Liberating Kerala Islam from Sectarian Priesthood

It has become highly imminent for the scholars of Muslim Kerala to overcome their organisational and sectarian differences and adopt a more reconciliatory approach for uniting the community. The traditional Ulama has to settle their differences of opinion behind closed doors instead of celebrating their accusations and counter accusations on the streets.

Kerala Islam is today chained in priesthood and the constant sectarian bullying has robbed them of the opportunity of discovering the beauty of Islam. Moreover, the Ulama in Kerala has not risen to the expectations of modern Muslim youth who are more attracted to the international Islamic intelligentsia and art forms.

Kerala Islam cannot afford to continue in this isolated manner ignoring the rising wave of Islamic learning models across West which has attracted considerable attention of the Muslim youths in Kerala. Although Kerala has been a traditional stronghold of Islamic scholarship, the present state of affairs is highly lamentable. True Scholarship is sidelined in favour of sectarian organisational activism.

The vibrant meet attended by some of the finest young talents across Muslim Kerala on a lush Malabar mountain top concluded with the mantra that Muslims are in greater need of an contemplative stillness than misdirected movements.

(photos by Jabir Malabari)