State of Muslim education in Kerala

State of Muslim education in Kerala In Kerala, considered a role model for other parts of the country, almost all Muslim children up to the tenth standard are in school, numbers that compare well to that of other communities. Yet, the story is very different when one looks at higher education, writes Deepa A.

As the principal of Farook College at Kozhikode, the first Muslim-run institute of higher education in Kerala, Professor K A Jaleel has witnessed several landmark moments in the history of Muslim education in the coastal state. On a rainy evening in June, at his house near the college that he nurtured and cherishes, he recalls one of those moments that he knew even then would later be described as a 'turning point': the admission of girl students to the college.
Jaleel, who went on to become the vice-chancellor of Calicut University, remembers, "I had been the principal of Farook College from 1957 onwards, and girls were admitted for the first time in 1959. There was much hesitation and anxiety, and there was considerable fear as to what the reaction from the community would be." There were only a handful of girls in the college those days, pioneers who braved traditional norms and societal pressure to seek a foothold in the education field. But today, the situation is different, as even a casual visitor to the college will acknowledge at first glance. "Now there are as many girls in Farook College as there are boys," says Jaleel.
Lest this be seen as the gist of a progress card that the community can proudly flaunt, N P Hafiz Mohamad, a writer who's the head of the sociology department at Farook College, is quick to point out that Muslim girls have to battle many odds even in the 21st century. Through the story of one of his "best students", Mohamad traces what's still an uphill battle for education for many girls. "My student was the first Muslim girl chosen to participate in the Republic Day parade, from Farook College. She was not only excellent in extra-curricular activities, but also scored high marks in exams," he says. Yet, the student's parents forced her to get married against her wishes, ignoring her desire to pursue her studies and chart out a career path for herself.
Almost 50 years separate Jaleel's recollections from Mohamad's account, yet even today, both are accurate indicators of the state of Muslim education - particularly girls' education - in Kerala. Considered a role model for other parts of the country, the state does score above its counterparts in terms of Muslim education. Educationists estimate that almost all Muslim children are in school, at least up to the tenth standard, numbers that compare well to that of other communities.

Professor K A Jaleel, one of the first principals of the first Muslim-run college in Kerala.
Yet, the Muslim community lags behind even the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of Kerala when it comes to higher education and employment. Various studies, including those commissioned by the government, show a substantial number of posts reserved for Muslims in government services lying vacant. This is baffling, in a state that has been largely free of communal violence, and where Muslims have been an integral part of the cultural and social fabric since ancient times. A Kochi-based organisation called the Forum for Faith and Fraternity, which published a study titled A Socio-Economic Survey of Muslims in Kerala and India in 2006 and submitted it to the Sachar Commission, notes this contradiction in the first pages of its report. The study, conducted by a committee comprising of the former pro-vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, K M Bahavuddin, among others, says, "We started with the impression that the situation of Muslims is comparatively better [in Kerala] but after collating the data, we have come to the conclusion that their situation in Kerala has also been deteriorating in the last 20 years".

Historically speaking

But first the good news. Kerala has for long had a progressive Muslim movement that has encouraged the community to take up education, says Mujeeburrahman Kinalur, president of Ithihadu Shubbanil Mujahideen, the youth wing of an Islamic reform movement.
While there was some opposition to girls joining educational institutions after India's independence, the Kerala Muslim Ikya Sangha - a consortium of various Muslim organisations - kicked off a renaissance movement that helped in changing many of those initial perceptions, says Jaleel. He explains that the reform movement performed two important functions: one, it helped in ridding false beliefs from the community, and two, it promoted modern education. "This new movement encouraged Muslims to establish more primary and secondary schools, which helped in the community's upliftment and awakening," Jaleel adds.
It also helps that Kerala has history on its side. Unlike in the northern parts of the country, where Islam was associated - and continues to be, particularly by fundamentalist Hindutva groups - with invading, marauding forces, Kerala's first contact with the religion was peaceful and occurred through trade. The Arabs came chasing the spices that the Portuguese and the British would seek later, and not only were they welcomed by Kerala's kings, they even married into local families.

Number-crunched
The study conducted by the organisation Forum for Faith and Fraternity, called A Socio-Economic Survey of Muslims in Kerala and India, looks at the Muslim representation in public and private sector companies in and around the Kochi-Kalamassery-Alwaye industrial belt, among other things. Despite being active politically, and enjoying political representation in the area, and in spite of their sizeable numbers, Muslims are grossly under-represented in the companies in this belt, says the study.

The study also quotes from the Narendran Commission report and notes there's an under-representation of 7,383 Muslims in government services, in the reserved quota. The posts that have been filled by Muslims are usually in category 3 and 4, which are essentially subordinate posts, says the study. Muslim representation in civil services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), and in senior positions in public sector undertakings, comes to only about 1.6 percent, which is lower than the Muslim representation in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu - states that have lesser Muslim populations than Kerala. Out of the 414 posts in the state's civil services, Muslims hold only seven, whereas SCs and STs hold 59.

• New aspirations • Lapsing into illiteracy The fact that Muslims were an integral part of the freedom movement strengthened inter-community relationships, says Kinalur. Besides, Kerala did not see violent clashes based on religion, like Partition, that North India did. All these factors helped Muslims forge an identity that was Keralite and Indian, and not based on religion, explains Kinalur. Jaleel adds that Kerala's environment has been such that Muslims have in general less identity or security concerns as compared to other states in India. This is also because cultural divisions on account of religion are less, and the language of Muslims and non-Muslims are mostly the same. This in turn ensured that Muslims by and large approached education - at least at the school level - in much the same manner as other communities.
Unlike in other parts of the country, Kerala's Muslim community has almost no connection with Urdu; there are no Urdu-medium schools here either. The state is unique in that it has government-recognised Arabic colleges, where students can pursue Arabic studies up to the post-graduation level. There's an option to do a Bachelor of Education (B Ed) course in Arabic as well.

