Pukkoya family of Panakkad is a Yemeni-origin sayyid (thangal) family based in present-day northern Kerala.[1] The family, claiming descent from the family of Muhammad, is generally revered by the Sunni Shāfiʿī Kerala Muslims.[2] The thangals are respected as religious and political leaders amongst the Muslims of Kerala.[2]
The Panakkad family descended from Sayyid Ali who emigrated from the Ḥaḍramawt region of Yemen to Kerala in the 18th century along with his family.[1][3][4] By the 19th century, the ethnic Yemenis came to occupy a powerful position within the north Kerala Muslim community.[4] They were eventually recognized as the theological, juridical, and political community leaders of Kerala Muslims.[4]
Kodappanakal House is the ancestral house of the family. Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal (born 1964) is the eldest Panakkad Thangal at present.[5][6]