Table Of ContentIslamic Reform and Colonial
Discourse on Modernity in India
Postcolonialism and Religions
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J. Jayakiran Sebastian is a Presbyter of the Church of South India and
H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures at The Lutheran
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Decolonizing the Body of Christ: Theology and Theory after Empire?
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A Postcolonial African American Re-reading of Colossians:
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Historic Engagements with Occidental Cultures, Religions, Powers:
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Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modernity in India:
Socio-Political and Religious Thought of Vakkom Moulavi
Jose Abraham
Islamic Reform and
Colonial Discourse on
Modernity in India
Socio-Political and Religious
Thought of Vakkom Moulavi
Jose Abraham
ISLAMIC REFORM AND COLONIAL DISCOURSE ON MODERNITY IN INDIA
Copyright © Jose Abraham, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-38313-6
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-48040-1 ISBN 978-1-137-37884-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137378842
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abraham, Jose, 1970– author.
Islamic reform and colonial discourse on modernity in India :
socio-political and religious thought of Vakkom Moulavi /
Jose Abraham.
pages cm.—(Postcolonialism and religions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Maulavi, Vakkam, 1873–1932. 2. Moplahs—India—Kerala—
Biography. 3. Social reformers—India—Kerala—Biography. I. Title.
DS432.M65M383 2014
954.03(cid:25)5092—dc23 2014024870
[B]
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: December 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
Notes on Transliteration xiii
Quranic Quotations xv
Introduction 1
1 Vakkom Moulavi: Biographical Details 21
2 Swadeshabhimani and Identity Politics in Kerala 43
3 Contributions to Educational Reform 65
4 Promotion of Islamic Reform 89
5 Representing Islamic Modernity 115
6 Community Mobilization 137
Conclusion 167
Notes 175
Bibliography 225
Index 237
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Preface
T
he story of this book, which is a revised version of my doctoral
dissertation, began in 2002 when I joined the Institute of Islamic
Studies at McGill University as a PhD candidate hoping to study
Muslim nationalism in the Indian subcontinent, which was then a
topic of interest in the wake of the debate on the Hindu national-
ism of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Professor Sajida Alvi who was my
advisor suggested, after learning that I hail from Kerala, that I would
be able to make a better contribution by studying about the his-
tory and religion of the Muslims of Kerala, known as Mappilas, who
are, in all probability, the oldest Muslim community of the South
Asian su bcontinent.1 I was then reminded of the keen observation of
Professor Roland Miller, who lived in Kerala for twenty-five years and
speaks the Malayalam language fluently, that Mappilas, irrespective of
their long history and traditions, are the “the unknown Muslims.”2
Thus, I focused my attention on Mappilas, especially on their colonial
past. After one year, I visited Roland Miller, who gave me the idea to
research Vakkom Muhammad Abdul Khadir Moulavi (1873–1932),
acknowledged as the “father” of the Muslim socio-religious reform
movement in Kerala. It was only befitting that both of them served
as co-supervisors of my doctoral dissertation titled Modernity, Islamic
Reform, and the Mappilas of Kerala: The Contributions of Vakkom
Moulavi (1873–1932).
Vakkom Muhammad Abdul Khadir Moulavi, popularly known as
Vakkom Moulavi, began his career as a journalist—and eventually
bought his own printing press—in 1904. He realized the potential of
print media to initiate socio-religious reform, spread patriotic think-
ing, promote modern education, educate people about civil rights
and responsibilities, and mobilize Muslims at the local and state lev-
els, articulating their grievances and bringing them to the attention
of the ruling authorities. Vakkom Moulavi’s publications included a
Malayalam newspaper (Swadeshabhimani), two Malayalam journals
(Muslim and Deepika), and an Arabie-Malayalam3 journal (al-Islam).
He also published an Arabie-Malayalam book titled Lawh al-Sabah.
viii Preface
Though he primarily disseminated his ideas of reform through these
publications, he also wrote many articles that were published in
contemporary journals in Kerala. In addition to authoring original
works, he translated valuable works from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and
English into Malayalam and Arabie-Malayalam, including al-Gh azali’s
Kimiya-i Sa‘’adat. Unfortunately, we do not have all the works pub-
lished by Vakkom Moulavi at our disposal.4 We only have two col-
lections of selected articles of Vakkom Moulavi: one compiled by
Mohamed Kannu (Vakkom Moulavi: Prabhandhangal, Smaranakal
[Vakkom Moulavi: Essays and Obituaries]) and another collected by
Mohamed Abda (Vakkom Maulaviyude Thiranjedutha Kruthikal
[Selected Writings of Vakkom Maulavi]).5 An article published in
Muslim by Vakkom Moulavi on educational development among
Muslims of Travancore was later reprinted by K. K. Muhammad
Abdulkareem, titled “Thiruvithamkoorile Adyakala Vidyabhasa
Pravarthanangal” [Early educational endeavors in Travancore].6
We also have a letter written by Vakkom Moulavi to Rashid Rida,
which was originally published in al-Manar.7 Vakkom Moulavi’s
newspaper, Swadeshabhimani, was suppressed by the Travancore
government, which also destroyed the remaining copies. Therefore,
copies of Swadeshabhimani cannot be found in libraries in Kerala.
