Hereunder are a selection of newspaper clippings, mainly from the US Press, extracted from the well-researched book just released titled, “Sultan Variomkunnan” by young historian Ramees Mohammed on the Mappila Uprising. These clippings furnish further evidence that the Mappilas were fighting for India’s Freedom and were not Anti-Hindu.
The following statements by the correspondent of the Chicago Tribune are pertinent:
“Hindus Shared the Unrest and ‘Gandhi ki Jai’ was the Watchword” “The Moplahs Revere the Sultan Caliph and Loathe his Enemies”
The Mappila Uprising was to Destroy British Rule
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“Hindus Shared the Unrest and ‘Gandhi ki Jai’ was the Watchword” “The Moplahs Revere the Sultan Caliph and Loathe his Enemies”
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British Police and Intelligence responsible for forced conversions to discredit Mappilas
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source: http://www.turkvehind.org / Turkiye Ve Hindistan / by Noor Mohammed Khalid
Forgotten amidst waves of bad news, including geopolitical conflicts, environmental disasters and the global pandemic, is the humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war that began in 2014 in the fabled country of Yemen. For several centuries, the southern Arab country was a bridge between Kerala and lands to the west such as West Asia, Africa and Europe.
It was enterprising merchants from modern-day Yemen who began to make use of the monsoon winds to come to Muziris. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic mawsim, which means season. These businessmen lived a pretty globalised lifestyle by splitting their time between the Malabar Coast and southern Arabia at a time when there were no identity cards, passports, visas or even a concept of a nation-state. Some of these Arabs chose to settle down in the Malabar Coast and marry local women.
In a paper for the Indian History Congress in 1976, noted historian S M Mohamed Koya was able to trace the origins of the Malabar Muslim community.
“Some of these Arabs may have come from Hijaz, Oman and Bahrain. However, they were chiefly businessmen from Yemen and Hadramaut and many .Mappila families, particularly those known as ‘tangal’ families trace their origin to this area,” Mohamed wrote.
Interestingly enough, at the time of their migration to India, these merchants probably spoke Hadramautic, a language that belongs to the Old South Arabian subgroup of Semitic. “A large number of Mappila families find their origin in the interior Hadramaut town of Tarim, a wealthy town dominated by Sayyids which was once the intellectual and religious centre of Hadramaut,” Mohamed, who was a professor at the University of Calicut for decades, added.
In the paper, Mohamed stressed the fact that the traders started coming to India well before the advent of Islam, but their presence and established relations with the people of Malabar helped spread the religion in Kerala. “As pre-Islamic traders, the Arabs provided a friendly situation that facilitated the introduction of Islam and as Muslims, they introduced the faith,” he wrote.
Ponnani’s Makhdum family
Ponnani, a historic town that was once a major trading port, is also linked to Yemen. The town, at the peak of its glory, was home to the revered Makhdum family of Islamic theologians. Under Zain-ud-Din Makhdum and his grandson Zain ud-Din Makhdum II, Ponnani became a major centre of Islamic studies and is believed to have attracted students from Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and Ceylon.
It was also in this coastal town that the Arabi Malayalam or Ponnani script was invented. Since only 28 letters of Arabic orthography were available for 53 phonemes of Malayalam, additional letters established for Persian were used for this script.
Several old Mappila folk songs and works of literature were written in the Ponnani script, which stayed popular among Kerala’s Muslim community until the middle of the 20th century.
It has been on the wane since Indian independence and is taught mainly in a few madrassas in northern Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands. There is no clear evidence though that this script has a Yemeni connection, but it was the script of choice for the Makdhum theologians.
This brilliant article by Kozhikode-based journalist Nijeesh Narayanan provides insights into the script, which is now in serious peril.
Zain ud-Din Makhdum II’s Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen chronicles the struggles between the people of the Malabar Coast and the colonial Portuguese. The book, originally written in the Ponnani script, describes the fierce resistance put up by the Kunjali Marakkar’s navy along with the Zamorin of Calicut against the Portuguese.
Culinary and cultural impact
There is little doubt that Yemeni elements have given an extra layer of depth to Kerala cuisine. Meen Pathiri and Irachi Pathiri are the results of Malayali and southern Arabic cuisine coming together.
