipends formerly given to the Mopla mullas
and for result grants to schools. The mullas were incompetent to teach
anything but Arabic reading and the Koran. When the stipend was
reduced from four rupees to two rupees, teachers could not be secured.
Therefore, some schools closed… and at others the attendance was
allowed to fall off.’22

18 Letter from H.B. Grigg, Director of Public Instruction, to the Chief Secretary to
Government of India, dated 21 November, 1885. KRA/Financial/G.O. No. 404/
6.4.1886.
19 Letter from H.B Grigg, Director of Public Instruction, to the Chief Secretary of
Government of India, dated 21 Nov. 1885. KRA/Financial/G.O.No. 404/6.4.1886.
20 The number of public schools intended for them fell from 1,178 to 1,115 and their
pupil strength from 50,041 to 46,949. KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.9/16.1.1895.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
112 The Malabar Muslims

The Malabar District Board proposed the reopening of closed Mappilla

schools, the payment of grants at maximum rates, opening of two or more
normal schools, one for north Malabar and one for the Ernad taluk,
scholarships, the establishment of two female normal schools, more liberal
grants for girls’ schools and the publication of a vernacular journal for
Mappillas. All the proposals were approved and around ten thousand
rupees per annum was to be spent by the board on Mappilla education,
in addition to any grants received for the purpose from Provincial funds.23
The system of training schools in the Madras Presidency was mainly
ascribed to Garthwaite’s initiative.24 Normal schools or classes were started
in the 1880s for the training of Muslim teachers. The Moyen training school,
Kozhikode and the Mappilla training school, Malappuram, had begun to
turn out a number of efficient and trained teachers annually. This soon
began to have a beneficial effect on Mappilla education.
From the 1880s, Malabar’s position ranked high in education among
the districts of the Madras Presidency. After Tanjore, Malabar was second
in female education.25 However, it was noted that the percentage of literacy
would have been higher but for the low literacy among the Mappillas
and the Cherumars. There were regional variations and exceptions to this
in that north Malabar had more literate persons than the south, where the
Mappillas were numerous. Still, Malabar stood fourth out of the ten best
educated taluks of the Presidency in the first decade of the twentieth
century.26
There was a large decrease in the number of Mappilla pupils in 1884–
85 which was ascribed to the fluctuating policy of the Malabar District
Board in giving or withholding full grants to Mappilla schools. The success
of the special education scheme depended on the stability of the grants;
and uncertainty on that point had greatly shaken the faith of Mappilla
schoolmasters in the value of State support.27 As late as 1885, trained
Mappilla masters were waiting for employment but whether they got
employment or not is not known.
The educational statistics of the Malabar Muslims in the early 1890s
did not seem encouraging to the officials. This decline seemed to have
been the result of the action of certain Taluk Boards which closed down

23 Ibid.
24 Croft, Alfred, Review of Education in India in 1886. Calcutta: Government Press, 1888,
p. 74.
25 Innes, Gazetteer of Malabar, p. 281.
26 Ibid. pp. 281–2.
27 Croft, Review. p. 118.
 Education and Social Mobility 113

ninety-four Mappilla schools. Some were closed for the need of funds to
maintain them and others were aided schools which collapsed as a
consequence of a reduction in provincial grants. The Madras government
looked upon the education of the Mappilla community as a matter of
pressing necessity and wrote to the Director of Public Instruction that the
reduction in the number of their schools was regretted.28
The first Mappilla who qualified in the Bachelor of Arts degree
examinations of the Madras University in the 1890s was a Kunhahmad
Koya from the Brennen College, Talasherri. This College was affiliated to
Madras University.29 The Kerala Patrika hoped that the government would,
in order to encourage other Mappillas to follow his example, give him a
good appointment in consideration of the fact that he was the first Mappilla
who had ever passed the Degree examination.30
After the Mappilla outbreak which occurred in March 1894 in the Ernad
and the Walluvanad taluks, the Madras government decided to place the
Mappillas in these taluks in the category of ‘backward classes’ regarding
education. Therefore, special concessions made in the grants-in-aid code
to the backward classes were extended to them. The concessions included
the establishment of fourteen new schools in the two taluks at the cost of
2,100 rupees from provincial funds and the employment of an additional
sub-assistant inspector for Mappilla schools. This measure made Mappilla
pupils eligible for free education in elementary Mappilla schools under
public management and entitled managers of aided schools to receive
capitation grant at fifty per cent above the ordinary rates.31
Suggestions for secular education for Muslims in the riot-prone areas
of south Malabar like the Ernad and Walluvanad taluks were constantly
made by vernacular papers. The Kasim-ul-Akhbar, an Urdu daily published
from Madras, attributed the cause of the Mappilla riot to the illiteracy
and poverty of the people. It advised the government to diffuse education
among them and take measures to improve their status. It also said that
since they were known to be brave and hardy, their admission into the
army was desirable.32
The Kerala Sanchari observed that it was absolutely necessary for the
government to establish two or three Mappilla schools in Ernad and
Walluvanad taluks and hoped that the Collector of Malabar would pay

28 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.9/16.1.1895.
29 Innes, Gazetteer of Malabar. p. 282.
30 Kerala Patrika, 3 March, 1894. MNNR (Madras Native Newspaper Report). Madras,
1894.
31 Report of Director of Public Instruction (hereafter RDPI), 1891–97, p. 125.
32 Kasim-ul-Akhbar, 16 April, 1894. MNNR.
114 The Malabar Muslims

special attention to the matter. Besides, whereas the majority of the

Mappillas of north Malabar were acquainted with Arabic, those in the
taluks of Ernad, Walluvanad and Ponnani did not know Arabic. In these
regions, the Koran was taught by the thangals and the mullas. It was
therefore suggested that the Koran should be translated into Malayalam
and the government should render help in doing it.33 A report in the Kerala
Patrika said that some musaliars in Kannur town prohibited the Mappilla
boys from studying English for the reason that studying English was
‘injurious’.34
Frederic Fawcett, the Superintendent of Police of Malabar in the 1890s
and a strong supporter of the cause of the Mappillas, contended that the
Mappilla should have his religious teaching properly and he should be
given special assistance. He wrote:

‘… were the government to encourage the study of Arabic and the

appointment of competent and orthodox teachers to the Mopla schools,
secular subjects would also be studied with alacrity, and fanaticism
would disappear.’35

He also suggested that it was for the legislation to consider how State
aid could best be given to education in a curriculum in which religious
instruction was not omitted. That was the way to help them. It was not
fair to assume, as it had been, that these people were incapable of
improvement.36 Fawcett was the finest example of a British official
rationally arguing for the betterment of the community.
This question was discussed by the Director of Public Instruction and
he recommended a special class in the Kozhikode School of Commerce
(founded in 1895), in which instruction in commercial subjects would be
imparted to the Mappillas in Malayalam. He argued that the people were
still indifferent to secular education, and the finances did not permit any
additional outlay on Mappilla education.37 Similar arguments for religious
education in schools were made in the North Western Provinces in the
same period.38

33 Kerala Sanchari, 28 May, 1894. MNNR.

34 Kerala Patrika, 26 May, 1894. Ibid.
35 Fawcett, Moplahs. p. 298.
36 Ibid. p. 299.
37 Letter from Duncan to the Secretary to the government, No.6058, dated 5.6.1897.
RDPI, 1897. p. 125.
38 See Minault, Gail, Secluded Scholars. Women’s education and Muslim Social Reform in
Colonial India. Delhi: OUP, 1998.
 Education and Social Mobility 115

The government sanctioned the opening of a vernacular commercial

class in 1899, which Duncan had recommended, intended primarily for
the benefit of the Mappillas belonging to merchant and trading families.
The syllabus comprised of commercial arithmetic, book-keeping and
commercial geography. They were taught in the vernacular and the course
was adapted to the requirements of the native traders.39 The official
vernacular, Malayalam, was taught as an optional subject in primary and
middle schools, and it was used as a medium of instruction for arithmetic
and accounts.
The Kozhikode School of Commerce was the largest technical institution
in the Presidency and the only one maintained by the government. Mappilla
students who attended the Malayalam Commercial class in this school were
given scholarships at the rate of two rupees a month during the course of
their studies.40 It was noted with some concern that the permanence of
Mappilla schools was very uncertain – their teachers were not receiving
fixed salaries, however small; and the reduction in the rate of grants was
also responsible for the closure of a large number of aided schools.41
However, by 1901, the census noted that generally, the best educated
districts in the Madras Presidency were Tanjore, Malabar and Tinnelvelly.42
It showed that among the Muslims of the Madras Presidency, those of the
Nilgiri district were the most literate. It argued that North Arcot,
Tinnelvelly, Tanjore and Madurai had the best educated Muslims because
in these regions, the Labbai traders, a literate community, were numerous.
The Mappillas remained at the bottom of the scale. The report remarked
that the Mappilla boys particularly lagged behind the Hindu boys of
Malabar in the two lower age groups of ten and fifteen years.43 This was
probably because of their custom of sending their boys first to Koran
schools.
A representative body of the Manjeri Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha
approached Ampthill, the Governor of Madras, in 1901, during his Malabar
tour, suggesting that some grants should be made to deserving Mappilla
students. This association representing the Mappilla community of the
south Malabar region, fought consistently for their education and
representation in government jobs. They also asked the government to
make arrangements for providing Mappilla candidates with a certain
proportion of public appointments. In his reply to their petition, Ampthill

39 Tour Diary – Fifth Tour of Lawley, 1907. p. 81.

40 RDPI, 1898–99. p. 98.
41 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No. 306/31.7.1900.
42 Census Report, Madras, 1901. Part 1, p. 81.
43 Ibid. pp. 76–7.
116 The Malabar Muslims

repeated that the real reason for the general backwardness of the
community was its reluctance to allow secular education to run
concurrently with religious education.44 He refused to take any further
action in the matter.
The generally non-progressive character of the Mappilla schools was
also attributed by some other British officials partly to the want of qualified
teachers. By 1912, the proportion of boys going to secondary schools had
risen (See Table 5.1). Two Mappillas took B.A. degrees that year, of whom,
one went ahead to study for the degree of Bachelor of Law.45

Table 5.1: Number of Literate Mappillas per 1000 in 1901 and 1911

Year Males Females

1901 87 4
1911 108 6

Source: Census of India Report, Madras, 1911, Vol.XII, p. 132

By this time, the Municipal Council of Kozhikode maintained sixteen

elementary schools in the city, out of which seven were for the Mappillas
and seven for the Hindus. In all the Mappilla schools, education was free.
In 1914, the Chairman of the Council, O. Krishnan, forwarded a petition
to the Collector of Malabar for the acquisition of an additional plot of
ground for the construction of a Mappilla school in Kuttichira.46 Initially,
this school taught students up to the fourth standard.
Three years later, the Himayathul Islam Sabha wrote to Pentland, the
incoming Governor of Madras, that the education of the Muslims in
Kozhikode town still remained backward. There were only one or two
students in the final year of school and this was attributed to the general
poverty of the people. It recommended raising the Kuttichira School to
the status of a High school. The Sabha argued that since the Kuttichira
quarter was predominantly Muslim, the presence of a High school in its
midst may be expected to give higher education a great impetus.47
However, the Collector was of the view that there was no immediate
necessity for a high school reserved exclusively for the Mappillas. The
Municipal Council also suggested to Pentland that it was practicable for
the Council to make education in all its schools free, provided, the

44 Tour Diary – Third Tour of Ampthill. pp. 125–130.

45 RDPI, 1911–12. p. 56.
46 KRA/Revenue/G.O.No.31/P/14.5.1914.
47 KRA/Revenue/June 1918.
 Education and Social Mobility 117

educational rules be altered or the District Municipalities Act be amended.

The Governor refused to give grants for the purpose because of a financial
crisis owing to the First World War.48 This shows how the British prepared
for war at the expense of Indian resources, thus depriving the Indian people
of their basic rights.
Again, a deputation from the Manjeri Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha put
forth further demands to the government in 1919. It emphasized that
Arabic should be taught in all grades of Mappilla schools and more
scholarships should be provided for them. It also demanded that they
should be exempted from fees and more secondary and high schools
should be opened in the Ernad taluk. The association also insisted that
English should be imparted in elementary Mappilla schools. It claimed
that the Mappilla students were kept back by their parents and guardians
from state and aided institutions, mainly because of the absence of facilities
in such institutions for the study of Arabic. The Director of Public
Instruction, in his reply, argued that in government secondary schools,
Arabic was recognized as one of the optional subjects that may be taught.
Hence the demand for it was practically negligible.49 Despite the stiff
refusal of the colonial administration, the association persisted in its efforts
to seek special concessions and privileges for the community.

Debates on the Abolition of Separate Mappilla Schools

The slow but steady development of education among the Mappillas
suffered a severe setback after the Mappilla rebellion in 1921. Several
unrecognized Muslim schools were opened under private management in
1920–21 in the Madras Presidency, during the period of the Khilafat Non-
Cooperation movement. For the first time, two middle schools for Mappilla
boys were started and managed by Mappillas themselves. This period saw
a simultaneous decrease, as in other parts of India, in the strength of
Muslim students in public institutions.
Under the provisions of dyarchy introduced by the Montagu-Chelmsford
reforms of 1919, the department of education became a provincial subject
and was to be supervised by elected provincial Ministers of Education.
Despite the new experiment, it has been argued by scholars that only the
department with little funds was transferred to the provincial ministers.
Real improvements in education needed more funds that the government

48 Tour Diary – Eighteenth Tour of Pentland. Mangalore, Kozhikode, Madura and Trichinopoly.
October, 1917. pp. 82–9.
49 TNA/Home (Educational)/G.O.No.1327/30.10.1919.
118 The Malabar Muslims

was willing to distribute. As Aparna Basu has argued, under the Montford
reform scheme, as education was transferred to limited Indian control,
there was a certain amount of unwillingness among local bodies to finance
primary education.50
During this period, the 1919 Act had also extended separate electorates
for Muslims in the Municipal, District and Taluk Boards. As a result, a
few Mappillas were represented in these local bodies. For example, in the
twenties, the Mappilla Municipal Councillors of Kozhikode were
P.M. Attakoya Thangal, T. Mammu Koya Haji, C.A. Kunhimoosa Sahib
and Haji V. Ali Barami.51 P.M. Attakoya Thangal was also the member of
the District Educational Council and the Vice-President of the Kozhikode
Taluk Board.52
The Ministers of education for the Madras Presidency were A.P. Patro
and Ranganatha Mudaliar. 53 They seem to have considered some
favourable measures for Mappilla education. For example, they visited
the Himayathul Islam School in the 1920s to study their teaching methods
so that they could be implemented in the other Mappilla schools.54
However, on the question of separate Mappilla schools, the educational
department of Madras suggested stringent measures which sparked a series
of debates in the official circles of Malabar, particularly at the levels of the
Taluk Boards and the Municipal Boards.55 In 1922, the Madras government
appointed a committee to investigate the question of abolishing separate
elementary schools for Mappillas. The committee recommended that these
should not be closed down, and instead, elementary schools should be
made compulsory especially in the taluks affected by the rebellion.
However, the committee suggested the abolition of the separate training
school in Malappuram.56
The Kozhikode Taluk Board Office’s reaction to the proposal was very
strong. Many leading Muslims of north and south Malabar felt that the
proposed change would be disastrous. They saw practical difficulties in
the proposal. In their opinion, it would be difficult to provide for Koran
study in mixed schools. There was also the question of separate holidays
for Muslims and for Hindus. The textbooks would vary for each

50 Basu, Aparna, Essays in the History of Indian Education. New Delhi: Concept Publishing
Co., 1982. pp. 15–19.
51 Asylum Press Almanac, 1920–29.
52 Memorandum of the Himayathul Islam High School, Kozhikode, 1927. p. 11.
53 Ibid. p. 7.
54 Ibid.
55 Combined Civil List for India and Burma, Oct–Dec., 1928.
56 RDPI, Quinquennium, 1921–22 to 1926–27. p. 124.
 Education and Social Mobility 119

community according to their religion. Besides, Mappilla girls would not

attend mixed schools. Another argument put forward was that because of
separate schools, many Mappillas found employment as teachers and
inspectors. Moreover, the students were exempted from fees in Mappilla
schools, which would be imposed in mixed schools.57
Supporting the case, the Municipal Councillor of Kozhikode argued that
in the interior parts of the district, almost all Mappilla schools were mosque
schools, which the Hindu boys were unlikely to join. It would be a difficult
proposal to expect the Muslims of Ernad, Walluvanad and Ponnani to go
to the Hindu schools and vice versa. In such a situation, the Mappillas
would prefer to have only religious education from their mullas and
musaliars.58
The Kerala Patrika generally approved of establishing Mappilla-Hindu
mixed schools.59 On the contrary, the Malabari, a paper supporting the
cause of the Mappillas, pleaded for the continuance of separate schools
for Hindus and Muslims on the grounds that religious instruction should
hold pre-eminence in both sets of schools. It also observed that if all the
Mappilla schools in Malabar worked like the Madrassathul Muhammadiya
or the Himayathul Islam School, education of the right sort would gradually
spread in the community. 60
Meanwhile, the Manjeri Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha sent a strong petition
for the retention of the Malappuram training school, the continuance of
Arabic teaching in elementary schools and the compilation of Arabic
textbooks. 61 While reviewing the committee’s report, the Madras
government accepted its recommendations and decided not to abolish
separate elementary schools and arranged for the compilation of
Malayalam textbooks from selected portions of the Koran. It also appointed
a textbook committee.
The Mappilla training school was raised to a higher elementary grade
and religious instruction was given. In 1925, a special assistant was
provided to the District Educational Officer of Malabar mainly to forward
the interests of the Mappilla education. The facilities offered for training
at the government training schools were deemed to be insufficient, and a
scheme for the expansion of training facilities for Mappilla teachers was
considered.

57 KRA/Public (Educational)/G.O. No.7462-22/14.1.1923.

58 Ibid.
59 Kerala Patrika, Kozhikode, 12.8.1922, MNNR, Aug–Oct., 1922.
60 Malabari, Kozhikode, 21.8.1922. Ibid.
61 TNA/Law (Educational)/G.O.No. 944/5.7.1923.
120 The Malabar Muslims

In 1926–27, a large number of Muslim students came under the scheme

of compulsory education introduced in the three principalities of
Kozhikode, Talasherri and Cochin and in the selected areas of the Ernad,
Walluvanad and Ponnani taluks. But compulsion was not effective in the
latter areas and could not be so until the conflicting claims of the religious
and secular instructions of the mulla and the schoolmaster had been
harmonised and the co-operation of the mullas secured. By this time, the
educational portfolio had changed hands and Dr. P. Subbarayan had been
appointed in place of A.P. Patro.62
The district was bifurcated for educational purposes into south and north
Malabar in 1929.63 The crisis of the world economic depression was
reflected in the colonial educational policies of the Mappillas. In order to
cut down on the expenditure, the admission of more students and the
appointment of Arabic teachers solely for religious instruction were rejected
by the government. In a few cases, it had permitted the employment of
Arabic teachers in schools under local bodies subject to the condition that
they devoted a fair portion of their time to secular teaching.64
On the question of industrial courses in training schools and aided
schools, the provincial government warned that there was provision for
manual training in the Malappuram training school but regular industrial
training was not the responsibility of the education department. The
increase of scholarships for Mappillas was not considered because the
Indian Retrenchment Committee had recommended reducing the
expenditure on scholarships.65
In the early 1930s, steps were taken to increase the facilities for religious
instruction by providing a short course of training for the mullas and
musaliars with a view to qualifying them as regular teachers in recognized
elementary schools. To lessen the antagonism of the mullas, a special
sessional school for them was started in 1931, the idea behind the
experiment being the utilization of the religious teacher who was
established in the confidence of the people, as a teacher of secular
knowledge.
By 1931, the administrative charge of Mappilla education in south
Malabar which had a dense Muslim population was given to a Mappilla
officer. The departmental officers analysed the problems and causes of

62 Combined Civil List for India and Burma, Oct-Dec., 1928. p. 37.
63 Ayyar, Krishnaswamy K.N., Malabar District Gazetteer. Madras: Government Press,
1933, p. xxxix.
64 TNA/Law (Educational)/G.O.No.308/1.3.1932.
65 Ibid.
 Education and Social Mobility 121

Mappilla education to be the ignorance of parents, the importance attached

to religious instruction, the disregard for secular education and the
propaganda carried on by mullas and the musaliars against secular
education. In order to counteract these difficulties, the department made
efforts to give both religious and secular instruction in its recognized
schools with a view to satisfying the public demands and harmonising
the conflicting forces that were at work. In this period, education
committees were appointed at select centres for setting up agencies for
local supervision and conducting propaganda against rooted prejudices.66
There was one middle school and one higher elementary school for
Mappillas in Kozhikode in 1931 with three hundred and twenty students.
There were also several night schools for adult Mappillas in the district.
The sudden fall in the strength of Mappilla boys in the schools in the next
couple of years was according to the education department, probably the
result of the counter-propaganda work of a few musaliars who were
reported to be preaching against secular education by trained Mappilla
teachers.67 (See Table 5.2). This was likely because the position and
livelihood of traditional musaliars could have been threatened by the
appointment of trained government teachers. In the Mappilla schools,
religious instruction was imparted to all the students for three hours every
day because it was regarded as most essential by the parents.

