Promotion of Islamic Reform

Abstract

This chapter will argue that Vakkom Moulavi, like other Muslim modernists, was influenced by the European understanding of Oriental degeneracy and that therefore, he believed in the decline of both the medieval and contemporary Muslims. This, according to him, necessitated initiating religious reform among the Mappila Muslims of Kerala. His religious reform was part of the worldwide islahi movement spearheaded by Egyptian scholars like Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida through the periodical al-Manar. Vakkom Moulavi argued that the material as well as spiritual prosperity of Muslims was the ultimate objective of the Islamic principles. Therefore, the decline of contemporary Muslims was nothing but the punishment for their ignorance of Islamic principles and failure to follow it. While maintaining that the belief in the unity of God is the central Islamic principle, he held that the Qur’an and Hadith (prophetic traditions) are the only “true” foundations of faith. Therefore, he called upon Mappilas to reject their popular religious beliefs and practices, which cannot be validated with reason and science, and return to the values of the Qur’an. In this process, he rejected most of the Islamic traditions, which resulted in a kind of “protestantization of faith.”