Abstract
Colonial discourse assumed that the “Orient” is in “decline” and that it is in need of the “enlightened” rule of the British in order to develop and civilize. The British introduced modern education as a means of implementing their “civilizing mission” and of modernizing Kerala society. Motivating Mappilas to embrace modern education was the greatest contribution of Vakkom Moulavi. This was the primary objective of all his socio-religious reform movements. Even though Mappilas were the oldest Muslim community in the Subcontinent and were given a higher social status, toward the end of the nineteenth century, they were an educationally backward community. While other communities in Kerala were competing to partake of modern education, Mappilas rejected it. Their long traditions of resisting colonialism and hatred for the British were the major reasons for it. Vakkom Moulavi published several articles to underlie that, in educational matters, they lagged behind most of the other communities of Kerala, and he strove to bring this to the attention of community leaders as well as government officials. He convincingly argued that modern education is essential for the development of the Muslim community. It was his patriotic thinking that motivated him to work for his community.
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Notes
K. T. Mohammed Ali, The Development of Education among the Mappilas of Malabar, 1800 to 1965 (New Delhi: Nunes Publishers, 1990), 38. Occasionally dars were also held in teachers’ houses.
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Ibid., 52–53. Nerchas are the Mappilas’ largest public festivals. These are expensive and elaborate ceremonials that combine elements of Islamic and Hindu deity worship. Nercha is a vow made by a devotee to present some offering to a deity if prayers are granted. Stephen F. Dale and M. Gangadhara Menon, “Nercca: Saint-Martyr Worship among the Muslims of Kerala,” in Kerala Muslims: A Historical Perspective, ed. Asghar Ali Engineer (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1995), 174–199.
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C. N. Ahammed Moulavi and K. K. Muhammed Abdulkareem, Mahathaya Mappila Sahithya Parampariam [Great Mappila Literary Tradition] (Calicut: By the authors, 1978), 496.
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Quoted by Mohammed Kannu. See Haji M. Mohamed Kannu, Vakkom Moulavi: Prabhandhangal, Smaranakal [Vakkom Moulavi: Essays and Obituaries] (Trivandrum: Arafa Publications, 1982), 58–59.
Vakkom Moulavi, “Nammude Strekal” [Our Women], in Vakkom Maulaviyude Thiranjedutha Kruthikal [Selected Writings of Vakkom Maulavi], ed. S. Mohamed Abda (Vakkom: Vakkom Maulavi Publications, 1979), 186.
Albert Habib Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 238–239.
Francis Robinson, “Islamic Reform and Modernities in South Asia,” “Islamic Reform and Modernities in South Asia,” Modern Asian Studies 42, 2/3 (2008): 269.
Vakkom Moulavi, “Islam Matha Sindhanta Samgraham” [“An Outline of Islamic Religious Principles”]. In Vakkom Maulaviyude Thiranjedutha Kruthikal [Selected Writings of Vakkom Maulavi], ed. S. Mohamed Abda (Vakkom: Vakkom Maulavi Publications, 1979), 100.
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Vakkom Moulavi, Islam Mata Navikaranam [Islamic Religious Renewal], in Vakkom Moulavi: Prabhandhangal, Smaranakal [Vakkom Moulavi: Essays and Obituaries], ed. Haji M. Mohamed Kannu (Trivandrum: Arafa Publications, 1982), 98.
Vakkom Moulavi, “Swagatha Prasangam” [“Welcome Speech”]. In Vakkom Moulavi: Prabhandhangal, Smaranakal [Vakkom Moulavi: Essays and Obituaries], ed. Haji M. Mohamed Kannu (Trivandrum: Arafa Publications, 1982), 3–4.
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© 2014 Jose Abraham
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Abraham, J. (2014). Contributions to Educational Reform. In: Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modernity in India. Postcolonialism and Religions. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137378842_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137378842_4
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