Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modernity in India

Transcription

1 Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modernity in India

2 Postcolonialism and Religions The Postcolonialism and Religions series by its very name bridges the secular with the sacred through hybrid, interstitial, and contrapuntal inquiries. The series features the scholarship of indigenous scholars working at the intersections of postcolonial theories, theologies, and religions. The editors welcome authors around the world in an effort to move beyond and interrogate a historical North American and Euro-centric postcolonial studies disciplinary dominance. The series seeks to foster subaltern voices especially from Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the liquid continent. J. Jayakiran Sebastian is a Presbyter of the Church of South India and H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He has served as Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Theology and Ethics at the United Theological College in Bangalore. Joseph F. Duggan is a Presbyter in The Episcopal Church and an Episcopal Church Foundation Academic Fellow. He is the founder of Postcolonial Networks and the Journal of Postcolonial Networks. Decolonizing the Body of Christ: Theology and Theory after Empire? Edited By David Joy and Joseph Duggan A Postcolonial African American Re-reading of Colossians: Identity, Reception, and Interpretation under the Gaze of Empire Annie Tinsley Caste, Gender and Christianity in Colonial India: Telugu Women in Mission James Elisha Taneti Indigenous Australia and the Unfinished Business of Theology: Cross-Cultural Engagement Edited by Jione Havea Historic Engagements with Occidental Cultures, Religions, Powers: Perceptions from Europe and Asia Edited By Anne R. Richards and Iraj Omidvar Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modernity in India: Socio-Political and Religious Thought of Vakkom Moulavi Jose Abraham

3 Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modernity in India Socio-Political and Religious Thought of Vakkom Moulavi Jose Abraham

4 ISLAMIC REFORM AND COLONIAL DISCOURSE ON MODERNITY IN INDIA Copyright Jose Abraham, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 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 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 , 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 ISBN (ebook) DOI / 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, Moplahs India Kerala Biography. 3. Social reformers India Kerala Biography. I. Title. DS432.M65M dc [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

5 Contents Preface Notes on Transliteration Quranic Quotations vii xiii 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 Community Mobilization 137 Conclusion 167 Notes 175 Bibliography 225 Index 237

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7 Preface The 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 nationalism 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 history and religion of the Muslims of Kerala, known as Mappilas, who are, in all probability, the oldest Muslim community of the South Asian s ubcontinent. 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 ( ), 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 ( ). Vakkom Muhammad Abdul Khadir Moulavi, popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi, began his career as a journalist and eventually bought his own printing press in He realized the potential of print media to initiate socio-religious reform, spread patriotic thinking, promote modern education, educate people about civil rights and responsibilities, and mobilize Muslims at the local and state levels, 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-Malayalam 3 journal (al-islam). He also published an Arabie-Malayalam book titled Lawh al-sabah.

8 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-g hazali s Kimiya-i Sa adat. Unfortunately, we do not have all the works published by Vakkom Moulavi at our disposal. 4 We only have two collections 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 movement, 9 who wrote the first brief biography of Vakkom Moulavi (Vakkom Moulavi (Jeevacaritram) [Vakkom Moulavi (Biography)]) in 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 His work titled Vakkom Moulaviyum Navothana Nayakanmaurum (Jeevacarithra Padanangal) [Vakkom Moulavi and Leaders of the Renaissance (Biographical Studies)] is highly significant for understanding the growth and development of the religious reform movement in Kerala as spearheaded by Vakkom Moulavi. 12 K. M. Seethi

9 Preface ix Sahib, a close adherent of Vakkom Moulavi, wrote an article detailing 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 seriously 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 grandsons), 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 contributions toward socio-religious reform in Kerala. 16 Sharafudeen compiled a monograph on Vakkom Moulavi in English titled Vakkom Moulavi (A Study), in which the subject is portrayed as the greatest 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 nationalistic 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 movement 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,

10 x Preface titled Swadeshabhimani Vakkom Moulavi in Malayalam, analyzing his writings and movement and placing it within the socio-religious, economic, and political context of early twentieth-century Kerala. 22 This book is certainly one of the most important sources that helps us to understand the life and work of Vakkom Moulavi; however, it shares the same shortcomings as all the other works named above, in that it did not take the colonial discourse on modernity into serious consideration in the context of Vakkom Moulavi s religious reform movement. In this book, I argue that the colonial discourse on modernity needs to be considered seriously while analyzing religious reform movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Colonial discourse on modernity changed the world forever by introducing a European understanding of progress, the spirit of scientific rationality, the equality of women, Oriental degeneracy, modern education as useful knowledge, and the inevitability of nation-states. Thereafter, it became impossible to think about religion, civil society, human rights, and so on without invoking these paradigms. In the case of Muslim modernists whose overall purpose was the modernization of Muslim societies, it became customary to use these concepts to understand and reinterpret various aspects of Islamic tradition. Therefore, socioreligious reform movements during the colonial period need to be approached while bearing in mind that each of them came about as a response to the dominant discourse on modernity. These movements were not a continuation of similar reform movements in the past. The socio-economic and political changes effected in Kerala by the British and colonial discourse at the beginning of the twentieth century challenged traditional structures of power. This eventually resulted in social mobility within various communities, which, as a result, embraced modernity and began to pursue modern education. However, the Muslims of Kerala had a long-standing tradition of struggle against colonial powers, and their hatred of British rule had led them to resist the modernization process and, consequently, become more socially and educationally backward than the other communities of Kerala. It was in this context that Vakkom Moulavi undertook to persuade Mappilas to embrace various aspects of modernity, especially modern education. Based mainly on primary sources written in Malayalam, this pioneering study shows how he reinterpreted Islamic principles and Muslim history using the framework of the rational and secular universal humanism of European Enlightenment. He was a product of a combination of the various religious reform movements in Kerala and the Gandhian movement

