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A prominent Muslim scholar, writer and freedom fighter, Vakkom Abdul Khadir Moulavi (1873-1932AD) was born in the Chirayinkil taluk of Vakkom of Thiruvananthapuram. He was one of the figures who paved the way for the formation of Kerala Muslim Aikya Sangham. He is regarded as the father of Muslim renaissance in Kerala.
Vakkom Abdul Khadir Moulavi was born at Vakkom of Thiruvananthapuram on 28 December 1873. He was the fifth child of Aisha Beevi and Muhammed Kunju who was an affluent trader. He belonged to a wealthy Muslim family, who migrated from Madurai to Thiruvananthapuram. In a short time, Vakkom Moulavi acquired a deep knowledge of the Arabic language and the Holy Quran, Sunnah, Islamic history, Islamic jurisprudence and Logic. He learnt different languages like Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, Tamil and English along with Malayalam. In the 1900s, Moulavi married Haleema. He had a son Abdul Salam in this relationship. Haleema passed away after the birth of their first child. After one year Moulavi married Aamina Ummal. They had ten children, who were Abdul Hai, Abdul Vahab, Abdul Khader Jr. Abdul Haque, Obaidullah, Ameena, Yahiya, Sakeena, Mohammed Eeza and Mohammed Iqbal. Three of his sons, Abdul Salam, Abdul Vahab and Mohammed Eeza became writers and scholars of Islam, and Abdul Khader Jr, a writer and journalist. He died on 31 October 1932.
Ideology
Moulavi belonged to the Salafi reformist tradition in Kerala which followed the ideology of Egyptian scholars Rashid Rida, Muhammad Abdu, Jamaluddin Afghani, etc. He was also influenced by the reformist efforts of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Shah Waliyullah of Delhi. He challenged ignorance and superstitions that crept into the Muslim community. He was against practices such as the veneration of saints, offering of prayers at their tombs, praying to them in times of need etc.
National Movements and Social Reformation
He was once gifted ‘Al Manar’ magazine published from Egypt by an Arab friend who came to visit him. The magazine was published under the leadership of Rashid Rida who was a prominent Sunni Islamic scholar and reformer based in Egypt. Moulavi was influenced by the magazine content and became its subscriber. The ideas it talked about changed the course of his life and equipped him to stand against practices in the Muslim community such as the celebtration of annual “Urs” and Muharram which in his view were idolatorous practices. He also opposed the dowry system and extravagances in weddings. Maulavi launched his campaign against such practices with the help of those who eventually came to share his views.
In 1905, he founded Swadeshabhimani (The Patriot) newspaper. The first issue of the newspaper came out on 19th January from Anjuthengu(Attingal) under the editorship of C.P. Govinda Pillai. The newspaper criticized the royal authority at the time by publishing articles such as ‘Royal Servants and the Travancore Government’, ‘Travancore Dewan, `Valiya Kottaram’, ‘Why not Deport Sankaran Thampi’, etc. Due to harsh criticism of the royal authority, the newspaper and press were annexed and Ramakrishna Pillai, the second editor was deported from Travancore to Tirunelveli following a royal proclamation of 26 September 1910. However, Moulavi did not give up. He refused to apologise for his principles and said that he would not continue the press without its editor. The statement brought him a huge financial loss. Nonetheless, this did not affect his drive to continue journalism. He had a publishing house of his own named ‘Islamika prasidheekaranaalayam’. He published Al Islam magazine.
Al Islam targeted the reform of superstitious beliefs within the Muslim community and promoted modern education among Muslims. In January 1931, he started another monthly journal in Malayalam called Deepika from his publishing house. It focused on the progress of Muslims and on educating non-muslims about Islam. The journal comprised of notices of articles from English, Urdu and Arabic journals and also had a serial publication of Malayalam translation of the Quran.
In his time Muslims were educated only from Madrasa. Due to the lack of engagement with public schools and platforms, the Muslim community was kept away from the mainstream. To solve the problem Moulavi persuaded the wealthiest of people to start public schools. Moulavi also put pressure on the Travancore government to teach Arabic language in schools run by the state. Due to his campaign, the Maharaja government approved the teaching of Arabic classes in schools. Moulavi was appointed by the state with the authority to conduct tests for the selection of language teachers. He also wrote textbooks in Arabic for the primary classes.
To propagate his reformist ideas he formed a regional organization named ‘Thiruvithaamkoor Mahajana Sabha’ in his village Nilaykaamukk on 21 August 1921. The organization held its first conference at Aryashala hall of Thambanur in Thiruvananathapuram. 300 delegates from 29 Taluks of Thiruvananthapuram participated in the conference opening doors to the spread of the organization across different regions of Kerala. He also formed small organizations in Chirayinkeezh, Perumathura, Pallivayil, Idavayil and Kottarakara of Thiruvananthpuram.