While madrassas remain a topic of discussion and in certain cases, concern, in other parts of the country, this is not so in Kerala. Muslim children do go to madrassas, but simultaneously, also attend school. "Children go to a madrassa either in the morning or evening, before or after school," says Jaleel. This might dilute their attention to studies at school, he feels, but notes that parents nevertheless appreciate the importance of school education.
Political connection
The Muslim League in Kerala has played a significant part in the formation of state governments, whether they have been led by the Left parties or the Congress. By its mere presence, as a formidable political party that has a say at the state level, the League has given the Muslim community a feeling of security.
According to Jaleel, even the level of progress now seen in the community wouldn't have been possible without the League. "A number of schools and colleges came up because at one time, the education minister was from the League," he says. Because almost all governments in Kerala were formed with the support of the League, the community benefited even in terms of education. The Muslim Education Society (MES), an organisation that today runs a number of educational institutions in Kerala, largely catering to Muslims, came up because of the League's support, says Mohamad.
Such schools enabled the Muslim community to opt for mainstream education. "Though educational facilities were available earlier, the community was not making use of it. This was because there was some resistance against modern education [and misgivings because of its association with Christian missionaries], and secondly, there was a line of thought that religious training was more important," says Jaleel.
On the other hand ...
Such orthodox views may have changed over time, but recent studies present dismal figures. According to a study released by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (an organisation that has actively worked in the state's literacy movement and taken up environment issues, among others) last year, called Kerala Padanam ('Study of Kerala'), only 8.1 percent of Muslims are pursuing higher education as compared to 18.7 percent of Hindus. Comparative figures for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are 10.30 and 11.8 per cent respectively. As the study notes, "Youth from the Muslim community lag behind in education, which obviously affects their employment opportunities and abilities to get government jobs."
According to the 2001 census, 24.7 per cent of Kerala's population is Muslim. Yet, as the Parishad study notes, only 11.4 of government jobs are held by the community. Overall, only 30.5 percent of the Muslim population in the 18-25 age group is working; over 55 percent in the same age group is unemployed, a figure higher than that for Other Backward Castes (OBC), SCs and STs. While backward castes have been able to benefit from reservation policies in Kerala, and concurrently opt for higher education, Muslims have lagged behind, and financial problems that make education a daunting prospect have made things worse, says Kinalur.
While Gulf money - as remittances made by those working in the Gulf countries are collectively referred to - has improved living standards, it has not created a substantial difference. One reason for this is the fact that Muslims, because of their poor educational qualifications, are able to take up only jobs at the lower-level in the Gulf. "A misconception among people is that Muslims have become richer by migrating to the Gulf," Kinalur says. Jaleel adds, "It's the poor, uneducated people who work there, in tough conditions. And nowadays, even those jobs have become unavailable." Despite this, there's a tendency among Muslim boys to drop out of school after the tenth or twelfth standards and then head to the Gulf to look for jobs, says Kinalur. They put securing employment in the Gulf - still seen as a passport to prosperity - ahead of their studies.
Ironically, some of those who have benefited by going to the Gulf have put in some of their savings to start educational institutions. "That's a trend that we are seeing today - people use their Gulf money to start educational institutions, or these are run with the support of Gulf-based organisations," says Mohamad. However, while this has created the necessary infrastructure, it has not been backed up with other logistical support such as good, creative teachers, he rues. "Usually, these schools have retired teachers as principals, they make do with staff with inadequate qualifications - there's no use of imagination at all," he says.
The fact that just like its counterparts across the country, the Kerala government has also curtailed its budget for education, hasn't helped matters. As the Forum for Faith and Fraternity study says, the education budget was slashed from 37.2 percent of the total budget in 1982-83 to 22.56 percent in 1999-2000. The study notes that social changes have always preceded the demand for education in Kerala. "The job opportunities in the Gulf countries brought modest prosperity to the Muslim community. The realisation that education is important and that their children should be educated at any cost has increased the demand for education. All other backward communities have also come to the same realisation. Ironically, it is at this stage that the government started reducing the state budget for education, making it difficult and expensive for the poor to educate their children, especially at higher classes," says the study.
It was around the same time that Kerala started seeing the mushrooming of private educational institutes. This put education - especially higher education - out of the reach of poor Muslims. It's commonly accepted that those in the community who send their children for higher studies belong to the upper class of the Muslim society. As Kinalur points out, many Muslim students are not able to clear the entrance tests for engineering and medical courses as it requires the support of coaching classes. Adds Jaleel, "Only well-to-do people can send their children to coaching classes, a necessity for clearing entrance exams."
Besides, the Malabar region of Kerala, where most Muslims live, is facing a shortage of seats at the 'plus two' (eleventh and twelfth standards) level. Jaleel says there's a wide disparity in the number of seats available in Malabar and in other parts such as South Kerala. "In 2002, when the plus two system was introduced, a large number of plus two schools were sanctioned in the South," says Jaleel. In contrast, very few were started in the Northern areas. In districts in the Malabar region, such as Palakkad, Kannur and Kozhikode, even those with a first-class therefore end up being denied admissions. "In other parts such as Thiruvananthapuram, seats are going empty at the same time," says Kinalur. While this has affected all communities, the Muslim community has been struck the most as their numbers are higher in these areas.
Looking ahead, looking back
The lack of education among Muslims, resulting from various causes, has clearly affected their social mobility. Going by the report of the government-appointed Narendran Commission, set up in 2000 to study whether Backward Classes are adequately represented in state government services, the community is grossly under-represented in government jobs (also see box). The report says, "Ezhavas, a major community among the Backward Classes, have secured better representation in more than one category by securing posts in the merit quota over and above the reservation quota. At the same time, Muslims, another major community among the Backward Classes, have not fared so well." The committee says the reason for this is "educational backwardness", and points out that Ezhavas have been able to compete for government jobs because of their "better educational standards".
Though the Muslim community has seen several positive changes over the past two decades, including those brought about because of Gulf money, much more needs to be done. Muslims need to take a more scientific approach towards popularising education, and to ensure its importance percolates down to all levels, says Mohamad. He recalls conducting a study in an orphanage with Muslim children, as part of which he asked the children about their career dreams. "Most said their ambition was to go to the Gulf. The second popular career choice was to be a bus cleaner. It just shows what their level of thinking is," he says.
That the community lags behind other groups in Kerala is shameful, for this has occurred despite Muslims having political clout in the shape of the League. Mohamad attributes this to the fact that Muslim organisations have still not charted out a long-term plan to consider aspects related to education and other social issues. There's no space for intellectual thought, or for a think tank, even in the Muslim League, he adds.
As a thumb rule, the community falls prey to 'trends', with little or no thought given to what following them would achieve. This, Mohamad says, is reflected in the way schools are started with poorly qualified teachers, with no attention being paid to the qualitative aspects. A 'trend' earlier was to start Arabic colleges, and now the focus is on opening B Ed institutes, says Mohamad. The community itself needs to take the initiative to work out a concrete plan to improve its own, he adds. The Narendran Commission report echoes this line of thought. "If the Muslim community and its leaders take more interest in the matter of education and make a concerted effort, this community can also reach a similar level of educational advancement [as the Ezhavas] in the not-distant future," it predicts. ⊕

Shabab:A unique muslim weekly in malayalam

A Glimpse into the past

Arab Traders were a common sight on the Coast of Malabar from time immemorial, even before the Christian era as this region was considered a hot spot on the trade links connecting the Arabian peninsula with the rest of the world. Historical accounts tell us that this bond continued without any hindrance during the lifetime of our Holy Prophet, and as a result, the spread of Islam on the coasts of Malabar and adjacent geographical tracts has been fast, strong and on a wide range.
By passage of time innovations (Bid’ath) and un-Islamic practices of their past culture crept quickly into the lives of Muslims. This trend increased rather than fading away until reached a stage where innovative elements close to polytheism gained wide acceptance among the common folk of the Muslim community. The decline of Muslim community severed because of their distancing from Education, Cultural and Social refinement programs etc., due to the opposition they maintained with the colonial hierarchy. Thus they remained an underdeveloped society, far away from the strength and enlightenment that Islam has to offer.
National movement, which blew as a tempest in the latter half of the 19th century to uproot the British colonialism, created an appropriate atmosphere for reformation programs and renaissance. As a result, during the first decade of the 20th century, different groups who were striving to enlighten the community and empowerment of Muslims augmented their efforts towards the common goal. Immediately after the famous Malabar Revolution of 1921 fought against the British Administration, prominent Muslim reformers met in Kodungallur to set up a platform for Muslims, and thus the organization called Kerala Muslim Aikya Sangham (united front of Kerala Muslims) came into being. In the beginning, this organization under the strong leadership of Patriotic and God-fearing heavy-weights like the renowned Nationalist leader and religious scholar Wakkom Abdul Quadir Moulavi, K.M. Moulavi, E.K. Moulavi, K.M. Seethi Saheb, E. Moidu Moulavi Etc., achieved great success in educating the masses and eliminating the vices from the society. Their prominence continued unhindered for almost a decade promoting awareness, education and a thrust for social justice. Their role in liberating the masses from the bondages of ignorance, superstitions, innovative practices was exemplary. Under the well guided leadership of sincere tinkers and planners, the masses walked into a life of dignity the education offered them. They breathed fresh air of freedom from evils and the blessings social justice.
On the advent of the Independence in 1947, architects of social reformation among the community felt the need to bring various Muslim movements of Kerala into one fold functioning under one umbrella, and thus the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) came into being. KNM gained wide acceptance and in 1966 the Youth Wing Ithihadu Ssubanul Mujahideen (ISM) was formed. When circumstances demanded a separate platform for students for the better utilization of their energy in developing creative ideas and to sew the seeds of positive attitudes in the campus, Mujahid Students Movement (MSM) took birth in 1971. For functional convenience and greater participation of girl students and womenfolk in the campus, Muslim Girls and Womens’ Movement (MGM) was formed in the year 1998.

