Shafi' Muslims of Travancore

The Shafi' Muslims of Travancore are found concentrated along the areas adjacent to the coast. They follow the Shafi' madhab like majority of the Kerala muslims. They mainly reside in the districts of Trivandrum, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam. They are believed to be the descendants of the first Muslim settlers of Kodungallur and the local converts who adopted Islam. In the early days, they were mostly engaged in trade. 

The Muslims of Travancore were also called as 'Nalam Vedakkar' or 'People of the Fourth Veda'. The three other Vedas/Books according to the Qur'an/Final Testament are Thawrath (Old Testament), Zabur (Psalms) and  Injil (New Testament).

They were also called as 'Methars'. 'Methar' was a honorific title given to Muslim nobles by the Kochi Raja. But nowadays this usage is considered derogatory.

The presence of Muslims in Travancore has been recorded in the works of Ibn Battuta, Barbosa and Shaikh Zaynuddin Makhdhum.

Shaikh Zaynuddin Makhdhum of Ponnani, in his 'Tuhfath' states that Malik ibn Habib (the nephew of Malik ibn Dinar) and his wife Qamariyyah had settled at Kollam where they had constructed a mosque. This mosque is believed to have been built at the site of the present day Jonakappuram Valiyapalli.

Ibn Battuta (1304-1369 A.D.) the explorer from Maghrib, in his 'Rihla', records that there were a large number of Muslim merchants at Kawlam/ Kollam. He also mentions the presence of a Sufi hospice at Kollam, where he had stayed for months.

Duarte Barbosa has also noted that many Moors/Muslims dwelled at Caymcolan (Kayamkulam) and Coulam (Kollam).

The majority of Sufi shaikhs who had settled in this region were from Hadramawth in Yemen. As a result, the Muslims here follow the Shafi' madhab.

They used to suffix 'Kunju' to their names, but the practice has been largely abandoned now.

And Allah Knows Best......

Origins of Ravuthers/Rowthers

The most commonly held belief is that the Ravuthers/Rowthers are descendants of a warrior clan from Tamil Nadu. It is also claimed that Ravuthers have descended from Arab and Turkish, traders and missionaries who settled in Tamil Nadu. As no detailed genetic studies have been done, the exact origins of this community is not known. There are different theories suggesting the origin of Ravuthers.

The distinguishing feature of Ravuther Muslims in Kerala is that they follow the Hanafi Madhab (School of legislation in Islam). The reason that the present day Ravuthers follow the Hanafi Madhab, can be attributed to the fact that majority of the Sufi sheikhs who came to spread Islam in the Tamil country, were adherents of this Madhab. This is the predominant Madhab in North India, Central Asia and Turkey.

The Tamil word 'Irauttan' has been traditionally used to denote a warrior on horseback. The term 'Ravuth' had been a title used by horsemen serving the Hindu Rajas. 'Ravuther' is the plural form of 'Ravuth'. Rawat is also the name of a Rajput clan.  In Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Raut or Ravuth is a subcaste of the Balija caste  It is interesting to note that different communities, all over India from Kashmir in the north to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, have used the titles such as Raut/Rawat, but in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, this is exclusively used by Ravuther Muslims.

Ravuthers are also believed to be the descendents of the warriors of the Madurai Raja who later took up trading as their occupation. Many Ravuthers did serve in the cavalries of various kingdoms in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is also said that the Ravuthers are descendants of Arab/Turkish horse traders who used to import horses to the Tamil country. In early days, the import of horses into India was the monopoly of the Arabs. But there is no evidence to suggest  that these traders followed the Hanafi Madhab. Although their names suggest Persian origin, they were considered to be Arabs. 

Amir Khusru mentions the prescence of 'Native Muslims' in his book Tarikh-i-Alai. He mentions that, during the invasion of Madurai by Malik Kafur in 1310 A. D., the Sultan's forces came across some Muslims, who had been the subjects of  Hindus at Kandur. He calls them half-Hindus who were not strict in their religious observances. He also mentions that the Sultan spared their lives as they could repeat the profession of faith (the Kalimah).

Another theory suggests that the Ravuthers are descendants of Hindus who converted to Islam. Many Hindus had converted under the influence of Sufi sheikhs like Nathar Shah (969-1039 A.D.) of Trichy.

The Madurai District Gazetteer (1906) by W. Francis mentions that the population of Muslims in the Madurai district was 4 % and the very great majority of them belonged to the community known as Ravutans, who are a commercial class.  

Ravuthers in Kerala, are also known as Turukkar/Thulukkar. Turukkan can be considered to be the Tamil equivalent of 'Saracen', a widely used term in Europe in the medieval era to describe Muslims. After raids by the Delhi Sultan's army and subsequent establishment of the Ma'bar sultanate at Madurai (around 1335 A. D.), by the Khaljis who were a Turko-Afghan clan, the word 'Thulukkar' or 'Turukkar' came to be used to denote Tamil Muslims living in the Tamil hinterland.

The Madurai District Gazetteer suggests that the Ravutans of Madurai are probably the descendants of Hindus who were converted in former times or descendants of non-native fathers and women of the country.

It may be presumed that the Ravuthers today are a mixed race comprising probably of the descendants of the native converts (mainly from the warrior tribes of Tamil Nadu and those from North India who accompanied the Sultans's army), Turkish and Arab traders and Sufi Sheikhs who came to the Tamil country. In fact, any Hanafi Masjid in Kerala can be considered as an ethnological museum. One can find Dravidian people with Semitic, North-Indid, Turanid,  or Weddoid facial features.

And Allah Knows Best......