Table 5.2: Literacy per 10,000 Mappillas in 1931

Literate Literate upto V Standard Literate in English

Males 1425 200 54

Females 125 12 2

Source: Census of India Report, Madras, 1931, Vol.XIV, Part 1. p. 285

The sessional class attached to the government training school at

Malappuram continued to provide instruction to mulla teachers in secular
and religious subjects on modern lines so that they would be qualified to
impart both kinds of instruction in public elementary schools after
undergoing training. Most of the trained mulla teachers were reported to
be employed in recognized schools.
Meanwhile, in the early 1930s, the Madras government was trying to
economise on its expenditure on Mappilla education by refusing to spend

66 RDPI, 1931–32, Vol. 1, Madras, 1933. p. 128.

67 In the years 1932–33, the strength of Mappilla boys in the schools intended for
them fell from 68,217 to 67,540.
122 The Malabar Muslims

on their religious instruction. This was evident when in 1930, the Malabar
Muslim Majlis invited the special attention of the government to the
backwardness of Mappilla education and the absence of special facilities
for them. It sought the grant of more scholarships and the establishment
of more Muslim schools and colleges.68
Again, when the Manjeri Hidayathul Islam Sabha asked for the inclusion
of Arabic and religious textbooks in the syllabus for elementary schools,
the permanent retention of the sessional class for mullas at the Malappuram
training school and the admission of a larger number of students, the
Madras government warned that it was not permissible to utilise public
funds on imparting religious instruction. Such instruction, it said, could
be given only at the beginning or at the end of a school session and not
as part of the regular instruction in the school. Therefore, the request that
religion may be included as part of the curriculum in Mappilla schools
could not be entertained.
Yet within two years British policy towards the religious instruction of
the Mappillas changed from its earlier refusal to the petitions of the
Malabar Muslim Majlis and the Manjeri Hidayathul Sabha regarding the
matter. It is important to mention at this juncture that another major
constitutional change was effected by the Government of India Act, 1935.
When the 1935 Act substantially enlarged separate electorates, for the
first time, a Mappilla named K. Muhammad Sahib, was appointed as the
District Educational Officer of Malabar. He reported in 1936 that:

‘The new scheme of studies for the teaching of Arabic in elementary

schools has been tried with satisfactory results in the Kozhikode
Municipality and it seems desirable that the scheme be extended to
rural areas and other municipalities also.’69

The restriction regarding the imparting of religious education in schools

under public management was thus relaxed. He introduced a new scheme
which sanctioned the employment of part-time Muslim instructors in all
government institutions set up for Muslims. Provision was made for
imparting religious instruction to Mappilla students in District Board and
Municipal secondary schools.70 A temporary Higher Elementary training
session for Mappilla teachers attached to the Government training school
for Masters in Kannur, was sanctioned for a period of two years from

68 NAI/Home (Establishments)/File No.21/5/30/1930.

69 Madras Educational Proceedings, March, 1937.
70 Ibid.
 Education and Social Mobility 123

1935 as an experimental measure. The employment of part-time religious

instructors for two years from 1935 was also sanctioned for the Government
Mohammedan secondary and training schools.71 There were two Muslim
full-time religious instructors in the Malappuram training school and in
other Muslim schools, there were part-time religious instructors. By 1936,
the Malappuram Sessional School for musaliars and mullas had forty
students on its rolls.72
Meanwhile, the fortnightly report of Madras in 1937 observed that the
Congress drive in Malabar (after the formation of ministries), to capture
the support of the Muslim population continued to meet with little success.
K. Kelappan, a Congress member, said in one of his public speeches that
separate schools for Mappillas obstructed Hindu-Muslim unity considering
that separate Muslim schools were one of the chief objects of the leading
Mappillas in the district.73 Robin Jeffrey has argued that the British officials
were ‘gleeful’ because now they contended that Mappilla schools were so
indispensable for the community that they would prevent Mappilla
co-operation with the Congress.74
In the same year, the Madras government had also recommended to
local bodies the desirability of supplying free books and slates to poor
pupils of Scheduled castes reading in elementary schools under them. They
decided to extend the concession to poor students of the Muslim
community as well.75
Elementary education continued to be compulsory in the municipalities
of Talasseri and Kozhikode, and the Ernad, Walluvanad and Ponnani taluks.
The length of school life in compulsory areas was not much of an
improvement on the duration of school life in non-compulsory regions.
The ineffectiveness of compulsion so far as Mappillas were concerned was
attributed to their general indifference to secular education. The village
educational committees organized in selected centres for enlisting parental
cooperation and for improving the strength and attendance of students in
elementary schools had to be disbanded as they did not function
satisfactorily. The Malappuram Training School was raised to the status
of a high school in 1936 to meet the demand for a separate high school
for the Mappillas.

71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Madras Fortnightly Reports. 19.6.1937.
74 Jeffrey, Robin, Politics, Women and Well-Being. London: Macmillan, 1992. pp. 113–4.
75 Educational Proceedings, Madras, G.O. No.2101, 11 September, 1937.
124 The Malabar Muslims

Significant progress was noticed within the community in the thirties

when the Madrassathul Muhammadiyya School of Kozhikode had 114
students on its roll.76 In Kuttichira, the first Mappilla received the Bachelor
of Arts degree in 1939.77 In the same year, the secondary school for
Mappillas at Malappuram presented fifty-one students for the SSLC
(Secondary School Leaving Cetificate) Public Examination and thirty-two
were declared eligible for University courses of study.78
The Farook College was founded in Kozhikode in 1948 as a Mappilla
educational enterprise under the initiative of a few rich Mappillas.
Although it started with a handful of students, it created a generation of
progressive youth over the years. It has been called the ‘Aligarh of the
South’.79

Literacy among Mappilla Girls

In the late nineteenth century, the literacy rate of Muslim girls all over
British India was very low compared to that of Hindu girls as well as
Muslim boys. Education was restricted to a few belonging to richer Muslim
families where their religious texts such as the Koran were taught at home
by tutors. This was the general trend in North Western Provinces, Panjab,
Bengal as well as the Madras Presidency. By the beginning of the twentieth
century, Koran schools for Muslim girls were opened through private
initiative or government aid and with strict purdah restrictions. The
curriculum in these schools included, apart from the religious texts,
handicrafts, arithmetic, home science, hygiene, gardening and some form
of moral education, with Urdu as the medium of instruction.80
Provisions for Muslim girls in the North Western Provinces and United
Provinces also included special scholarships, improved teaching staff and
purdah arrangements. Girls’ schools had to provide closed transport such
as palanquins and escorts for girls in purdah.81 A similar system was also
found in some of the districts of the Madras Presidency, such as Tanjore
and Madras (both in the Tamil region), and Guntur, Kurnool, Cuddapah
and Bellary (all in the Andhra Belt). Muslim gosha (meaning: veil) girls

76 RDPI, 1938–39, Vol. 1, Madras, 1940. p. 31.

77 Miller, Mappilla Muslims. p. 206.
78 RDPI, 1939–40. p. 34.
79 Ali, Mohammad K.T., The Development of Education among the Mappillas of Malabar,
1800–1965. Delhi: Mines Publishers, 1990. p. 175.
80 Minault, Secluded Scholars. p. 169.
81 Ibid. p. 162.
 Education and Social Mobility 125

and women in government secondary and training schools in these regions

were provided conveyance in the thirties and forties.82
In the Madras Presidency, in 1891, the Madras district had the highest
proportion of educated females followed by the Nilgiris and Malabar.
However, the percentage of illiterate Mappilla girls was, in stark contrast,
98.85 per cent.83 The educational statistics for Mappillas show that there
were no schools, whether government-aided or unaided, for Mappilla girls
till the late nineteenth century. In 1894–95, there were 14 schools for them
with strength of 647 students.84 This probably means that before this period,
the few Mappilla girls who would have learnt to read or write were
probably from rich families where they were taught at home. Most
Mappilla women, particularly in north Malabar and Kozhikode, enjoyed
a privileged position in their tharavaads. Among the rich families like the
Arakkal beebis, the koyas and the keyis, women would have learnt to read
the Koran, and to read and write Malayalam for writing property deeds
for their successors.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, although there was no
increase in the number of girls’ schools, the management of the existing
ones was run either by the government or with the aid of public funds. A
couple of them were also unaided.85 The curriculum of the Mappilla girls’
schools included Arabic language, the Koran and other religious texts, and
also practical subjects such as handicrafts, similar to the Muslim girls’
schools in the United Provinces, the Panjab and Bengal. The only difference
was the use of Arabic as the medium of instruction, instead of Urdu.
A training school, called the Moyen Training School for Mappilla girls
intending to become teachers at girls’ schools, was opened in Kozhikode
at the end of the nineteenth century. A few Mappilla girls joined this school
and by 1900, fourteen of them obtained employment.86 The Kozhikode
taluk Board complained that there were no separate Mappilla girls’ schools
in Kozhikode taluk in the early 1920s, but five Mappilla girls were studying
in a Hindu girls’ school in the taluk called the Kuruvathur Girls’ School.
The first Mappilla girl passed the Vernacular School Leaving Examination
in 1925.87 Despite the encouragement of the educational department in
the form of fee concessions and scholarships, the number of Muslim girls
attending vernacular schools in Malabar was very small.

82 TNA/Educational/G.Os dated 1931–47.

83 Census Report, 1891. pp. 176–180.
84 Quinqueinnium Reports, 1891–97. p. 125.
85 Ibid.
86 RDPI, 1898-99. Madras, 1899. p. 97.
87 Census Report, 1931. p. 267.
126 The Malabar Muslims

For the first time in 1936, six girls were admitted to the Himayathul
Islam School. Towards the end of the thirties, the number of trained teachers
in the Moyen training school rose and these Mappilla women taught in
elementary schools for girls. About fifty scholarships were awarded for
girls in these elementary schools (See Table 5.3).88

Table 5.3: Progress of Education among Mappillas between 1891–92 and 1939–40

Year Boys’ Schools Strength Girls’ Schools Strength

1891-92 574 29677 – –

1939-40 1,476 149,073 131 7,546

Source: Reports on Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency, quinqueinnium reports, 1891–
92 to 1896–97, p. 125; and 1939–40, p. 69.

Supporting the Mappilla case, the President of the Women’s Wing of

the Madras Presidency Muslim League, Mrs. Khadija Yakub Hasan
submitted a petition in 1939 for the education of Mappilla girls, a separate
training school for them and an increase in the number of scholarships
for girls in schools.89 The appointment of women teachers in all Mappilla
schools with a considerable number of girl students was also urged. The
Malabar Muslim Educational Association awarded a scholarship in 1941
to a Mappilla girl student, Kunhamina, studying in the final year of school
in the Zamorin’s College, Kozhikode.90 In Kozhikode, twenty-one girls
were admitted to the first standard of the Madrassathul Muhammadiyya in
1944.91
There was therefore a constant emphasis on the educational needs of
the Mappilla girls and the demand for special facilities for their
advancement. The interest among the members of the community for the
education of their girls was apparent and their strength in schools increased
steadily over the years. By the late 1930s, the importance of Mappilla
schools for girls and boys was felt more strongly by the Mappilla leaders
and the Muslim League members when the Congress threat began
surfacing in Malabar. By the 1940s, the political balance had already tilted
in favour of the Muslim League and their initiatives and demands
regarding the education of the Mappillas were beginning to bear fruit.

88 RDPI, 1938–39. pp. 188–9; 1939–40.

89 The Madras Mail, 17 March, 1939.
90 ‘Muslim Vidyaarthinikki Sahaayam’, Chandrika, 30.7.1941, p. 4.
91 Madrassathul Muhammadiya High School Golden Jubilee Souvenir, 1969.
 Education and Social Mobility 127

Representation of Mappillas in Public Services

British attitudes towards Muslims in Northwestern India and the
deprivation of Muslims of their position in government employment was
a fall-out of the revolt of 1857. Syed Ahmad Khan had argued that from
the 1860s, the British government’s efforts to make English influence
predominant in government departments like education, revenue, army,
police and judiciary reduced Muslim influence to a great extent. The British
education officers held that state employment was closely connected to
state education. In the North-West Provinces, there were still Muslims in
senior posts but as the emphasis on efficiency grew, the occupational
prospects for a later generation of Muslims were uncertain.92
This was not the case in Malabar because in this region, the economic
position of the Mappillas was not conditioned by the Mutiny but by the
several peasant uprisings. Moreover, other than agriculture, trade, as their
important economic activity made them more self-reliant and therefore,
they did not seek government employment in large numbers.
In 1872, a report on the education and employment of the Muslim
community of British India explained that the low rate of employment of
Muslims in the public services was in great measure due to the failure of
the Muslims to take advantage of English education which was necessary
for entry into the public services. It was also attributed to some extent to
the provisions for Muslims in the educational system.93
Regarding the Bengal Muslims, Hunter argued that because they lagged
behind in attending government schools and therefore could not compete
for public appointments, they wanted to be treated as a separate
community for job reservations and privileges. Francis Robinson holds
that Hunter’s argument cannot be used for the Muslims of the United
Provinces because although the UP Muslims were slow in attending
government schools, it did not seem to impede them from getting
government jobs. He argues that those who attended traditional Islamic
institutions did well in procuring government employment and were better
off than those who attended government schools. So, for them, more than
backwardness itself, it was the threat of becoming backward that forced
them to enter organized politics.94 In the case of Malabar, the slow progress

92 Begum, Rehmani, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. pp. 124–7.

93 Extract from the Proceedings of the Government of Madras in the Educational System,
1872. Correspondence regarding the education and employment of the Mohammedan
Community in British India. IOR/V/23/46/205/1886.
94 Robinson, Francis, Separatism among Indian Muslims. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1974.
128 The Malabar Muslims

of Mappilla education was because of the priority given to Koranic

schooling as in the Northwestern Provinces and Bengal, which delayed
their going to elementary schools. The situation created by the peasant
disturbances in regions of south Malabar also affected their progress. These
were also the reasons why the Mappillas demanded a separate community
status for special concessions and privileges in public services.
In Malabar, educated lawyers, timber merchants, shipbuilders and rich
traders formed the elite of the Muslim community and were an increasingly
influential force in the social and educational advancement of their co-
religionists. Some of them were committee members of reformist
organizations such as the Himayathul Islam Sabha, the Muhammadan
Educational Society and the Manjeri Hidayathul Islam Sabha. All these
organizations made constant appeals to the government to give more public
appointments to the Mappillas. The need for Mappilla representation was
also pressed by Mappilla pressure groups that emerged in the late 1920s
and 1930s. These were the Malabar Muslim Majlis, the Young Men’s
Muslim Association (hereafter YMMA), Kannur, the Thanveerul Islam
Association, Kasargod and the al-Azhariyya Association, Mangalore, which
spoke for the Kasargod Mappillas. The Malabar Muslim League was also
active in seeking privileges for Mappillas in the public services. All these
organizations asked for the Mappillas to be treated as a separate
community for representation in the public services.
The Madras government claimed that if the proportion of the members
of the community in the educational department was low compared to
the other communities, it was due to the fact that very few Muslims who
offered themselves for employment satisfied the conditions of admission
into the public services.95
When the Himayathul Islam Sabha wrote to Pentland in 1913 for more
appointments for Malabar Muslims in the public services, he pointed out
that there were Mappillas serving as a Deputy Collector, a Tahsildar, a
Deputy Superintendent of Police, and as officers in the registration, police
and educational services with many representatives in the clerical posts.96
Regarding the representation of Mappillas in the Taluk Boards, in 1918,
the Himayathul Islam Sabha appealed that:

‘... the special claims of our community to see competent

Muhammadans appointed, as occasions occur, to Presidentships of
Taluk Boards in the district may be recognised.’97

95 RDPI, 1899–1900. Madras, 1900. p. 93.

96 Tour Diary – First Tour of Pentland, p. 103.
97 KRA/Revenue/June, 1918.
 Education and Social Mobility 129

In Local Boards and Educational Councils, the Manjeri Hidayathul Islam

Sabha observed in 1923 that there was inadequate representation of
Mappillas. It argued that if more Muslims were appointed in the public
services, it would accelerate the work of educational authorities to diffuse
education, the panacea of all ills, and would lead to the rehabilitation of
the community.98
A resolution was drawn by the Thanveerul Islam Association representing
the Mappillas of Kasargod, regarding Mappilla appointment in government
services and the nomination of a Mappilla to the Indian Civil Services
(ICS) of 1930. A personal request was also made by H.H. Schamnad in
1930, requesting that as a member of the Mappilla community, he may be
nominated to the ICS, or that he may be granted a foreign scholarship of
three hundred and fifty pounds a year for about three years for higher
education in England. His request was turned down on the grounds that
no special favours could be granted to a particular community.99
The YMMA held that in view of the inadequate representation of the
community, and the trauma caused by the peasant rebellion of 1921, the
government should regard the Mappillas as a separate community for the
purposes of appointments to the All India Provincial and Subordinate
services.100
B. Pokkar Sahib, as a Madras Legislative Assembly member from 1930,
urged the necessity for public appointments of Malabar Muslims
particularly in services such as the ICS, the Indian Audit Service and the
Indian Forest Service where they were entirely unrepresented. He noted
that the entire absence of a Mappilla in the Income-tax department either
as an income-tax officer or in any other capacity was really a matter for
legitimate grievance especially in view of the fact that they were a
commercial community paying a large amount of income-tax.101
The Al-Azhariyya Association, Mangalore, representing the Mappillas
of Kasargod, earnestly appealed to the government in 1931 to select a
Mappilla to the ICS in view of the backwardness of the community in
education, the consequent Mappilla disturbances in Malabar and the
importance of the community in south India.102

98 TNA/Law (Educational)/GO No.944/5.7.1923.

99 NAI/Home (Establishments) File No. 21/5/30/1930.
100 Ibid. The YMMA had attempted to mitigate the legacy of 1921 and remove the
bogey of the ‘mad Mappilla’ and had taken up issues of community reform. Menon,
Dilip, Caste. p. 104.
101 NAI/Home (Establishments)/File No.21/5/30/1930.
102 NAI/Home (Establishments)/ File No.137/31/1931.
130 The Malabar Muslims

The Malabar Muslim Majlis also raised the question of the relaxation of
age limits and other qualifications for the ICS and other public services
examinations in favour of the Mappillas. In 1935, it wrote to the Madras
government that the age limit of twenty-three years fixed for the ICS
examinations was seriously detrimental to the interest of the Muslims in
general and that of the Mappillas in particular. It argued that the Mappillas
formed one-third of the Muslim community of the Madras Presidency,
but still there was not a single ICS officer among them. The Majlis also
pointed out that because of the greater importance attached to religious
instruction, the Mappilla boys took up secular education late. Therefore,
the age limit should be raised at least to twenty-five years for entrants in
the public services.103
The association further requested that in the matter of recruitment of
Muslim teachers, the age limit be raised from thirty to thirty-two years.
The British government in its reply, said that the age limits and other
qualifications had been prescribed with due regard to the requirements of
each service. Therefore, it stated that it was unable to make any alterations
in them merely to suit the convenience of a particular community.104 This
clearly indicates the adamance of officials in such matters.
With the granting of provincial autonomy and substantial electorates
to Muslims, few Mappillas were appointed as District Educational Officers.
For example, Mappilla deputy inspectors were appointed for the
Kozhikode, Kannur, Vadagara and Ponnani Mappilla ranges.105
Sattar Sait, a member of the Madras Legislative Assembly, raised the
issue of Mappilla representation in the Railway Services in 1936. Referring
to his statements, the Chandrika daily also pushed the case through an
article in its February issue. It complained that Mappillas were not
adequately represented in the Railway department in South India. It stated
that this injustice should not continue and the Madras government should
take appropriate steps to recruit Mappillas.106
The Muslim League also forwarded a petition to the Madras government
in 1941 to recruit more Mappillas to the judicial services.107 By 1943,
Mappillas were beginning to be represented in the judicial services of the
Malabar District. They were appointed as District and Sessions Judges as
well as Honorary Bench Magistrates. For example, Khaja Sheriff Sahib was

103 NAI/Home (Establishments)/File No.244/35/1935.

104 Ibid.
105 Asylum Press Almanac, 1935.
106 Chandrika, 24.2.1936, MNNR, 1936.
107 ‘Malabar Zilla Muslim League’, Chandrika, 15.7.1941. p. 4.
 Education and Social Mobility 131

the additional District and Sessions Judge for the Talasherri District Court
and Kunhahmad Kutty Sahib was recruited for the Ottapalam division in
Palakkad. Two Honorary Bench Magistrates’ posts, each for Kozhikode
and Talasherri, were filled by Palakardy Ahmad Koya and Kadiyaravath
Ahmad Koya, P.V. Kunhi Moosa Keyi and Madathingal Ali Koya,
respectively.108 However, the need for the appointment of more Mappilla
District Educational officers was felt even as late as 1946. Petitions in this
regard were sent by the Malabar Muslim League members to the
Educational department.109
The colonial administration followed a carrot and stick policy regarding
Mappilla education and its decisions were often wavering, stringent and
uncompromising. The government antagonised the community by
branding them as ‘backward classes’ after the Mappilla revolts, by trying
to abolish separate Mappilla schools and by economising on their religious
education. On the other hand, Muslim pressure groups, such as the
Himayathul Islam Sabha, the Manjeri Muslimin Sabha and the Muslim League
extended their generous support to the community’s educational progress
by demanding special privileges for their religious education and the
education of Mappilla girls. The initiatives of such organizations in seeking
concessions for the representation of Mappillas in the public services are
examples of social mobility and progress.