SHABAB
SHABAB, the official voice of the ISM began publication in 1975 as a fortnightly. In a very short span of time it became a weekly publication. Now it has achieved the status of on-the-top Muslim weekly publication in comparison to Muslim weekly publications in the whole of Kerala, if the number of readers and circulation were considered. This was possible through dedication, vision and commitment in presenting Islam in its true nature, based on the two fundamentals, the Quran and the Traditions of the Holy Prophet, of course after the grace and blessings of the Almighty Allah. SHABAB has obviously undertaken its task on a war footing; not a war against any individual or group, but, on the other hand it fights with renewed enthusiasm against superstitions, innovations and unfounded practices that crept into the lives of Muslims.
‘Confronting through convincing evidences’ is its policy in addressing the unfounded arguments of rival leaderships who mislead masses. These kind of misleading forces are silenced with evidences from the rightly guided teachings of the Prophet on the basis of Testimonials derived from established sources. At the same time, it marches ahead with the task of educating the masses along with undertaking programs designed to mould an educated, enlightened society who will be well aware of their duties and responsibilities. A good portion of energy and significant number of pages of SHABAB are dispensed to awaken Muslims from falling into the trap of extremism in the name of religion, call for States on the basis of religion, and to counter trivial arguments in the name of rituals and voluntary practices which may not serve any good purpose to Islam or Muslims. SHABAB handles the issues raised by its opponents and rivals from time to time in a pragmatic but convincing way. SHABAB makes available to common man or women the chance of reading famous works of renowned Muslim scholars in their own language (Malayalam) through its pages. Cheriyamundam Abdul Hameed Madani, a renowned thinker, writer and interpreter of the meanings of the Quran is the Chief Editor at present.

