Mappila Muslims

Title: Mappila Muslims – A Study on Society and Anti-colonial Struggles

Author: Hussain Randathani

Publisher: Other Books, 2007 (First)

ISBN: 9788190388788

Pages: 182

Muslims constitute a quarter of Kerala’s population which is very powerful in the north, in the region known as Malabar. They are called Mappilas there, which is a generic term for non-Hindus in Kerala, as seen in the central and southern parts where Christians are more numerous this appellation is applied to them. This book explores the formation of the Mappila society and its struggles against colonialism. This is part of the doctoral research of the author. Dr. Hussain Randathani is a historian and had taught in colleges in Kerala.

This book examines the origins of the Muslim society. Kerala had a long tradition of trade with Arabia from prehistoric times even before Islam originated there. Arabs acted as the conduit of Kerala’s spices to Europe and the Mediterranean world. They enjoyed a monopoly of the sea trade as local Hindus stayed away from the sea on religious grounds. Kerala’s kings always held them in good humour as the sole income of the state was custom duty on spices. Locals who were affiliated to the Arabs were naturally co-opted to Islam when their masters embraced the new faith in the seventh century. Muslim warriors helped the Zamorins of Calicut in his military expeditions against the neighbours.

The bulk of the people among the Mappila community are converted Hindus and the early kings are reported to have encouraged conversions. But Randathani mistakes the slave trade as voluntary change of faith as can be seen from Barbosa’s comment reproduced in the book. The European traveller states that “if the Hindu king finds any youths or young men, who are vagrant and no employ and have no close relations, he sells them as slaves to Muslims who are willing to pay three to five cruzados each”. Women were also traded (p.15). This was how the Zamorin ‘encouraged’ conversions! Communal riots were a common feature of Malabar prior to 1921 in which the Hindus were massacred or converted while Muslim deaths were mainly caused by the action of law enforcement agencies. These riots usually began as an outbreak against the British government, which would then be cleverly diverted against the Hindus. The author hails the forced religious conversions in these uprisings as ‘an appropriate means of dealing with people who were assisting the government forces to render them harmless”. During the 1831-51 outbreaks, the Muslim population shot up by a whopping 42.8% (p.17). The role of Sufis was an important factor in the spread of Islam in Malabar. They also contributed to local literature. Ballads on the life and miracles of Sufis were known as malas (necklaces), the oldest of them being Mohiuddin Mala of 1607.

The growth of Islam in Kerala is a testimonial to the tolerant spirit of its society. They were given every avenue to practice and propagate their faith. If the author is to be believed, local Hindu kings even encouraged people to convert to Islam. But what they gave in return is a point that must be discussed and debated in detail. There is a clear unbalance in the way scholars analyse both the communities in which a greater than deserved allowance is given to the easily provoked religious sentiments of the Muslim community. Mistaking the spirit of plurality as a sign of weakness or religious inferiority, a deeply fanatical and belligerent ethos was generated among the Mappilas. Theological variations inside Islam itself were brutally suppressed. Kondotti Valiya Tangal was a respected Islamic scholar who followed the Shia sect which was abhorrent to the Sunni majority among Mappilas. He and his disciples were brought to heel by social boycott and they submitted to the majority Sunnis in nineteenth century.

The central theme of Randathani’s work is the anti-colonial struggle of Kerala's Mappilas. This is nothing but a figment of imagination. Mappilas fought the Portuguese and the British with tooth and nail but not because they were imperialists. What the Mappilas had fought for was jihad - pure and simple - like what we saw on 9/11 and continues to see in Iraq and Syria now. The author himself admits that Mappila resistance against the British was a religious crusade led by religious leaders (p.89). The book tries to hoodwink readers into believing that Muslim violence was a response to agrarian oppression unleashed by Hindu landlords. This weak edifice falls to the ground in the light of figures provided by the author himself. Between 1842 and 1852, 232 suits were filed by Hindu landlords against Muslim tenants, of which 81 evictions were ordered. In the same period, 155 suits were filed by Muslim landlords against Muslim tenants, in which 43 evictions were decreed. Moreover, the rebel religious leaders were themselves very rich and big landlords. The author counters this paradox with an assertion that Hinduism made the persons suffer in silence while Islam recommended fight against the oppressor. Antagonism towards an oppressor was “naturally directed against his religion also” (p.91). That's why the rebels often attacked the temples of the landlords. Just witness the callousness with which a twenty-first century intellectual whitewashes jihad! A real merit of Randathani is that he concedes the fallacy of his arguments on some unguarded occasions. He admits that the reason behind the popular struggles of nineteenth century cannot be viewed as agrarian discontent alone (p.100). Real or perceived slights against religion or its leaders, forcible conversions, construction of mosques on Hindu property, re-conversions back to Hinduism were all causes for violence. Sayyid Fazl Tangal of Mambaram was a leader of jihadist propaganda. He was banished to Arabia in 1855, and Collector H V Conolly, who ordered the transportation, was assassinated at his residence. Another Collector, C A Innes, was attacked in 1915 for recovering a Hindu boy who was forcefully converted to Islam.

Apologists of jihad among Muslim intellectuals usually follow the ‘injustice line’. If-justice-is-denied-to-a-group-of-Muslims,-they-will-turn-towards-terrorism is the standard refrain. These intellectuals really align with terrorists in their hearts, but are reluctant to openly do so only because the chances of success of a pure jihadist organisation is rather limited in today’s world. Randathani does the same thing when he claims that “when justice was denied completely from all sides, the Mappilas became desperate and resorted to suicidal attacks and individual terrorism” (p.120). The supposedly anti-colonialist Sayyid Fazl Tangal was a supporter of the Turkish Sultan! Isn't that an oxymoron, because the Ottoman Empire ruled over subject peoples stationed far and wide? He supported the Sultan in European wars. This book also includes a review of Tangal’s book Uddat al Umara wal Hukkaum li Ihanat al Kafarat wa Abdat al Asnam (preparation to judges and leaders to undermine the idolaters and unbelievers). The title itself expresses the extreme contempt the Sufi had harboured against the inhabitants of Kerala. This is a compilation of opinions and fatwas. Sayyid Fazl reminded the obligation of Muslims to obey the Sultan of Turkey and assured the jihadis that they would become ‘the flying birds of heaven’ if they fell dead in battle.

The author has included some dubious reference books like Keralolpathi in weaving his arguments. This eats away at the credibility of the narrative. There are no practically original ideas in this book. Proofing errors mock at the user on every page. Absence of mentions of the 1921 Mappila riots in Malabar is surprising, especially because its suppression was so brutal and effective that not a single outbreak originated in Malabar after that.

The book is not recommended as it puts jihad in a good light, as if it is a weapon to fight injustice. Whatever may be the original meaning of the term, jihad means an unacceptable bout of indiscriminate violence in practice.

Rating: 2 Star