Another dish that found its way from Hadraumat in Yemen to Kerala is Mandi or the famous Malabar Biriyani. Interestingly enough, the Yemeni version of the dish is usually made with chicken or lamb, and not with beef. If the Yemenis did bring Saltah, their delectable stew and the national dish, to Kerala, it did not manage to survive in its original form in the state, although many Malabari families have their own variations with different names.
Professor Mohamed in his paper wrote about how the mingling of the Yemeni immigrants with Malayalis has enriched the society of Kerala. He wrote, “Culturally the Malayalis were as far removed from the Arabs as the high topical scenery of Kerala is removed from the austere landscape of Arabia. But once wedded, the offspring of that union, the Mappilas have remained loyal to both parents.”
Before Yemen slipped into its latest civil war, there was a small and vibrant Malayali community in the country. One can only hope that the geopolitical puppet masters that have brought so much misery to the country allow it to once again live in peace. It is only when peace returns to the country that its millennia-old links to Kerala can be traced and re-established.
(The writer is the author of ‘Globetrotting for Love and Other Stories from Sakhalin Island’ and ‘A Week in the Life of Svitlana’).
source: http://www.onmanorama.com / OnManorama / Home> Lifestyle> Column / by Ajay Kamalakaran / June 28th, 2021
Adiraja Mariyumma, alias Cheriya Bikkunhu Beevi, taking over as head of the royal Arakkal family in Kannur on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: S_K_MOHAN
Octogenarian assumes charge after death of her cousin Fathima Muthu Beevi on May 4
Octogenarian Adiraja Mariyumma, alias Cheriya Bikkunhu Beevi, is the new head of the Arakkal family, the royal house that once ruled old parts of Kannur and controlled some islands which form part of Lakshadweep.
Ms. Beevi, who resides at her residence at Arakkal Kettu, the compound comprising houses of members of the royal family, took over as new head of the family in a simple and brief function attended by family members on Wednesday evening. Wife of the late A.P. Aluppi Elaya, retired administrative officer, Chennai Ports Trust (CPT), 85-year-old Ms. Beevi has been residing at Almar Mahal here ever since she returned from Chennai 19 years ago.
She assumed charge as new head of the family following the death of her predecessor and cousin, 86-year-old Sulthan Arakkal Adiraja Fathima Muthu Beevi, on May 4.
Matrilineal system
As the family follows the matrilineal system of succession common among Mappila Muslims in the region, the eldest member of the family becomes the head of the royal family which once ruled the lone Muslim principality in the State.
“The senior-most member of the Arakkal family, regardless of gender, becomes the titular head of the family,” said Abdul Shukkoor, son of the new head of the family. When the Arkkal properties were partitioned in 1960 there were 59 members and 39 of them had died after serving as head of the family as per the seniority norm in succession, said Mr. Shukkoor, 58, who is working as Superintendent in the Finance Department of the CPT.
Titles
Traditionally, female heads of the Arakkal house are known as Arakkal Beevis, while male heads are called Ali Rajas.
The royal family had good relationship with Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore. When the British had defeated Tipu Sultan in the last decade of the 18th century, the family was forced to cede their land to the British.
Mr. Shukkoor said the Arakkal family once had revenues from landed properties and rented buildings and trade activities including pepper and coir.
Much of the land of the family had been surrendered following the enforcement of the Land Ceiling Act during the rule of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Mohamed Nazeer / Kannur – May 09th, 2019
The British unleashed ruthless violence over Mappilas to quell the rebellion in south Malabar taluks
A mass grave in Adhikarathodi, Melmuri, where 11 bodies had been buried after the massacre. (Photo courtesy: Sameel)
Ninety-seven years ago on this day, the British army massacred 246 people in a small village in the Malappuram district of Kerala as part of a crackdown against the Mappila rebels.
The Mappila Rebellion was part of the non-violent Khilafat Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Ali Brothers in 1921-22. The Mappila Muslims, who reside in the south Malabar region, had taken the movement seriously and engaged in combat with the well-equipped British army.
Ali Musliyar (Courtesy: Wikimedia)
The Mappila warriors, under the leadership of cleric Ali Musliyar and Variyam Kunnath Kunjahammed Haji (V K Haji), captured the taluks of Eranadu and Valluvanadu from the British and established their own rule.