VAKKOM MOULAVI:THE MAN WHO LED ISLAMIC RENAISSANCE IN KERALA

M.A.Shakoor

In 1939 when I joined the Aligarh Muslim University as a postgraduate student, my friends and hostel mates, who had mostly come from the U.P. were shocked to learn that I did not know Urdu. "What sort of a Muslim are you?!' some of them asked me with a naive sense of surprise. This was typical and reflected the general level of ignorance among the Muslims of Northern India at that time about the Muslims of Kerala. Most of my North Indian friends didn't know that Islam had reached the Kerala coast during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammed. North India had to wait for more than another century for the arrival of Islam. Kerala had its introduction to Islam direct from Arabia in the same way as it had its first contact with the Arabic language directly through Arab merchant sailors trading with Kerala before and after the advent of Islam. Kerala has produced many eminent scholars of Arabic unknown to North India. Islam had had a warm reception in Kerala. Its egalitarian principles and message of human brotherhood had a great impact on the caste-ridden siesta of the land. After fourteen centuries the Muslims of Kerala still maintain an identity and a cultural ethos of their own, although they retain several features of the common Malayali mode of life. However, over the centuries, like almost all Muslim communities the world over, the Muslim society of Kerala had been contaminated by unhealthy accretions reactionary ideas, superstitions and practices often irreconcilable with the basics principles of Islam. This deviation from the rational, progressive path marked out by Islam had several causes positive and negative. No the posts positive side the greatest harm had been done by the obscurantist Mullahs who gradually assumed the status and powers of a kind of pseudo priestly class in a religion which had totally abolished priesthood in any shape right from the start. over the years they established their vested interests in collusion with the powerful rich and used religion as a means to exploit the ignorant masses for the benefit of both. on the negative side. The absence of a courageous, enlightened and progressive leadership to fight these exploiters i~ left the field free for their harmful activities. And the lack of modern education among the masses provided these obscurantists a fertile soil where superstition could flourish. In this situation it was not surprising that decay from inside and contagion from outside led to so much social decadence. At the dawn of the twentieth century, reformist and educational movements had already made considerable progress in various parts of North India. Muslims, too, had awakened to this need and made a belated start. Nevertheless the Muslims of Kerala were still in deep slumber, steeped in ignorance and superstition. They were educationally very backward and counted for nothing politically and economically. It was Moulavi Mohammed Abdul Kadir of Vakkom who had sounded the clarion call to awaken them.
"VAKKOM MAULAVI"
The Islamic renaissance in Kerala, in the real sense, began with Moulavi Abdul Kadir. His was essentially a Muslim socio-religious movement. He had not only initiated it, but provided it inspiration, dynamism and correct leadership. During the first three decades of this century, which were the last three of his life, he devoted all his time and energy as well as most of his considerable inherited wealth to the movement. His name became synonymous with the movement he had founded and led. The obscure village of Vakkom in Travancore State, which was his family settle where his movement had taken birth, became a place of renown and he himself was known as "Vakkom Moulavi". Moulavi Abdul Kadir was born in 1873. There were neither co1leges nor many schools at that time in Travancore. As a boy he was of a studious nature. His enlightened and wealthy father, who was a prominent merchant and influential leader, engaged a number of scholars from distant places, including an itinerant Arab savant, to teach him every subject he wished to learn. Spurred by his thirst for knowledge and helped manner his own self-study the boy made such rapid progress that some of his teachers soon found that their stock of knowledge was exhausted and at least one of them admitted that had learnt from his student more than he could teach him. Moulavi Abdul Kadir in a short time mastered the Arabic language and acquired profound knowledge of the Quran, Sunnah, logic and Islamic jurisprudence as well as Islamic history. He studied the Malayalam language, in which he became an elegant and powerful writer and eloquent speaker. He had learnt Tamil, Sanskrit, Persian and Urdu and acquired a working knowledge of English and Germinate Early in his career he had started subscribing to Arabic language daily newspapers and periodicals from Cairo, Damascus and Mecca. He was greatly influenced by the radical reformist journal of Cairo, "Al-Manaar", which was edited by the eminent writer and savant, Rashid Rida, and which reflected the views and ideals of the nineteenth century liberal thinker and religious reformer, sheikh Mohammad Abduh. Moulavi Abdul Kadir had preserved in his library the beautifully bound volumes of A1Manaar and he was in correspondence with Rashid Rida. He was greatly influenced by Mohammad Abduh's ideas. Moulavi Abdul Kadir had devotedly studied Al Ghazzali's works, one of which (AlKimia alSaadah) he had translated into Malayalam. Although Al Ghazzali's philosophical thinking had some early fascination for him he had steered clear of his Sufistic path. He never accepted nor approved of the PirMureed system. In his burning zeal to rid the decadent Muslim society of his day of all un- Islamic accretions and to rescue it from the evil influence of the reactionary Mullahs he had drawn great inspiration from the life and teachings of the early nineteenth century Arabian reformer, Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and his thirteenth century ideological preceptor, Ibn Taymiya. Early in his career Moulavi Abdul Kadir had intelligently analysed the problems and correctly diagnosed the malady afflicting his community. Although the Muslim masses of Kerala were intensely religious their idea of Islam was distorted and corrupted over the years by the obscurantist Mullahs who seemed to be still living in the medieval times unaware that the world had entered the twentieth century. A form of hagiolatry, the very antithesis of monotheistic Islam, was promoted and patronized by the Mullahs among the ignorant masses. Many superstitions and empty rituals associated with grave worship were sedulously fostered by the Mullahs mainly for their own gains. These were, however, no special features of the Muslim society of Kerala, but were perhaps even more rampant in other parts of India. The Mullahs performed exorcisms and sometimes even usurped the functions of doctors on the ground that Muslim females could not be seen by male doctors, particularly if they happened to be "infidels"! Their worst crime was that they made Islam appear to be an enemy if progress by preaching to the ignorant masses that it was a "sin" to send children, particularly girls, to school, whereas Islam had made education (acquisition of Knowledge) "obligatory on every Muslim man and woman". The Mullahs even declared that learning ~ English was "haram" or forbidden There were many other evil practices in the Muslim community of the time, such as the dowry system, extravagant expenditure on weddings, celebration of annual "urs" and Moharrum with bizarre unIslamic features bordering on idolatrous rituals, visiting shrines in fulfillment of religious' vows and making votive 'offerings. Moulavi Abdul Kadir launched his campaign against all these evils and unIslamic practices with the help of his devoted disciples and with the cooperation of other learned men who shared his views and ideals. A frail thin man in a plain muslin "kurta" and turban, he traveled up and down the country addressing meetings and exhorting people to seek education and to discard un Islamic practices. He was no demagogue. He did not play on the emotions and sentiments of the people, but only appealed to reason. His gentle voice and measured words had great power of persuasion, and his learned addresses carried conviction and authority. His audiences listened to him with rapt attention. In a few years the unIslamic festivals associated with `dargas' and "saints" ceased to exist everywhere except at two places where the vested interests were too entrenched and the financial profits too massive to be easily swept away. Similarly the Moharrum "festival" with its unIslamic rituals was stopped throughout Kerala except in one city where one solitary committed family kept it going, but there the whole thing degenerated into a bizarre carnivallike event in which the Hindu scavenger class joined for the petty financial gain it brought.
Campaign gathers momentum
Many organizations were set up at local levels and many schools were founded at his instance, some of which developed into higher educational institutions . At every meeting he tried to awaken the people to the danger of social stagnation and falling a prey to unIslamic practices. As the campaign developed into a powerful movement strong opposition was mounted by the Mullahs supported by vested interests. As they lacked the depth of authentic learning and the intellectual caliber to meet him on the intellectual as a first resort. Some issued "fatwas" that he was a "kafir". Some others branded him as a "Wahhabi". In their dictionaries the two words perhaps had the same meaning. Although Moulavi Abdul Qadir was greatly influenced by the principles enunciated by Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and by the reformist movement led by him, he never regarded himself as anything but a Muslim. After all, the name "Wahhabi" itself was coined by the orthodox religious adversaries of Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab as a pejorative term to be derisively used against him and his followers. These medieval minded old Arabian Mullahs of the time, not much dissimilar to our own indigenous species, were hard put to it in their search for an apt nickname. Had they chosen as their label the word "Mohammadi" as directly derived from Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab's own name, they wouldhave failed in their object. So they had to content themselves with his father's name from which they forged the counterfeit "Wahhabi". Neither Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab nor his followers (who include the ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia) had ever acknowledged this title. It is true that Moulavi Abdul Kadir had drawn inspiration from Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab's movement, but he never regarded himself as a "Wahhabi". He was at one with Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab on his basic approach such as rigorous adherence to Islam's uncompromising monotheism, which completely excludes the doctrine of intercession, visiting of tombs in fulfillment of religious vows, invoking the aid or blessings of saints or making votive offerings to them, graveworship and priesthood. Maulavi Abdul Qadir did not accept the puritanical excesses, petty intolerance and the violent methods of enforcement often associated with Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and his movement. The central idea of Moulavi Abdul Kadir's movement was restoring Islam to its pristine purity and utter simplicity and interpreting the Quranic principles in the light of companions in one single sitting has now been rendered so complex that fifteen years' continuous study can hardly complete it.
Fight against corruption
No doubt it was the lamentable condition of his own community that had kindled in Moulavi Abdul Kadir the reformist flame and brought him into the field of action. But for a man of his moral courage, democratic convictions and burning patriotism , it was possible to confine his attention to the needs of his own small community and shut his eyes to the wider problems affecting the coterie as a whole. At the best of times Travancore was no better than an autocratic Princely State, it compared favorably with other States elsewhere in India. At this particular time, under the authoritarian rule' of Sir P. Rajagopalachari, a lecherous and perverse power rampant bribery and corruption in the administration, the scandalous debaucheries that went on at the top and the palace intrigues of the 0 courtiers, which had brought the Government and the "Royal Court" to disrepute, called for a courageous champion to take up the suffering people's cause. Although there were a few periodicals of a sort, which made their appearance here and there, none of them never dared even to make a reference to these sordid goings-on. Moulavi Abdul Kadir was the first, and the only one, to answer this popular call and the first to suffer its inevitable consequences.
"SWADESHABHIMANI"
He gave priority of attention to this problem. He man managed to import, directly from England, an automatic flatbed printing press, the latest type available then, in l9O5. He then launched a weekly journal under the title SWADESHABHIMANI~' of 8~bexpa~xio~ THE Patriot", to spear head the fight against corruption and to struggle for the democratic rights of the people. Right from the start, "THE Patriot" became a powerful organ of public opinion. However, the dual task of running "The Patriot" and leading the Muslim reformist movement at the same time soon proved an unmanageable and Moulavi Abdul Kadir looked for an editor for "The Patriot" who would measure up to the high standard o£ integrity, courage and political principles he had set for his journal. He was lucky to have found such a man in a young graduate called Ramakrishna Pillai who had just then been sacked by his own uncle from the editorship of his weekly journal because of his views and uncompromising adherence to principles. A personal interview and discussion of matters of principle convinced Moulavi Abdul Kadir that he had found just the man he wanted. Ramakrishna Pillai was equally lucky to have found just the right man to work with. Moulavi Abdul Kadir placed implicit faith in Ramakrishna Pillai's integrity, patriotism, and political ideals, which were identical of his own. Not once throughout the stormy life of the journal did Moulavi Abdul Kadir find the need to interfere in the editorial policy of his journal to keep it on course he had charted for it. This political collaboration which began in 1906 between two young radical democrats forms a glorious chapter in the political history of Kerala. The saga of Moulavi Abdul Kadir, "SWDESHABHIMANI" and Ramakrishna Pillai still remains to be told in full.
"Sedation" CASE
Heroic men of history who dared to challenge and fight the iniquities of autocrats and powerful vested interests often went down fighting. History tell of many such instances. The fate of "SWADESHABHIMANI" is another example not far removed from contemporary history. Its undaunted assaults on the citadels of corruption and its relentless campaign against the misdeeds of men at the top invited the wrath of the Dewan. Rajagopalachari was a ruthless man and more so when his own position was involved. He tried, and failed, to buy Moulavi Abdul Kadir over. His blandishments and threats having failed, the used his ultimate weapon. In less than five years Ramakrishna Pillai was arrested on a charge of sedition. Moulavi Abdul Kadir gave him fullest backing, moral and material. After a show trial he was sentenced to transportation for life and the Swadeshabhimani Press belonging to Moulavi Abdul Kadir was confiscated. Ramakrishna Pillai died in exile and press lay rusting in the Trivandrum Central Jail. All attempts in to subsequent years to , recover the press invariably failed. It took more than half a century and the formation of a democratically elected Communist Government in Kerala to erect a statue of Rama Krishna Pillai at Trivandrum to perpetuate his hallowed memory and to restore the confiscated Swadeshabhimani Press to its rightful owners. It undoubtedly goes to the credit of the first Communist Government of Kerala and its Chief Minister, E.M.S.Namboodiripad, that on 26 January, 1968, at a public meeting held for that purpose, he presented a new press and equipment to the legal heirs of Moulavi Abdul Kadir, 36 years after his death.
25 years a reformist campaign
In l906, having ensured and editorial integrity of the Swadeshabhimani Moulavi Abdul Kadir concentrated his energy and attention on his main task. The same year he set up the Muslim Printing House at Vakkom, which brought out a cultural journal, "MUSLIM", first as a monthly and later as a weekly. This was followed by "ALISLAM", a monthly journal in Arabic Malayalam, that is, Malayalam written in Arabic script, mainly devoted to the cultural and religious education of Muslim women, who were familiar with the Arabic script. Through the pages of the Muslim he carried on his reformist campaign. Religious tracts and booklets followed. As a result of the continuous campaign throughout the State, the Maharaja's Government introduced the teaching of Arabic in all State schools where there were Muslim pupils and offered them fee concession and scholarships, girls being totally exempted from payment of fees. Moulavi Abdul Qadir wrote text books for children to learn Arabic and a manual for training Arabic instructors for primary schools. At the instance of Moulavi Abdul Kadir the State Government soon instituted qualifying examinations for Arabic teachers of which he was made the chief examiner. Most of his younger ; disciples who flocked to his home to learn Arabic and Islamic religion. eventually became Arabic teachers and carried his reformist ideas far and wide. In the midst of all this work the reformist movement went on with undiminished vigour, the "Muslim" and 'Al Islam` serving as his mouthpiece. As his many sided activities began to claim more and more of his time, Moulavi Abdul Kadir entrusted the editorial responsibility for the "Muslim" to my father, Moulavi Mohammad Kunju, who was his brother-in-law as well as his right-hand man and devoted disciple. Although there were ups and downs, the movement made steady headway. In the early 1920s Moulavi Abdul Kadir took a leading part in setting up an organization called the Kerala Muslim Aikya sangham the United organization of the Muslims of Kerala. About this time he also gave guidance, and full backing for the establishment of the first Muslim bank in Kerala, which however, did not prove a great success.
QURAN IN MALAYALAM
By 193O Moulavi Abdul Kadir was advanced in age and a lifetime of tireless hard work had begun to tell upon his health. The substantial wealth he had inherited from his father had dwindled away in the process of his long and selfless work for his community and he was fast sinking in debt, making it increasingly difficult to maintain his large family. Nevertheless his zeal for the cause to which he had devoted his life suffered no diminution. In 1931 he founded the "Islamia Publishing House" without much capital. Allama shibli's famous biography of Omar Farooq was translated into Malayalam under the supervision of Moulavi Abdul Kadir by his eldest son Abdussalam and published in two volumes under the title "AlFarooq". While this work was in hand he started his last monthly journal called "DEEPIKA" or "The Torch". This journal which provided articles and comments of a high standard on religious, cultural, political and literary subjects had a wider appeal. Its outstanding feature was the serialization of the Malayalam translation of the Quran together with his brief commentary and the original text written in elegant and superb calligraphic style by Moulavi Abdul Kadir himself. It was his life's ambition to produce a translation of the Quran in Malayalam With his own commentary, but he was not destined to complete the work. He passed away on 31 October, 1932, barely 21 months after the first issue of the "Deepika" had appeared. With his death the entire project collapsed and in the financial crisis that followed his family itself suffered a great deal.
"Islahi Movement"
It is difficult to stick on him any of the familiar labels religious, political or ideological. He could not be called a revolutionary at least in the sense in which it is often used in the common political parlance. He was not a reformer, in the religious sense, as he never sought to "reform" any religious doctrine. He could not be called a "fundamentalist", at least in the latter-day sense, because he did not share their formalist approach nor their narrow-minded orthodoxy, nor their Pharisee like preference for the literal sense rather than the spirit of the Quranic exhortations. He could not be classed as a "revivalist", because the aim of his movement was not just reviving the relics of the dead past, but the recapture of the real spirit of pristine Islam and its adaptation to modern times. His disciples preferred to call his movement the "Islahi Movement", or the Movement for Restoration" How far this correctly reflects its spirit may be debatable. Notwithstanding his profound erudition and understanding of Islamic history, philosophy, jurisprudence and logic, and his deep study of the Quran and to found his own individual school of thought. In fact he held the rather unorthodox view that one could be a perfect Muslim without having to proclaim adherence to any of the four traditionally recognized schools of thought or "madhabs" named after their respective Imams or founders. He disapproved of all schisms and sectarian names. His natural humility was such that he never used the title "Moulavi" with his own name, although many of his contemporaries did. Six decades have gone by since Moulavi Abdul Kadir had passed away. When one looks at his life and work from this distance in time against the backdrop of the momentous changes that have taken place in the economic, social and political life in Kerala, as elsewhere, his achievements may seem less significant than they were in his own day. It would be incorrect, as it would be unfair, to try to evaluate the contribution of a social reformer without reference to the age in which he had lived. The historical approach is, therefore, not merely relevant, but necessary, for a correct assessment of his place in history and in his contemporary society, as well as his contribution towards the reawakening of the Muslim community.
TRAILBLAZER
Moulavi Abdul Kadir had had his achievements as well as his failures. His failures may be accounted for by his choice of means and methods as well as the lack of adequate financial resources when they were most needed. His achievements were limited by his own objectives and the inherent weaknesses of his movement. Nevertheless it can be stated without any exaggeration that it is to him, more than to any one else, that 'the Muslim community of Kerala owes its sense of identity and the renaissance that brought cultural regeneration and educational progress as well as emancipation from exploitation by reactionary Mullahs. No less important was his role as a pioneer and a trailblazer in political journalism of fearless, principled, radical, progressive type. Moulavi Abdul Kadir was a man of character and a paragon of many rare qualities. He was equally respected by Muslims, Hindus and Christians who knew him. Whenever he happened to walk into a room or a meeting hall full of people a sort of magnetic effect of his personality was instantly felt there. His piety, humility and sincerity were transparent. Quiet and gentle, he personified an indomitable will and inflexible determination. He was kindhearted and generous to a fault. His faith and fortitude carried him through his last years of adversity. He was too proud and self-respecting to appeal for any help. An ungrateful community to whose service he had devoted his life and wealth looked on with indifference as he slowly sank in indigence and ill health with advancing age. Men like Moulavi Mohammad Abdul Kadir never served their country and people for any selfish gains or personal rewards.
The author is a nephew of Vakkom Moulavi. He had served on the editorial staff of Dawn, Delhi (1942-44) under the editorship of Pothan Joseph. Later he was Assistant Editor, Morning News, Calcutta (1944-45) and Sub editor, The Statesman, Calcutta (1945-46); Chief Sub editor The Pakistan Times, Lahore (1947). Later, he served first as Chief Sub editor and then as senior most Assistant Editor of Dawn, Karachi (1947-54). He also worked as the London Correspondent of the Pakistan Times (1955-59) until it was taken over by the Government.

