Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

mosque, which became famous very quickly as a holy center. Apart from the mosque at
Ponnani, the region never had a major mosque which also acted as the holy center, and
the presence of the Jifri family, who claimed their descent from the prophet, was a direct
inspiration for the religious as well as cultural activities in the region. Thus apart from the
‘Arabi Thangal’ of Ponnani, Muslims of the region came to have another Thangal as their
spiritual leader.
The role of the Hadramaut Sayyids became more important with the emergence of the
first serious schismatic conflict among the Malabar Muslims, which has been called
Ponnani- Kondotty kuditarkam. Simultaneous with the establishment of Jifri family in
Mamburam, a mendicant named Mohammed Shah, who a native of Kardan near Mumbai
settled in Kondotty, on the way from Calicut to Manjeri. Some say he was a migrant from
Persia, of Shia origin. Mohammed Shah also built a mosque at Kondotty, and introduced
practices that were alien to the Muslims in Kerala, such as the observance of the
Muharram. The Thangals of Ponnani, who were the custodians of orthodox Sunni Islam
in Malabar, promptly denounced the Thangal of Kondotty as a Shia and as an apostate,
which resulted in the controversy between Ponnani and Kondotty. The controversy was
raging among the Muslim intellectuals and Ulema, and the position of the Jifris of
Mamburam, who claimed direct descent from the prophet, became crucial. The Jifris
threw in their lot with the Ponnani faction, which considerably enhanced their prestige
with the Sunni Muslim population in Kerala.
The migration of the Sayyids, as well as the ‘apostate’ Kondotty Thangal, into the interior
areas corresponds to another pattern, that of the expansion of the Muslim population into
the interior. We have already seen the process in the case of Tirurangadi. We have seen
that Muslims in Calicut and Ponnani were already under the ritual and spiritual control of
the Thangals and Qazis, and Parappanangadi had its mosques and Ulema families such as
Khaliyarakath. But the situation in the newly growing migrant settlements was different.