108 Asylum Press Almanac, 1943.

109 ‘Vidyabhyasa Samadhyakshande Adukkal Nivedanam’, Chandrika, 21.2.1946. p. 3.
132 The Malabar Muslims

Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization

The Muslim political leaders had begun to exercise their influence in the
matter of Mappilla girls’ education by the late 1930s and early 1940s. It
would be most appropriate at this juncture to show the emergence of an
educated Mappilla intelligentsia which gave a cohesive political leadership
to the community.

Growth of the Press in Malabar

Apart from its position as the administrative capital of the Malabar District,
Kozhikode also became the centre of the print culture from the late
nineteenth century. A study of the ‘Native Newspaper Reports’ reveals
that a number of newspapers were published from Kozhikode. The list
included the Kerala Patrika, the Kerala Sanchari, the Manorama and the
Malabari, in Malayalam and they were mostly owned by the Nayars.1 These
papers seem to have effectively voiced their opinion on British policy
matters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Their reports
generally dealt with regional and local issues such as legislation related to
marriage reform, inheritance, partition of properties, school education and
other such debates. Other vernacular papers such as the Malayala Manorama
and the Swadeshabhimani were published from Travancore. These papers
also sometimes expressed their views on Malabar issues.
By the 1920s, the emergence of political parties in Malabar saw the
birth of Malayalam political newspapers with their publishing offices in
Kozhikode. For example, with the formation of the District Congress
Committee at the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, a

1 Madras Native Newspaper Reports (MNNR). (1890–1922).

 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 133

Congress daily called the Mathrubhumi was published from Kozhikode.

The Al Ameen, a Congress-Left paper, started in 1924, had its office in the
Al Ameen Lodge in Kozhikode. When the Malabar Muslim League was
organized in the 1930s, its members started the Chandrika weekly from
Kozhikode in 1934. The Kerala Communist Party which was founded in
1939 launched the Communist newspaper, the Deshabhimani, in the
beginning of the 1940s. These newly-founded dailies reflected the emerging
political activities in Malabar from the 1920s till the end of the colonial
period.

Municipal Boards and Native Representation

A major development in the colonial history of British India was the
formation of Municipal Boards in the late nineteenth century. By 1870,
local bodies such as Municipal Councils were formed in the Madras
Presidency. Native members were nominated to the Councils on the basis
of their wealth and profession as well as their tax-paying status. In the
Madras Presidency, Madurai, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Nagapatnam and
Kozhikode were considered the wealthiest municipalities.2 In Malabar,
Municipal Boards were formed in Kozhikode, Talasherri and Kannur. Five
to six Indians were nominated to the Kozhikode Municipal Council
between 1875 and 1877, out of which one seat was held by a Mappilla,
T. Mammu Koya Haji.3 Mammu Koya Haji was an influential Koya of
Kozhikode and a wealthy timber merchant. The required qualification for
nomination was the wealth and tax-paying status of the individual.
The elective principle was introduced in Malabar in 1879–80. The
number of Indian members elected to the Kozhikode Municipal Council
till 1885 was ten, out of which nine were Hindus representing various
castes, such as the Nayars, the Pattars and the Chettis and one was a Muslim.
Mammu Koya Haji continued to be a member.4 In the 1906 elections, out
of eleven members, there were two Mappilla representatives, Mammu
Koya Haji and Haji Ali Barami.5 It should be noted at this point that firstly,
the slight increase in the number of Mappillas to two could have been a
remedy to an observation made in the 1880s that ‘the electoral law is in
need of amendment, and that the rights of minorities have hitherto been

2 Municipal Reports, Government of Madras, 1877–78. p. 1.

3 Asylum Press Almanac and Compendium of Intelligence, Madras, 1875. p. 76.
4 Madras Local Administration Reports, 1880–81. p. 1.
5 Asylum Press Almanac, Madras, 1906, part 4.
134 The Malabar Muslims

inadequately safeguarded’.6 Secondly, the Mappillas were not elected to

any important official post like that of the chairman or the overseer.
Thirdly, Haji Ali Barami belonged to the socially and economically
dominant barami group of Mappillas and was a wealthy timber merchant
and shipbuilder. By virtue of his tax-paying status, he could stand for the
Municipal Board Elections. In other words, although there were more than
a handful of Mappillas who could have qualified by wealth, it was not
until the twentieth century that they were to be found controlling the
Municipal Board elections.
By 1915, the number of Mappilla members rose from two to four.
Mammu Koya Haji, Haji Ali Barami, Puthiyamaliakal Sayyid Ahmad Jifri
Attakoya Thangal (hereafter, P.M. Attakoya Thangal) and C.A. Kunhi
Moosa Sahib were the Mappillas who were non-official members of the
Board.7 P.M. Attakoya Thangal was the grandson of Sayyid Alawi Jifri of
Kozhikode and a descendant of the Mambram thangal, Sayyid Hasan Jifri
Thangal (See Table 1.1). Apart from being a member of an influential
thangal family in Kozhikode and Mambram since the eighteenth century,
Attakoya Thangal was an owner of several acres of landed property in
the regions. C.A. Kunhi Moosa Sahib was a copra merchant in Kozhikode.
What is significant is that the Muslim seats in the Municipal Board were
being filled by wealthy Mappilla landlords and merchants. This was also
the case in Talasherri and Kannur where the keyi and the arakkal landlords
stood for Municipal Board elections by virtue of their being landed
aristocrats and socially and economically, a higher status.

Rise of a Mappilla Intelligentsia

Apart from private initiatives from wealthy Mappilla families in opening
primary schools and the Vazhakkad madrassa, there were also a few such
families who aspired to send their children for an English medium higher
education to different places within Malabar as well as outside the region.
Their aspirations were met by the English medium missionary schools
such as the Basel Mission School in Kozhikode and the Brennen College
in Talasherri. The Basel Mission activities were started in Kozhikode by
German missionaries led by Dr. William Gundert in 1842. He opened a
primary school in 1848 and a high school was founded in the 1860s which
imparted education up to the Intermediate level.8 The Brennen High School

6 Municipal Reports, 1881–82, p. 1.

7 Asylum Press Alamanac, 1915. part 3.
8 ‘The Basel Mission,’ in Malabar Mahotsav Souvenir, Kozhikode, 1993. pp. 140–2.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 135

in Talasherri was founded in 1862 under the generous patronage of

Edward Brennen, an English naval Captain. In 1890, college classes were
started for students and the institution was affiliated to the Madras
Presidency.9
The congenial atmosphere created by the opening of Muslim schools
and madrassas by wealthy Mappillas, and the patronage of European
missionaries and individuals in imparting English education provided the
initial grounding for aspiring Mappilla students. A new generation of
Mappilla youths born in the late nineteenth century, was emerging within
the community. Some were products of the Vazhakkad madrassa, educated
in a modern Islamic association and well-versed in Arabic literature and
other secular subjects. The Dar ul-Uloom of Vazhakkad schooled a group
of learned maulavis such as E. Moidu Maulavi, Sulaiman Maulavi and
Talasherri Ahmad Kutty. All these Mappilla scholars came from traditional
maulavi and musaliar families of Malabar.
The new generation also produced Mappillas such as B. Pokkar Sahib,
K.M. Seethi Sahib and Muhammad Abdurahiman Sahib. B. Pokkar Sahib
hailed from Talasherri and was educated in the Brennen College, the
Madras Christian College and the Madras Law College. After completing
his degree in law, he joined the Madras High Court as a lawyer.10 K.M.
Seethi Sahib was the son of Haji Seethi Mohammad Sahib, the founder of
the Muslim primary school at Azhikode. He studied in the Azhikode
Muslim School, the Basel Mission High School in Kozhikode, the
Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam for Intermediate examinations and took
the Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Travancore Maharaja’s College. He
passed the Law degree examination from the Thiruvanthapuram Law
College in 1925 and joined the Madras High Court as an advocate in
1927.11
Muhammad Abdurahiman Sahib was the nephew of Haji Seethi
Mohammad Sahib and the cousin of K.M. Seethi sahib. He was sent to
the Kodungallur High School and the Basel Mission High School in
Kozhikode. After completing further studies at the Madras Muhammadan
College and the Madras Presidency College, Abdurahiman went to study
at the Jamia Millia Islamia founded by Maulana Mohammad Ali.12

9 ‘Edward Brennen’, in Malabar Mahotsav Souvenir, Kozhikode, 1993. pp. 185–6; Tour
Diary - Seventh Tour of Pentland - Malabar and Tinnelvelly, 1914. p. 105.
10 ‘B. Pokkar Sahib’, in Kareem, CK (ed.) Kerala Muslim History: Statistics and Directory.
Vol. 3 Edappally: Charitram Publications, 1991, p. 191.
11 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. pp. 6–7.
12 Maulavi, E. Moidu, Ende Koottukaran. p. 3, p. 14.
136 The Malabar Muslims

These new generation Mappillas were to lead the community as able

intellectuals and political leaders. Meanwhile, political organizations were
beginning to take shape in Malabar.

The KPCC, Khilafat and the Rebellion: 1920–21

The late nineteenth century marked the foundation of the Indian National
Congress and its units at the regional level. Units were formed in the
Bombay, Bengal and Madras Presidencies. The Madras Presidency
Congress Committee was established in the late nineteenth century
although its activities did not assume any significance till the second decade
of the twentieth century. In Malabar, a District Congress Committee was
formed in 1910 even while the new generation of Mappillas was in college.
Members included Kunhiraman Menon, U. Gopala Menon, K.P. Kesava
Menon, K.V. Gopala Menon, T.V. Sunadara Ayyar, Kesavan Nayar and P.
Ramunni Menon.
In 1920, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committeee was formed by
bringing the three political units of Malabar, Cochin and Travancore
together. Active Congress workers included A.K. Pillai, a student of Oxford
University, K. Kelappan, a law graduate from Bombay, and barrister
George Joseph. The first meeting of the KPCC was held in Ottapalam in
1921. Muhammad Abdurahiman who was since then a student at the Jamia
Millia at Delhi, also attended the Ottapalam conference. Even before that
he had been a student representative at the Nagpur session of 1920.13 While
a student at Jamia Millia, Abdurahiman’s political ideas were very much
influenced by Maulana Mohammad Ali’s nationalist ideas. Encouraged
by Abdurahiman’s leadership qualities, the Maulana sent him back to
Malabar to lead the Khilafat movement. At the Ottapalam Conference itself,
a Khilafat Conference was held with Syed Murthusa Sahib of Trichinopoly
as its President who appointed Abdurahiman as the secretary of the
Malabar Khilafat Committee. A student Conference was held at the same
time under the presidentship of George Joseph.14
The Malabar Khilafat Committee had its headquarters at Kozhikode
and a meeting was held in Kuttichira, the Muslim stronghold of the town
where E. Moidu Maulavi, a Khilafatist, delivered his first ever political
speech.15 Congress-Khilafat meetings were also held in the south Malabar
taluks of Ernad, Walluvanad and Ponnani. The Ernad Congress secretary

13 Maulavi, Moidu, Maulaviyude Atmakatha, p. 19.

14 Menon, Kazhinja Kalam. pp. 81–2.
15 Maulavi, Atmakatha. pp. 17–18.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 137

at that time was M.P. Narayana Menon. This period was the height of
Hindu-Muslim unity in Malabar manifested in the Congress-Khilafat
activities.16 The Khilafat meetings held in Ponnani and Tirurangadi in July-
August 1921 were led by Kelappan and Kesava Menon respectively. Ali
Musaliar, Lavakutty and Kunha Alavi were the local Khilafat leaders in
Mambram.17
This was also the period of the Mappilla rebellion in south Malabar
against the janmis and the British administration. The peasant rebels were
greatly inspired by the Khilafat appeal and from then on, the rebellion
gathered more momentum. In order to control this gathering momentum
among them, the army was stationed all over south Malabar. Ali Musaliar
sent circulars to the public ordering peace and restraint from attacking
the Hindus.18
By the end of August, the situation worsened with the army and police
surrounding the kizhakkepalli at Tirurangadi. When they started firing, some
Mappilla rebels began retaliating with swords. However, in the end, they
were forced to surrender and Ali Musaliar and many others were arrested.
In retaliation, rebels in Ponnani, Manjeri and Perintalmanna began looting
government treasuries, police stations and destroyed records in huzur
offices.
Their activities were brought to control by leaders like Kelappan,
Kunhahmed Haji, Moidu Maulavi, K.M. Maulavi, Mohammad
Abdurahiman and Kesava Menon. K.M. Maulavi called a meeting in
Kozhikode to draw a solution to the chaotic conditions. He, along with
the other leaders toured the affected areas and requested the public to
maintain peace.19 The rebellion had spread to 220 villages of south Malabar.
Around 15,000 Mappillas were killed by the army, some were jailed and
others were sent to the Andaman Islands to provide cheap forest labour
force.20 Ali Musaliar was court-martialled at Coimbatore and hanged to
death on 17 February, 1922 while Kunhahmed Haji was shot dead as per
court order.21
Although leaders like Kelappan, Kunhahmed Haji, Moidu Maulavi, K.M.
Maulavi, Mohammad Abdurahiman and Kesava Menon tried to control
the rebelling peasants, they were arrested and jailed for conspiring with

16 Menon, Kalam. pp. 93–4.

17 Ibid. pp. 93–110.
18 Ibid.
19 Kannu, Nayakanmar. p. 93.
20 Ibid. p. 93.
21 Menon, Kazhinja Kalam. p. 116.
138 The Malabar Muslims

them. The procedure in the Military Court Trials was described by a

Criminal lawyer, Manjeri Ram Ayyar as follows:

‘… For the same offence, two sets of appellants/ defendants were tried
by separate judges. Evidence was different in both cases. If one accused
was a Khilafat secretary or a follower, he had no shelter or sympathy
from the judge…’22

Along with leaders such as Abdurahiman, Kelappan and others, many

thangals, maulavis and musaliars was also jailed. With the arrest of Congress
and Khilafat leaders, there was a lull for two years in political activities in
Malabar. But the rebellion had left behind several refugees, both Muslims
and Hindus. Voluntary relief committees were formed to provide food,
clothing, medical aid and shelter for them. B. Pokkar Sahib formed the
Mappilla Amelioration Committee, and along with T.M. Moidu toured
the affected areas providing relief measures.23 Seethi Mohammad Sahib,
the father of K.M. Seethi Sahib, also rendered help to the refugees in kind
and cash. From Panjab, the Jamaat-i-Da’vat-i-Tabligh-i-Islam Sabha set up an
orphanage in Kozhikode for the orphans of the rebellion.24
The long-term impact of the 1921 rebellion was to be seen, as Kesava
Menon describes, in the slow and gradual polarization of the Hindus and
Muslims. Menon observes that after the rebellion, the Mappillas of south
Malabar grudged a grievance against the Congress, which they identified
with the ‘Hindus’, that instead of helping them it toed the line of the
British administrators.25
K.N. Panikkar has also argued that the two communities had begun to
drift apart socially and politically which showed itself in the politics of
the twentieth century.26 It was noted with some criticism that the relief
measures organized by the Congress and the Khilafat Committee ran on
communal lines to such an extent that even a nationalist Muslim like
Abdurahiman remarked that the relief activities of Congress workers
catered to the Hindus alone.27 The gradual shift in Hindu-Muslim politics
in Malabar in the next few decades from the 1920s was to lead to a
communalisation of political interest. The rebellion, in this regard, was

22 Ibid. p. 117.
23 ‘B. Pokkar Sahib’, in Kareem, Kerala History. p. 191.
24 Maulavi, Atmakatha. p. 89.
25 Menon, Kazhinja Kalam. p. 128.
26 Panikkar, Against Lord. p. 188.
27 Ibid. pp. 188–9.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 139

only a starting point showing the weakness of the Congress influence on

the Mappillas of south Malabar.

The Kerala Muslim Aikya Sangham: 1922

Among the Mappilla leaders who had escaped to Travancore after the
rebellion were K.M. Maulavi, E.K. Maulavi and Mohammad Musaliar. They
were given refuge at Kodungallur by Seethi Mohammad Sahib.28 At this
time, K.M. Seethi Sahib was a student at the Thiruvanthapuram University
College. Even while a student, he was a Congress follower. Travancore,
from the beginning of the twentieth century was a seat of several social
reform movements. Vaikkom Maulavi spread the message of reform and
modern thought by forming several reform organizations. One such
organization was the Kerala Muslim Aikya Sangham founded in 1922 at
Eriyattu village in Kodungallur. The Aikya Sangham was an outlet for
Mappillas like K.M. Seethi Sahib, K.M. Maulavi, E.K. Maulavi and Moidu
Maulavi to provide leadership to the Mappilla community. The sangham
also heralded the birth of Muslim organizations in Kerala.

The 1919 Act and Mappilla Representation: 1920–30

With the devolution of power to the provinces by the 1919 Act, there
were some changes in Malabar as well. In the 1920 Municipal elections of
the Kozhikode Municipal Boards, P.M. Attakoya Thangal, T. Mammu Koya
Haji, C.A. Kunhimoosa Sahib and Haji Ali Barami continued as non-official
members till 1930.29 The posts of the chairman, health officer, manager,
secretary and engineer continued to be dominated by Hindus, some of
whom were Congress members.30
P.M. Attakoya Thangal represented the Mappillas in the Malabar District
Educational Council as a member from 1920 onwards.31 He was also the
Vice President of the Kozhikode Taluk Board till 1929. Meanwhile, two
Mappillas, T.M. Moidu and Uppi Sahib were elected to the Madras
Legislative Assembly in 1923. In the Madras Legislative Council there were
three Mappillas, two from Malabar and one from south Kanara.32 In 1930,
B. Pokkar Sahib was elected secretary of the Madras Legislative Assembly’s
United Nationalist Party.33 T.M. Moidu was also elected President of the

28 ‘K.M. Seethi Sahib’, in Kareem, Kerala History. p. 175.

29 Asylum, 1920.
30 Ibid. 1920–30.
31 Himayathul Islam Sabha Memorandum, 1927.
32 Proceedings of the Madras Legislative Council, 1925–30.
33 ‘B. Pokkar Sahib’, in Kareem (ed.) Kerala History. p. 191.
140 The Malabar Muslims

Malabar Distrct Board.34 By 1929, there were Mappillas occupying

important posts in the Taluk Boards.35
Thus, Mappillas were found in the District and Taluk Boards as well as
in the Legislative Assembly although their numbers were few.

The KPCC: 1923–30

After the 1921 Khilafat activities and the rebellion, some of the Congress
workers were jailed and some others left the party.36 There was a general
lull in their activities in this brief period. They were released from jail in
1923. K.P. Kesava Menon started a new Malayalam tri-weekly, the
Mathrubhumi. A second KPCC conference was held at Palghat presided
by Sarojini Naidu.37 In 1924, when there were severe floods in Malabar,
the KPCC under the leadership of its President, Kelappan, provided relief
work for the several affected people.38
Even while in jail, Abdurahiman decided to publish a newspaper. His
wish was fulfilled when after his release, in December 1923, the Al Ameen
Company was registered at Kozhikode. It started as a tri-weekly and was
co-edited by Sayyid Mohammad Sahib, P. Moideen Kottayan and K.A.
Damodara Menon.39 The sole reason behind Abdurahiman’s Al Ameen
publication was to remove the alleged categorization of the Mappillas as
‘fanatics’.40 The Al Ameen was an attempt to give the Mappilla community
its due respect. By this time, there was a split in the KPCC into two groups
– one was the Left Wing led by Abdurahiman, and the other was
the Right called the Chalappuram gang, dominated by lawyers.
Abdurahiman’s Left wing was supported by Moidu Maulavi, barrister
George Joseph, P. Moideen Koya, K. Damodara Menon, E.M.S.
Namboodiripad and Sayyid Mohammad Sahib.41 The Right Wing was led
among others, by Kelappan, Madhava Menon and Ramunni Menon.
The Al Ameen therefore was a Leftist paper and carried several articles
against the British government. K.M. Seethi Sahib, who was then a
Congress follower and a cousin of Abdurahiman also contributed articles
to the paper. Abdurahiman wrote critical articles against the British

34 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. p. 85.