Vakkom Moulavi:The social reformer

Vakkom Muhammed Abdul Khadir Moulavi, popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi was a social reformer, teacher, prolific writer, Muslim scholar, journalist, freedom fighter and newspaper proprietor in Travancore, a princely state of the present day Kerala, India. He was the founder and publisher of the newspaper Swadeshabhimani which was banned and confiscated by the Government of Travancore in 1910 due to its criticisms against the government and the Diwan of Travancore, P.Rajagopalachari.Early life and family
Moulavi was born in 1873 in Vakkom, Chirayinkil Taluk, Thiruvanthapuram in Travancore. His family had ancestral roots to Madurai and Hyderabad, and many of his relatives had worked for the military of the state government. Maulavi was proficient in many languages including Arabic, Hindusthani, Persian, Tamil, Sanskrit and English

His father, a prominent merchant, engaged a number of scholars from distant places, including an itinerant Arab savant, to teach him every subject he wished to learn. Moulavi made such rapid progress, that some of his teachers soon found that their stock of knowledge was exhausted and at least one of them admitted that had learnt from his student more than he could teach him.
Moulavi's son Abdul Kadar (Junior) was a writer, and another son, Mohammed Eeza was a writer and scholar of Islamic studies. One of his nephews, Vakkom Majeed, was an Indian freedom fighter and a former member of Travancore-Cochin State Assembly and another nephew, P.Habeeb Mohamed, was the first Muslim judge of the Travancore High Court of Kerala.