After a short period, the British suppressed the rebellion savagely by letting loose the Gurkha Regiment, Dorset Regiment etc. According to official data, more than 2,300 people were killed and over 45,000 rebels were imprisoned in different jails across the country (the numbers are five-fold higher in unofficial records).
The rebellion had a huge impact on the region as well as the country. Mahatma Gandhi distanced himself from the rebels stating that the rebellion was just “an outburst of fanatics”. Several works, both critical and in support of the rebellion, have been published, but most of them are silent about the British crackdown on the rebels.
Two bodies were buried in this grave. (Courtesy: Sameel)
Unmarked graves
This bloodbath, which was largely forgotten, came to light after a three-year-long research by a journalist. Illikkal Sameel, who is with a Malayalam media organisation, spent four years documenting the history behind unmarked graves in a village located 3 km from the Malappuram district headquarters. In a detailed report published in Madhyamam Weekly, a Malayalam magazine, Sameel has illustrated the brutality of the British towards the Mappila, mostly innocents, including the old and the sick, to terrorise the rebels who had driven the mighty English force away from the region for months.
Cover page of Madhyamam Weekly.
In an ironic twist, Sameel, who resides in a nearby village, got to know about this forgotten historical episode four years ago from a friend, K Ashraf, who is pursuing his PhD from Johannesburg University, South Africa. Ashraf informed Sameel about the undocumented graves dating back to 1921 present in the area.
Initially, Sameel could find only five graves at Adhikarathodi in Melmuri village but nobody had any details about those buried there. After tracing the descendants of those buried, Sameel obtained information of 40 people from nine graves. All the graves had more than one body buried and among them one had upto 11 bodies.
“Malabar struggle is a well-researched topic from Kerala’s freedom movement and several scholars are still trying to explore more aspects. But I could find no trace of this particular massacre in any of those works,” Sameel said.
“In a casual conversation, a researcher in Malabar history mentioned Dorset Regiment and their involvement in suppressing the rebellion. I dug further to get details of the regiment and their expeditions, that was also futile,” Sameel explains.
From an octogenarian physician Dr Thorappa Muhammed, Sameel got to know that the number of people killed in the massacre was more than he could count. Muhammed told him that the number would go above 200 and challenged him to look at official British documents for more information.
Connecting the dots
“Most of the documents are not publicly available now, so I started flipping through the contemporary chronicles of officials. Among them, I went through a book of the Personal Assistant of Kozhikode Collector Mr Gopalan Nair’s ‘The Moplah Rebellion 1921’, which was published in 1924. In that book, he has just mentioned that the Dorset Regiment met some rebels near Melmuri and it led to the killing of 246 people on October 25, 1921,” said Sameel.
A book by the then police inspector of Malappuram, R H Hitchcock, describes every moment of his life as a British officer in Malappuram.
“The book is no more in print, hence, I got a photocopy of the book from one of my friends and a professor at Malappuram Government College, Dr Jameel Ahmed,” said Sameel.
Another historian, Dr M Gangadharan, has cited British officials G R F Tottenham and C T Atkinson in his work on the Malabar struggle. Sameel found Tottenham’s book to be the most valuable as the author had added all the official communications, notes, commission reports etc., that were available during the rebellion.
“I stitched all these details together with the verbal accounts of various residents and stories of survivors to write this report. It was a painful effort,” said Sameel.
Earlier efforts
In the early 2000s, an article published in ‘Souvenir’ as part of the Pookkottur War anniversary had made some efforts to cover the massacre.
Some young enthusiasts and writers had also made videos regarding this massacre and related artefacts still available in the area. The information for these efforts led Sameel to more graves.
Two feet deep grave. (Courtesy: Sameel)
‘Girls were murdered’
“Dr Thorappa Muhammed had mentioned graves dug by Muslim women as men were unavailable to conduct the funerals,” elaborates Sameel. “I found two such graves in the latest expedition. Unlike the usual six-feet deep Muslim graves, these were only two feet in depth,” he said.
“As per some official documents and the accounts of descendants of the dead, a significant amount of the people killed in the massacre were innocent. Family members told me about men, including aged and sick, being forcefully dragged out of their home and shot. Two girls who were trying to protect their fathers were also shot by the army,” Sameel added.
Punished for links?
Apart from a telegram communication of the officials mentioning the short-engagement between Dorset and rebels in Melmuri after the Mappilas were attacked, there is no other evidence to lead us to the motive behind the massacre.