35 Asylum, 1929.
36 Menon, Kazhinja Kalam. p. 128.
37 Ibid. p. 158.
38 Maulavi, Atmakatha. p. 91.
39 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. p. 186.
40 Ibid. p. 185.
41 Maulavi, Atmakatha. p. 92.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 141

Andamans scheme which had been proposed by the Madras government.

According to the scheme, Mappilla rebels released from jail were to provide
cheap forest labour force in the Andaman Islands. Abdurahiman fought
vigorously through the Al Ameen to withdraw the scheme. At an All-party
conference held at Amritsar in 1925, Abdurahiman, as the President of
the conference tabled a memorandum seeking the withdrawal of the
Andamans scheme. The resolution was passed. When he returned to
Madras after the meeting, the Madras government was in the process of
sending two hundred Mappilla families to the islands. Abdurahiman’s
attempt to interview them failed when the officials stopped his efforts on
the pretext that he belonged to the press. With that, his efforts to prevent
the implementation of the Andamans Scheme failed.42 He also tried to
withdraw the Moplah Outrages Act but was not successful. The bold
subjects of the Al Ameen were not relished by the colonial officialdom. In
1928, it was banned from the students’ reading room of the Mappilla
Training School at Malappuram.43 It became a daily in 1930.
Apart from Abdurahiman, other Mappilla leaders also made several
contributions to the KPCC in the twenties. K.M. Seethi Sahib, while as a
student, translated Mahatma Gandhi’s speech at the Trivandrum Congress
meeting of 1922. Soon, he became a member of the KPCC Left Wing as
well as the Congress activity committee.44 At the Kakkanad Congress
meeting of 1923 presided by Maulana Mohamad Ali, Abdurahiman, Moidu
Maulavi, Uppi Sahib, Hussain Kutty and K.P. Kesava Menon were the
active KPCC leaders. Seethi Sahib actively participated in all the Congress
meetings along with Abdurahiman, such as those in Madras, Lahore and
Tripura. At the Madras Congress meeting of 1927, Seethi Sahib met
Maulana Mohammad Ali for the first time. He had translated some of
Maulana’s speeches and writings into Malayalam. After the Maulana’s
death, Seethi Sahib wrote his biography in Malayalam which was published
in 1938.45
Meanwhile in the twenties, the Kozhikode Municipal Board was also
coming to be dominated by the Congress-Right. In 1930, the Civil
Disobedience Movement in the region was led by Kelappan, the then KPCC
President. A satyagraha procession was planned from Kozhikode to
Payyanur village. Abdurahiman Sahib, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and Moidu
Maulavi also participated in the Payyanur Satyagraha camp. Meetings were

42 Ibid. p. 196.
43 Proceedings of the Madras Legislative Council, October 1928.
44 ‘K.M. Seethi Sahib’, in Kareem (ed.), Kerala History. p. 173.
45 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. p. 11.
142 The Malabar Muslims

held in Kozhikode and Vallayil by Mappilla leaders like Hassan Koya

Mulla and P. Moideen Koya. Moidu Maulavi delivered a powerful speech
at Payyanur and also led the volunteers on a tour to Pazhayangadi,
Kannur, Talasherri, Vadagara, Mahe, Koilandy and Kozhikode.46 The
Young Men’s Muslim Association (YMMA) formed in 1926 at Kannur,
and consisting largely of Mappilla youths, joined hands with the satyagraha
volunteers and called for Hindu-Muslim unity.47 Several of these meetings
were obstructed by the presence of police rings. At Talasherri, the
volunteers were arrested and jailed. The Al Ameen published articles about
official sabotage during the satyagraha, for which it was banned for six
months in 1930.48
Thus, after the Congress-Khilafat cooperation, the salt satyagraha of 1930,
manifested the height of Hindu-Muslim alliance and unity in Malabar.

The Malabar Muslim Majlis: 1930

During the Civil Disobedience movement, the political history of Malabar
took a new turn. The first Muslim political organization called the Malabar
Muslim Majlis was founded in Talasherri in 1930. Among the founders
were K.M. Seethi Sahib, C.P. Mammu Keyi Sahib, Sattar Sait, Arakkal Sultan
Abdurahman Ali Raja and Uppi Sahib. The objective of the Majlis was to
bring different Mappilla leaders on a common platform. Abdurahiman
and many of his young followers joined the Majlis, the first annual meeting
of which was held in 1931.49 The leader of the Majlis was K.M. Seethi
Sahib. By 1935, the Majlis represented thirteen lakhs of Mappillas on the
west coast.50 It took up issues relating to the progress of the community
such as that of education and public appointments.
Committee members of the Majlis included P.M. Attakoya Thangal,
Moidu Maulavi, T.M. Maulavi, B. Pokkar Sahib, Haji V. Ali Barami and
Uppi Sahib. Meetings were held in Kozhikode and Kannur. Along with
the Majlis, a Muslim Club was also founded by K.M. Seethi Sahib and
other Majlis members in Talasherri. The Club aimed at community services
such as education, distributing scholarships and founding schools for the
Mappillas. It created a Muslim Educational Association for scholarship
funds and also founded the Malappuram Muslim High School.51 As an

46 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. pp. 148–170.

47 Menon, Caste. p. 104.
48 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. p. 117.
49 Ibid. p. 191.
50 NAI/Home (Establishment)/File No.244/35/1935.
51 ‘K.M. Seethi Sahib’, Kareem (ed.) Kerala History. p. 174.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 143

outcome of the discussions and debates held in the Muslim Club, the
Malabar Muslim League was founded in 1934.

The Malabar Muslim League, 1934

Although the Madras Presidency Muslim League was founded as early as
1908 under the presidentship of the Prince of Arcot52, only one Mappilla
was associated with it. That was B. Pokkar Sahib, who, as a practising
lawyer in Madras, became associated with the Presidency Muslim League
Committee.53 It was only in 1934 that a Malabar unit of the Muslim League
was formed after several discussions in the Muslim Club. Meanwhile K.M.
Seethi Sahib had left the KPCC in 1933. In 1934, he became a member of
the All India Muslim League Council. In the same year, The Malabar
Muslim League came under the aegis of the All India Muslim League
and formed League committees all over the region.54
Leading members of the Malabar Muslim League were Arakkal Sultan
Abdurahman Ali Raja, C.P. Mamoo Keyi Sahib, Schamnad Sahib, K.M.
Kadiri Koya; Uppi Sait became the President of the League and Seethi
Sahib was made the secretary. As a vehicle of the Malabar Muslim League,
a Malayalam paper, the Chandrika, was started in 1934. It started as a
weekly from Talasherri edited by C. Mohammad Sahib, who later took
over as its editor.55 The paper was discontinued for a while in 1935 after
the Central Assembly elections. It was however resumed soon and an
Editors’ committee was also formed. In 1938, the Chandrika became a daily
under the editorship of K.K. Mohammad Shafi. But it soon relapsed into
a weekly because of shortage of paper during the war years. During this
crisis period, generous donations were made by C.P. Mammoo Keyi, Sattar
Sait, Kunhimayan Haji, Kunhi Moosa Sahib and C.V. Pakki Keyi for the
press. In 1946, the press was moved to Kozhikode and from then onwards,
it was published daily.56

The Muslim League and the Congress in the Thirties

After the Civil disobedience activities in Payyanur in 1930, the KPCC began
its agitation for the release of Mappilla prisoners on the anniversary of
the Mappilla train tragedy on 19 September 1931. This was the decade

52 More, J.B.P., The Political Evolution. p. 35.

53 ‘Indian Union Muslim League’, in Kareem (ed.), Kerala History. Vol. 1, p. 637.
54 Kareem, Mohd. Abdul K.K., Shere Kerala Seethi Sahib. Tirurangadi, 1959. p. 64.
55 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. p. 24.
56 Ibid. pp. 25–6.
144 The Malabar Muslims

after the 1921 rebellion when about three-hundred Mappilla prisoners in

a train wagon had died of suffocation. Meetings were held in several places
for the release of prisoners from jails.57
This was also the period when there was competition for the Municipal,
District and Taluk Board elections as well as the Legislative Council and
Assembly elections. Important Mappilla leaders like Abdurahiman stood
for the Kozhikode Municipal elections and won a seat in 1931. He was
also a successful candidate from Tirur for the Malabar District Board
elections in 1932.58
By this time, Seethi Sahib had started his legal practice in Talasherri.
Along with that, he worked for the Majlis and the Muslim Club. With his
resignation from the Congress in 1933 and the formation of the Muslim
League, there were two major political organizations in the Malabar region
– the Congress and the League. The Majlis however, continued to have
both the KPCC and the League members.
By 1933, the number of Mappilla members in the Municipal Councils,
District Boards and Taluk Boards had considerably increased. The
Kozhikode Municipal Board had seven Mappillas, out of which there were
five koya merchants namely, Ahmad Koya Haji, Kunhahmed Koya, P.
Mohammad Koya Sahib, Thayyil Hasan Koya Mulla and P.I. Kunhahmed
Haji. Among the other two Mappillas, one was Assankoya, an advocate,
and the other was Abdurahiman.59 However, none of these Mappillas held
important official posts like that of the chairman or the secretary.
Unlike the Kozhikode Municipal Council, the Mappillas of the Talasherri
Municipal Council were found in some key official posts. For example,
C.P. Mamoo Keyi Sahib, landlord, was the Chairman and K. Abdulla Sahib
was the head clerk. Among the other five Mappilla members, there were
two merchants, two landlords, one of whom was Haji Sattar Sait and the
fifth member was C.P. Savankutty Keyi Sahib, the proprietor of the
Imperial Press, Talasherri.60 The Kannur Municipal Board however had
only five Mappilla representatives, all in the non-official seats.61
With the formation of the Malabar Muslim League, two Mappilla
candidates, Sattar Sait and Abdurahiman stood for the Central Assembly
elections in 1934. One was a Muslim League candidate while the other

57 Fortnightly Reports, October, 1931.

58 Maulavi, Ende Koottukaran. p. 192.
59 Asylum, 1933.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 145

stood for the KPCC. K.M. Seethi Sahib supported the Muslim League
member, Sattar Sait, who won the seat.62
With the expansion of separate electorates by the 1935 Act, for the first
time, the District Educational Officer was a Mappilla, K. Muhammad
Sahib.63 However, there was no real change in the Municipal Board
Elections. The Boards continued to be dominated by the Congress-Right.
In the Madras Legislative Assembly elections of 1936, Abdurahiman
contested as a Congress candidate from the Ernad and Walluvanad taluks
and won a seat. Along with him were two other Mappilla representatives
in the assembly, namely, B. Pokkar Sahib and Khan Bahadur Unnikammu
Sahib.64
The constitutional provisions of the provincial governments came into
force in April, 1937. By July, 1937, Congress ministries were formed in all
the Presidencies including the Madras Presidency and remained in office
till 1939. Meanwhile, the Malabar Muslim League had drawn up its
objectives and future agendas. One of its important objectives was to
encourage and improve Mappilla education. Along with that, the League
also aimed to improve the economic position of small-scale traders and
labourers through the patronage of wealthy Mappillas.65
In the early months of 1937 itself, the Malabar Muslim League was
becoming prominent in the political scene. For the 1937 Madras Assembly
elections, Maulana Shaukat Ali visited Malabar to support the candidature
of B. Pokkar Sahib. Although K.M. Seethi Sahib backed Pokkar Sahib, he
lost in the elections. Abdurahiman was elected to the Legislative Assembly
as a Congress candidate from the Malappuram division.66 T.M. Moidu
Sahib, a Majlis member, who did not belong to either the Congress or the
League was re-elected to the Assembly in 1937.67
The Congress in Malabar was busy in early 1937 trying to woo the
Mappillas. Moidu Maulavi, a Congress-Left member made attempts to
gain Mappilla members to the Congress but did not seem to have
succeeded.68 The Muslim League, on its part, held a major meeting in
Kannur which was attended by thousands of Mappillas. Jinnah’s views
were upheld at the meeting and it was emphasized that no rapprochement

62 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. p. 14.

63 Asylum, 1935.
64 Maulavi, Atmakatha. p. 149.
65 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. pp. 49–57.
66 ‘Muhammad Abdurahiman Sahib’, in Kareem, Kerala History. p. 133.
67 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. p. 85.
68 FR, May, 1937.
146 The Malabar Muslims

with the Congress was possible until a clear pact had been made with the
Congress to safeguard ‘Muslim interests’.69
The KPCC, at a meeting in Kozhikode held in June 1937, formed a
Muslim Contact Committee headed by Muhammad Musaliar who had
been recently elected Vice-President to the Malabar District Board. A civic
board and a new working committee were also elected at the meeting.
The civic board consisted of a balanced proportion of the moderate
Congress and the socialist while the working committee was dominated
by the Left. Muhammad Musaliar and Abdurahiman Sahib visited the
rebellion-affected south Malabar to persuade local Mappillas to form
Muslim Contact Committees. There was however no response from them.70
At Talasherri, P. Krishna Pillai, a Congress Socialist, was warned by a
Mappilla audience at a meeting for commenting that the Muslims in some
places were not working with the Congress.71 In another instance, at a
meeting in Ponnani, P. Damodaran, a KPCC member and MLA,
commented that the general poverty ‘was driving Mappilla women and
children to the streets’. His reference to Mappilla women was objected to
by the audience and consequently, he had to leave the meeting.72
Thus, the Congress efforts to gain Mappilla support were withering
away with the Muslim League’s active propaganda to safeguard Mappilla
interests. Within the Congress itself, the rift between the Left and the Right
wings was widening as was evident from the Municipal and District Board
elections of 1936 and 1938 respectively. Abdurahiman Sahib contested for
the Chair post of the Kozhikode Municipal Council in 1936 because no
Muslim had ever been elected the Chairman of the Board till then.
However, the Congress-Right wing objected to Abdurahiman’s candidature
and he could not secure the post. From then onwards, conflicts within the
KPCC grew.73
In the Kozhikode Municipal Elections of 1937, Moidu Maulavi won a
non-official seat. In that year also, there was rivalry between the Left and
the Right over the election of the Chairman. Although U. Gopala Menon
was elected, the Right-wing argued that a Government advocate was not
eligible to be a Councillor and he was therefore forced to resign.74

69 Ibid.
70 FR, June, 1937.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Maulavi, Atmakatha. p. 150.
74 Ibid. pp. 153–5.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 147

To add to the vexation of the Right-wing, Abdurahiman became the

KPCC President and E.M.S. Namboodiripad, its secretary, in 1938, both
belonging to the Socialist group. The rest of the office-bearers and
committee members were also Socialists.75 Serious competition was also
noticed at the Malabar District Board elections held in the same year.
Abdurahiman stood as a Congress Left candidate and the Right wing in
opposition, placed K.T. Moosa Kutty as his opponent. Abdurahiman lost
to Moosa Kutty while Moidu Maulavi who contested from Andathottai
against N. Narayana Menon was elected to the District Board.76
Apart from the conflict within the KPCC itself, the line dividing the
KPCC and the Muslim League was hardening during the Congress
ministry in Malabar. The Congress bid to seek the support of the Mappillas
was constantly turning out to be unsuccessful because of the Muslim
League’s appeal.77 Bitterness between a section of the Mappillas supporting
the League and those adhering to the Congress was found to be
increasing.78 By 1939, the Muslim League, dissatisfied with the Congress
regime, had become a bitter rival. Sir Currimbhoy Ibrahim, a member of
the working Committee of the All India Muslim League, on his visit to
Malabar in 1939, criticised the Congress and asked the Mappillas to join
the Muslim League.79
The Al Ameen was also banned in 1939 for publishing anti-war articles.80
It became extinct and was revived only after independence.81 Thus, the
thirties saw the emergence of the Malabar Muslim League into an active
opponent of the KPCC, the failure of the KPCC to gain Mappilla adherents,
the growth of the Muslim League into an advocate of the Mappilla interests
and the growing dominance of the Socialists within the KPCC.

Initiatives of the Muslim League

Meanwhile, the Muslim League began to take initiatives towards the
welfare of the community. Muslim political leaders had begun to exercise
their influence in the matter of Mappilla girls’ education. By 1939, C.P.
Mammu Keyi, M.L.A and League member alleged that the Congress
majority in Malabar was trying to obstruct Mappilla education. During

75 FR, January, 1938.

76 Maulavi, Atmakatha. p. 155.
77 FR, May, 1938.
78 Ibid. December, 1937.
79 Ibid. November, 1939.
80 Ibid. September, 1939.
81 Raghavan, Pathrapravarthana. p. 246.
148 The Malabar Muslims

this time, the Congress ministries formed in 1937 were in power in the
region. Consequently, the Budget Committee of the Municipal Council of
Talasherri, which had a Congress majority, proposed the abolition of three
schools in 1939, one of which was a Mappilla boys’ school and another, a
Mappilla girls’ school. Mammu Keyi argued that it was with great difficulty
that he had established a separate zenana school for Mappilla girls. He
argued that the Mappillas, as a community, were averse to sending their
girls to school and this proposal would affect the education of Muslim
girls in town. Therefore, he moved an amendment that the schools should
not be abolished.82
T.M. Moidu Sahib, a Mappilla member of the Madras Legislative
Council, urged the Muslims and Hindus in Talasherri to boycott all the
Municipal schools if the Council persisted in its decision. All Muslim and
a few Hindu shops in Talasherri were closed. Mammu Keyi moved a
resolution protesting against the action of the Council, as it would affect
Mappilla education, especially that of girls. K.M. Seethi sahib, the League
leader and Muhammad Shafi, Chandrika’s editor, supported the resolution
and moved that the ‘Malabar government and the Municipal Council be
informed that the Mappillas would be forced to resort to satyagraha’, if
the Council abolished the schools.83
By the 1940s, when the Muslim League activities had advanced by leaps
in the wake of new political developments, the educational needs of the
Mappillas were also met. A meeting was held in Talasherri in July, 1941
by the League President, Sattar Sait, with the guardians of the students of
the Mappilla schools in town. The chief guest of the meeting was Khaja
Hussain Sahib, the Deputy Inspector of schools. He encouraged the
guardians to send their children to schools, and also increase the strength
of students in primary classes.84 At a Malabar Zilla Muslim League meeting
at Talasherri presided by Arakkal Sultan Abdurahiman Ali Raja, a resolution
was passed to open a Muslim High school in Mahe.85
On another occasion, a petition was drawn at a League meeting in
Talasherri to open a Muslim Girls’ High School in the town. The
educational officer replied that it was not possible to open a school for
Mappilla girls but would consider a co-educational Muslim High School.86

82 The Madras Mail, 24 February, 1939. Microfilm: India Office Records.

83 The Madras Mail, 17 March, 1939.
84 ‘Rakshithagalude Yogam’, in Chandrika, 8.7.1941. p. 3.
85 ‘Malabar Zilla Muslim League’, Ibid. 15.7.1941. p. 4.
86 ‘Talasseriyil Muslim High School Stappikan’, Chandrika, 21.2. 1946. p. 3.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 149

The League also sought the patronage of wealthy Mappillas in the

establishment of Muslim High Schools. For example, leading Mappillas
were requested to come forward and help in the improvement of the
Malappuram High School. A mosque was constructed in its premises and
inaugurated in 1946 by League members such as A.K. Kunhimayan Sahib.
The President of the Malabar District Board, Unnikammu Sahib, presided
over the function.87 Similarly, a resolution was passed at a League meeting
in Kannur to establish a Muslim High School in the town with the
patronage of wealthy Mappillas.88
A resolution seeking the upgradation of the Madrassathul Muhammadiya
School into a High school was also passed at a League meeting held
at Kozhikode in June 1946. The members of the Committee were O.K.
Abubacker, P.P. Kunhahmed Koya, P.V. Ummarkoya and A. Muhammad
Koya. As a result, the Madrassathul Muhammadiya School became a High
School in 1947.89
Under the initiative of the Muslim League leader, K.M. Seethi Sahib,
the first Mappilla College, called the Farook College, was opened in Feroke,
near Kozhikode. It was a full-fledged Arabic College upgraded from the
Rouzathul Uloom founded in Manjeri in 1942. The Rowzathul Uloom was
moved to Feroke in 1948 when K.M. Seethi Sahib acquired a site for the
college building. He donated his wakf funds of the Kerala Aikya Sangham
for its management. The Farook College was started with only thirty-two
students and five-faculty members.90

Mappilla Politics in the Forties

Congress ministries took office in the various provinces, in 1937. Two years
later, Viceroy Linlithgow associated India with Britain’s declaration of war
on Germany, without consulting the provincial ministries. The Congress
demanded, in turn, for cooperation during the War, a promise of a post-
war Constituent Assembly to determine the political structure of a free
India. Linlithgow agreed to some kind of a post-war body to derive a
constitution after consulting with representatives of ‘several communities’.91

87 ‘Muslim High Schooline Palli,’ Chandrika, 20.2.1946. p. 4.