Journalism and Swadeshabhimani

Maulavi started the Swadeshabhimani newspaper on January 19, 1905, declaring that `the paper will not hesitate to expose injustices to the people in any form`, but on 26 September, 1910, the newspaper and press were sealed and confiscated by the British Police, and the editor Ramakrishna Pillai was arrested and banished from Travancore to Thirunelveli.
After the confiscation of the press, Moulavi concentrated more on social and cultural activities, becoming a social leader, also writing several books. Daussabah and Islam Matha Sidantha Samgraham are original works, while Imam Ghazali’s Keemiya-e- Saadat, Ahlu Sunnathuwal Jammath, Islamic Sandesam, Surat-ul fathiha are translationsSocial Reformation
Maulavi was considered one of greatest reformers in the Kerala Muslim community, starting the magazines Muslim (1906 January), Al-Islam (1918) and Deepika (The Torch) (1931). Al-Islam contributed to the improvement of Arabic-Malayalam scripts. Moulavi also tried to create unity among Muslims, starting the All Travancore Muslim Mahajanasabha and Chirayinkil Taluk Muslim Samagam, and worked as the chairman of the Muslim Board of the Government of Travancore.
Moulavi emphasized the religious and socioeconomic aspects much more than the ritualistic aspects of religion. He also emphasized and campaigned the need for modern education, the education of women, and the elimination of potentially bad customs among the Muslim community.Moulavi was influenced by Muhammad Abduh of Egypt and his reform movement and started journals in Arabi Malayalam and in Malayalam.
As a result of the continuous campaigning of Maulavi throughout the State, the Maharaja's Government introduced the teaching of Arabic in all state schools where there were Muslim pupils, and offered them fee concessions and scholarships. Girls were totally exempted from payment of fees. Maulavi wrote text books for children to learn Arabic, and a manual for training Arabic instructors for primary schools. At the instance of Maulavi Abdul Qadir the State Government soon instituted qualifying examinations for Arabic teachers of which he was made the chief examiner.[citation needed]
There were many other dubious practices in the Muslim community of the time, such as the dowry system, extravagant expenditure on weddings, celebration of annual "urs" and Moharrum with bizarre unIslamic features bordering on idolatrous rituals. Maulavi launched his campaign against such practices with the help of his disciples, and with the cooperation of other learned men who shared his views and ideals.As the campaign developed into a powerful movement, opposition was mounted by the Mullahs. Some issued "fatwas" that he was a "kafir", others branded him as a "Wahhabi".

In 1931, he founded the Islamia Publishing House, with his eldest son Abdussalam supervising the translation into Malayam and publication of Allama Shibli's biography of Omar Farooq in two volumes under the title Al Farooq.
His activities were further instrumental in the establishment of Muslim Ikya Sangham, a united Muslim forum for all the Muslims of the Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions, and helped guide the Lajanthual Mohammadiyya Association of Alappuzha, Dharma Bhoshini Sabha of Kollam amongst others

Last days

In Deepika, he serialized the Malayalam translation of the Quran, together with his brief commentary and the original text written in an elegant calligraphic style by Maulavi himself. It was his life's ambition to produce a translation of the Quran in Malayalam with his own commentary, but he died on 31 October 1932 before the work was completed.

Yuvatha books:Trend Setting in muslim publishing

Trend-Setting in Muslim Publishing: Calicut's YuvathaBook HouseBy Yoginder SikandWith a literacy rate of over 85 per cent, Kerala hasthe distinction of being the most educationallyadvanced state in India. Around a fourth of thestate’s population is Muslim, and the Kerala Muslimsare among the most literate Muslim communities inIndia. Kerala’s Muslims have a rich literarytradition dating back several centuries, and todaythey boast of a flourishing publishing industry,bringing out several newspapers, magazines andjournals. Almost all of these are in Malayalam, thestate’s official language. Few Kerala Muslims writein Urdu, Hindi or English or any other language,because of which their writings are not generallyknown outside the state.Established in 1986, the Calicut-based Yuvatha BookHouse (YBH) is one of Kerala’s leading Muslimpublishing houses. It is run under the auspices of theItehadul Shuban il Mujahidin (ISM), the youth wing ofthe Kerala Nadwath ul-Mujahidin (KNM), an influentialIslamist reformist movement. This movement has itsroots in the Islahi or Islamic reformist tradition inKerala which emerged at the turn of the last century.The pioneers of the KNM sought to struggle againstilliteracy, poverty, and superstitions that beset theKerala Muslim community, hence the movement’s claimto be engaged in a constructive social â€کjihad’.â€کAt one time’, says the YBH’s manager, 34-yearold Mujeebur Rahman Kokur, who holds a degree inHistory and a diploma in Fine Arts, â€کsometraditional ulema opposed Islamic writings inMalayalam. They claimed that this language was spokenin hell!

But things have changed completely today andnow there are literally hundreds of Islamic publishinghouses, newspapers and journals brought out inMalayalam’. â€ک The YBH’, he adds, â€کis today thesecond largest Islamic publishing house in Kerala,following close behind the Islamic Publishing House,which is also based in Calicut’.Till date, the YBH has published more than 250 titles,and almost all of these are in Malayalam. Besidesbooks on Islamic law and theology, it has brought outa number of titles on such issues as economics, childdevelopment and psychology, the environment,imperialism and the anti-imperialist struggle,inter-community relations, communal harmony and genderrelations, all from an Islamic perspective. â€کTheyseek to provide relevant Islamic responses toquestions of contemporary concern. We want to engagewith current issues, to show what role Islam andMuslims can play in this regard, and this is reflectedin the sort of books we publish’, explains Kokur.Every year, he says, the KNM’s Academy of Studiesand Research organises a conference, bringing togethersocial activists and scholars, Muslims as well asothers, to discuss current issues, and the YBHpublishes the papers presented therein as books.The YBH has an impressive translation programme,rendering into Malayalam key texts in other languages.

These include books by the Mumbai-based reformistscholar, Asghar Ali Engineer, the Delhi-based MaulanaWahiduddin Khan, the noted biographer of the Prophet,Shafi ur-Rahman Mubarakpuri, and other well-knownnorth Indian Muslim scholars such as Sayyed SulaimanNadvi and Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi. It has also translatedworks by foreign authors, such as Roger Garaudy, Yusufal-Qaradawi, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, MustafaSibai, Muhammad al-Ghazali, Muhammad Asad, Harun Yahyaand Bilal Philips. Currently, work is on, to renderKaren Armstrong’s acclaimed book on Prophet Muhammadand the Indian Marxist historian K.M.Pannikar’s bookon culture, secularism and the struggle againstcommunalism into Malayalam. The YBH has also publisheda number of Islamic novels, several of these by womenwriters, as well as some science-related books. It hasto its credit several collections of short storieswritten by non-Muslim Malayalam writers. Plans areafoot to translate into Malayalam an Islamicchildren’s instructional book series published byDelhi’s Goodword Books.â€کA major achievement of ours’, says Kokur, withjustified pride, â€کis a five volume IslamicEncyclopaedia’ titled â€کIslam Anju Vadiyangalil’or â€کIslam in Five Volumes’, which runs into around5500 pages.

