MUSLIM MALBAR – PART 2

this may or may not be considered as a follow-up to the first article ” muslim malabar – history” . here i would like to focus on the present condition muslim women.

as i mentioned earlier the muslims of malabar were the most backward among the three major communities of the state at the time of independence,  the gulf boom in the 80s and 90s brought them to the forefront of the socio-economic life of the state. though at present the community is more dynamic than the hindus  still they lag behind the mainstream by a generation or two . this is most evident in malappuram which could be called the defacto capital of muslim malabar where the community is plagued  by  social evils like gender inequality and  child marriages  .

muslim women would be the worst of their sex with respect to any social indicators in this state , which is known for its achievements in this field . the oppression of women is so widespread in the community that it would be hard to find working muslim women brisking to work during the peak hours in any major towns of malappuram , this inferior status of women is so deep-seated in the muslim psyche that once while taking case history when i asked a man whether his wife worked he looked at me in contempt and never replied. many of my lady friends doing bds  considers ( rather forced to consider) this degree as a means to get a good husband and 80% of them would not practice it  after getting married . if this is the case with well-educated and comparatively free women the condition of the underbelly of the society is better not described . this attitude towards the social status of women will come as a shock to anyone from outside the community , which was the case with me .

child marriages are so common in the community that no one ,how rich or poor are immune from it . nearly all muslim women gets married before 23 and would be pregnant by the next year , they have no choice in postponing this as the appropriate marriage age for a muslim woman/ girl is set at  18 . nearly 10% of the muslim students in my batch were married by first year and another 20% either got engaged or got married by the next.

one perfect example for this is that of one of my closest friends who got married in the second year , the marriage was basically a love marriage with blessings of both the families   and the husband is an MBBS doctor  . the girl got pregnant the next year and took a years leave , we must remember the fact that this girl repeated the entrance exam  to get into the course in the first hand , she want to continue her study but her husband and the families are against it , as of now its unclear whether she would continue or not.

marriage is the most relevant and discussed topic in the college campuses of malappuram whether it be boys or girls their basic aim in life  is to fall in love / get married before they are old( over 21 years in case of girls) . being a minority in my college the majority expects me  to be like them , so one of my friends asked me when am i going to get married – at 20 marriage was the least of my concerns but i answered 28 or 30 ( as my dad got married at 29) , he was shocked to hear my answer. then came nearly half an hour of lecture about how a man is to get married when his organs are at the height of their activity ( which is supposed to be 24) and how i will end up with an old lady ( aged 24 or 25) if i married ” late” . i still remember his emphasis on “pleasure” and “virginity” .

this article was never intended to hurt the sentiments of the community , but was written from first hand knowledge by the author who is  trying to cope with a world which to him is “stranger than fiction”

MUSLIM MALABAR – HISTORY

Islam constitutes about a quarter of the population of the state of Kerala ,their population is unevenly distributed with the bulk of them concentrated in the districts of malappuram and kozhikode.Islam came to the malayali shores through trade like anywhere in the indian ocean region, a few of these arab traders took malayali wives(mappila = groom), settled here. for centuries they were the trading class that constituted the spice trade in malabar,being concentrated in the towns with no representation inland. like christians or jews who propagated their religion before them they also wanted to distinguish themselves from the rest of the populace , so they  developed vocabulary with introduced arabic words ( for eg:padachavan for god which was adopted from jewish malayalam) , had customs like tying the mundu to the left and eating food on the dorsum of the plantain leaf. for nearly a thousand years islam was a minority religion just a few thousands in their number grew slowly with converts . the difference between the muslims of kerala and the north was the lack of forceful conversions , they lived in harmony with the society but largely confining to themselves with little or no interaction culturally with others. the local rulers never considered them as the sons of the soil but just as some foreign implants like the romans and jews before them.but surely there were exceptions like the arakkal royalty which embraced islam.

the community was forced out of  its cocoon of isolation by sword-  the invasions of hyder ali and tippu sultan.as they marched down from mysore through wayanad or through the coast down from mangalore blood flowed like rivers , neither tippu nor hyder were fanatics to the degree of  their north indian counter parts but the shear objection of slavery in malayali minds made them to revolt. there were reports of revolt in the malabar under tippu on a regular basis the only way to suppress it was brutality. then came the age old method of suppression killing of men, raping women and taking slaves. the nairs who spearheaded the revolt were declared as the lowest of the casts their tharavads looted men and women  given choices either to convert or die.thousands opted the first. so the muslim population in malabar multiplied a thousand fold. with the  defeat of Mysore in british hands many families who took refuge in travancore came back to take their possesions. many of the major aristocratic families who stayed back had taken islam . the british took over their properties  and distributed it  among the returnees. many wanted to return to hinduism but the returnees objected as they would have to give back the property they took from the neoconverts. this frustration and helplessness  made the converts to embrace their new religion with ferver.this resentment brew below the surface till the 1900s when it exploded as the mopila rebellion, the anger they felt for generations was let loose conversions ,killings and rape followed especially in valluvanad and eranad.this could be seen as the first sign of muslim upheavel or their first attempt to get back the dignity they lost with conversion.this time also saw the consolidation of muslims politically with setting up of many islamic fronts.

the malabari muslim identity hence forged was the unique combination of arab coastal communities and the nair and ezava heartland of eranad , valluvanad and kolathirinad. this is what the malayali muslim is – a unique blend of arab ethos with malayali values.