88 Chandrika, 8.5.1946. p. 4.
89 Madrassathul Muhammadiya High School Souvenir, 1969.
90 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. p. 35.
91 Bandopadhyay, S.K., Qaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan.
New Delhi, 1991. pp. 210–9.
150 The Malabar Muslims

Meanwhile, Muslims all over British India were disillusioned by the

provincial and federal aspects of the 1935 Act. The victory of the Congress
in the elections shook them, particularly in the areas where they were
minorities. Consequently, the Muslim mass contact campaigns of the
Congress were a total failure exhibiting Muslim dissatisfaction with the
Congress Ministries. Jinnah, at the Lahore session of the All India Muslim
League in March 1940, demanded that Muslim-minority provinces should
be grouped together as ‘Independent States’ in which the constituent units
were to be autonomous and sovereign. Pakistan or partition was not
mentioned at this stage.92
Subsequently, Muslim branches were formed in all provinces and public
meetings were organized to rally Muslims for the new demand. Apart
from the United Provinces and Panjab, conferences were also held in the
Madras Presidency. In Malabar, the League’s activities accelerated with
their demand to safeguard Muslim interests in any future reorganization
of India.
A major District Muslim League conference was organized in Kozhikode
in May, 1940 which was presided by Fazlul Haq, the President of the
Bengal Muslim League. The meeting was well-attended by Mappillas. Haq
spoke in favour of the Muslim League and made criticisms about the recent
Congress administration.93 His speeches were translated by Seethi Sahib.
At Talasherri, Haq was presented with an address by the Congress-
dominated Municipal Council, although many Councillors absented
themselves. At Kannur, he addressed an audience of 7,500 Mappillas.94
In the same year, Abdurahiman was appointed the President of the
Kerala branch of the Forward Bloc. But the activities of the Socialists were
however curbed by the imposition of government orders to arrest and
imprison the leaders of the Forward Bloc. Consequently, Abdurahiman
was also jailed for five years.95
The arrest of Abdurahiman was a serious blow to the Congress-Left as
well as to the Muslim Majlis. However, it was a victory for the Right-
Wing because once again the Kozhikode Municipal Board began to be
dominated by them. In the absence of Abdurahiman, Moidu Maulavi took
over as the leader of the Congress-Left. The Municipal Boards were
dominated by Right Wing members such as Madhava Menon, K.P.
Ramunni Menon and Narayana Ayyar.96

92 Khan, Mohammad Raza, What Price Freedom. Madras: Nuri Press, 1969. pp. 54–5.
93 FR, 17 May, 1940.
94 Ibid.
95 ‘Mohammad Abdurahiman Sahib’, in Kareem(ed.). Kerala Muslim History. p. 134.
96 Maulavi, Atmakatha. pp. 154–5. p. 166.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 151

The forties were also a turning point in the relationship between the
Malabar Muslim Majlis and the Muslim League. With the arrest of
Abdurahiman, the Majlis was considerably weakened. Moreover, the
Muslim League alienated itself from the Majlis because of the role of
Congress-Left Mappillas in its activities. This widening division between
the Majlis and the Muslim League became prominent only after the
untimely death of Abdurahiman soon after his release in 1945. The Majlis
now lost an important Mappilla leader at a crucial political stage.97
Meanwhile, the Malabar Muslim League continued its community
activities. Meetings of the Kozhikode Town Muslim League and the Zilla
Muslim League branches were held regularly to discuss important agendas.
For the victims of the floods that had ravaged the Kurumbranad and the
Kozhikode taluks at the end of the thirties, the Malabar Zilla Muslim League
elected a committee consisting of N.C. Imbichama, E.P. Ali Koya, P. Mammu
and P.V.C. Kunhahmed Koya. This committee organized relief measures
for the flood-hit areas.98 Similarly, in Kasargod, a Muslim League Relief
committee was formed under the leadership of Schamnad Sahib. They
distributed rice, bamboo, thatched roof and money to the flood victims.99
At the annual meeting of the Kozhikode Town Muslim League in 1941,
a new committee was formed with Bafaqi Thangal as the President. A
resolution was passed to have two Zilla Muslim League Committees –
one for north Malabar and the other for south Malabar.100 At Kannur, the
Zilla Committee President was Sultan Abdurahiman Ali Raja who was
also a Madras Legislative Assembly member.101 Liberal donations were
made to the Malabar Muslim League Relief Committee by timber
merchants and proprietors, other Muslim League branches within the
region and also the Madras Presidency Muslim League.102 Rice and funds
were distributed to families in Chirakkal, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Palakkad,
Kurumbranad, Ernad, Walluvanad and Ponnani taluks.103 Apart from
regular meetings held to sort out the League programmes, a special drive
was also made to increase the membership of the League. This was done
by League leaders like Seethi Sahib, K.K. Mohammad Shafi, P.K. Mamoo

97 ‘Mohamad’, in Kareem, Kerala History. p. 136.

98 ‘Vellapokkam Kondu Undaya Nashtangal,’ in Chandrika, 20.7.1941. p. 4.
99 ‘Thekkan Karnataka Muslim League,’ Ibid.
100 ‘Kozhikode Town Muslim League’, Chandrika, 30.7.1941. p. 4.
101 ‘Malabar Zilla Muslim League Vaarshika Yogam’, Chandrika, 29.7.1941. p. 3.
102 ‘Malabar Muslim Relief Committee’, Chandrika, 8.7.1941. p. 3; ‘Muslim League Relief
Fund,’ Chandrika, 9.7.1941. p. 3.
103 ‘Malabar Muslim League’, Ibid. 15.7.1941. p. 4.
152 The Malabar Muslims

Sahib and M.P. Chokran, whose speeches influenced Mappillas to join the
League.104
The League representatives in the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1942
were Khadija Yakub Hasan from the Madras Presidency, Schamnad Sahib
from Kasargod and five Malabar Mappillas, namely Arakkal Sultan
Abdurahiman Ali Raja, P.M. Attakoya Thangal, A.K. Kaderkutty, P.I.
Kunhahmed Kutty Haji and P.K. Moideen Kutty.105 By this time, two
important Mappilla leaders, T.M. Moidu, a former MLA and Majlis member,
and C.P. Mamoo Koya, the prominent League leader had passed away.
The leaders in the forefront of the Malabar Muslim League in the forties
were Seethi Sahib, Sattar Sait, A.K. Kaderkutty, P.M. Attakoya Thangal,
Bafaqi Thangal, Pokkar Sahib, Uppi Sahib, K.M. Maulavi and M. Mamoo
Sahib. In 1943, a severe cholera epidemic hit Malabar and left orphans in
its wake. The League leaders Seethi Sahib, Sattar Sait and K.M. Maulavi
opened an orphanage in Tirurangadi for the cholera victims.106
By 1945, intense rivalry had gripped the Malabar Muslim Majlis and
the League. Serious election campaigns were organized by both the
organizations for the ensuing Central Assembly elections. An election
propaganda sub-committee was formed and leaflets were circulated by
the Muslim League to raise funds for the elections. The Majlis also decided
to set up candidates for all the Muslim seats.107 The Congress and the
nationalist Muslim Majlis decided to place candidates to oppose every
Muslim League candidate. However, the Majlis lost in the Central
Assembly elections to the Muslim League which won decisive victories in
the West Coast.108 Despite its defeat, the Majlis continued to contest against
the League in all the elections.109
By this time, at the All-India level, the influence of the League had
advanced considerably. It had wielded a reasonably tight control over its
provincial units and League ministries had been formed in Assam, Sind,
Bengal and the North Western Provinces by 1943. Although in the Muslim
majority provinces of Panjab and Bengal, Jinnah had problems initially in
gaining full control, the ‘Pakistan’ concept was beginning to appeal to
much of the Muslim peasants of the two regions.
The success of the League was also noticeable in the Central assembly
elections of 1945–46. It won all the thirty reserved constituencies in the

104 ‘Muslim League Varam’, Ibid.

105 TNA/Home/G.O.No. 447/4.2.1942.
106 Aboosiddique, Seethi Sahib. pp. 59–60.
107 FR, September, 1945.
108 Ibid. December, 1945.
109 Ibid.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 153

centre with 86.6 per cent of Muslim votes and 442 Muslim seats out of a
total of 509 in the provinces. It also made advances in the Panjab unlike
the 1937 elections. The Congress this time won majorities in most provinces
except Bengal, Sind and Panjab. In South India, the Muslim League showed
an overwhelming victory in Tamilnadu, Andhra, South Kanara and
Malabar. This overall changing balance between the Congress and the
League was a particularly major advantage for the League in that unlike
1937, it had now established its dominance among the Muslims.
Back in Malabar, by 1946, Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan was the focus
of Muslim League action. Apart from intense meetings, the drive for
Pakistan was publicised through other media such as Malayalam books
and plays. For example, one of the Muslim League book stalls in Talasherri,
called the ‘Jinnah Book Stall’ put up a sale of books such as ‘The Meaning
of Pakistan’, ‘Pakistan a Nation’, ‘Pakistan and Muslim India’, ‘Pakistan Series’,
‘Pakistanum Deshiya Aikyamum’ and ‘Pakistan Zindabad’.110
A Malayalam musical play, written and directed by League leader,
M. Mammoo Sahib, called ‘Mammoo – Musalmande Nethavu’ (Mammoo-
Leader of the Muslims) was held in Kozhikode. The themes of the play
included questions such as:

‘Is Hindu leadership acceptable?’ ‘Is Pakistan, the Muslims’ aim?’ ‘Why
did we move away from the Congress?’111

Another Malayalam musical play called ‘Pachchakodi’ (meaning: the green

flag) was staged at the Talasherri Town Hall as part of the Muslim League
Charity programme for health and nutrition.112 Translations of Jinnah’s
writings in Malayalam were also put up for sale.113 At major League
conferences, effective speeches were delivered by Seethi Sahib, Sattar Sait,
Pokkar Sahib, Bafaqi Thangal and Arakkal Sultan Abdurahman Ali Raja.
Mappillas in large numbers were beginning to attend League meetings.
In many such meetings, several Majlis members were supposed to have
resigned from the Majlis and joined the League.114
Linked to the concept of Pakistan demand which gained currency in
the mid-forties, was the Mappilla demand for a separate state. By August
1946, a new landmark in the history of the Malabar Muslim League was

110 ‘Books on Pakistan’, Chandrika, 12.2.1946. p. 4.

111 ‘Mamoo-Musalmaande Nethavu’, Ibid. p. 3.
112 Chandrika, 22.2.1946, p. 4.
113 Ibid. 9.3.1946. p. 3.
114 ‘Muslim Leagine Vijayipikkuga,’ Chandrika, 9.3.1946. p. 3.
154 The Malabar Muslims

the demand for a separate region for the Mappillas called ‘Mappillanadu’
or ‘Mappillastan’ as in the case of the Panjab and Bengal. The Mappillastan
was to comprise of the Muslim majority taluks of Ernad, Walluvanad,
Ponnani, Kozhikode and Kurumbranad, south Kanara as well as
Lakshadweep. A Mappillastan resolution was passed by Sattar Sait. A
committee was also formed to represent the issue in the Madras Assembly
and the Central Assembly.115 Sattar Sait had been elected to the Central
Assembly; Arakkal Ali Raja, Seethi Sahib and Pokkar Sahib became
members of the Madras Legislative Assembly and Uppi Sahib was elected
to the Legislative Council.116
Meanwhile, in support of the ‘Pakistan’ demand, the League in Malabar
organized a grand procession in Kozhikode and Talasherri in August 1946.
Educational institutions, factories, mills and shops were closed. Traders,
labourers and fishermen struck work. Public meetings attended by over
15,000 Mappillas were held; Sattar Sait and Seethi Sahib addressed these
meetings and the public voices chorused, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’.117 A Kerala
Muslim Vidyarthi association meeting was also held in Madras under the
presidentship of P.K. Moideenkutty for the cause of ‘Pakistan’. Impressive
speeches were given by Pokkar and Seethi Sahib. By end-1946, Ali Raja
passed away and T. Mustafa, the leader of the Independent Municipal
Party, took over as the leader of the Kannur League.
When the Madras Assembly passed a resolution at its session in April,
1947, recommending the redistribution of provinces along linguistic lines,
it was an encouragement to the Malabar Muslim League.118 It organized a
‘Mappillastan Day’, and proposed to hold a ‘Mappillastan Convention’ for
the division of Malabar as in the case of Panjab and Bengal.119
The Mappillastan proposal however, remained a still-born idea. When
the Muslim League delegation from Madras met Jinnah after the session
of the Council of the All India Muslim League, the Qaid-e-Azam thanked
them for their strong backing for the Pakistan demand. However, on the
question of Mappillastan, he held that the idea was ‘fantastic, foolish and
deserved no consideration’. He declared, “it is all closed”.120 Sattar Sait,
however, left for Pakistan leaving Seethi Sahib behind to lead the League.

115 ‘Mappilastan Ulpatta Sanyukta Keralam – Muslimgalude Aavashyam,’ Chandrika,

16.8.1946. p. 2.
116 ‘Indian Union,’ in Kareem, Kerala History, Vol. 1, p. 639.
117 ‘Malabar Muslimgalude Samara Sannadhata,’ Chandrika, 18.8.1946. p. 3.
118 FR, April 1947.
119 FR, May 1947.
120 Khan, What Price. pp. 320–1.
 Mappilla Leadership and Political Mobilization 155

In a nutshell, although Muslim politics in Malabar was not as intense

and widespread like that of the United Provinces or the Panjab, yet being
a Muslim-majority region in the Madras Presidency, there was a Mappila
intelligentsia which safeguarded the interests of the community. Different
political groups were formed and finally, the Muslim League stood out as
the vanguard of the community. It took great interest in its social and
educational progress which was reflected in the social and institutional
changes that took place within the community.
156 The Malabar Muslims

Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century:

A Standing Applause

In the twenty-first century, Kerala now has a very prominent and

progressive Muslim community which has moved forward in leaps and
bounds. It has shown tremendous progress in the spheres of education,
women empowerment, religion, politics, literature and other spheres of
development.

Educational Progress
For the educational benefits of the Mappilla society, the Muslim Educational
Society (MES) was founded in 1967 by an eminent neurologist from
Kodungallur, Dr. Abdul Ghafoor. He studied Medicine in England and
was a dedicated teacher at Kozhikode Medical College. In 1974, he
renounced his profession for the cause of the social upliftment of the
Mappilla community. His son, Dr. P.A. Fazal Ghafoor, also a neurologist,
is the present State President of MES.1
MES schools were opened all over Malabar, Cochin and Travancore.
Colleges have also been founded. The present strength of MES institutions
amount to more than one hundred and fifty. The funds for the institutions
are derived from the donations made by the different members of the
MES Trust and Board of Management. Yusuf Ali, an international
industrialist, is a major trustee of the MES group of institutions. The
medium of instruction in all the MES institutions is English and their
schools are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.2

1 MES Higher Secondary School Souvenir, Palakkad (also Palghat), 2010.

2 Interview with the Chairman, N. Aboobacker of MES School, Palakkad, 21.6.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 157

Arabic is offered as an optional language and Islamic Studies is offered

as one of the compulsory subjects for Muslim students. The Hindu students
are given the choice of moral science in lieu of Islamic Studies.3 These
schools are co-educational and both Muslim and Hindu students are
admitted, their strength being almost fifty-fifty. Twenty per cent of fees of
the students are waived. Apart from schools in Kerala, the MES has also
founded schools in the Gulf region, that is, in Qatar and Riyadh, where
they are the biggest Indian schools. The first MES College was the MES
Kalladi College in Mannarkad. Under the popular pressure of the local
people, the first MES Arabic College was founded in Edathunattu,
Palakkad. All the MES colleges are affiliated to Kozhikode University. In
the MES Medical College in Kozhikode, the ratio of girls and boys studying
medicine is 40:60.4
In the educational field, Mappilla girls are in the limelight. For example,
in the Kozhikode University B.Sc. Polymer Chemistry Examinations for
the year 2010, the first three ranks were attained by the girls of Valanchery
MES College. The second and third ranks were bagged by two Mappilla
female students, P.P. Soufina and E. Shabna. The first rank holder in B.Sc.
Microbiology was yet again a Mappilla student, Noormol Kottakaran.5 In
the B.A. Examinations held by Kozhikode University, students of the MES
College, Mannarkad, won all the first three ranks, out of which two were
Mappilla girls. The first rank in B.A. Arabic and Islamic History was
awarded to A.T. Suhaima and the second rank in Islamic History was
awarded to K.P. Najma.6
In the B. Com examinations held by Kozhikode University, all the six
State ranks were bagged by girls, out of which two were Mappilla girls.7
A Mappilla girl, Jasila, a student of Manjeri Unity Women’s College won
the first rank in B. Sc Botany. She was complimented by the Ex-education
Minister, E.D. Muhammad Basheer and a Manjeri MLA, Abdurahiman.
Jasila is now planning to pursue her post graduation in Botany.8 The overall
performance of Mappilla girls is outstanding and is an indicator of the tilt
in balance towards a higher female literacy.

3 Interview with Farsheena, Teacher, MES Pattambi, 19.6.2010.

4 Interview with the Secretary, P.V.M. Abdul Hameed of MES School, Palakkad,
21.6.2010.
5 Chandrika, 10.6.2010.
6 ‘Kozhikode B.A.: Mannarkad MESin Moonu Rankugal,’ Ibid. 19.6.2010.
7 ‘Kozhikode B.Com Rankugal Pennkuttigalukku Sonthamayi’, Ibid. 9.6.2010.
8 ‘Jasilayude Onnam Rank Naadinaabhimanam,’ Chandrika, 4.6.2010.
158 The Malabar Muslims

Under the aegis of the Samastha Kerala Islamic Religious Education Board,
madrassas are run not only in Kerala but also in Karnataka and Kuwait,
Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf region. That is the extent of its influence
in the Gulf countries. Some of the well-known madrassas in Kerala are the
Tanur K.K. Hasrat Memorial Secondary Madrassa, the Valavanur Bafaqi
Yateemkhana Primary Madrassa and the Najmul Huda Majmat Malabar Al-
Islami Madrassa in Malappuram (a predominantly Muslim district created
in 1969 comprising of all the taluks of south Malabar), and in Kozhikode,
the Koilandy Madrassathul Islamiyya, the Kadamery Rahmaniyya Arabic College,
the Darussalam Yateemkhana (Yateemkhana means an orphanage) and the
Mukhan Muslim Yateemkhana Madrassa.9
Even in madrassas, the talim imparted to the students seem to be grasped
better by the girls than the boys. This is evident in the results of the
examinations conducted in madrassas in 128 states for the fifth, seventh,
tenth and twelfth classes. Out of thirteen rank holders, ten are Muslim
girls and only three are Muslim boys.10 This shows the excellence of
Mappilla girls over boys. Similarly, the K.L.M. Education Board also
conducts examinations for its madrassas. This year, the examinations for
the fifth and seventh classes were held simultaneously in Karnataka,
Kudaloor in Tamilnadu, Lakshadweep islands, Andamans and Riyadh,
Jeddah and Damam in Saudi Arabia. Eight Muslim girls bagged the ranks,
out of which one was from Salafi Madrassa, Riyadh.11 This is a fine example
of the links that the Mappilla community has with the Persian Gulf and
also the excellent performance of female students over the male students.
Madrassa teachers are also encouraged to participate in various activities
such as the Islamic Kala-Sahitya (art and literature) competition organised
by the Samastha Kerala Jamiyathul Muallinin Council between madrassa
teachers and students in Mannarkad Darunnajath campus.12 Madrassa
teachers under the Samastha Kerala Islamic Religious Education Board are
selected by the Samastha Kerala Jamiyathul Muallimin Kendra Council every
year for their services. For the year 2010, Chappanangadi Hamsa Musaliar
was selected as a model teacher and was awarded by the Jamiyathul
President, C.K.M. Sadiq.13
However, the approximately one and a half lakhs madrassa teachers in
Kerala have their own grievances. It has been observed that their standard
of living is pitiable. The Madrassa Board Management and the Wakf Board

9 ‘Samastha School Varsha Pothupariksha: 88.27% Vijayam’, Chandrika, 25.4.2010.