Edited by a board headed by the notedIslamic scholar Cheriyamundam Abdul Hamid, knownparticularly for his translation of the Quran intoMalayalam, the project took some ten years tocomplete, and involved some fifty scholars, includingexperts in Islamic Studies, Psychology, Sociology,History, Economics, Comparative Religions andPolitical Science. Illustrating the KNM and ISM’scommitment to inter-community dialogue and solidarity,the first volume of the encyclopaedia was released bythe well-known leftist scholar of Hinduism, SukumarAzhikode, and the last volume by the noted Delhi-basedacademic, Ashis Nandy.Another major accomplishment of the YBH is thepublication of the first versified Malayalamtranslation of the Quran, under the title â€کDivyaDeepti’. Interestingly, this work was written by aHindu scholar, the late Konniyor Raghavan Nair. Nairwas a close friend of the late C.N.Moulavi, one of thepioneers of the Islahi movement in Kerala, and thefirst translator of the Quran into Malayalam. Therecitation of the Quran, which Nair used to regularlyhear on the radio every Friday, captivated him, andthat led him to spend ten years translating the Quraninto Malayalam in verse form. â€کSome Muslims wereangry with Nair for what he had done and so they burntdown his press at Pathanamthitta and destroyed most ofthe copies of his translation of the Quran’, saysMujeeb ur-Rahman Kinalur, president of the ISM, underwhose auspices the YBH functions. â€کSome twenty-fiveyears later, a copy of the book was found and the YBHdecided to publish it again. It is a remarkableinstance of the long tradition of sharing betweencommunities that Kerala has historically enjoyed’,Kinalur adds.â€کWe try to reach out beyond the Muslim community, tonon-Muslim readers as well’, Kinalur tells me. Thisthe YBH does through regular participation in bookfairs all over Kerala, arranging for reviews of itsnew publications in non-Muslim-owned newspapers andthrough exchange schemes with non-Muslim publishinghouses. Another way of reaching out to others is theset of books the YBH has brought out that seek toprovide the general non-Muslim reader with a basicintroduction to Islam. In addition, it has publishedtwo books on Dalit liberation, both by Dalit authors,and also distributes a volume consisting of acollection of essays on Islam and Dalit Liberationwritten by a group of well-known Malayali Dalitactivists.Kinalur tells me of some more plans that the YBH hasfor the near future. These include a five-volumesubject-wise compendium of Hadith or sayings about orattributed to Prophet Muhammad and an Encyclopaediaof Family Life, which would include entries by Islamicscholars as well as Muslim and non-Muslimpsychologists and sociologists.The YBH’s audio and video unit has prepared some 300VCDs, on a vast range of subjects.

Among these aretaped Friday sermons of KNM leaders, not all of whomare full-time, professional religious specialists orulema. These include doctors, engineers, writers andsocial activists. â€کThese sermons seek to relateIslam to issues of the day, so as to make religionmore meaningful in people’s lives’, explainsKinalur. â€کSo’, he adds, â€کif there is a debategoing on in the media about terrorism or women’srights or communal violence, our preachers speak aboutthese in their sermons and relate this to the actualIslamic perspective on the matter, and these areconverted into videos for wider circulation’. Inaddition to taped Friday sermons, the YBH’s VCDseries also consists of lectures by well-known socialactivists and writers, including some non-Muslims.Units affiliated to the ISM have also begunexperimenting with video documentaries to propagatethe movement’s message, and these are distributedthrough the YBH. These films are produced byprofessional teams, and the actors include Hindus andChristians, in addition to Muslims. The MujahidStudents Movement, the students’ wing of the ISM,Kinalur tells me, recently produced a tele-filmdealing with issues that many students face inuniversity campuses, seeking to provide them properguidance. A documentary by an ISM sub-centre inMallapuram deals with the problem of suicide, an issueof particular concern, given that Kerala has thehighest suicide rate in India. Another new tele-filmdistributed by the YBH seeks to dispel the myth aboutinvisible jinns possessing human beings.â€کRecently’, Kinalur informs me, â€کthe ISMorganized a state-level campaign against Hindu andMuslim communalism.

We now want to produce a tele-filmon how communalism is dividing our society and what wemust do to preserve and promote communal harmony’.The YBH also sells CDs containing Islamic devotionalsongs in Malayalam. â€کOur ulema have argued that suchmusic is permissible because the aim is to call peopleto Islam’, Kinalur explains. â€کSo, for instance’,he says, â€کon Eid we organized a cultural function,with singers, Muslims and others, singing songs aboutfaith in God and about communal harmony’. â€کLastFebruary’, he goes, on, â€کour students’ wing heldits annual conference at the Calicut town hall, and wehad a cultural show, with songs with social andreligious messages and the traditional stick-dance’,Kinalur adds. â€کWe see no harm in using these meansto communicate with people, provided they are inconformity with basic Islamic cultural norms’, hesays.The music CDs sold by the YBH are produced byactivists and sympathizers of the ISM, and, Kinalursays that the ISM is now planning to form a music andcultural team of its own. Interestingly, some of theYBH’s music CDs consist of songs about Islam sung bynon-Muslim singers, who are commissioned to do this ona paid basis.In contrast to many Islamic publishing houses in northIndia, which are often family businesses, the YBH isprofessionally managed by a qualified board. Theboard’s Chairman is Dr. P.P. Abdul Haq, who servedfor many years as the principal of a government-runarts college.

Other members of the board include Dr.A.K.Ahmad Kutty, former head of the Department ofArabic in Calicut University, Professor Mankada AbdulAziz, former principal of the Muslim EducationSociety, K.P. Zakariya, lecturer in an Arabic College,and Mujibur Rahman Kinalur, president of the ISM.The board meets regularly to decide on newpublications and reprints. â€کWe publish at leastthree new books or reprints of old books everymonth’, explains Kinalur. Prospective authors,experts in their respective fields, are contacted andoffered contracts to prepare manuscripts on particularissues. This is in marked contrast to the practice ofmany north Indian Muslim publishing houses, saysKinalur, who do not work in such a planned manner. Thecost of publication is often met throughpre-publication orders through advertisements in theISM’s weekly â€کShabab’, which has a readership ofmore than 50,000, and is made available through its600 or more units all over Kerala and in the Gulf,where large numbers of Malayali Muslims live. â€کThisis how we try to keep our costs down, with a paidstaff of just four people, and the prices of the booksmodest’, Kinalur says.â€کKerala Muslim scholarship is rich and thriving’,Kinalur explains. â€کIt’s not just professionalulema whose writings we publish, but also books bysocial activists and intellectuals, who seek topromote a more socially-engaged understanding of Islamthat can address itself to such burning issues ascommunal conflict, class and gender oppression,Western imperialism and consumerism and so on’.â€کUnfortunately’, he adds, â€کfew of our scholarswrite in English, Hindi or Urdu, and that’s why theyare not known outside Kerala’.

I suggest to Kinalur that the YBH could considerarranging for some of its major works to be translatedin other languages. â€کCertainly’, heenthusiastically replies. â€کThere’s a lot thatMuslims elsewhere in India can learn from the MalayaliMuslims, in matters of organization,institution-building, education, women’s issues andinter-community relations’, Kinalur tells me, â€کandbringing out our literature in other languages canplay a major role in promoting awareness of the KeralaMuslim model’.

Muslim education:Lessons from kerala

Muhammad Iqbal is a 30-year old social activist. Originally from Silchar, Assam, he shifted to Kerala some years ago, where he now works with several Muslim organizations in the field of community service. He narrates his story to Yoginder Sikand.

