Vakkam Abdul Khadir Moulavi (1873-1932), the Father of Islamic renaissance in Kerala, was an author, Social reformer, religious scholar, freedom fighter and founder and publisher of the vernacular news paper, ‘Swadeshabhimani’. As he was born in a prominent and affluent family of traders, he imported an automatic flat board printing press directly from England for ‘Swadeshabhimani’, the first news paper in Kerala. As Moulavi had strong faith in the critical role of the media in social reformation and in achieving and protecting civil right and liberty, he had given full freedom to K. Rama Krishna Pillai, the editor of ‘Swadeshabhimani’. His severe criticism made the British authorities confiscate the press, in 1910. Sabin Iqbal, Moulavi’s grandson and a well known novelist and journalist, talks about Moulavi, who has been side tracked by Kerala history, in this autobiographical essay.
Sabin quotes Ngugi Wa
Thiong’o’s words “Omission is an effective tool to alter the narrative” and
says when the editor is known with the historic news paper, “Swadeshabhimani”
by its title, the text books, has an ‘unknown Maulavi’ in it to show the owner,
who is known as the ‘father’ of Muslim socio religious reform movement in
Kerala. Vakkam Moulavi foundation Trust
had to suffer a lot to replace the photograph of 'unknown Moulavi' from the text books. Vakkam Maulavi, effectively used
communication networks to promote his ideas of patriotism, modern education and
religious reform. Apart from
Swadeshabimani, he used his journals ‘Muslim’, ‘Deepika’ and ‘Al-Islam’ to
motivate Muslims to pursue modern education and to bring them to the fore front
of the nationalist movement. According
to M. A. Shakoor, London Correspondent of ‘Pakistan Times’, 'Maulavi Abdul
Khadir' did not accept the puritanical excesses, petty intolerance and the
violent methods of enforcement often associated with Muhammed ibn Abdul Wahhab
and his movement.
Maulavi was a man with
beautiful mind with dreams of a secular and united India where people of
different faiths lived in harmony. He
encouraged students to study science and carried articles on photography and
films. Influenced by the reformers of earlier centuries like Muhammad Abduh and
Muhammad Rashid Rida, Maulavi launched his own call for return to genuine Islam
that included the reinterpretation of Quran and Tawhid (unity) in the light of
modern needs. Apart from this Maulavi
Abdul Khadir had great faith in Ramakrishna Pillai’s integrity, patriotism and
political ideals. That was why he gave
full freedom to his editor Ramakrishna Pillai. When the press of Swadehabhimani
was confiscated and the editor was arrested he didn’t want to apologize and get
back the press without the editor.
Actually that brought him a huge financial loss. As he was not a
businessman, he wanted to achieve only public welfare and prosperity through
his news papers.
Jose Abraham, who wrote
‘Islamic Reform and Colonial Discourse on Modern India’, is of the opinion that
it is unfortunate that Vakkam Maulavi, the founder of the Swadeshabimani has
not been given his due place and recognition in the journalistic history of
Kerala, when Ramakrishna Pillai, the editor of Swadeshabhimani, remains a hero
today. As Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie says,
the journalistic history of Kerala should have the power to tell the definite
story of Vakkam Maulavi instead of just telling the story of one “Unknown
Moulavi’.
-----Thulasidharan V
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