10 Ibid.
11 ‘K.L.M. Madrassa Parikshafalam’, Chandrika, 1.6.2010.
12 ‘Samastha Kerala Jamiyathul Muallimin Kendra Council Islamiya Kala Sahitya
Malsaram Samapanam Inna’, Chandrika, 23.5.2010.
13 ‘Chappanangadi Hamsa Musaliar Matrukaadhyapakan’, Ibid., 28.5.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 159

takes care of their pensions. They do not get any minority welfare fund
(also called kshemanidhi in Malayalam) and in this regard, 276 applications
have been sent by madrassa teachers to the government in December, 2010,
out of which there were forty-seven women applicants teaching in nursery
classes. The Samastha Kerala Mada Vidyabhyasa Board, Sunni Vidyabhyasa
Board, Dakshina Kerala Islam Madavidyabhyasa Board, Mujahid Madavur and
the Samsthana Kerala Jamiyathul Ulama had sent a memorandum to the
Kerala Government but have had no response so far.14
The situation in Tamilnadu is much different where the government
has allocated a minority welfare fund for madrassa teachers, mosque Imams
and khadims. On their retirement, they have been allotted a pension of
four hundred rupees, their children are given monetary assistance for their
education and a compensation of one lakh rupees is given to them in case
of natural or accidental deaths.15
The dedicated interest that the Mappilla community is taking in its
educational progress is appreciable. In December 2008, the Fatimi
Committee passed a resolution seeking the admission of the minority
Muslim community in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools. The C.H.
Mohammad Koya Education Trust sent a petition addressing the matter
to the Prime Minister and the Minorities Commission Minister. The Trust
Chairman, Dr. Poovachan L. Aliyarkunnu and Secretary, T.A. Abdul
Wahhab, have requested the Prime Minister to intervene and allow Muslim
students to be admitted from the First Standard to the Kendriya Vidyalayas
in the new academic session.16 The decision of the Centre is yet to be
announced but it is hoped that the needs of the Muslim minority would
be met.
The Mappillas have struck a definite balance between secular education
and religious education. Some of their madrassas offer secular subjects along
with religious subjects. Although Mappilla students attend English medium
day schools, they are also given facilities to attend their religious schools
where evening classes are held. For example, in the Kadameri Rahmaniyya
Arabic College in Kozhikode, there is a R.A.C. Boarding Madrassa. The
teaching is for fifth to ninth classes and it has also opened a Twelfth
Standard coaching centre. Spoken English, Modern Science, Office

14 Abubakr, Pinnankode, ‘Madrassa Adhyapakar Kshemanidhiyude Pinnapuram’,

Chandrika, 21.2.2011.
15 Ibid.
16 ‘Kendriya Vidyalayangalil Muslim Vidyarthi Praveshanam: Pradhanamantrikku
Nivedanam,’ Chandrika, 30.5.2010.
160 The Malabar Muslims

Administration and Computer courses are also offered by the madrassa.

The madrassa also provides free boarding, food, shelter, clothing, health
and educational facilities for orphans, refugees and poor students.17
Similarly, in the Darussalaam Yateemkhana and Agati Mandiram18, free
boarding, food and a monthly stipend from eleventh standard is given to
orphans and refugees. In the Madarul Islam Yateemkhana, orphans, refugees
and poor students are admitted in their English medium school and
religious knowledge is also imparted alongside.19
The Darussalaam College of Arts, Islamic Studies and Propagation run by
the Jamia Darussalaam Al-Islamiyya offers an eight-year theology course.
Apart from that, it also offers Masters Degrees in English and Arabic which
is awarded by the Kozhikode University. The College has a computer
laboratory where computer courses are taught. Monthly stipends are also
given to students.20 Under the management of the Al-Majlis Liddahwathil
Islamiyya Majlis, Malappuram, the Majlis Arts and Science College, affiliated
to Kozhikode University offers graduate and postgraduate courses in Arts,
Science and Commerce. While inaugurating the Ponnani Career Guidance
and Research Institute, the Education Minister of Kerala, M.A. Baby,
promised to open an International Arabic Educational Centre in Kozhikode
soon.21 An important observation in the religious learning centres of
Malabar is that religious schools up to twelfth standard and religious
colleges that impart long-term theological courses are commonly addressed
as ‘madrassas’ unlike those in other regions of India. In Upper India,
Deoband, Firangi Mahal and other higher centres of Islamic learning are
called madrassas whereas the religious schools catering to small children
are called maktabs.
The Chemmad Darul Huda Islamic University, Malappuram, was given
recognition by the Federation of Islamic Universities which has its
headquarters in Cairo. The recognition was awarded at the Eighth
International Confederation held at Salha University in Yemen on 6 June
2010. The faculties of the Darul Huda University include languages,
humanities, Koran and related sciences, fiqh and fundamental studies,
Islamic culture, hadis and related knowledge, comparative religions,
sociology, history and psychology. The Vice Chancellor of Darul Huda,

17 ‘Boarding Madrassa Admission’, Chandrika, 2.4.2010.

18 Agati mandiram means refugee house.
19 ‘Madarul Islam Yateemkhana – Admission Notice’, Chandrika, 27.4.2010.
20 Ibid. 26.4.2010.
21 ‘Kozhikodil Antarrashtriya Arabi Patana Kendram Udan: Mantri Baby’, Ibid. 7.6.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 161

Dr. Bahauddin Muhammad Nadvi received the membership certificate.

The Chancellor of the institution is Sayyid Haidar Ali Shihab Thangal.22
Almost all the Muslim educational institutions in Malabar are self-
financed without any government aid. Technical colleges such as the MEA
Engineering College, Perinthalmanna, offer B.Tech courses and are affiliated
to Kozhikode University.23 Similarly, the Al-Ameen Engineering College in
Shornur is also a self-financing institution affiliated to Kozhikode University
offering B.Tech. courses.
Surprisingly, apart from Malabar’s links with the Persian Gulf, the
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has also started its off-campus at
Malappuram. The President of India has given recognition to the Aligarh
off-campus at Malappuram. A grant of twenty-five crore rupees has been
made by the Central government. At a conference held by the AMU in
Delhi, a decision was taken to start LLB and MBA courses soon. The State
Education Minister, M.A. Baby, has announced a grant of hundred acres
of land for the same.24
Despite all the endeavours made by self-financing institutions for the
development of education in Malabar, especially for the Mappilla
community, there is a deep resentment among the people that the
government has neglected the region. There is a common grievance that
the government has not given much educational facilities in Malabar. While
in the Travancore and Cochin regions of the State, children between 6–14
years of age get free education in government schools, in Malabar, there
are more self-financed schools. There is a demand among the people of
Malabar for government-aided schools. Their question is ‘when the children
of one part of Kerala are getting education under government expenses,
why should those in Malabar pay fees to study?’25
The Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) took out a march in June,
2010 to the Collectorate demanding an end to the ‘neglect’ of Malabar in
terms of educational facilities. The placards of the protestors read, ‘we
want solutions, not promises’. The protestors demanded that the
government give shape to a comprehensive educational package to address
the backwardness of Malabar. Their major demands included the increase
in the undergraduate and postgraduate seats, more new-generation courses,

22 ‘Darul Huda University Federation of Islamic Universities Angeegaram’, Ibid.

7.6.2010.
23 Ibid. 26.4.2010.
24 ‘Aligarh Malappuram Campusin Rashtrapatiyude Angeegaram’, Chandrika, 6.5.2010;
‘Aligarh Muslim University Special Centergalude Yogam’, Ibid. 31.5.2010.
25 ‘Pothuvidyabhyasa Mekhala Ahambhavam Apagadamagum’, Ibid. 28.5.2010.
162 The Malabar Muslims

effective interventions to end the ‘inefficiency’ of the Kozhikode University

and solutions to the transport problems faced by students. The SIO
agitations over the last six years have forced the government to agree that
there were serious lapses in the education of Malabar. The SIO State
Council member, K. Sadik, warned of launching mass protests if the
government failed to address the issues.26
Many of the Muslim children are compelled to study in Convent schools
where they are sometimes ill-treated by the staff. The example of M.S.
Shamima is a case in point. She is a student at St. Philomina’s School,
Thiruvananthapuram, where she complained that her teachers forbade her
to wear a scarf to school. Seventy-five per cent of students in the school
are Muslims and the school forbade Muslim girls to wear scarves. The
Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and the Muslim League Zilla President
intervened for attacking Muslim girls. The school authorities duly
apologised and promised to treat all students equally.27
The Mappilla community has risen to the challenge of the State’s neglect
of Malabar by founding several self-financed schools and colleges. It is
their self-effort which has brought the community to the forefront.
However, it is the constitutional duty of the government to provide
educational facilities to the region without bias.

Women Empowerment
Women are as always, highly respected in Mappilla society. Those in north
Malabar such as in Talasherri, Kannur and Kasargod, are still the power
wielders in the matrilineal tharavaads. As already shown, they are literate
and send their children for higher education. Girls are sent to English-
medium schools and technical colleges to become doctors, engineers,
software engineers, teachers and lawyers. Many of them are working
abroad as software engineers. For example, the daughter of N. Aboobacker,
the Chairman of MES School, Palakkad, is a software Engineer in the
United States whereas the daughter of its treasurer, P.V.M. Abdul Hameed,
is in the IT field in Finland.28
Many learned teachers and legal practitioners are members of the
Women’s Wing of the Muslim League, called the Vanita League. The Muslim

26 ‘End Neglect of Malabar, says SIO’, The Hindu, 20.6.2010.

27 ‘Maftayittu varunna vidyarthinigalodu St. Philominasil Chodyam Chodikilla,’
Chandrika, 21.6.2010.
28 Interview with N. Aboobacker, Chairman, MES School, Palakkad, 21.6.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 163

League Zilla President, Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal

addressed a Vanita League conference in Malappuram in which he stated
that ‘a happy family means a happy nation’. He further said, ‘… only if a
woman progresses, a good family will grow and will create a good nation.
Islam respects its women and therefore, women should express their
talents.’29 The emphasis on women’s progress and their roles show how
important their position is in Mappilla society.
There are frequent public protests against stridhanam given at the time
of wedding to the bride in the form of gold ornaments and money.
Protestors argue that there is no mention of stridhanam in the Koran. Only
feeding the poor during weddings is suggested in the Koran.30 Young girls
and women express their literary talents through writings, short stories,
poems and other articles in magazines such as Mahila Chandrika, which is
a forum to discuss domestic issues, health, education, and jobs. In other
words, Mappilla women are coming forward to express their independent
views.

Religious Developments
Ponnani, considered to be the earliest Muslim religious learning centre in
Malabar, has attracted the attention of various scholars and institutions
alike. Shaikh Zainuddin Makhdoom’s Tuhfatul Mujahidin is considered as
Kerala’s first historical work. The Shafi School’s work, which is taught in
Kerala, the Fathul Muin, has its genesis in Ponnani. The Makhdoomi School
is famous for its religious traditions. There are several Malayalam writings
on Ponnani history such as Prof. K.P. Abdurahiman’s ‘Mappilla Charitra
Shagalangal’, C. Hamza’s ‘Tuhfatul Mujahidinin Malayalam Paribhasha’, T.K.M.
Hudavi’s ‘Ponnani Documentary’ and Dr. Hussain Ramdani’s CD ‘Vishwa
Sanskritiyude Vidyalaya’.31
The recent demand of educated Mappillas is for a research centre in
Ponnani and that the house of the Makhdoom should be converted into a
Memorial Trust. The Ponnani MES College has reiterated the demand as
one of high priority. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is also
working on the possibility of making Ponnani into an important historical
centre.32

29 ‘Bhadratayulla Kudumbam naatinde Purogatikku Anivaaryam’, Chandrika, 24.5.2010.

30 ‘Ee Kanneerin Oru Avasaanam Vende?’ by Suhaira Chukkathara, Ibid., 8.6.2010.
31 ‘Ponnaniyil Charitra Gaveshana Kendrathin Aavashyamaairunnu’, Chandrika,
7.6.2010.
32 Ibid.
164 The Malabar Muslims

A three-day International Koran Seminar was held by the Kerala Sarvakala

Shakha Arabic department at Trivandrum from 28th April, 2010. The Chief
Guests included the present Travancore Prince, Maharaja Uthradam Tirunal
Marthanda Varma, M.A. Yusuf Ali, the Director of the Indo-Arab
Friendship Centre, the Kerala Chief Minister and other Ministers.
Renowned maulavis such as the Imam of the Trivandrum Palaiyam Juma
Masjid, Jamaluddin Makkad, the President of the Trivandrum Muslim
Association, Anaf Abdul Khader Haji, P.M. Moosa Maulavi and many
more participated in the seminar. Leaders of other religious faiths such as
Major Archbishop Baseliyos Mar Khimmis Catholica Bava, Swami
Lokahitananda and Swami Sookshmananda were also invited for the
seminar. There were thirty-seven academic sessions in which forty-six
papers were presented in Arabic and one hundred and fifty-four papers
in English. Scholars from UAE, America and Europe presented research
papers at the academic session.33
On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Kappad Ainul
Huda Yateemkhana in Kozhikode, the General Secretary of the Samastha
Kerala Islamic Education Board, T.M. Bappu Musaliar stated: ‘Even as the
world is progressing at a rapid pace, the power of the Koran will also
increase…’34 An All-Kerala Koran reading session was conducted in which
several maulavis participated. An Islamic exhibition called ‘Drops’ was also
inaugurated by Panakkad Basheer Ali Shihab Thangal.
The Mappillas have utilised modern education to the maximum and
along with that, they have also maintained their religious traditions intact.
Religion is seen by them as a moral cover against unnecessary deviations
and distractions that could be detrimental to the society and the nation.
Although their children are sent to English medium schools, religious
education is compulsorily inculcated at a very young age. Organizations
such as the Sunni Yuvajana Sabha (SYS) and the Samastha Kerala Sunni
Students Federation (SKSSF) have been formed to spread the importance of
Islam among their youth.
In the SKSSF Majlis Iltisvab National Delegates Campus Conference held in
April 2010 for three days in Kozhikode, Panakkad Sayyid Haider Ali
Thangal said:

‘… it is the responsibility of the Muslim youth to protect their religion.

In the educational field, the Mappillas have made notable progress

33 ‘Antarrashtriya Koran Seminarin Naala Thodakkam,’ Ibid. 27.4.2010; ‘Antarrashtriya

Koran Seminar: Academic Sessionil Aazhametiya Charcha,’ Ibid. 30.4.2010.
34 Chandrika, 29.4.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 165

which is a matter of pride. As we protect our religion, we should also

help in the development of our country. Terrorism is not a solution
for anything at all.’35

There is a constant emphasis on moulding the Muslim youth in the

right direction and the community’s condemnation of terrorism.
Inaugurating the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham meeting, Sayyid Munnaftali
Shihab Thangal said that the Kerala Muslims are very fortunate and their
motto is love and unity. He also stressed on the point that terrorism of
any sort should not be encouraged.36
Like other Muslim communities in India and the Islamic world, the
Mappillas are devout Muslims and follow all the tenets of Islam – one
important tenet being the pilgrimage to Hajj. For the convenience of the
pilgrims, the Government Hajj Committee provides free application forms
and travel rules. The Kerala Hajj Committee in Kozhikode declares the
list of Hajj pilgrims every year. In 2010, 6,784 applications were received,
out of which 5,222 were selected in the Kerala quota of the Central
Government Hajj Committee.37 Apart from that, travel services such as
the Al-Thaibah Travels, Kottakal, Manshah Hajj Group, Kannur, offer
package tours to Mecca, Medina, Hiddah and other pilgrim centres in the
Arab world. Hajj camps are also organized where all arrangements are
made for the pilgrims such as the Pookottur Hajj Camp in Malappuram.38
Old traditional Kerala mosques have undergone a physical
transformation with many of them rebuilt in the Persian style with the
typical domes and minars. Annual nerchas are conducted in the dargahs of
sufi saints sans the pomp and show of the earlier centuries. There are no
more elephant processions, drum-beating and music. Nerchas are simplified
with only the maulid ceremony, the rendering of the Koran and feeding
the poor. The Mambram nerchas have become simple ceremonies with
emphasis on annadhanam (poor-feeding). 39 In Kozhikode, the 451st
Appavanibha nercha in memory of the Ajmer sufi saint, Khwaja Muinuddin
Chishti, fondly known as Ajmiri Thangal, took place between 19–28 June,
2010, under the management of the Jamia Darussalaam Committee and the

35 ‘Dhaarmikatha Kaakkan Yuvakkal Badhyasthar: Haider Ali Shihab Thangal’, Ibid.

26.4.2010.
36 ‘Muslimgal Islaminde Yathartha Sandeshavahakarakanam: Munnaftali Thangal’, Ibid.
13.5.2010.
37 ‘Hajj Natukeduppu Inna’, Ibid. 30.5.2010.
38 ‘Pookottur Hajj Camp’, Ibid. 10.6.2010.
39 Interview with Mohammad Ali, 21.6.2010.
166 The Malabar Muslims

cooperation of the local people.40 This is a fine example of the reverence

of the Mappillas towards the Ajmer Khwaja.
The Urs (annual festival) in memory of Hasrat Suhurishah Noori, Haider
Musaliar and Kallayi Kunhipoo Haji was celebrated in the Dargah Sharif
at Karuparakunbh Noorinagar in Malappuram between 20–22 June, 2010.
They were the spiritual saints of the Qadiri-Chishti tariqas. The All India
President of Majlisul Ulama Ahlusunnatti Jamaat, Sayyid Arifuddin Jilani
from Hyderabad inaugurated the ceremonies. The Principal of Hyderabad
Jamia Arifiyya College, Maulana Abdurahim Kharmushi, Maulana Bilali Shah
Suhuri from Tamilnadu, the Kerala Silsila Nooriya Samsthana President,
Yusuf Nizami Shahsuri and many maulavis spoke on the occasion. A
spiritual camp was also conducted for two days.41 This was a spiritual
occasion where the leaders of the various sufi schools from different parts
of south India converged as a mark of unity.
In all, the religious spectrum of the Mappilla community is widening
and they have developed links not only with the Arab world but also
with neighbouring states. They have made every effort to protect their
religion, educate their youth about the truth of Islam and maintain a
peaceful society and nation.

The Political Arena

Mappilla politics in the twenty-first century revolves around its sole
spokesman, the Muslim League (ML). In 1969, in response to the demands
of the ML in Kerala, and as a reward for its political support, the United
Front Ministry of E.M.S. Namboodiripad redrew the boundaries of
Kozhikode and Palakkad districts to form the predominantly Muslim
district of Malappuram (Hardgrave, p. 57). The present President of the
ML is Sayyid Haidar Ali Shihab Thangal. The League takes initiatives for
the social and educational upliftment of the Mappilla society. The ML is
allied with the Congress forming the United Democratic Front (UDF) in
Kerala. The Chandrika Daily, published from Kozhikode, is a League
publication which has a large circulation among the Mappillas. The daily
is circulated in madrassas, MES schools, colleges and other educational
institutions. On one occasion a Gulf Returnees Organization sponsored
the distribution of Chandrika daily in 225 schools.42 The Chandrika is also

40 ‘Appavanibha Nerchakku 19anna Thudakkam’, Ibid. 15.6.2010.

41 ‘Urs Mubarakum Tarbiyyat Campum Naala’, Ibid. 19.6.2010.
42 ‘225 Vidyalayangalil Gulf Returnees Organization Vagaa Chandrika Dinapatram,’
Chandrika, 19.6.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 167

published from Dubai (1995) and Bahrain (2000) under the sponsorship of
the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre.
A youth wing of the League, called the Youth League, and a women’s
wing called the Vanita League (VL) have also been founded. The objective
of the Youth League is to motivate young Mappillas to rise high in society,
become self-sufficient and serve the society. It also condemns terrorism
and often holds youth rallies to highlight its demands.43 The VL was
founded in December 1991 by the late ML leader, Marhoom Mohammad
Ali Shihab Thangal for the benefit of the Mappilla women. The State
President of the VL is Mrs. Qamarunnissa Anwar, and Advocate Noorbina
Rashid is its General Secretary. Many Mappilla teachers, advocates and
other professionals are League office-holders. As a minority community,
the VL creates an awareness of the rights of Muslim women in educational,
economic and other progressive fields. In May 2010, it held a conference
under the caption, ‘Santushta Kudumbam, Santushta Raajyam’ (Happy Family,
Happy Nation). The bottom line of the conference is that it is the women
who must create a happy family in order to prevent their children and
the youth from taking the wrong path such as terrorism or anti-socialism.
The anthem of the Vanita League is, ‘only when there is a happy family,
a happy nation will exist’.44
The SKSSF was founded in February, 1989, with the aim of rallying the
youth for the welfare of the Mappilla community. Various educational
and cultural activities are conducted for students by the organization. It
also guides the Mappilla youth in their careers and condemns terrorism.
The SKSSF has a committee in UAE with branches in Dubai, Sharjah and
Abu Dhabi. Recently, it conducted a one-day workshop in Islamic banking.
The committee resolves the problems of the Gulf Non-Resident Indians
(NRIs). It has created its own website as well.45
Thus, politically, the Mappilla community is very active and looks out
for political gains for the minority community. Even before independence,
the leadership of the ML has been in the hands of the thangals which till
today is descending in the genealogical line. At this juncture, it would be
most appropriate to mention the importance of the family in the Mappilla
society in the twenty-first century.