I came to Kerala in 2001, my first visit to the state. I had come to search for work, the sort of work that I had been doing in Assam—painting on cloth. One of the things that struck me first and most strikingly in Kerala was that the Kerala Muslims are far ahead of Muslims in other parts of India, in terms of both secular and Islamic education. I felt that I could learn and grow in Kerala, and that this was a good place for me to work. So, I decided not to go back to Assam but to stay here instead.
I decided to give up on cloth painting, and to engage in some form of social work. In 2003, I began working with a few Muslim organizations in Calicut. In association with them, I arranged for a large number of children from very poor families, many of them orphaned, from Assam, Manipur, Bihar and West Bengal, to be sent to orphanages and hostels run by several reliable Muslim organizations in Kerala, such as the Huda Trust, the Muslim Cultural Foundation School, the Islamic Cultural Society, the Jamiat-e Dawat-e Tabligh, the Muslim Education Society, the Nadwat ul-Islam and some orphanages-cum-schools run by the Kerala Nadwat ul-Mujahidin. Here these children receive free education, both religious and secular and are also looked after and cared for free of cost. Together, my friends and I have arranged for some five hundred such children to be looked after in various Muslim institutions in Kerala.
Most of these children are sent to English-medium schools to study. Some of these schools are run by the organizations where they also live. Others are run by various Muslim organizations and are located in the vicinity of their hostels. We arrange for the children to visit their homes once every three years so that they can remain in touch with their roots. We want them to start similar institutions in their own areas once they grow up. I hope at least some of them will.
I have had the good fortune of interacting with many Muslim activists and ulema here in Kerala and have learned a great deal from them. Unlike in my part of the country and in much of the rest of northern India, I find that in Kerala the ulema are also very socially engaged. It is not that just poor families send their children to madrasas to study, as generally in the north. Almost every Muslim child in Kerala, rich or poor, girl or boy, simultaneously studies in a madrasa and in a regular school. How well organized, how professionally run Muslim organizations here are! How clean they keep their institutions! What a contrast to north India! Most ulema here have also received some modern education. They, along with Kerala Muslims generally, have fairly good ties with their Hindu and Christian neighbours. They don’t engage in the sort of fatwa-warfare that some maulvis have become so notorious for! I wish north Indian Muslims would care to learn from the Kerala example, but, unfortunately, some of them, like many north Indians in general, have a misplaced sense of superiority and think that they have nothing to learn from south Indians.
I have helped some local Muslim organizations interact with north Indian ulema, hoping that in this way we can spread the news about the Kerala example and that Muslim organizations in north India can learn from it. We have, over the years, arranged for over five hundred ulema and Muslim social activists from north India to visit Muslim institutions in Kerala and interact with Kerala Muslim activists and religious scholars and also to participate in conferences here. We thought that in this way they might be encouraged to go back to their areas and help promote modern, in addition to religious, education, to set up social work centres and so on. But, I must confess, this venture has not been very successful. For some of those whom we invited, these visits were just holiday jaunts. Some others perhaps came on these visits in the hope of getting grants and projects.
But some of them have really done good work and have also learnt a lot from their visits here. There’s Aminuddin Bhai from West Bengal, who has set up a girls’ madrasa. We’ve arranged to provide hand-pumps in his village. There’s Arfan Khan from Assam, who was orphaned at the age of two. All his family lands were washed away in a furious flood unleashed by the Brahmaputra River. He began working as a clerk, and took care of a Muslim child whose parents had been killed in an attack by the Bodos. He now has a home for almost 80 orphan children and arranges for their education. Besides, he runs an organization for the physically challenged. He came and spent some time here, observing the work of Kerala Muslim organizations. I am so moved by his example that I am planning to make a film on him.
I am sure there are so many other people like them in the world, who are doing good in their own ways. Their voices need to be recorded, to be heard, to be remembered.

Popularising Qura'nic education in kerala

The neatly whitewashed town hall is packed to its capacity and beyond. Well over half the audience of around two thousand people are women. On the dais, a woman announces the day’s programme. Men and women, boys and girls, come on stage to receive prizes for their academic achievements. This is followed by a series of speeches and announcements of the results of various competitions. Outside, crowds mill around a row of stalls selling books, tapes and video documentaries. This is the annual function of the Quran Learning School (QLS) programme of the Ittihadul Shuban lil Mujahidin (ISM), the youth wing of the Nadwath ul-Mujahidin, a Kerala-based Islamic reformist movement. The location—the small coastal town of Kadangalur (or Cranganore), which has the distinction of hosting the first mosque to have been built in India a thousand or more years ago.
The KNM runs several hundred part-time madrasas throughout Kerala, which cater to students who also study in regular schools. Other Muslim groups in the state have similar part-time madrasas. Owing to Kerala’s unique system of Islamic educational provision, most school-going Malayali Muslim children have a fair grounding in their religion and most ulema in Kerala have had regular school education of at least ten years. Launched in 1995, the QLS programme is specially designed to teach the Quran to adults who might not have had the chance to attend madrasas as their children do, and who, because they work or study in colleges and universities, may not have the time to take up a detailed Islamic Studies course.
In some 500 local units or mahals of the ISM across Kerala, students, both males and females, mostly between the age of 30 and 40, regularly attend Quranic lessons held in Quran Learning Schools two hours a day, twice a week in rooms provided by local ISM activists. Timings are adjusted to suit the students’ convenience. Many, though not all, of these schools are co-educational.
Between 35-40% of the instructors and around 65% of the students in the QLS centres are women. Says C.A.Sayeed Faruqi, Director of the programme, ‘Unlike men, women get less opportunities to learn about Islam in the public domain, in mosques and religious gatherings’. ‘Hence’, he says, ‘they are particularly enthusiastic about the QLS programme’. Adds Salma Anwaria, head of the ISM’s women’s wing, the Muslim Girls’ and Women’s Movement (MGM), ‘Older women students are particularly hardworking. If they miss a class they often ring up the instructors to find out what had been taught that day’.
The QLS programme is an almost cost-free way of popularizing Quranic education. Most of the instructors are unpaid volunteers, many of them being government school and college teachers, businessmen, graduates of Arabic colleges and even some professionals such as doctors and engineers. They undergo a short instructors’ training course that the ISM conducts before they take on their task. Annual instructors’ refresher courses are also held.
The ISM has prepared a detailed seven-year syllabus for the QLS centres. Students are taught to study the Quran, along with its Malayalam translation, as well as the art of Quranic recitation (qirat). They are provided with audio CDs for this purpose, and efforts are underway to prepare a set of textbooks. Annual examinations are held every year, the papers being sent out from the ISM headquarters in Calicut. No fees are charged for the programme, although many students give a nominal monthly donation of twenty rupees.
Kerala’s Muslim community, accounting for almost a quarter of the state’s population, is divided into three major groups: followers of the Nadwath ul-Mujahidin, the Jamaat-e Islami and a broad category locally referred to as ‘Sunnis’ (the former two groups also claim to be among the Ahl-e Sunnat wa’l Jamaat). Despite sectarian differences, the QLS programme is open to all Muslims. Roughly half the students are associated with the Nadwath ul-Mujahidin, and the rest with other Islamic groups.
A few Hindus have also enrolled for the QLS programme in the past. Abdus Salafi, a government school Arabic teacher from Pattambi vllage in Kerala’s Palakkad distict, tells me about two men from the ‘low’ caste Ezhava community who had studied in the centre in his village where he serves as instructor. He tells me of another such Hindu youth, who had spoken at the annual QLS function three years ago on his experiences in the programme, having enrolled in it after having read the Malayalam translation of the Quran. ‘In his childhood’, Salafi relates, ‘he was told that if a non-Muslim touches the Quran he would lose his eyesight, but after doing the course he came to know that by reading the Quran one can get new insights into reality’.
Salafi also tells me that the QLS centre in his village was inaugurated by two of his Hindu friends, one an advocate and the other the president of the local press club. ‘In Kerala, we have historically enjoyed fairly good inter-community relations, with a long tradition of sharing’, he explains.
I sit through the programme, struck by the novelty of it all. Women on stage, demurely dressed, addressing a mixed Muslim gathering, something that would be considered almost anathema in north India. 76-year old Moosan Kutty leans on a stick and walks to the dais to receive a prize—a set of books—for being first in a Quranic essay competition. Two young girls follow after to collect prizes they have won in a Quanic quiz. They are followed by a young man, who has stood first in an Arabic word game competition.
The speeches that follow—by men and women, including QLS students talking about their experiences—are all in Malayalam, which I cannot understand. I step out and browse through the bookstalls. A friend translates the titles, again all in Malayalam, for me. Books on wide range of subjects, seeking to relate Islam to issues of contemporary concern, from gender rights and inter-communal harmony to the struggle against imperialism, are on sale, all produced by Malayali Muslim writers who, because of the linguistic barrier, are unheard of outside Kerala. And as I wait for the programme to get over I muse about how novel the Kerala Muslim example truly is.