Ulama Involvement in the Malabar Rebellion: The Treatise of Pareekutty Musliyar
The period from 1919 to 1922 witnessed a unique moment in the history of Indian independence. Influential Muslim leaders and the Congress leadership under M.K. Gandhi launched a peaceful joint movement against the British government. Congress initiated the Non-Cooperation Movement, which urged Indians to boycott government jobs, educational institutions, and colonial products. Muslim leaders like Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali Jouhar launched the Khilafat Movement to protest Britain’s decision to partition Ottoman Turkey, after the latter, which fought in World War I as a member of the Central Powers, lost to Britain. Leaders of both movements joined forces to fight against Britain, and committees were formed at the state, district, and local levels to coordinate the movement.
This new alliance had significant impacts in Malabar. A district Congress meeting held in Manjeri in 1920 passed a resolution in support of the tenancy movement, launched the Non-Cooperation campaign, and expressed support for the goals of the Khilafat movement. The period also saw the large-scale participation of Muslims in Congress meetings, which preached strong opposition to the British. M.P. Narayana Menon, an understudied Congress leader of the period in the region, suggests that Muslims were less motivated by the idea of swaraj than by the hope of realizing a new social order. What mobilized Mappilas’ support for the movement was that it gave them an opportunity to voice their grievances and the injustices they suffered due to the land policy of the British. As the Non-Cooperation/Tenancy Resistance/Khilafat movement progressed, Britain responded harshly: they arrested key Muslim leaders and raided revered Muslim structures, such as the Tirurangadi mosques. This fostered the feeling that the British were disrespecting what Muslims considered sacred. The 1921 rebellion was inspired by this joint mobilization but took an unexpected turn, not anticipated by its leaders.
Many ulama of the time wrote and passed resolutions in support of fighting against Britain. Some of their works were banned. Ulama and Congress leaders met frequently and befriended each other. Biographies of both the ulama and Congress leaders from the period attest to the friendship that existed between them. Thus, one could find appeals made in religious gatherings to support the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements. Yet, there were ulama who discouraged Muslims from fighting against Britain.
One key text associated with the rebellion and the Khilafat movement was Muhimmatul Muminin (1921) (“Mission of the Believers”) by Aminumante Akath Pareekutty Musliyar (henceforth Pareekutty Musliyar). Pareekutty Musliyar (1876-1934) was trained in the traditional dars system (Islamic theology-based boarding educational system in mosques) and graduated from Ponnani, where he also taught at various darses. Pareekutty Musliyar came in touch with the nationalist movement during his teaching career. He met Gandhi and Shaukat Ali, leaders of the Congress and Khilafat movements, when they visited Kerala in the 1920s and discussed the programs and agendas of the movements. His Muhimmatul Muminin was a collection of statements from the Quran, Hadith, and scholarly opinions that could be marshaled as evidence to oppose the British and join the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements. Leaders like M.P. Narayana Menon reportedly encouraged Muslims to read this work. The claim that the book is a translation of Abul Kalam Azad’s work Fathul Muhimm requires further verification, as a preliminary search of Azad’s works does not list such a text, although Azad’s writings on the Caliphate cite many pieces of evidence that Pareekutty Musliyar also cites.
Based on the report of the Mappila police officer Amu Sahib, who believed that Muhimmat was likely to incite Mappilas against the British, the British banned the text, confiscated its copies, and made possession of it a crime punishable by five years imprisonment. When the riot broke out, Pareekutty Musliyar went into hiding and is reported to have visited in disguise. The British declared a reward of one thousand rupees for anyone who provided information about him. He then moved to various places in Travancore before finally setting out for Makkah in 1930, where he died.
The full name of the text is Muhimmat al-Muminin fi Tark al-Mualat li-aeda’ al-Ddin wa-Nusrat Khilafat Sayid al-Mursalin wa-Tanzih Jazirah al-Arab min al-Mushrikin (The Mission of the Believers in Abandoning Allegiance [or Non-Cooperation] with the Enemies of Religion, Supporting the Caliphate of the Master of Messengers, and Purifying the Arabian Peninsula from Polytheists). The title page also carries the Quranic verse (Chapter Muhammad, verse 7): “If you help God, He will help you and make you stand firm.” The text is often referred to as a fatwa, but it belongs to the genre of risala (treatise), texts written in simple language aimed at the common people. The verses, Hadiths, and scholarly opinions are cited in Arabic and are explained in Arabic Malayalam.