43 ‘Vengara Mandalam Muslim Youth League Sammelanam’, Ibid. 14.5.2010; ‘Youth

Janajagrata Yatrakku Ujjwala Varavelppu’, Ibid. 17.5.2010.
44 ‘Vanita League Malappuram Zilla Pratinidhi Sammelanam,’ Ibid. 23.5.2010.
45 ‘SKSSF Zilla Special Convention,’ Ibid. 2.4.2010.
168 The Malabar Muslims

The Thangals: Leaders of the Community

The family of the Jifri thangals has had a long association with Mappilla
politics in Malabar, particularly after the formation of the ML in 1934.
The Jifri lineage now has several branches under different family names
such as Bafaqi, Shihab, Saqaf, Hydros and many more. They have been
leaders of the community even before independence. For example, in the
1940s, Bafaqi Thangal was the President of the League and post-partition,
he was succeeded by his son, Pookoya Thangal. C.H. Mohammad Koya
Thangal took over as the League leader after his father’s death. He had
two sons, Panakkad Mohammad Ali Shihab Thangal and Panakkad Haider
Ali Shihab Thangal. The latter is the present surviving thangal and the
President of the ML.
Apart from the Presidentship of the League, the thangal is a father figure
for the Mappilla community. He is the President of all the Sunni mosques,
madrassas, Arabic colleges and orphanages in Malabar. All the religious
fatwas are declared by the thangal after consultation with the Samatha Kerala
Jamiat ul-Ulema (SKJM). The ML General Secretary, P. Kunhali Kutty has
stated that the family is devoted to the peace of Kerala and the nation. It
has a moral control over the Mappillas and is against political terrorism.46
Overall, the thangals still hold sway over the Malabar Muslims. They
have encouraged English education as well as madrassa education, worked
for the upliftment of the society and are the protectors of the community.

NRI and Refugee Issues

Several Mappillas who had moved to the Gulf countries fifteen to twenty
years ago have returned to Kerala and settled there. There are others who
are NRIs in Gulf and other countries. There is a constant demand to give
voting rights to NRI Mappillas through the online system and to make an
entry of their names in their ration cards. The ML incorporated about
fifty lakh NRIs in the Pravasi (NRI) League Camp organized in June, 2010.47
Another sensitive issue has sparked off among Mappilla Muslims living
in Pakistan. They were displaced in 1921 when they were driven out as
victims of the British excesses in Malabar. Many Mappilla men went to
Karachi and earned a livelihood as tea-vendors. Their women lived in

46 ‘Panakkad Kudumbathe Kayattanulla Neekam Chedukkum: Kunhalikutty’, Ibid.

26.4.2010.
47 ‘Pravasi Vottavakasham - Saadhyamanna’, Ibid. 27.4.2010; ‘Pravasi League
Membership Camp Innu Mudal,’ Ibid. 15.6.2010.
 Mappillas in the Twenty-first Century 169

Kerala and the family would reunite once or twice a year. But post-
partition, these displaced Mappillas, whose numerical strength in Pakistan
is around 10,000 are facing visa restrictions from the Indian Government
to visit Kerala. They have been unable to visit their families in Kerala.
Many of them have taken the Mysore route to gain illegal entry into Kerala.48
There are presently many Pakistani refugees in Malabar, particularly in
Tirur, Tanur and many other places in the Malappuram district. Their
children are given free education, clothing, health facilities and food in
yateemkhanas. They have been in the limelight in recent years because they
do not have ration cards and therefore, no Indian Citizenship. Hence they
have no voting rights. There has been a constant demand in the Mappilla
community for the legal rights of these refugees and the betterment of
their living conditions. Self-financed organizations within the community
are giving them facilities but the Kerala Government is yet to provide
them the fundamental rights to live.49 The refugee issue is a serious matter
of social concern and their grievances need to be redressed without further
delay.

Other Interests of the Community

The Mappillas are also taking keen interest in environmental issues such
as green revolution and rainwater harvesting. Recently, there was an
environment program to save nature at the Kozhikode Mofussil.50
The Mappillas have also set up many hospitals under private enterprise
for the community. The Kerala Unani Hospital, Manjeri, the Al-Abeer
Hospital, Kizhisseri, the Maulana Hospital, Perinthalmanna, the Al-Salaam
Hospital, Vengara, the Mahar Ayurveda Hospital, Pulikkal are some of
the few examples. The doctors in these hospitals are mostly Mappilla men
and women.51
Overall, the Mappillas have made deliberate efforts to rise up at par
with the other religious communities, namely, the Hindus and the
Christians of the region. They have set up self-financed educational,
religious, political, social and health institutions in Malabar and without

48 ‘Malayalee Muslims in Pak bemoan Indian Govt’s visa restriction’, The Hindustan
Times, 24 July, 2006.
49 Interviews with Mohammad Ali, Farsheena and others, Palakkad, Pattambi,
19.6.2010.
50 ‘Prakriti Samrakshanamthinde Sandeshavumayi Green Messenger Pradhanam
Thudangi’, Chandrika, 11.5.2010.
51 See the advertisements of these hospitals in the issues of the Chandrika daily, 2010–11.
170 The Malabar Muslims

much support from the State government. The products of their endeavours
are bright and ambitious young Mappillas, both men and women, who
are to lead the community tomorrow as successful leaders. What is most
appreciable about the Malabar Muslims is that they did not wait for the
government to give them facilities but have been self-sufficient to make
everything possible under their own community efforts. Whether it is
education, women, religion, politics, judiciary or literature, the community’s
success is commendable and is a feather in its cap. The Malabar Muslims
certainly deserve a standing applause!
 Conclusion 171

Conclusion

Islamization in Malabar was influenced by various factors, the most

predominant being trade and intermarriage in the early centuries. The
patronage of rulers such as the Samuthiris in encouraging some of the
Hindu castes to embrace Islam was also an important factor. In the late
nineteenth and the early twentieth century, conversion among the lower
Hindu castes by voluntary choice was often prompted by their poor
economic conditions and the prospects of work on the coast. Also, by
1921, there was a mass conversion of the Cherumar population which has
been attributed to the rigid landlord-peasant relationship and the Mappilla
uprisings. The economic conditions and occupations of the Mappillas were
quite disparate for, those of the coastal towns were generally rich,
prosperous traders and merchants, often with trade links across the Arabian
Sea, and those in the interior regions, particularly later converts from low
castes, were agriculturists.
Closely linked to the mode of Islamization, their economic status and
occupations, and their Arab identity was the social stratification of the
Mappillas into various groups. For example, the thangals claimed a superior
status on account of their sayyid ancestry in Hadhramaut, while the keyis,
the koyas and the baramis as landed aristocrats and merchants were
economically dominant. The pusalars and the ossans, as converts from the
mukkuvans, were occupationally inferior and socially distant. Again, the
coastal Mappillas considered the inland agriculturist population as
economically inferior.
The predominant factor of Islamization on the coast was trade while in
the interior religious preachers were dominant. This was also true of
Southeast Asia such as Java where, as Ricklefs observes, ‘Islam has struck
deeper roots on the coast and has tended to be at its most self-conscious
172 The Malabar Muslims

among trading communities’.1 He further argues that in the interior of

Java, the only plausible agent of conversion in the fourteenth century was
the occasional Muslim teacher.2 Islam travelled to Southeast Asia through
trade, not direct from Arabia, but from Gujarat and South India, that is
from the Malabar and the Coromandel coasts. Since the Indian subcontinent
is considered the route of Islam’s spread in Southeast Asia, it is held that
Indian Islam with a sufi variant played a decisive role in the Islamization
process.3 In the West African societies, both trade and the scholarship of
learned men helped the dispersion of Muslims.
The trading Tamil Muslims, the Kayalars and the Marakkayars of the
Coromandel coast, were also Arab descendants like the Mappillas and
hence shared the Shafi’i madhab (those in the Tamil hinterland were Hanafis
and hence believed to be of different origin4).The thriving trade links of
Mappilla maritime merchants like the baramis, the koyas and the keyis with
the Arab world could be compared with the Tamil Muslim traders such
as the Marakkayars of the port towns of Kayalpatanam, Kilakkarai and
Adiramapatnam. Census statistics show that among the migrants to Burma,
Malaya and Singapore, the East coast Muslims such as the Labbais, and
the Mappillas from the West coast were numerous.
The thangals particularly identified themselves with the Arabian
Peninsula in their expressions of social hierarchy like lineage and physical
segregation in the form of separate burial grounds. However, despite their
identification with the sayyids of Hadhramaut, some of their social practices
reflected indigenous Malabar society rather than Hadhrami society. A
classic example was the office of the thangal in regions of south Malabar
like Mambram where it passed in the marumakkathayam line of descent.
For example, an interesting feature of the Jifri lineage was the transfer of
properties to the daughters and the sister of Sayyid Fazl was vested with
the management of the Mambram mosque, as an inamdar. However, in
Kozhikode, the office of the thangals descended in the male line as in the
case of the qadis of Jamaatpalli and Mishkhalpalli.
The considerable prosperity of some of the Kozhikode and north
Malabar Mappillas was reflected in the number of civil suits that were
filed in the civil courts from the late nineteenth century. The Judges, both
English and Indian, began battling with the increasing complexities of the

1 Ricklefs, M.C., ‘Six Centuries of Islamization of Java,’ in Levtzion, N., (ed.) Conversion.
p. 106.
2 Ibid. p. 104.
3 Evangelista, Some Aspects. p. 19.
4 See Bayly, Susan, ‘Islam in Southern India: “Purist” or “Syncretic”?’ in Bayly, C.A., and
Kolff, D.A. (ed.) Two Colonial Empires, Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1986. p. 39.
 Conclusion 173

customs, usage and disputes within the Muslim households over lines of
succession. It has been argued that although the courts attempted to stifle
the customary practices, eventually custom itself became law and despite
legal interference, continuities and changes existed side-by-side. The courts
also re-interpreted the social practices and customs of the community and
decisions were taken on the basis of their interpretations.
The disputes over strisothu, customary law versus Mohammedan law,
the registration of tharavaads, the management and ownership of mosque
lands and the rights of the qadis over nercha celebrations show the range
and amount of cases that were taken to the civil courts. Between the late
nineteenth century and the 1940s, the amount of litigation among the
Kozhikode and north Malabar Mappillas indicated their economic position
vis-à-vis the category of Mappilla peasants in parts of south Malabar, whose
endless poverty was manifested in revolts.
The frequently wavering decisions of the courts on the customary and
Islamic laws upset the hereditary patterns of succession and descent. Most
suitors preferred to retain the customary law, but the decisions of the
Judges in favour of the Islamic law often deprived the descendants in the
female line of their rights and privileges. However, in cases regarding
strisothu property forwarded by the Mappillas of Kozhikode and north
Malabar, custom became law. At the same time, the reversal of the
Mohammedan law in favour of the marumakkathayam law was not given
credence. This has been explained in the case of a Mappilla of Kozhikode,
following the Islamic law, who tried to create tharavaadu property.
Legislation like the Shariat Application Act, 1937 and the Mappilla
Marumakkathayam Act, 1939, released social tensions within the community.
Firstly, within the community itself, the legislation was seen as breaking
their age-old social traditions and customs. Secondly, most of the Mappillas
who followed the matrilineal pattern did not suffer tharavaadu feuds as
much as matrilineal nayars. The only supporters of the Mappilla
Marumakkathayam Bill were the Muslim League leaders and the qadis, which
again raises the paradoxical question of the qadi’s system of descent. The
Shariat Application Act was irrelevant to the matrilineal case because in
Malabar, the rights of the women were already honoured. Despite the
argument of the Muslim League leaders that the hold of custom in
Mappilla society had been considerably loosened with the implementation
of the Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act, continuities and changes speak
differently.
The extent of litigation among the Mappillas is evident from the volume
of mosque disputes. The powers of the qadis were unlimited in the matters
of mosque practices and nerchas and they often received State support in
174 The Malabar Muslims

claiming their rights. Notions of community identity were manifested in

different situations. For example, the Hindus were dependent on Mappillas
for establishing trade contacts between the coast and the interior. Therefore,
the Mappillas were given a considerable social status.
Conflicts between the Mappillas and the Hindus often arose over
mosque issues. Objections were sometimes raised by the Hindus on the
subject of acquisition of mosque and burial sites. Tension between the
two communities was created on subjects of religious processions and the
playing of music. It has been shown how certain religious institutions such
as the Mambram issue was made a political agenda by Mappilla politicians
and also their success in gearing functionaries such as the qadis and the
thangals into the political sphere. Like the Muslims of north India, they
were divided on lines of religious doctrines and practices into the Sunnis,
the Islahis and the Ahmadis under the leadership of religious reformers.
The theological split also manifested itself in social changes like education
for women, their entry into mosques, the use of the vernacular for the
khutba and the division of mosques into Sunni, Islahi and Ahmadiyya pallis.
The Mappilla women of Kozhikode and north Malabar generally
enjoyed a number of rights and privileges as holders of strisothu and
tharavaadu properties. The Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act did not
completely deprive them of their customary rights and the Shariat law
did not affect them. Many among them have been listed as inamdars and
owners of mosques and niskarapallis in the land settlement records as late
as 1935; and were also often involved in mosque disputes. Moreover, the
Shafi’i laws were in favour of Mappilla women regarding their divorce
and maintenance rules. For example, faskh and khula were peculiar to the
Shafi’is. In all these aspects, the Muslim women of Malabar were definitely
socially well-placed compared to their Tamil neighbours and their
counterparts in North India and Bengal.
Compared to the Hindus of Malabar, the Mappillas lagged behind in
their general literacy levels. They were no different from other Muslims
in most parts of British India in their general attitude towards Western
education and their marginal representation in the public services. Various
Islamic associations such as the Himayathul Islam Sabha, the Mohammedan
Educational Society and the Manjeri Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha served to
promote both religious and secular education. The education of Mappilla
girls was also a community concern and was encouraged by various
Muslim organizations. The contribution of these associations in steadfastly
bargaining with the colonial officials for special facilities and privileges
for educating the Mappillas achieved significant advances. The backing of
pressure groups and political bodies like the Malabar Muslim Majlis and
 Conclusion 175

the Malabar Muslim League in the education of the community is

noteworthy.
There was also a simultaneous rise of a Mappilla intelligentsia within
the community. The first generation Mappilla leaders were largely wealthy
landlords and merchants who represented the community in Municipal,
District and Taluk Boards. There was also a new generation of English-
educated Mappillas such as Abdurahiman Sahib, Pokkar Sahib and Seethi
Sahib, who were to dominate Mappilla politics between the 1920s and the
1940s. Political leadership within the community took shape with various
political movements such as the Congress-Khilafat activities and the Civil
Disobedience movement. The parting of ways between the Congress and
the Muslim League was most noticeable in the late 1930s and the forties.
Organizations such as the Kerala Aikya Sangham, the Malabar Muslim Majlis
and the Muslim League endeavoured in their own ways to sculpt a
separate identity for the community and safeguard its interests.
Ultimately, despite the Arabic influence, the Mappillas were certainly
part of the Malabar society. This was evident in the use of Malayalam as
the common spoken language, and some of the social and religious
practices that they shared with the rest of the Malayali society. They had
adopted the ways of indigenous society especially in their marriage and
residence patterns. This process of interaction which took place was a
dynamic one. The influences of the Arab and local Malayali cultures were
reciprocal. Elements which were contrary to Islam were allowed to exist
parallel to the Islamic way of life.
The central conclusion is that the British colonial policies regarding the
administration, judicial system and socio-religious institutions in Malabar,
disturbed the traditional social order of the Mappilla community.
Nevertheless, continuities and changes existed side-by-side. The
simultaneous existence of two contradictory phenomena, ‘matriliny’ and
‘Islam’ within the community is itself a classic example. Although
paradoxical, it is a historical truth which has survived the test of time.
Further, it can be argued that the Mappilla Muslims did not per se constitute
a monolithic social group but exhibited inter and intra-regional variations.
Post-independence, the position of the Indian Muslims has been different
in different regions. In 1970, Roland Miller observed that within fifty years
of the disaster of 1921, the Mappillas had shown remarkable changes and
were recognized as a symbol of hope for other Muslims.5 He argues that
in Kerala, Muslims had a comparatively higher literacy rate but like their

5 Miller, Mappila Muslims. p. 308.

176 The Malabar Muslims

co-religionists, they held very few positions in government departments.6

During this period of time, they accounted for thirty per cent of college
students in the Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. At the beginning of
1974, about seven hundred lower and thirty-six higher schools were being
run under Mappilla management.7
In the nineties, it was noted with grave concern by Omar Khalidi that
the Muslims in India were far behind other groups even when they were
in a majority in a particular geographical area or in an educational
institution run by the community.8 He has stated that Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh are some of the most educationally backward states where the
Muslim population is relatively higher.9 Although the voluntary efforts
and huge investments by the Muslim community in the establishment of
Muslim degree colleges in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu have set an example for those in North
India, Khalidi has argued that most of these institutions, including the
Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia, do not have Muslim
students in a majority.10
Mushirul Hasan has also echoed similar views on the educational profile
of the Muslims in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Despite a large population of
Muslims in these states, illiteracy, a high drop-out rate and the neglect of
women’s education are the major drawbacks. He has argued that although
the Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia have attracted
bright students through a liberal admission policy, yet their numbers are
small.11
The scenario is quite different in the southern states. In the neighbouring
State of Tamilnadu, JBP More, in his most recent publication, has
emphasized on the importance of printing which created several Tamil
Muslim authors who contributed to the literary productions as early as
the nineteenth century. He has argued that the modern print technology
and the possibilities offered by it played a major role in strengthening the

6 Ibid. p. 325.
7 Ali, Development of Education. pp. 176–8.
8 Khalidi, Omar, Indian Muslims Since Independence. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House,
1995, p. 105.
9 Ibid. p. 114.
10 Ibid. p. 117 It is significant to mention here that the Jamia Millia Islamia has been
declared a minority institution by the National Commission of Minority Educational
Institutions recently. This will allow the University to reserve up to fifty per cent
seats for Muslim students. See The Hindu dated 23 February, 2011.
11 Hasan, Mushirul, Legacy of a Divided Nation. India’s Muslims since Independence. Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2007. pp. 292–3.
 Conclusion 177

Islamic identity of the Tamil Muslims. It also contributed to their

participation in large numbers in the Khilafat agitation and the Pakistan
movement.12 This itself is proof of a comparatively higher literacy rate
among the Muslims of Tamilnadu.
S.M. Abdul Khader Fakhri, has differentiated the Muslims of Tamilnadu
into three categories – Tamil Muslims, Dakhni Urdu Muslims and Tamil
Dakhnis.13 In the post-independence period, some of these Muslims sought
education as a platform for social and economic mobility. They demanded
educational concessions from the State. The Muslim Educational
Association of South India (MEASI) was formed in the early years of the
twentieth century under the patronage of the professional classes and the
wealthy merchants among the Tamil, Dakhni and Tamil Dakhni Muslims.
In the early years after partition, they saw the educational policy of the
Madras government unfavourable for the Muslims of South India. This
made them take a decision to follow a policy of self-help through MEASI
by founding a number of Muslim schools and colleges in the 1950s and
1960s.14
The Muslims of Tamilnadu were particularly concerned when the
Madras Government followed a policy of secularism in the educational
sphere by converting the Muslim colleges into secular institutions. For
example, the Government Mohammedan College in Madras became
Government Arts College and there was also a proposal to close down
the Government Muslim Women’s College.15 This led the MEASI to
mobilise funds from their Muslim counterparts as far as Malaysia, Burma
and countries of Southeast Asia for the purpose of setting up educational
institutions. This effort led to the establishment of eleven Muslim Arts
Colleges in Tamilnadu and some more in the Telugu districts within ten
years of independence.16 This is evidence of the fact that education was
very important for the Muslims of Tamilnadu as early as the twentieth
century, and it played a significant role in their social, economic and
political development. In Vellore in the North Arcot district, which has a
large population of Muslims, even a Muslim fruit seller is literate up to
the twelfth standard.17

12 More, J.B.P., Muslim Identity, Print Culture and the Dravidian Factor in Tamilnadu.
Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2004. pp. 198–200.
13 Fakhri, S.M. Abdul Khader, Dravidian Sahibs and Brahmin Maulanas. The Politics of
the Muslims of Tamilnadu, 1930–1967. Delhi: Manohar, p. 30.
14 Ibid., p. 188.
15 Ibid. pp. 188–9.
16 Ibid. pp. 190–1.
17 Interview with Muhammad Mustafa, Vellore, February 2011.
178 The Malabar Muslims

