Islam in Kerala


Islam arrived in Kerala, the Malayalam language speaking region in the south-western tip of India, through Middle Eastern merchants. The Indian coast has an ancient relation with West Asia, and the Middle East, even during the pre-Islamic period.
Kerala Muslims or Malayali Muslims from north Kerala are generally referred to as Mappilas. Mappilas are but one among the many communities that forms the Muslim population of Kerala. According to some scholars, the Mappilas are the oldest settled Muslim community in South Asia. As per some studies, the term "Mappila" denotes not a single community but a variety of Malayali Muslims from Kerala of different origins. Native Muslims of Kerala were known as Mouros da Terra, or Mouros Malabares in medieval period. Settled foreign Muslims of Kerala were known as Mouros da Arabia/Mouros de Meca.
Muslims in Kerala share a common language with the rest of the non-Muslim population and have a culture commonly regarded as the Malayali culture. Islam is the second largest practised religion in Kerala next to Hinduism. The calculated Muslim population in Kerala state is 8,873,472. Most of the Muslims in Kerala follow the Shāfiʿī School, while a large minority follow modern movements that developed within Sunni Islam. Very much unlike other parts of South Asia, the caste system does not exist among the Muslims of Kerala. A number of different communities, some of them having distant ethnic roots, exist as status groups in Kerala.

History

There had been considerable trade relations between West Asia and Kerala even before the time of Prophet Muhammad. Muslim tombstones with ancient dates, short inscriptions in medieval mosques, and rare Arab coin collections are the major sources of early Muslim presence on the Malabar Coast. As per local legend, the Cheraman Jum'ah Masjid at Kodungallur in central Kerala was the very first mosque in South Asia.
The monopoly of overseas spice trade from Malabar Coast was safe with the West Asian shipping magnates of Kerala ports. The Muslims were a major financial power to be reckoned with in the kingdoms of Kerala and had great political influence in the Hindu royal courts. Travellers have recorded the considerably huge presence of Muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of Kerala. Immigration, intermarriage and missionary activity/conversion — secured by the common interest in the spice trade — helped in this development.
Some of the important administrative positions in Kerala kingdoms, such as that of the port commissioner, were held by Muslims. The port commissioner, the "shah bandar", represented commercial interests of the Muslim merchants. In his account, Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah mentions Shah Bandars in the ports of Calicut and Quilon. The "nakhudas", merchant magnates owning ships, spread their shipping and trading business interests across the Indian Ocean.
The arrival of the Portuguese explorers in the late 15th century checked the then well-established and wealthy Muslim community's progress. As the Portuguese tried to establish monopoly in spice trade, bitter naval battles with the zamorin ruler of Calicut became a common sight. The Portuguese naval forces attacked and looted the Muslim dominated port towns in the Kerala. Ships containing trading goods were drowned, often along with the crew. This activities, in the long run, resulted in the Muslims losing control of the spice trade they had dominated for more than five hundred years. Historians note that in the post-Portuguese period, once-rich Muslim traders turned inland in search of alternative occupations to commerce.
By the mid-18th century the majority of the Muslims of Kerala were landless labourers, poor fishermen and petty traders, and the community was in "a psychological retreat". The community tried to reverse the trend during the Mysore invasion of Malabar District. The victory of the English East India Company and princely Hindu confederacy in 1792 over the Kingdom of Mysore placed the Muslims once again in economical and cultural subjection. The subsequent partisan rule of British authorities brought the land-less Muslim peasants of Malabar District into a condition of destitution, and this led to a series of uprisings. The series of violence eventually exploded as the Mappila Uprising. The Muslim material strength - along with modern education, theological reform, and active participation in democratic process - recovered slowly after the 1921-22 Uprising. The Muslim numbers in state and central government posts remained staggeringly low. The Muslim literacy rate was only 5% in 1931.
A large number of Muslims of Kerala found extensive employment in the Persian Gulf countries in the following years. This widespread participation in the "Gulf Rush" produced huge economic and social benefits for the community. Great influx funds from the earnings of the employed followed. Issues such as widespread poverty, unemployment and educational backwardness began to change. The Muslims in Kerala are now considered as section of Indian Muslims marked by recovery, change and positive involvement in the modern world. Malayali Muslim women are now not reluctant to join professional vocations and assuming leadership roles. University of Calicut, with the former Malabar District being its major catchment area, was established in 1968. Calicut International Airport, currently the twelfth busiest airport in India, was inaugurated in 1988. An Indian Institute of Management was established at Kozhikode in 1996.

Theological orientations/denominations

Most of the Muslims of Kerala follow the traditional Shāfiʿī school of religious law while a large minority follow modern movements that developed within Sunni Islam. The latter section consists of majority Salafists and the minority Islamists. Both the traditional Sunnis and Mudjahids again have been divided to a no. of sub-identities.
A Mappila is either,
  1. A descendant of any native convert to Islam
  2. A descendant of a marriage alliance between a Middle Eastern individual and a Malayali woman
The term Mappila is still in use in Malayalam to mean "bridegroom" or "son-in-law".
In addition to the two endogamous groups there were other service castes like "Kabaru Kilakkunnavar", "Alakkukar", and "Ossans" in Pusalan settlements. Ossan occupied the lowest position in the old hierarchy.

Literature

Mappila Songs is a famous folklore tradition emerged in c. 16th century. The ballads are compiled in complex blend of Dravidian and Arabic, Persian/Urdu in a modified Arabic script. Mappila songs have a distinct cultural identity, as they sound a mix of the ethos and culture of Dravidian South India as well as West Asia. They deal with themes such as religion, satire, romance, heroism, and politics. Moyinkutty Vaidyar is generally considered as the poet laureate of Mappila Songs.
As the modern Malayali Muslim literature developed after the 1921-22 Uprising, religious publications dominated the field.
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer , followed by, U. A. Khader, K. T. Muhammed, N. P. Muhammed and Moidu Padiyath are leading Kerala Muslim authors of the modern age. Muslim periodical literature and newspaper dailies - all in Malayalam - are also extensive and critically read among the Muslims. The newspaper known as "Chandrika", founded in 1934, played as significant role in the development of the Muslim community.

Kerala Muslim folk arts