The treatise first lists certain verses and their meanings without any clear reference to the context of Malabar. Pareekutty Musliyar cites verses that instruct Muslims not to make Jews and Christians their allies or guardians. The next set of verses addresses those who have made Jews and Christians their allies, fearing harassment from them. The third set of evidence demonstrates that unbelievers who do not harm Muslims and are favorable to them are not among the groups with whom alliance is prohibited. The author continues to cite verses that emphasize the necessity of providing help for those who enjoin good and forbid bad, and the non-permissibility of abstaining from participating in such struggles. The point he repeatedly establishes is that while fighting against the enemies of Islam is essential, those who cannot embark on this step should participate in the struggle by spending their wealth.
The remainder of the treatise cites evidence to demonstrate that following a Muslim imam or ruler is compulsory, and following a non-Muslim ruler is against the mandate of Quranic teachings. The author concludes that it is evident that Muslims living under a kafir king must strive physically and financially to obtain a country for themselves and appoint an imam. He then discusses historical incidents related to the appointment of an imam and the obligation of the people to follow him, including issues related to the terms concerning the quality of the imam and the process of selection and deposition. This is followed by a claim from another Islamic scholar that the Ottoman Caliphate would remain in power until the Mahdi (a messianic figure in Islam) comes and that the Caliphate will aid the Mahdi in executing his mission. Emphasis is placed on following the imam, which is so important that those who oppose the imam should be opposed, even if they are Muslims.
The final set of evidence addresses the status of non-Muslims in the holy lands of Makkah and Madinah, and the Arabian Peninsula. Can non-Muslims enter Hejaz (the region that includes the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah)? Are they permitted to stay there? Can they settle there? What is Jazeeratul Arab (the Arabian Peninsula)? These are the questions discussed in this part.
The treatise ends with verses that encourage cooperation with one another in goodness and righteousness. It also contains a claim that the treatise contains only Quranic verses, Hadiths, and jurists’ opinions, and nothing else. The text carries the affirmation of locally revered alims, such as Cherusseri Ahmad Kutty Musliyar and Paniyikulat Abdu Rahiman Musliyar. The affirmations repeat one message: this treatise provides verses, Hadiths, and ulama’s views required for the subject of Khilafat. Thus, while the treatise does not explicitly reference the Khilafat movement except in one paragraph on the Ottoman Caliphate, it would have appealed to readers in Malabar as an endorsement to fight against the British.
Some of the verses and Hadiths cited in the first part of the treatise—the order to wage war and support such groups—are indeed used by militant groups to establish the necessity of jihad. However, a reader informed about the Khilafat movement in Malabar, its aims, the local debates on whether to support or oppose the British, the local alliances, and the mass mobilization for the cause cannot miss the fact that the order in which Pareekutty Musliyar arranged these verses and Hadiths reflects the context of Malabar. The term “nasara” refers to the British, although they are not named explicitly in the text. The text cites those who argue that the British must be obeyed by referencing verses about those who wanted to consider Jews and Christians as allies due to fear of persecution. It also refers to the allies of the Khilafat movement—non-believers who do not harm Muslims and are in favor of them. Both of these references point to the Muslims who supported the British and the Hindu activists of the Non-Cooperation Movement who supported the Khilafat movement. Muslims of the preceding generation in Kerala did not seem to have considered Ottoman kings as authorities who ruled over them, but the author’s insistence on establishing and following an imam, which he considered an obligation, is a direct appeal to Muslims in Malabar to follow the Ottoman Sultan. The reference to Jazeera Arab—the Arabian Peninsula—both in the title and the content of the book draws attention to the concern of Muslims about the status of Hejaz after the dismemberment of Ottoman Turkey by the British.
The treatise has been recovered and reprinted by Grace Educational Association/GraceBooks, based in Calicut, by publishing a scanned copy of the original and transliterating it into standard Malayalam.