“A large gang reported last night four miles north-west of Malappuram. Operations are undertaken against them by Dorsets, Artillery and armoured cars. Enemy met in jungle west of Melmuri opposing our troops there and in the houses, refusing to come out when ordered to surrender and offering continued opposition resulting in 246 rebel casualties,” reads the telegram.
Sameel assumes the British unleashed violence in that particular place due to the presence of a big chunk of Ali Musliyar’s students and giving shelter to V K Haji when he was in underground.
He rules out any connections to the alleged Mappila brutality, including forceful conversion of non-Muslims. “In my research, I could not find any credible information about the forceful conversion. Rather, there are mentions of participation of lower caste people in the rebellion,” Sameel claims.
“If such forceful conversions had happened, where are the later generations of those people. But till now nobody came forward claiming as the descendants of ‘those people’,” says Sameel.
“The story of forceful conversion was to demonise Mappila warriors and justify the British brutality. Even the leaders in the freedom movement believed this story and ignored the ruthless suppression of the rebellion,” he added.
In his article, Sameel gives an account of assistance from Thiyya family, lower caste Hindus, to extinguish the fire set on homes of Muslim neighbours by the army.
The course of rebellion changes
The entire course of the rebellion changed after the massacre as more rebels surrendered. Also, the popular support to the rebellion had also diminished. The British created an impression among the people that none, despite being active or inactive in the rebellion, would be spared.
“This was the British strategy to terrorise the rebels as well as sympathisers of rebels to give a strong message: ‘either support British or die’,” Sameel added.
The British officials themselves accepted that all they killed were not rebels, but they cheered the increase in the number of submissions as a result of the army act.
“In the interval before they (Dorset Regiment) came into action, there had been several encounters with the rebels and on October 25th the Dorsets had killed 246 Mapillas in the Melmuri area. Not all of these probably were active rebels, and the encounter seems to have had a considerable moral effect, for shortly afterwards petitions began to be received from ‘amsams’ in the neighbourhood of Malappuram offering submission,” Under Secretary reported to superiors. (Tottenham, 39).
In the correspondence of F B Evans, I US, Special Civil Officer, he wrote that Malappuram Kazi with thousands of men and women pleaded for amnesty after the massacre. In continuation, he regrets about the bloodbath, saying, “I think this may be put down as the effect of the Melmuri show on the 25th when no doubt a certain number of comparatively innocent people were unavoidably killed.”
Complete cover-up
British and upper caste historians deliberately neglected this episode for their benefits, alleges Sameel.
British officials tried to cover up this brutality to suppress the rebellion as part of maintaining themselves from further reactions from Muslims from other parts of India and to avert the global scrutiny of the war crime.
Sameel demands an open apology and reparation from the British government for their brutality on innocent people.
“The massacres the British army unleashed as part of a crackdown on the rebellion in Malabar, including the one in Melmuri, was one of the deadliest violence in India when one looks at its intensity. There were families without men, as all men were killed or taken to prisons. Those families need both an apology as well as compensation. The Indian government should pressurise the UK for this,” Sameel said.
For generations to come
After publication of the article, Sameel received several calls from different corners detailing other similar massacres. He is planning to write a book with more descriptions and related events.
There is also a plan to produce a documentary on this. Malayalam filmmaker and director of hit movie ‘Sudani from Nigeria’, Zakaria Muhammed, has agreed to produce the documentary under the banner of his production house – Cross Border Camera.
Sameel hopes the history books will feature this episode in the coming days. “The episode of the massacre was known among the victims’ families, till the last generation. The present generation is not aware of this. I hope my work will instil curiosity among them,” Sameel added.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Specials / by Ajmal V / DH News Service, Bengaluru / October 25th, 2018
Nellikkunattu Desam (Evanad Taluk – Malabar District) KERALA :
The Malabar rebellion (also known as the “Moplah War”, Mappila Lahala in Malayalam) was an armed uprising in 1921 against British authority and landlords in the Malabar region of Southern India by Mappila Muslims and the culmination of a series of Mappila revolts that recurred throughout the 19th century and early 20th century. The 1921 rebellion began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar. In the initial stages, a number of minor clashes took place between Khilafat volunteers and the police, but the violence soon spread across the region.