However, selected editorials from the newspaper were published in
The Travancore Deportation: A Brief Account of the K. Ramakrishna
Pillai and Dewan’s Note Dated 15th August 1912, on the Suppression
of the Swadeshabhimani Newspaper.8
This book is coming after a series of books and articles on Vakkom
Moulavi, mostly written in the Malayalam language and published
in Kerala. It was Mohamed Kannu, one of the students of Vakkom
Moulavi and an active participant in his socio-religious reform move-
ment,9 who wrote the first brief biography of Vakkom Moulavi
(Vakkom Moulavi (Jeevacaritram) [Vakkom Moulavi (Biography)]) in
1981.10 It is significant to note that even though Vakkom Moulavi
came to be regarded as the “father of Muslim religious reform” in
Kerala, the first collection of his writings was published only 46 years
after his death. In addition, Mohamed Kannu also wrote an article on
Vakkom Moulavi titled “Samudaya Uthejakanaya Vakkom Moulavi”
[Vakkom Moulavi: One who Inspired a Community] in 1970.11
His work titled Vakkom Moulaviyum Navothana Nayakanmaurum
(Jeevacarithra Padanangal) [Vakkom Moulavi and Leaders of the
Renaissance (Biographical Studies)] is highly significant for under-
standing the growth and development of the religious reform move-
ment in Kerala as spearheaded by Vakkom Moulavi.12 K. M. Seethi
Preface ix
Sahib, a close adherent of Vakkom Moulavi, wrote an article detail-
ing memories of his mentor titled “Vakkom Moulaviye Patti Chila
Smaranakal” [A Few Reminiscences about Vakkom Moulavi]), which
is another important source to learn about the life and work of
Vakkom Moulavi.13 K. M. Moulavi’s Parethanaya Muhammad Abdul
Khadir Moulavi [The Late Muhammad Abdul Khadir Moulavi] is
also an authoritative source on Vakkom Moulavi and Islamic reform
in Kerala.14 Writings by Vakkom Moulavi’s family members, who
had the opportunity to know him firsthand, need to be taken seri-
ously as another important category of sources. Abda’s (Vakkom
Moulavi’s son-in-law) article titled “Vakkukale Padavalakkiya
Vakkom Moulavi” [The Vakkom Moulavi Who Turned Words into
a Sword], Shakoor’s (his nephew) “Vakkom Moulavi: The Man Who
Led Islamic Renaissance in Kerala,” and Bashir’s (one of his grand-
sons), “Swadeshabhimani Vakkom Moulavi,” 15 are the notable works
in this category.
A number of authors have used the above-mentioned sources to
highlight various aspects of Vakkom Moulavi’s life and his contri-
butions toward socio-religious reform in Kerala.16 Sharafudeen com-
piled a monograph on Vakkom Moulavi in English titled “Vakkom
Moulavi (A Study),” in which the subject is portrayed as the great-
est humanist, journalist, social worker, and religious reformer the
Mappilas have ever seen.17 Chunakkara Gopalakrishnan’s brief
biography of Vakkom Moulavi (“Vakkom Moulavi”) is especially
important as it provides an interpretation of his life from a national-
istic perspective.18 T. Venugopal, a biographer of Swadeshabhimani
Ramakrishna Pillai, the editor of Vakkom Moulavi’s Swadeshabhimani
newspaper, refers to Vakkom Moulavi as one of the three founding
fathers of the Swadeshabhimani movement, as may be seen from his
work “Swadeshabhimani’ Prasthanathinte Muvar Sangham” [The
Three-Member Association of the Swadeshabhimani Movement].19
N. A. Kareem, in his article “Moulaviyum Deepikayum (padanam)”
[Moulavi and Deepika: A Study] maintained that Vakkom Moulavi
was a product of the Indian renaissance and, therefore, embodied its
finest social and intellectual values in his personal life and activities.20
Roland Miller, in his work titled Mappila Muslims of Kerala: A Study in
Islamic Trends, rightly acknowledges that the religious reform move-
ment among Muslims was initiated by Vakkom Moulavi.21 However,
he overlooks the Kerala-based roots of Vakkom Moulavi’s reform
movement and presents it as “a conservative reform” that began under
the influence of Rashid Rida’s al-Manar. Recently, in 2010, T. Jamal
Muhammad published a detailed biography of Vakkom Moulavi,
