Waqf and Authority Dynamics: Reconfigurations of a Pious Institution in Colonial Malabar, South India

Abstract

The formative years of Darul Uloom, Vazhakkad, a well-known Muslim waqf institution in northern Kerala in India established in the late nineteenth century for imparting religious education, is examined in this article. Darul Uloom is probably the first registered waqf in Kerala and by analysing the registered waqf deeds of this institution, we seek to understand the operation of authority and management in the initial years of this institution, especially in the background of contestations between emergent Islamic reformists and traditionalists. We trace the significant reformulation of the foundational intent evident in the subsequent deeds by later custodians and the intervention of various social groups, particularly the local community, in refashioning the trajectory of the waqf. A shift in authority—a complex product of theological, political and economic contestations emerged in the context of transformations brought by British Colonialism in Malabar—is evident in this process. Through our analysis, we suggest that waqf institutions and its legal foundations were highly dynamic and adaptive to their changing social contexts as against the portrayal of these Islamic institutions as stagnant and inflexible.