An estimated 10,000 people lost their lives, although official figures put the numbers at 2337 rebels killed, 1652 injured and 45,404 imprisoned. Unofficial estimates put the number imprisoned at almost 50,000 of whom 20,000 were deported, mainly to the penal colony in the Andaman Islands, while around 10,000 went missing.
Contemporary British administrators and modern historians differ markedly in their assessment of the incident, debating whether the revolts were triggered off by religious fanaticism or agrarian grievances. At the time, the Indian National Congress repudiated the movement and it remained isolated from the wider nationalist movement. However, contemporary Indian evaluations now view the rebellion as a national upheaval against British authority and the most important event concerning the political movement in Malabar during the period.
Early life and career in Mecca
Ali Musliyar was born in Nellikkunattu desom, Eranad taluk, Malabar district to Kunhimoitin Molla and Kotakkal Amina. Kotakkal Amina was a member of the famous Maqdoom family of Ponnani, known for their religions scholarship. Musliyar’s grandfather, Musa, was one of several “Malappuram Martyrs”. Ali Musliyar began his education studying the Qur’an, tajwid and the Malayalam language with Kakkadammal Kunnukammu Molla. He was sent to Ponnani Darse for further studies in religion and philosophy, under the tutelage of Sheikh Zainuddin Maqdum I (Akhir), which he successfully completed after 10 years.
He then went to Haram, Makkah (Mecca) for further education. After spending seven years in Mecca, he went on to serve as the Chief Qasi in Kavaratti, Laccadive Islands.
Musliyar in Malabar
In 1894, after learning of the slaying of his brother and several other family members, Musliyar returned to Malabar. He discovered that many of his relations and fellow students were lost during an 1896 riot. In 1907 he was appointed as the Chief Musliyar of the mosque at Tirurangadi, Eranad taluk.
The revolt of 1921–22 began following the police arrest of a number of Tenancy Association – Caliphate Movement – Indian National Congress leaders in August, 1921. Rumours that the British troops had destroyed the Mampuram Mosque led to large scale rioting throughout South Malabar against both wealthy Hindu landlords and the British.
Although the British army troops were quick to take the upper hand in many towns, a number of rebels initiated guerilla operations, forcing the British to deploy additional military units and introduce “aggressive” patrolling. The revolt came to an end in February 1922. Ali Musliyar was among a dozen leaders who were tried and sentenced to death. He was subsequently hanged at the Coimbatore Prison on 17 February 1922.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) president Ghulam Mohammed Banatwala, 74, the national face of the minority community and a seven-time Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, died in Mumbai on Wednesday after a brief illness.
A gifted parliamentarian and orator, Banatwala espoused the cause of Muslims in Parliament on crucial issues like the Shah Bano case, demolition of the Babri Masjid and minority rights, including the personal law.
Ismail Banatwala, his nephew, said the Muslim League leader lived with his brothers after the death of his wife. They had no children. He had attended the platinum jubilee celebrations of IUML in Chennai last Saturday. “When he returned home early this week, he felt uneasy, restless and feverish. This morning he had breakfast with all of us.
At about 2.30pm he experienced uneasiness and breathed his last on the way to hospital,” Ismail said. The mortal remains of Banatwala is to be brought to his Agripada home in south Mumbai. Several of his colleagues from Kerala are expected to attend the funeral.
Born in Mumbai, Banatwala was returned to Parliament with very high margins reflecting the trust people in the north Kerala area, dominated by Mappila Muslims, reposed in him.
That this scholar who served one term in Maharashtra assembly and never spoke in Malayalam in his Ponnani constituency in Kerala did not dilute his charisma. People used to listen to him with rapt attention when he addressed them in English.
Despite these constraints, he struck a chord with the common man as he was always at the forefront of taking up their problems, both in Parliament and outside. Banatwala was the national face of IUML, especially after Ibrahim Suleiman Sait left the League and floated Indian National League (INL) following differences with a section in the party over continuance of ties with the Congress after the Babri Masjid incident.
Banatwala was one of the Muslim leaders who vociferously argued for implementation of the Sachar Committee report for social and educational support to the Muslim community. IUML state president Panakkad Muhammadali Shihab Thangal, state general secretary P K Kunhalikitty and other leaders expressed sorrow at the passing away of Banatwala. Black flags were put up in Muslim League offices across Kerala as the news of Banatwala’s death spread.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> India / PTI / June 26th, 2008