In Andhra Pradesh studies show that illiteracy and poverty among the
Muslims exist and state education at the primary and secondary level is
poor. A large section of women are also illiterate.18 Omar Khalidi has
argued that professional colleges such as Engineering and Medical Colleges
have been established by Muslim educational societies but the high
capitation fee in these colleges makes them inaccessible to poor Muslim
students.19 Regarding their economic prosperity, improvement has been
seen and the Gulf remittances sent by migrant workers seem to have led
to some notable changes. For example, the Hadhramawti Arabs, who were
small-scale fruit growers, are now exporters to the Middle East.20 However,
Khalidi has repeatedly emphasized on the point that Muslim representation
in the government services was almost negligible and the State government
had not allocated reservations for Muslims as done for the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes.21 He has stressed upon repeated cycles of
poverty and unemployment among the Muslims in Andhra Pradesh and
that they have not shown any progress in Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics.22
In Karnataka, in the 1980s, in addition to substantial economic assistance,
the Muslims were given eighteen per cent reservation in government jobs
and twenty per cent in educational institutions. This is when they already
had a higher representation than other castes in government service in
the state. Karnataka was the first state in India to appoint a Minorities
Commission to safeguard their interests in the eighties.23 Assayag has
proved that the government has been very generous to the Muslims by
creating Chairs for Urdu in Gulbarga, Bangalore and Mysore and teaching
posts in colleges. It has also provided substantial scholarships, assisted in
book publishing, instituted awards for writers and has been instrumental
in the publication of an Urdu-Kannada dictionary.24
The Justice Sachar Committee Report published in 2006 showed that
there was official discrimination and neglect of India’s Muslim population.
It showed the backwardness among the community in the spheres of
education, livelihood and access to public spheres and pointed at poverty

18 Khalidi, Omar, Muslims in Indian Economy. Gurgaon: Three Essays, 2006. p. 160.
19 Ibid. p. 161.
20 Ibid. p. 164.
21 Ibid. p. 225.
22 Ibid. p. 226.
23 Assayag, Jackie, At the Confluence of Two Rivers. Muslims and Hindus in South India.
Delhi: Manohar, 2004. p. 222.
24 Ibid. p. 223.
 Conclusion 179

as the main obstacle to education among the Muslims. There is a shortage

of good quality government schools in Muslim areas and particularly girls’
schools. The report also showed the poor representation of Muslims in
the government services and other employment markets in all the states.
The policies of economic liberalization had also affected the traditional
occupations of Muslims.25
In a case study of districts with a high Muslim population in three
states, that is, Bihar, West Bengal and Haryana have shown little
government initiatives to improve the conditions of poor Muslim
households. The Muslims in these regions unanimously wanted education
in government institutions with both Hindu and Muslim children.26
A similar argument cannot be held for the Kerala Muslims. It has to be
borne in mind that the Mappillas have suffered the brunt of British excesses
in the form of a harsh land tenure system which was reflected in the
antagonism of the peasants, who were largely Muslims. Their attack on
their landlords who were mostly Hindus and a few Muslims, and against
the British administrators, took violent forms. The British government
wasted no time in suppressing the Mappilla rebellion with an iron hand.
The aftermath was appalling – they had been totally shattered both
physically and emotionally. Those in south Malabar had been reduced to
poverty and were in a pitiable state. Although relief measures were
provided to them by various voluntary organizations within and outside
Malabar, it took a good many years for them to come out of the shock of
British insanity. Many fled as far as Karachi to earn a living. Today they
are refugees in Kerala struggling to find an identity for themselves. The
government is yet to reach out to them. It is the self-supporting Mappilla
community which is catering to their needs.
Therefore, it is certainly necessary to treat them with extra sympathy
for bearing extraordinary sufferings at the hands of the colonial masters.
The language of the colonial officialdom branded them as ‘violent
Moplahs’, ‘Moplah fanatics’ and ‘backward in education’ and this has sunk
into the minds of history students in India and abroad. However, it is
important to mention here that the Mappillas of the entire Malabar district
were not poor peasants cultivating under the tyrannical janmis; there were
rich merchants among them who prospered in north Malabar and the
coastal belts. These Mappillas did not participate in the rebellion and there
were many in south Malabar who were innocent victims of British atrocities.

25 Mander, Harsh, ‘Promises to Keep,’ The Hindu, 20 February 2011.

26 Ibid., ‘If We Walk Together,’ in The Hindu, 13.3.2011.
180 The Malabar Muslims

Moreover, after independence, the community has come out of the grief
and has risen above other Muslims in India in their social development.
U. Mohammed, in his study of Muslim institutions and Muslim students
in Kerala attending various courses in 1989–90, has shown that the Muslims
were educationally backward. Although they had eight per cent reservation
in professional courses, that was not the case in Degree courses. Muslim
backwardness was even more glaring in their literacy levels. In the
Kozhikode district the Muslim illiterates were a startling 40 per cent,
whereas in Kannur and Wyanad, it was 30 per cent and 23.17 per cent
respectively.27 This was reflected in their poor representation in the
government services although under the OBC (Other Backward Castes)
category, the Muslims are given 12 per cent reservation in the Kerala
government services.28
However, things have changed since then. On 18th April, 1991, Kerala
was declared a ‘Fully Literate State’. It is therefore obvious that illiteracy
does not exist among the Mappillas. Between my field visits in the years
1994, 1997 and 2010, there has been a dramatic change within the
community. The business acumen among the enterprising Mappillas has
not only made them prosperous but has also helped eradicate poverty
within the community. At all the local railway stations in Kerala, the
various miscellaneous stalls and high-tech facilities are owned by
Mappillas. There are both Muslim men and women employees in the
railway services.
According to the Census of 2001 of Kerala State, Hindus constitute 57.3
per cent, Muslims are 23.3 per cent and Christians are 19.3 per cent.
Muslims therefore form the second largest community in the state. The
most populated Muslim majority district is Malappuram, followed by
Kannur, Kozhikode and Wayanad.29 As far as literacy among the Muslims
is concerned, the Muslim males are 89.4 per cent literate and the females
are 85.5 per cent literate. This is a very significant marker in the history of
the Mappillas because the general literacy rate of the Muslims in the other
states is comparatively much lower.30
The Malappuram district, which was once the hotbed of political turmoil
and rebellion during the British era is now totally transformed and ranks
first in Mappilla education. Education at the primary and secondary levels

27 Mohammed, U., ‘Educational Problems of the Muslim Minority in Kerala’, in

Engineer, Kerala Muslims. pp. 148–9.
28 Ibid. p. 150.
29 Census of Kerala State, 2011.
30 Ibid.
 Conclusion 181

is spearheaded by the MES schools. Schools and madrassas for orphans

and refugees are run through individual efforts thus making sure that no
section of the community is neglected. Mappilla students, both girls and
boys, avail the opportunities of higher education in degree colleges
affiliated to Kozhikode University. Professional colleges financed by the
Muslim community are mushrooming in Malabar and they provide the
platform for ambitious Mappilla youth. These professional institutions
include medical, engineering, and information technology courses. Apart
from that, Aligarh Muslim University has also started its off-campus centre
in Kerala in the hope of getting a large number of Muslim students under
its roll.
Malappuram is also the seat of the family of the Shihab Thangals who
are the social and religious leaders of the community. The Mappilla
community looks up to the leadership of Panakkad Hyder Ali Shihab
Thangal who is the President of the Muslim League. It is under his
umbrella leadership that the community is socially and politically aware.
He provides the right guidance to the community and its youth to become
responsible citizens of the nation and work towards its welfare. The
Chandrika, a Malayalam daily, is a vehicle of the Muslim League and has
a wide readership within the community in Kerala as well as among
expatriate Mappillas in the Gulf countries.
Regarding the political representation of the Mappillas in Kerala State
Assembly, Iqbala Ansari has made a significant observation that in society
and polity, Kerala shows a model of coalition. This coalition accommodates
all significant social and religious segments without causing socio-
communal tensions and conflict. One can totally agree with his point that
the people of Kerala have built their institutions on the basis of social and
religious pluralism.31 The Muslims of Kerala are the only ones who have
their own political party, sharing power in the state with other political
parties. Ansari’s observation that, having a more favourable territorial
distribution than the Muslims in most other states, they are the second
least deprived group in Assembly representation in the country, is
significant.32
Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly was
at its peak in 1982. More than fifty per cent of Muslim membership in
Kerala Assembly has been consistently taken over by the Muslim League.
Out of the two hundred and forty-nine Muslim members that the Kerala

31 Ansari, Iqbala, Political Representation of Muslims in India (1952–2004). Delhi: Manak

Publications, 2006. p. 230.
32 Ibid.
182 The Malabar Muslims

Assembly has had between 1960 and 2001, the share of the Muslim League
was one hundred and forty-nine. Ansari concludes that this distribution
pattern indicates the allegiance of the Muslims to the Muslim League.33
The Indian Union Muslim League, which is mainly based in north Kerala,
won two Parliament seats in the Lok Sabha Elections in 2004. One was
won by E. Ahmed from Kerala and the other by K.M. Kader Mohideen
from Tamilnadu (Vellore district).34
There is however a major development deficit as far as Mappilla
representation in the government services is concerned and in this, I agree
with Omar Khalidi and Justice Sachar that Muslims are under–represented
in the public services in the country. Apart from the business and merchant
class, the salaried class of Mappillas is found working in their self-founded
institutions, whether they are schools, colleges, hospitals or technical
centres. It is a pity that despite their high literacy rate and professional
qualifications, the Kerala government has not given them sufficient
opportunities. As already discussed, government schools in Malabar are
not only few, they do not provide free education as is done in the Cochin
and Travancore regions of the state.
No discussion on the Mappilla community would be complete without
mentioning their women. Compared to their Muslim sisters in the rest of
the country, the Mappilla women have always held a superior position
and have been inheritors of family property, particularly in north Malabar.
They hold a very high literacy rate compared to their counterparts in other
states and have been successful professionals in almost all fields such as
teaching, medicine, law, information technology and engineering. They
work in institutions set up by the community and have also travelled
abroad in pursuit of a career. They serve as models for other Muslim
women in India.
The Mappilla expatriates to the Gulf countries have not only contributed
liberally to the economic development of Kerala, but also to the welfare
and prosperity of the community. They have extended funds for
establishing schools, colleges, madrassas, mosques, hospitals, orphanages,
chain of supermarkets, tourist hotels, software companies, landed
properties and much more, thus enhancing the social development and
the standard of living of the Mappilla Muslims of Kerala.
In the twenty-first century, the Malabar Muslims are at par with the
other religious communities in Kerala State. They have shown immense
enthusiasm in education, employment, literature, politics and women

33 Ibid. p. 231.
34 Chandrika, 2004.
 Conclusion 183

empowerment. This indicates the community’s ability to change along with

globalization. On the darker side, there are challenges faced by the
community in the form of the problems of displaced Muslims, insufficient
government educational institutions in Malabar and the inadequacy of
government aid.
184 Appendix

Appendix

Some Famous Mappilla Personalities

Justice M. Fatima Beevi – The First Woman Judge of
Independent India
Fatima Beevi, a Mappilla Muslim, was born in 1927 in Pathanamthitta, in
Southern Kerala to Meera Sahib and Khadeeja Bibi. She was awarded her
Law degree by the Government Law College, Trivandrum and was
enrolled as an advocate in 1950. Later she rose to the level of the District
and Sessions Judge in Kerala in 1974. In 1989, she was the first woman
judge appointed to the Supreme Court of India following the controversy
over the Muslim Women’s (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act. She was
not only the first Muslim woman to be appointed to any higher judiciary
but also the first woman Judge of a Supreme Court of a nation in India
and Asia. She has also served as the Chairman of Kerala Commission for
Backward Classes (1993), member of National Human Rights Commission
(1993) and the Governor of Tamilnadu (1997). She is a recipient of several
awards such as the Honorary D. Litt Degree, the Mahila Shiromani Award
and the Bharat Jyoti Award. She now resides at her ancestral home in
Pathanamthitta.

Vaikkom Mohammad Basheer: A Freedom-Fighter and

a Famous Writer
Vaikkom Mohammad Basheer was born in Travancore to a poor Muslim
family. He was educated in an English-medium school in Vaikkom. While
at school, he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and participated in the
Vaikkom Satyagraha (1924). He joined the Indian National Congress, moved
to Kozhikode and took part in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930. He was
 Appendix 185

imprisoned several times and after his release from the Kannur jail in the
1930s, he edited a revolutionary journal, Ujjivanam.
Apart from his role as a freedom fighter, he is well known as a
Malayalam short story writer. He wrote on bold themes such as the
atrocities of the Travancore Government for which his works were banned
and he was arrested several times. After independence, he continued his
career as a writer and became famous for his works, Baalyakaalasakhi1
(Childhood Friend), Shabdangal2 (Voices), Maranathinde Nizhalil3 (In the
Shadow of Death) and Ende Appupankoruaanaindarnnu4 (My Grandfather
had an Elephant). After Basheer’s demise from the literary world in 1994,
his works have been translated into English and eighteen Indian
Languages.

B.M. Zuhara – The First Mappilla Woman Writer of

Malayalam Fiction
Born in Kozhikode in 1952 in a literate family, B.M. Zuhara, began as a
short-story writer. As the first Muslim woman writer of Malayalam fiction
among the eight million Muslim population of Kerala, her novels reflect
the social issues within the Mappilla community. She has won several
awards such as the Lalithambika Antarjanam Memorial Special Award,
the K. Balakrishnan Smaraka Award, the Unnimoy Memorial Award and
the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. Some of her best known works are
Kinavu (Dream), Iruttu (Darkness), Nizhal (Shadow), Venal (Summer),
Bhraanth (Madness) and the most recent work, Akasabhoomikalute Thakkol
(Key to the Heavens and Earth).

V.P. Zuhara – A Mappilla Woman Activist

V.P. Zuhara runs a voluntary group called the Nisa Progressive Muslim
Women’s Forum, at Kozhikode. She has been part of a feminist movement
in Kerala since the mid-1970s. The organization lends voice to Muslim
women silenced by practices such as polygamy and talaq (divorce). Nisa
also fights for equal rights for Mappilla women and has been under the
vigil of Islamic fundamental groups.5

1 Basheer, Vaikkam Mohammad, Balyakaalasakhi. Kottayam: Sahitya Pravarthaka

Cooperative Society Ltd., 1944.
2 Ibid., Shabdangal. Ibid., 1947.
3 Ibid., Maranathinde Nizhalil. Ibid., 1951.
4 Ibid., Ende Appupankoruaanaindarnnu. Ibid., 1951.
5 Nazeer, Mohammad , ‘Beacon in a Dark World,’ in The Hindu Magazine, 27.3.2011.
p. 5.
186 Glossary

Glossary

Aliyasantana Inheritance in the female line in South Kanara

Amsam Revenue division
Anandravan Junior member in a tharavaadu
Cherumar Member of an inferior caste in Malabar
Dargapalli A Sufi shrine
Desam Sub-division of an amsam
Gosha Veil
Illam House of a Nambudiri
Imam Leader of the canonical prayer
Janmam Birthright, hereditary proprietorship
Janmi Landlord with whom the janmam title vests
Kaipanam Purse money
Kalyanam Marriage
Kanam Mortgage
Karar Deed
Kaarnavar The senior male in a tharavaadu
Kaarnoti A female head
Khula Divorce under Shafi’i law
Kovilagam Palace of the Malabar royal families
Mahr Irrevocable gift given by the groom to the bride during nikah
Makkathayam Inheritance from father to son
Marumakkathayam Inheritance through the female line
Mukkuvan Hindu fishermen
Mulla Reciter and teacher of the Koran
Nambudiri The Malabar Brahmin
Nercha Vow; Offering
Nikah A Muslim marriage
Palli Mosque
Paramba Garden lands
Sanad Certificate
 Glossary 187

Shafi’i School of Islamic law founded by Imam Shafi

Shahid Martyr
Sthanam Rank or dignity
Strisothu A gift made to a girl on her marriage
Tamburatti Senior woman of a kovilagam
Thangal Mappilla priest
Tharavaadu A marumakkathayam family with descendants in the female line
Thaavazhi A branch of a tharavaadu
Thiyya Low caste Hindu, a toddy tapper
Vilakku Traditional brass lamp
Wakf A trust created under and governed by Islamic law
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 Index 199

Index

Ahmadiyya movement, 87, 97–103 Kerala Aikya Sangham, xvi, 94, 149, 175
Al-Ameen, 84, 95 Kerala Patrika, 80, 113, 114, 119, 132
al-Azhariyya Association, 128, 129 Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee
Ali Rajas of Kannur, 15, 57 (KPCC), 136, 140–147
Ansarul-Islam-Bitheyle-mil-Anam, 103, 105 Kerala Sanchari, 113, 132
Arakkal Beebis, 36, 42, 60, 125 Keyis, 16, 17, 27, 28, 36, 39, 66, 97, 125,
Baramis, 16, 26–28, 36, 37, 39, 42, 97, 171, 172
171, 172 Khula, 45, 46, 174
Beena marriage, 36 Koran, 6, 14, 35, 63, 68–71, 88, 91, 92, 97,
Chaliyam madrassa, 108 101, 106, 108, 111, 114, 115, 118,
Chandrika, 130, 133, 143, 148, 166–167, 181 119, 124, 125, 160, 163–165
Cherumars, xxi, xxii, 10, 11, 43, 112, 171 Koyas, 16–18, 27, 28, 36, 38, 39, 42, 97, 125,
Dars, 94, 108 171, 172
Deoband, 87, 109, 160 Madrassathul Muhammadiyya, 124, 126
Faskh, 45, 74, 174 Makkathayam, 40, 43, 49, 50, 75
Hadhramaut, 2, 3, 7, 25–27, 37, 67, Malabari, 119, 132
171, 172 Malabar Muslim Majlis, 56, 122, 128, 130,
Hadhramis, 3, 21, 22, 27, 38 142–143, 151, 152, 174, 175
Hajj, 165 Malik ibn Dinar, 4, 9, 12, 19, 108
Hanafis, 14, 45, 78, 109, 172 Manjeri Hidayathul Muslimin Sabha, 103,
Himayathul Islam Sabha, 103–105, 116, 105, 115, 117, 119, 174
128, 131, 174 Mappilla Marumakkathayam Act, 51,
Islahis, 92, 94–97, 108, 174 57–59, 173, 174
Jarams, 70 Mappilla rebellion, 1921, xxvi, 31, 105,
Jifris, 7, 22, 23, 26, 69 117, 137
200 Index

Mappillastan, 154 Shekindepalli, 6, 64

Mappilla Succession Act, 51, 53, 54, 59 SKSSF, 164, 167
MES schools, 156, 162, 166, 181 Srambis, 65, 80, 82
Minhaj at Talibin, 15, 45, 46 Stridhanam, 42, 46, 74, 97, 102, 103, 106,
Mishkhalpalli, 4, 12, 64, 76, 77, 97, 172 163
Moyen training school, 112, 125, 126
Strisothu, 46–47, 173, 174
Muchandipalli, 12, 13, 68
Students Islamic Organization of India
Muhammadan Law, 43, 68
(SIO), 161–162
Muslim League, 54, 56-58, 61, 73, 81,
Tarim, 2–3, 18, 21, 22, 26
85, 86, 126, 128, 130, 131, 133,
143-155, 162, 166, 173 Thaavazhi, 36, 40, 47, 50, 55, 58, 59
Nayars, xxi, xxii, xxvii, 5, 18, 28, 29, Thangals, 14, 16, 18–21, 25–28, 37, 43–44,
33–36, 41, 43, 48, 60–63, 81, 82, 66, 69, 72, 75, 81, 85, 93, 94, 103,
100, 107, 132, 133, 173 114, 138, 167, 168, 171, 172, 174, 181
Nerchas, 26, 69–71, 93, 94, 165, 173 Thanveerul Islam Association, 128, 129
Niskarapallis, 65, 174 Tharavaadu, 20, 24, 27, 35–42, 44, 46, 47,
Ossans, 16, 26–28, 171 49–52, 54, 55, 57–61, 64, 65, 75,
Othupallys, 108, 110 77–78, 98, 99, 101–102, 173, 174
Payyanur Satyagraha, 81, 141 Themims, 16, 26, 27, 36, 37, 42
Ponnani dars, 108 Thiyyas, xxi, xxii, 35, 36, 43, 63, 80–82
Pusalars, 9, 10, 16, 26, 28, 81, 171
Tuhfatul Mujahidin, xix, 163
Qadi Act, 72, 73, 77, 78
Urs, 166
Refugees, xxvii, 138, 160, 168–169, 179,
Vanita League, 162, 163, 167
181
Vazhakkad madrassa, 96, 101, 109, 134, 135
Sayyids, 2, 3, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25–27,
37, 44, 172 Wakf, xvi, 44, 67–69, 80, 149, 158
Shafi’i Law, 2, 15, 45, 46, 74, 174 Yateemkhana, 158, 160, 164, 169
Shariat Application Act, 51, 53–54, 59, Young Men’s Muslim Association
173 (YMMA), 81, 128, 129, 142