History of Kerala Muslims

മാപ്പിള സാഹിത്യത്തിലെ പ്രധാന ജനുസ്സുകളിലൊന്നായ ‘പടപ്പാട്ടു’കൾ അധിനിവേശവിരുദ്ധബോധം രൂപപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതിൽ വഹിച്ച പങ്ക് അന്വേഷിക്കുകയാണ് ഇൗ പ്രബന്ധത്തിൽ. പടപ്പാട്ടുകളിൽ ഏറെ ജനകീയമായ, കമ്പളത്ത് ഗോവിന്ദൻ നായർ രചിച്ച ‘ഏറനാട്ടിൻ ധീരമക്കൾ’ എന്ന പാട്ടിനെ സവിശേഷമായി വിശകലനം ചെയ്യുകയാണ് ഇവിടെ. ഗുണാത്മക രീതിശാസ്ത്രവും ഉള്ളടക്ക വിശകലനരീതിയും അന്വേഷണത്തിൽ പിന്തുടരുന്നു. കഴിഞ്ഞ നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ മാപ്പിള സാഹിത്യത്തിൽ പിറവികൊണ്ട ഏറ്റവും ജനകീയ പടപ്പാട്ടുകളിൽ ഒന്നായ കമ്പളത്തിെൻറ ഏറനാട്ടിൻ ധീരമക്കൾ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യബോധവും അധിനിവേശവിരുദ്ധതയും സമൂഹത്തിൽ പ്രചരിപ്പിക്കുന്നതിൽ വലിയ പങ്കുവഹിച്ചു എന്ന നിഗമനമാണ് പ്രബന്ധം മുന്നോട്ടുവെക്കുന്നത്.

താക്കോൽവാക്കുകൾ: പടപ്പാട്ട്, അധിനിവേശവിരുദ്ധത

Haleema Beevi is recognized as the first Muslim female editor in the state of Kerala, as supported by historical documentation. She is best known for her involvement in the socio-cultural and political spheres during 1970–1983. She edited three monthlies (Muslim Vanitha, Vanitha, Adhunika Vanitha), one weekly (Bharatha Chandrika), and one daily (Bharatha Chandrika). In addition to this, she wrote for various periodicals and magazines on subjects concerning women, especially Muslim women.

Following the Kerala Muslim Renaissance, she actively worked to reshape the perception of Muslim women in Kerala society as well as within the Muslim community. Her writings can be seen as attempts towards this goal. She analyzed the existing situation in the lives of Muslim women and presented potential remedies in her writings. She critically examined the collective consciousness of Muslim society towards Muslim women, including the religious interpretations and their adaptations that had been used to shape many systems and perceptions.

To achieve this, she conducted an independent reanalysis of Quran and Hadith interpretations, and she challenged the mainstream religious society, including the clergy, in her writing — an extremely bold activity during that time. Despite her distinctive and remarkable writing style and analysis, her writings did not receive the rightful attention from the mainstream Kerala literary society or the Muslim community.

Considering the nature of her other social engagements, it can be concluded that writing was an extension of them. Therefore, it would be unfair to regard her writings as purely literary works or to analyze them with such criteria. The writings of Haleema Beevi earned a specific place in the realm of the Kerala Muslim Renaissance.

JBP More is an internationally acclaimed historian and philosopher who has struck new paths in the field of historical writing. He did his schooling in India and obtained a doctorate at the prestigious Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sodales in Paris, He is a world-renowned specialist of the Muslims and Dravidians of southern India. His path-breaking works on the French colonial history in India have been warmly welcomed by scholars all over the world. His recent book is titled Partition of lndia: Players and Partners.

Mala-Mawlid literatures along with their collective reciting culture, have played a great role in the formation of sociocultural identity of Kerala Muslims. More than little religiously or locally considerable composition or presentation, they bridge the gap between Muslim minds and rituals, as these presentations stood as a median for worship itself. Now, there are some newfangled feelings to this, as some Muslim groups of Kerala, such as Mujahids and Jamaa't-e-Islami, who question the credibility of Mala-Mawlids, on the standards of Shirk or un-Islamic. Sunni Muslims, a major, prominent group of Kerala Muslims, on the other hand, has retained their ciphers and signs through such ritual practices. The issue has further stretched in to the conflict of polytheism (Shirk) and monotheism too, as David Parkin illustrates in the study of Swalihis (1994). Recent studies have emphasized that the arguments over religious rituals turn on disagreements to the correct method of rituals/prayers. This paper examines how these Mala/Mawlids mobilize the Sunni groups of Kerala Muslims, to a self-identified movement. It tries to figure out the spaces on which the questions of identity and belongingness emerge very prominently in Muslim minds. It also analyses, if at all, the other Muslim religious groups and movements, in the present context feel hurt and claim for the "True Islam".

Fort Cochin is a region in the district of Ernakulam which is a part of handful of water bound regions towards the south west of the main land of Cochin. Adjacent to this is Mattanchery. In 1967 these three municipalities along with a few adjoining areas were amalgamated to form the Corporation of Cochin. The name Cochin implies “co-chin” meaning like ‘china’. It looked like china when the Chinese came to the region during the 14th century and installed Chinese nets. Cochin was a fishing village in the kingdom of Kochi in the pre colonial Kerala. The territory that Fort Cochin was granted to the Portuguise in 1503 by the Rajas of Kochi after the forces of Alfonso de Albuquerque helped him fighting the forces of Samoothiri of Kozhikodu4.Muslim fisher folk who engaged in catching fishes were coming from Ponnani and Kolachal stayed in Fort Cochin during the seasons and performed special prayer for getting big catch. Majority of the Muslim inhabitance of fort Cochin engaged in marketing.