Vakkom Moulavi
Encyclopedia
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
.
, 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.
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 translations.
of Egypt and his reform movement, Moulavi started journals in Arabi-Malayalam and in Malayalam modelled on Al Manar
. The Muslim was launched in January 1906 and was followed by Al-Islam(1918) and Deepika(1931). Through these publications, he tried to teach the Muslim community about the basic tenets of Islam. Al-Islam began publishing in April 1918 and played a pivotal role in Muslim renaissance in Kerala. It opposed Nerchas and Uroos
festivals amongst the Muslim community, thereby attracting opposition from the orthodox ulema
to the extent that they issued a fatwa
declaring the reading of it as sacrilege. Financial troubles and lack of readership led to the closure of the journal within five issues, but it is regarded as the pioneer journal that attempted religious reform amongst the Mappila
s of Kerala. While it was published in Malayalam language using Arabi-Malayalam script, Muslim and Deepika used Malayalam in script also.
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.
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".
He 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. His activities were further instrumental in the establishment of "Muslim Aikya Sangham", a united Muslim forum for all the Muslims of the Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions, and helped guide the Lajnathul Mohammadiyya Association of Alappuzha, Dharma Bhoshini Sabha of Kollam amongst others.
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.
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
, a princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
of the present day Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. 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
Perungavur Rajagopalachari
Diwan Bahadur Sir Perungavur Rajagopalachari, KCSI, CIE , also spelt in contemporary records as Sir P. Rajagopala Achariyar, was an Indian administrator...
.
Early life and family
Moulavi was born in 1873 in VakkomVakkom
Vakkom, വക്കം , is a village in the Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. It is located 35 kilometers north of Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. Vakkom panchayat is surrounded by back waters . Neighbouring Panchayats are Anjengo, Kadakkavoor, Vettoor, Cherunniyoor and...
, Chirayinkil
Chirayinkil (Lok Sabha constituency)
Chirayinkil Lok Sabha constituency was a Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, dissolved in 2008.-Assembly segments:Chirayinkil Lok Sabha constituency was composed of the following assembly segments:#Varkala#Attingal#Kilimanoor Assembly Constituency...
Taluk, Thiruvanthapuram in Travancore. His family had ancestral roots to Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
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
Mohammed Eeza
Mohammed Eeza was a south Indian scholar, writer and thinker of Islamic studies.He was a son of the social and religious reformer of Kerala Vakkom Moulavi. Eeza resumed the beliefs of his father which lay dormant after his death...
was a writer and scholar of Islamic studies. One of his nephews, Vakkom Majeed
Vakkom Majeed
S. Abdul Majeed known as Vakkom Majeed, was a veteran Freedom fighter and a former member of Travancore-Cochin State Assembly. Majeed was a politician-extraordinary in the socio-political realm of Kerala in the 20th Century...
, was an Indian freedom fighter and a former member of Travancore-Cochin
Travancore-Cochin
Travancore-Cochin or Thiru-Kochi is a former state of India . It was created on 1 July 1949 by the merger of two former princely states, the kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin....
State Assembly and another nephew, P.Habeeb Mohamed
P.Habeeb Mohamed
P. Habeeb Mohamed was the first Muslim judge of the Travancore High Court of Kerala.Born as the nephew of Vakkom Moulavi, the great social reformer of Kerala, Justice Habeeb Mohamed had his early education in Attingal High School, Trivandrum H.H.Maharaja's College, Trivandrum , Law...
, 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 translations.
Social Reformation
Maulavi was considered one of greatest reformers in the Kerala Muslim community, and is sometimes referred to as the "father of muslim renaissance". He emphasized the religious and socioeconomic aspects much more than the ritualistic aspects of religion. He also campaigned for the need for modern education, the education of women, and the elimination of potentially bad customs among the Muslim community. Influenced by the writings of Muhammad AbduhMuhammad Abduh
Muhammad Abduh was an Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism...
of Egypt and his reform movement, Moulavi started journals in Arabi-Malayalam and in Malayalam modelled on Al Manar
Al-Manar (journal)
al-Manar, meaning "The Lighthouse" was an influential Islamic journal, written in Arabic, published by Rashid Rida from 1898 until his death in 1935....
. The Muslim was launched in January 1906 and was followed by Al-Islam(1918) and Deepika(1931). Through these publications, he tried to teach the Muslim community about the basic tenets of Islam. Al-Islam began publishing in April 1918 and played a pivotal role in Muslim renaissance in Kerala. It opposed Nerchas and Uroos
Urs
Urs is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint in South Asia, usually held at the saint's dargah . South Asian Sufis being mainly Chishtiyya, refer to their saints as lovers and God as beloved...
festivals amongst the Muslim community, thereby attracting opposition from the orthodox ulema
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
to the extent that they issued a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
declaring the reading of it as sacrilege. Financial troubles and lack of readership led to the closure of the journal within five issues, but it is regarded as the pioneer journal that attempted religious reform amongst the Mappila
Mappila
Mappila or Moplah refers to a Muslim community of Kerala, primarily in the northern region called Malabar, which arose in Malabar as a result of the pre and post Islamic Arab contacts. Significant numbers of the community are also present in the southern districts of Karnataka and western parts of...
s of Kerala. While it was published in Malayalam language using Arabi-Malayalam script, Muslim and Deepika used Malayalam in script also.
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.
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
Kafir
Kafir is an Arabic term used in a Islamic doctrinal sense, usually translated as "unbeliever" or "disbeliever"...
", others branded him as a "Wahhabi".
He 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. His activities were further instrumental in the establishment of "Muslim Aikya Sangham", a united Muslim forum for all the Muslims of the Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions, and helped guide the Lajnathul Mohammadiyya Association of Alappuzha, Dharma Bhoshini Sabha of Kollam amongst others.
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.
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.Vakkom Moulavi Foundation Trust (VMFT)
The Vakkom Moulavi Foundation Trust (VMFT) is intended to be a lasting memorial to Vakkom Moulavi, headed by Dr N. A. Karim, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of Kerala University heads the team, assisted by the Chairperson, Dr. Sajida Basheer, and the Director, M. A. Azeem.Further reading
- Vakkom Moulavi — (1981) Haji M. Muhammedkannu.
- Vakkom Maulaviyute tiranduthutta kritikal ( The Collected Works of Vakkom Maulavi — Malayalam) Published by Vakkom Maulavi Publications, 1979
- Muhammad Abdul Khader Moulavi, Pg 314, Modernist Islam, 1840-1940: a sourcebook By Charles Kurzman