On the margins no more: The transformative journey of Kerala’s Muslims

Kerala’s Muslims are in a hurry. They are eager to make up for a persistent lag in a state that has, over the decades, been steadily building up its famed development credentials.

Having gathered momentum since at least the 1980s, their economic, social, political, and cultural evolution seems to have hit high gear in the past couple of decades: The community’s never been this prosperous; it is breaching educational frontiers like never before; its imprint on Malayalam cinema has acquired deeper shades. Most importantly, its women are flaunting a newfound academic, professional, and sociopolitical spunk.

“There is a sea change in the cultural milieu,” Dr KA Aysha Swapna, Principal of the 75-year-old Farook College, Kozhikode, summed it up. Last year, she became the first woman to hold the position.

Caveat: The changes may not be all aspirational; political insecurities are at work, too. Critics also point to a crystallising of the religious identity amid  a more enlightened exploration of Islam and its Indian context.

In his recently launched book, The Age of Revolutions, journalist Fareed Zakaria reminds us that the word “revolution” describes radical societal shifts as much as a given body’s steady orbit around a fixed axis. The first implies abrupt, disruptive change; the second is a return to roots.

This duality may sit pat on Kerala’s Muslims today and it is tempting to call their metamorphosis a revolution. However, for now at least, a safer taxonomical bet would be “churn”.

Who are they?

a)  Kerala Muslims are often called Maplah. Derived from mappillai, Tamizh for a son-in-law, a Maplah is the deemed descendant of Arab men and the native women they married. Initially, they lived in urban-coastal areas but, after the Portuguese usurped the region’s trade scene in the 16th century, they spread into the rural interiors.

b) They are overwhelmingly Sunni.

c)  Kerala’s biggest religious minority constitutes nearly 30% of the state’s 35.5 million population, according to the International Institute of Migration & Development (IIMD), Thiruvananthapuram. Some 72% of them live in the six northern districts of Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Palakkad — the Malabar region. Malabar was part of the old Madras state till its merger with the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin in 1956. Malappuram and Kozhikode are home to the biggest chunk: 33% and 14%, respectively.

d) Historically, Malabar has lagged behind Travancore-Cochin on developmental parameters, and Muslims have been further behind. For instance, in the early 20th century, literacy among the region’s Muslim males was around half that of Hindu men.

This report, therefore, largely traces changes in northern Kerala, particularly Malappuram and Kozhikode.

‘En-Gulf’, rise, and prosper

The Sachar Committee report showed Kerala’s Muslims faring relatively better than those of most other parts of India. Within the state, however, they have had to play catch-up for long.

Take Malappuram, for instance. Up to 70% of its population of over five million is Muslim. Kerala’s Department of Statistics says that even in 2022-23 it had the lowest per capita income (PCI) — Rs 1,94,161 per annum — among the state’s 14 districts.

However, notably, Malappuram’s PCI rose from 68% of the state average in 2005-06 to over 74%.

Besides, Malappuram’s apparently low per capita income may be deceptive for a few reasons, according to Ibrahim Cholakkal, Professor of Economics at the EMEA College of Arts and Science in Kondotti, Malappuram.

“Those with Gulf connections often use informal channels of money transfer and do not talk about it much. Therefore, the official per capita income figure may not reflect reality,” Prof Cholakkal said.

“Besides, there is also the Islamic aversion towards interest, which keeps many of them off formal banking channels. Otherwise, the sheer visibility of development in Malappuram is evidence of drastically improved financial conditions in the district,” he said. More on this later. 

Meanwhile, the buzzwords here may be ‘emigration’ and ‘remittance’.

Beginning with the 1950s and 1960s, Malayalis began moving in large numbers to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations for work. The phenomenon has survived both policy changes like nitaqat and exigencies like COVID-19.

By 2023, GCC was home to around 80.5% of Kerala’s 2.2 million non-resident Indians, remitting over Rs 2.17 lakh crore annually. Muslims formed the biggest chunk (41.9%) of this population and their households received the most remittances, according to IIMD’s 2023 Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) data.

Between 1998 and 2023 alone, emigration from Malappuram rose 27% to around 3,78,000. The district’s share in the state’s remittances has remained consistently high over the decades — in 2023, it was the second highest at Rs 35,203 crore. The state’s Muslim households held the largest share (40.1%), too.

Therefore, the role of emigration and remittances in this shift simply cannot be exaggerated. “Had there been no migration to the Gulf, the Malabar Muslims’ plight would have been unimaginable,” said Dr S Irudaya Rajan, a KMS pioneer, and Chair at IIMD. He explained that traditionally, Muslims have invested most of their earnings back in the state while others like Syrian Christians have often sought out other states or even countries. A key reason for this, undoubtedly, is that GCC nations do not offer citizenship.

“Because Muslims mostly do not invest outside, Kerala has benefited. Their money circulates in the state economy itself,” Dr Rajan said.

The effect: A visible rise in their spending power.

Consider this: In 2001, Malappuram was tied with Idukki for the last spot among 14 districts in motor vehicle ownership, according to the Registrar General of India. By 2019-21, it had jumped up the rankings to 5th. Similarly, Kozhikode, with 37% Muslims, scaled up from 10th to the 6th position.

Building construction is another indicator of economic development: At least by 2021, Malappuram had Kerala’s highest share (over 13%) of newly constructed buildings, including most non-residential ones and the second-largest number of homes.

“Since they don’t usually bank due to their aversion to consuming interest, they (often) put money back in the market, spending on lavish weddings, sometimes on construction work, and sometimes on their homes,” said Dr Auswaf Ahsan, owner of Kozhikode-based publisher Other Books.

According to him, construction and real estate turned lucrative sometime in the 1980s, beginning with mostly small shops.

“But these didn’t provide much in returns. So, money was then channelled to education. They realised it was better to become doctors and engineers,” said Dr Ahsan, who is also a professor of oral health with the IQRAA International Hospital and Research Center, Kozhikode. Community organisations and NGOs, too, helped route funds toward preparing the youth for civil services or entrepreneurship.

“In Malappuram district, capital mobilisation is easing. People there  support interest-free finance,” said Dr Zacaria TV, former Principal of Amal College of Advanced Studies in Nilambur, Malappuram. “Also, entrepreneurial skills are high among Muslims. They take risks and quickly get into various businesses.”

A tentative take-off, therefore, has been in the making for Kerala’s Muslims for a while. However, as Zakaria writes, “Economic advances do not magically produce political advances.”

Enter education.