11 Preface xi in India. Muslim modernists of North India such as Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan ( ) and Sulayman Nadwi ( ) and Egyptian reformers such as Muhammad Abduh ( ) and Rashid Rida ( ) greatly influenced his movement through their journal al Manar. This work will be interesting primarily to South Asian historians, scholars of Islam, students of religious reform movements, scholars involved in Indian Ocean studies, and all those who are interested in the discourse on colonialism and modernity. However, it will be a significant work for those who are also concerned with issues such as power and politics, state and citizenship, modernization and Westernization, and identity politics and regional expressions of nationalism, both secular and religious, at the dawn of the twentieth century. In recent years, the Kerala model of development has received considerably heightened attention among a number of internationally known scholars and became a topic of discussion in several research papers from around the globe. Vakkom Moulavi s reform movement was instrumental in the establishment of this developmental model. In the same vein, as a Muslim community, Mappilas are among the most educated, economically sound, and politically powerful communities in the entire Indian subcontinent today. Among the major reasons for their success are their willingness to embrace modernity, their ability to live peacefully with the majority of the non-muslim population, and their willingness to give and take from other communities and the secular ethos of Kerala. Mappila Muslims owe a lot to Vakkom Moulavi and other reformers for instilling these values, which made them different from several other Muslims communities. Therefore, there will be some popular interest among academicians as well as the general public to understand the work and writings of Vakkom Moulavi. This academic work is part of a longer journey nurtured by mentors, colleagues, and foundations. I would like to express my appreciation to Sajida Alvi and Roland Miller for their constant encouragement, valuable criticism, and insightful suggestions. Their careful reading of the different drafts of my doctoral thesis has been invaluable. I am also deeply indebted to Wael Hallaq for inspiring me to study colonial discourse and for helping me integrate a stronger theoretical component into my writing. Two other scholars who have taken an active interest in my work have been Stephen Dale of the Ohio State University and George Oommen of the United Theological College, Bangalore, India; I am deeply indebted to them. The opportunity to work with the SSHRC project of Wilson Jacob of the History Department in

12 xii Preface Concordia University, and to associate with the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, as a visiting research associate facilitated in the revision of my doctoral dissertation into the manuscript for a book. Last but not least, I am extremely grateful to Joseph Duggan and Jayakiran Sebastian, editors of the series, for considering my manuscript for publication. Without their patience, constant support, and encouragement I would not have been able to publish this work. I would like to thank numerous librarians and other scholars for their assistance in procuring the materials needed for my research. I am particularly grateful to Salwa Ferahian, Wayne St. Thomas, and Stephen Millier of the Library of the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. The staff of the inter-library loan department at the McLennan Library of McGill are likewise to be commended for putting up with my seemingly endless requests for materials on Mappilas. In Kerala, the staff of Kerala University, Calicut University, the Kerala Council of Historical Research and Farook College libraries, the Vakkom Moulavi Foundation Trust, Shahab weekly, and Dr. Sathar Muhammad Abdul must all be acknowledged here for their help in furnishing me with materials for my research. I also thank Stephen Millier, Charles Fletcher, and Eugene McMullan for editorial help at the various stages of my writing. I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the generosity of the principal and the Executive Committee of the United Theological College, Bangalore, India, for granting me study leave to pursue my doctoral studies at McGill and also for arranging my scholarship. My studies at McGill would not have been possible without the financial help I received at various times from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, Common Global Ministries, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Institute of Islamic Studies. Finally, I would like to thank my beautiful wife, Pheba, and loving children, Ajay, Shaniya, and Shreya, for their support and would also like to thank my parents for the encouragement. It is to them that this work is dedicated.

13 Notes on Transliteration For Arabic words, the Library of Congress system of transliteration has been adopted, the only exception being that the ta marbuta is rendered without an h when it is not in the construct state. For the proper names of Mappila Muslims, I have retained the spelling they adopted. I have generally also retained the spelling of place-names as they are most commonly known. For the islahi organizations in Kerala, I have likewise retained the spelling they adopted. For Malayalam words, I have used the most common English transliteration. All individual terms in Malayalam have been distinguished by an asterisk (*).

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15 Quranic Quotations All Quranic quotations are taken from Abdullah Yusuf Ali s translation as found on this webpage: Quran_translation/Quran_translation_index.php.