Islam in Kerala

Islam in Kerala
A rebuilt structure of the old Cheraman Juma Mosque, Kodungallur
Total population
c.9 million (26.56%) in 2011[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Kerala, Lakshadweep,[3][4] States of Persian Gulf,Europe,Tulu Nadu,Kodagu, Nilgiris,[5] Malaysia, Singapore
Religions
Islam
Languages
Malayalam, Arabi Malayalam[6][7]

Islam arrived in Kerala, the Malayalam-speaking region in the south-western tip of India, through Middle Eastern merchants.[8][9] The Indian coast has an ancient relation with West Asia and the Middle East, even during the pre-Islamic period.

Kerala Muslims or Malayali Muslims from north Kerala are generally referred to as Mappilas. Mappilas are but one among the many communities that forms the Muslim population of Kerala.[10] According to some scholars, the Mappilas are the oldest settled Muslim community in South Asia.[8][9] As per some studies, the term "Mappila" denotes not a single community but a variety of Malayali Muslims from Kerala (former Malabar District) of different origins.[11][10] Native Muslims of Kerala were known as Mouros da Terra, or Mouros Malabares in medieval period. Settled foreign Muslims of Kerala were known as Mouros da Arabia/Mouros de Meca.[12] Unlike the common misconception, the caste system does exist among the Muslims of Kerala.[13] The Muslims of Southern and Central Kerala or the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore are known as Rowthers.

Muslims in Kerala share a common language (Malayalam) with the rest of the non-Muslim population and have a culture commonly regarded as the Malayali culture.[14] Islam is the second largest practised religion in Kerala (26.56%) next to Hinduism.[15] The calculated Muslim population (Indian Census, 2011) in Kerala state is 8,873,472.[1][8] Most of the Muslims in Kerala follow Sunni Islam of Shāfiʿī School of thought, while a large minority follow modern movements (such as Salafism) that developed within Sunni Islam.[16][10]

  1. ^ a b T. Nandakumar, "54.72 % of population in Kerala are Hindus" The Hindu August 26, 2015 [1]
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Miller1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Logan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Upadhyaya, U. Padmanabha. Coastal Karnataka: Studies in Folkloristic and Linguistic Traditions of Dakshina Kannada Region of the Western Coast of India. Udupi: Rashtrakavi Govind Pai Samshodhana Kendra, 1996.P- ix . ISBN 81-86668-06-3 . First All India Conference of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram, 1973
  5. ^ Gulf Dream: For Indians The Golden Beaches Still gleam, Malayala Manorama Yearbook 1990;
  6. ^ Kottaparamban, Musadhique (1 October 2019). "Sea, community and language: a study on the origin and development of Arabi- Malayalam language of mappila muslims of Malabar". Muallim Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities: 406–416. doi:10.33306/mjssh/31. ISSN 2590-3691.
  7. ^ Kuzhiyan, Muneer Aram. "Poetics of Piety Devoting and Self Fashioning in the Mappila Literary Culture of South India". The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. hdl:10603/213506. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ a b c Miller, E. Roland. "Mappila Muslim Culture" State University of New York Press, Albany (2015); p. xi.
  9. ^ a b Miller, R. E. "Mappila" in The Encyclopedia of Islam Volume VI. Leiden E. J. Brill 1988 p. 458-66 [2]
  10. ^ a b c Kunhali, V. "Muslim Communities in Kerala to 1798" PhD Dissertation Aligarh Muslim University (1986) [3]
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Subrahmanyam, Sanjay."The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500–1650" Cambridge University Press, (2002)
  13. ^ "Caste system exists among Muslims though not overtly". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  14. ^ Pg 461, Roland Miller, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol VI, Brill 1988
  15. ^ Panikkar, K. N., Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar 1836–1921
  16. ^ Miller, Roland. E., "Mappila" in "The Encyclopedia of Islam". Volume VI. E. J. Brill, Leiden. 1987 pp. 458–56.