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University of Calicut,
Edapally - Panvel Hwy, Thenhipalam,
Kerala 673635, India
K. Muhammad also known as Khan Bahadur K. Muhammad (1896-1976) was the education officer of the Malabar District Education Board and special education officer for the Mappila Muslims in British Malabar. First Malayalam-speaking Mappila to study in England, he is renowned for his attempts to spread modern education among Kerala’s Muslims.
Biography
K Muhammad was born in 1896 to Kooliyaattil kammutty sahib and Anthu parambil beevi. After primary education at his father’s school, he went to Kunnamkulam Government Boys High School and Malabar Christian College in Kozhikode. He completed his M.A. from Madras Presidency College and went to the University of Oxford in England for higher education. Upon his return, he was appointed as the Education officer of Malabar District Education Board, where he worked for 15 years trying to take the Muslim community to modern education. He took the initiative to construct schools, especially for the Muslim girl children which were also a prime need for the British at the time, in order to dispel the Mappila struggle against them. The British awarded him with the honorary title of Khan Bahadur.
He served as a driving force behind the persuasion of prominent Muslim political leader Mohammad Abdurahman’sto enter into politics.
He was married to Kunjathukutty from Punnayurkulam, a village in the present-day Thrissur district of Kerala. He died on 26 May 1976.
Literary Contributions
He published a monthly titled ‘Mappila Review’ from 1941 to 1946. Prominent Muslim personalities at the time namely K.Abubacker and Vakkom Abdul Khader Moulavi served as its editors. The magazine published in English and Malayalam languages in the same copy, targeted at developing an inclination among the Mappila Muslims towards modern education, providing a platform for the learned Muslims to articulate their ideas and requests to the public and Strengthen interreligious harmony and the public life of Kerala.
As a part of attaining this objective, the magazine contained articles written by people from different religious communities.
In 1956, he published the book ‘Mappilamaar Engottu?’ ( To where do the Mappilas go?). The book, in the author’s words, was his reflections “on the social and cultural situations of Muslims during 15 years since 1925 of his job as a Special Education Officer for Mappilas and District Education Officer in Malabar”
