Kerala was declared a complete literate state in 1991. Keralites love to read and most of them read in their own language i.e., Malayalam. This is the reason that though Kerala is full of newspapers and magazines in Malayalam, English language dailies do not hold a prominent position.
Mappilas realized the importance of media and need for newspapers at the same time when efforts were being made to create awareness about modern education. In 1925, Mohamed Abdurahiman started Al-Ameen, the first Malayalam daily owned by Muslims. In the last 85 years, Muslims have made stupendous effort has been made in bringing about awareness about education. Increased literacy added to the readership of the newspapers and organizations have found newspapers a way to reach to the masses. This effort has yielded rich dividends and almost all Muslim organizations have started their own daily newspapers.
Thejas billboard in Calicut
Chandrika, Madhyamam, Siraj and Thejas are some of the prominent daily newspapers that are owned by Muslims. Malayala Manorama is the most widely circulated newspaper in the state, but Muslim owned newspapers have also been able to carve out a niche for themselves, sustain themselves and create loyal readers. Chandrika daily is associated with the Muslim League, an important political force of the state. Jamaat-e-Islami owned Madhyamam has made a mark for its quality journalism. Thejas is the latest entrant in the Malayalam newspaper world and has quickly grown to establish itself in this vast but fiercely competitive market.
Thejas was launched by people associated with Popular Front of India (PFI). The organization is though growing in appeal, has miniscule support in Kerala. But the newspaper has been doing well for itself and is gaining readers beyond their supporters. One reason could be because they keep their politics and ideology away from the newspaper. The Chief Editor of Thejas is a non-Muslim and the newspaper is run professionally with a staff which is a mix of all religious groups. Thejas found itself in the news in recent days because of a letter by an official of the Union Home Ministry to Kerala government directing them to keep an eye on Thejas. This obviously is a certificate from the government that Thejas has has now come to be interpreted as a certificate from the government for its effective and powerful representative popular woe and weal.
Mappilas have contributed immensely to the Malayalam language and literature. Vaikkom Mohammad Basheer was awarded Padma Shri for his contribution to literature and N. P. Mohammed won prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993 for his novel Daivathinte Kann.
But perhaps the biggest contribution of Muslims to Kerala's body of written works is in Arabic. Tuhfat-ul-Mujahideen by Zainuddin Makhdoom II is the first book to record the history of Kerala. Written during the period when Muslims were locked in a bitter battle against the Portuguese, this book was written to encourage jihad against the foreign pirates, documents the history of struggle against the Portuguese. This book also briefly mentions the history of arrival of Islam here. There is a chapter on the religious and social customs of Hindus of this region, which is rather unique in observation and for documentation. The interesting thing about this work is that the call of jihad is meant only for driving Portuguese out of India, it was never directed against the Zamorins who ruled over Muslims for hundreds of years. It is instructive that book never interpreted Jihad as an instrument to dislodge the native rulers.
A new generation of Mappilas is growing who want their history preserved and their stories told to the world. I met Dr. Auswaf Hasan of Other Books, a book publishing and distribution firm based in Calicut. Started by social activists, academicians and university students, Other Books represents a new and modern face of Mappilas. They want to use the new tools available to project themselves in positive light. They recently published a modern translation of Tuhfat-ul-Mujahideen, a part of the project to document Muslim history of Kerala.
To increase the habit of reading books among Muslims, they have launched innovative programs like the 'home-library' scheme. This has met with some success and an idea that was started five years ago still continues to grow. High quality publications of Other Books along with unique subject matters have opened up a window to the world for the Malayalam reading public. (TwoCircles.net)
 |
February 2010 |
